Two A Days 4 The Holidays!

By Steve | Published Wednesday, October 31, 2012

In case you have not noticed, IT"S THE MOST WONDEFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! I'm not sure what I like so much about it, maybe it's the crisp air, falling leaves, colors of trees ( I only dreamed about in kindergarten in El Paso Texas), football, crisp air, apples, apple cider, fire pits, Halloween night seeing friends and neighbors, fall festivals, pumpkins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin spice lattes, carving jack-o-lanterns with my family, corn stalks, corn mazes, hay rides, the smell of fall, scented candles, waking up on Thanksgiving day, pilgrims, roasting marshmallows and Macy's Thanksgiving day parade, or just that... "God is in it all!"


However, if you read into that previous paragraph, there are a lot of calories in that description. There is conflicting research as to what the average amount of weight gain is from Halloween to New years but it averages out to about 7 - 10 pounds. So with a little inspiration from Mean Dean Peters a good friend of mine, who has lost A TON of weight and is doing two weeks of two-a-days.  I'm starting my own version of two-a-days tomorrow, but mine will last until the end of the year. I'm not in this to compete with Dean or one up him, I'm using his two-a-days as inspiration! How am I doing it:

As of tomorrow (when I start) there will be 62 days till the end of the year and most people gain 10 lbs between now and the end of the year. How am I going to keep that off? Simply by working out twice-a-day. Here is what I figured out for myself. On average I burn about 325 calories at the gym every morning, I'm going to double my daily calories burned from now until the end of the year. So daily it will be my goal to burn 650 calories. Nothing complex about that!

What's that? You don't even workout once a day? Well it's time to start!


If you want to find out how I'm doing... Check back here often, check my Facebook or follow me on Twitter @youthguru.

I would also love for you to join me! Who needs to wait for a New Year, let's start tomorrow morning! Who's in... If you are, check in often and let me know how it's going, tell me your progress and tell me what you are doing to exercise each day!  LET'S DO THIS!


PS: If you want a great little app that tracks your weight, caloric intake and calories burned, check out the LoseIt app, it has helped me lose 35 pounds.





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Conflicted between Obama and Romney!

By Steve

This past Sunday I was blessed to sit and listen to a sermon by a youth pastor friend of mine that got to preach in BIG church. His topic was on conflict and at one point he put up the picture to the right. I created the one that is there, not sure of the writing is correct but you get my gist. He went on to talk about what he called the, "Butch Principal" which is basically two people coming together that have a conflict. They simply move the conflict aside. Then come together with things you have in common, like Christ for example, you also own part of the conflict and start to discuss it, but you must move the conflict off to the side first.

As you "own" and "discuss" it you must be:

Open to correction (Proverbs 12:1)
Control Your emotions (Proverbs12:16, Proverbs 15:18)
Willing to listen, because you don;t have all the answers and some of your facts mat be out of whack!

You don't want to own it... Well think about this. You were once in conflict with God... AND HE OWNED IT!  Philippians 2.

As we move closer to the election may we as believers begin to be open to correction, control your emotions and be willing to listen. I'd also encourage you to realize that all 15 people running for office are loved by God and we should be praying for them. May I also remind you that neither the president or Congress has the power to ultimately change this country. I believe that God gave that mandate to the church! So... let's quit bickering, set the conflicts aside and get busy!

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Quit going to your kids lunch!

By Steve | Published Monday, October 22, 2012


I came across this article on the one of the forums that I’m a part of on Facebook and thought it would be a lead in to what I’m about to say.



After reading the article I sense that the Buchanan’s have some serious issues with pastors or youth pastors in general being on campus. They say that, “Allowing the minister to attend lunches with the students when no other person not affiliated with the schools are able to do so represents an endorsement of religious beliefs, according to the lawsuit.”  I speak for myself here but I kind of agree with them. If in fact that no other community leaders are allowed to be there is just plain wrong. After 25 years of student ministry I can honestly say that at times my intentions were not only to meet with my students but to hopefully meet their friends also, which in turn I would hope would break down some walls and allow my students to invite their friends to our youth ministry. Do I think this is all youth pastor's attention... NO! But, right or wrong.. that was “my intention”.

I might also say that we as youth pastors need to take a different approach to this. Here is what I propose:

#1 Take on the attitude of a servant, humble yourself and ask if the principal will allow you to take them to lunch or coffee. In my last position I took the principal out to lunch and she said to me, “In the 25 years I have been a principal no youth pastor has ever asked me to lunch!:” That was the start of a great relationship because she did not think I had an agenda. Honestly... I didn't! While at this meeting explain that you serve students also and want to be a resource for him/her. At this point you have several options:

- Volunteer to coach a sport of you have experience in that area.
- Volunteer to cut out paper planes or whatever needs to be done.
- Volunteer to help out at after prom or football games. (For years now we have    worked the allnighters at after prom.

#2 Volunteer to help out with PTSO. They are always looking for volunteers, and you get to minister to adults not just students at all kind’s of events.

#3 Start a teen center! I know this is a radical idea, but because we built a teen center we have set ourselves up to serve our community and the teens that live in it. This center also affords us to go to school assemblies to promote the center, to back to school night to talk to parents. It has even allowed us to work with the administration and teachers and allow us to take the community service program off their plates. We have taken well over 1000 students in community service projects in our community for their benefit. You can check out the center at: EDGE

These are just a few ideas that go beyond the one sided, “Hey can I have lunch with my kids dilemma!”

Now... Let me hear your thoughts and ideas you have used!

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Bullying Is Real?

By Steve | Published Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Today is National Bully Prevention Day and in honor of that I’d thought I’d share a story from one of the programs I participate in.

Several weeks ago I was one of the speakers at a program called ID Project. It is a program that was presented at a local junior high by ChangePoint. ChangePoint creates learning experiences to create environments where students discover themselves, their peers and empathy at a deeper level. These discoveries unlock innate compassion for others creating a radical positive change in the social climate of a school.

During this program we have a time at the very end called, “Open Mic,” this is where we allow students to take a few moments to go and apologize to someone else in the room they may have wronged. This is a tough thing to do for an ordinary adult, even tougher for an 8th grader sitting in a room of 150 other 8th grade boys!

After a LONG pause the time began and a boy stood up next to me and told me whom he needed to apologize to. So we walked across the room and he began to say, John Smith (names have been changed) I just want to apologize for ______________, I won’t do it again. Would you accept my apology? Then John has the right to say yes or no.

This went on several more minutes before we began to see a pattern, a pattern of people apologizing to John Smith! After the 5th boy stood up and wanted to apologize, (Mind you John is in tears and the boys that are apologizing are tearing up!) Pete stopped and said, “Who else in this room needs to apologize to John? Because... this is not fair to him! If you need to apologize please come over here and stand.” After that statement over 20 boys stood up and headed Pete’s direction. I looked at Pete, he looked at me in disbelief! In my head I’m thinking, this is unbelievable... this kid is a ticking time bomb about to go off! I just want to lay into all of these boy’s... LET’S GO! But then I remembered what we keep telling kids during this time... “HURT PEOPLE... HURT PEOPLE!” and I wondered what had happened in these boys lives to make them do this? Pete had each of these boy’s apologize to John, one by one. Then as if on cue, after the 15th or 16th boy finished, 20 more boys stood up and walked and stood next to Pete. I was not sure what was happening! But, surely they did not need to apologize also? As these new boys took the mic, they each simply said, “John, I want to apologize. Apologize for not being there for you, not sticking up for you and being clueless as to what was happening to you! It will never happen again! Would you accept my apology?”

We were blown away... as time wound down on this portion of the program we gave them a 15 minute break and we chatted with some of the teachers in the room, they had no idea this was happening. As a matter of fact we found out at our closing evaluation that John’s youth pastor was one of the leaders that day, he had no idea either. The next day when we did the girls program John’s mom was one of the small group leaders. After she had finished the day we explained to her what had happened the day before with John, she was shocked and in tears.

Many of you may have the feeling that teens and kids just need to toughen up, be stronger, quit whining, honestly I don’t disagree with some of those statements. But the real truth is, bullying is real... kids face it every day, many times it goes untold to anyone in authority for fear of payback. You see unlike us, that used party lines to talk to friends this is a highly connected generation of teens. They have to deal with social media and texting the bullying continues when they reach, what is supposed to be the safe haven of their homes!

If you really believe that something needs to change and if you want to do more than where orange, repost this on Facebook, then call or text someone that you have been mean or rude to, even if it was years ago. Even if it was the smallest, most insignificant thing. Call or text that person, right now, and apologize.

Now for the shameless plug... If you want to take it a step further, tell your administrators, counselors, principals and congressman about ChangePoint. We would love to come to the schools in your area. We have some compelling evidence as well as stories of major shifts in students' perspectives after participating in this program from a study done in a local school district.

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I don't talk badly about your vices... errr devices!

By Steve | Published Thursday, September 20, 2012


Over the last few years I have had several discussions about PC v. Apple products so I thought I would just lay out my thoughts on the subject. To be honest these discussions usually end up as arguments since most pc people want to put down Apple products for various reasons, price, speed, can't program with them etc... So here is my two cents and an explanation as to why my brother says I'm an Apple nerd! 

PC Laptops:  I don't hate PC products, if that is what you prefer then go for it. Personally I don't like it when I have to work on my kids PC's. They bog down, they get blue screens, they do weird stuff. When this happens it's usually an all day affair of doing google searches as to why this PC is doing what it is doing and how to fix it, I don't have time to do that. When I'm working on my kids PC's the do not feel intuitive anymore, I know that is my problem! When I first got my macbook there was a learning curve until someone said to me, "When you get stuck on how to do something on a Mac just ask yourself, "If I had designed this macbook/OS how would I handle this problem?" Nine times out of ten I usually figure it out myself. I know some of you might say, "Well PC's do that also!", I just don't see it that way? Granted I'm not a techno geek so I have no need to do any programing, most programmers prefer PC's, but macs are adequate for what I need them for.  Maybe I've become blinded by the light!

Smart Phones:  I had owned Palm products for 15 years and the Palm stuff worked out fine until they started making shoddy products. It REALLY went downhill when HP bought them out. I went through countless years of having my Handspring Palm Pilot in one hand and a cell phone in the other. I was ecstatic when Palm merged the two devices and I had my first smart phone the Palm 700! I was completely content with this device and then Apple came out with this device called an ipod! It could hold 1000's of songs and once again I had two devices. Yet within several years Apple released the iphone and I was hooked and I have never been disappointed with any of their phones as I now have an iphone s. It's not that droids or Samsung Galaxy are bad, as a matter of fact I can't speak intelligently about them as I have never used them. I actually find the Galaxy somewhat intriguing... But it is not enough to pull me away from my iphone that, "HAS AN APP FOR THAT!" I use it as a GPS, to track my workouts, to lose 35lbs, check weather, update facebook and twitter, check for lower prices and other things. I'm sure your device does this also... but I like the intuitiveness of my iphone.

Price: I balked for a long time on the price of a macbook... but the mac I'm using to type this on is 6 years old and is still going strong, no need to replace just yet. I probably would have gone through 2 or 3 pc's by now. It has not slowed down either, so there is no need for a PC pitstop.

Service: I've never had trouble with Apple Genius's, yes they are Genius's! As a matter of fact sometimes they are generous even when your warranty has expired! I can go into my local Apple store and have my computer looked at by a Genius, I can make that reservation with my iphone by the way, yet if I want my kids pc laptops fixed I have to call the company. I then have to explain to them what is wrong, have them try to fix it over the phone and then inevitably send it back to them to fix. So I'm usually out of a computer for several weeks. Whereas at an Apple store I'm only out for a few days MAX!

Tablets: I own an original iPad and it is still going strong, whereas my 13 year old has a Nook color that is a year old. We have already had to have it replaced once and this weekend it started acting up again. Is my iPad superior? I'm not sure about that... But if Apple comes out with a smaller version around Christmas for the same price as a NOOK... I may be tempted to buy it from him. Why... because it is just more intuitive and dependable.

Bottom line... OK! I'm an apple geek, we all have our vices. As I was thinking through this post I realized that it's not just me... we have 12 Apple products in our family. WE ARE ALL GEEKS. Now... just leave my Apple vices alone and go back to your blue screen of death... Whoops that slipped!




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Easton Bats are Poorly Engineered.

By Steve | Published Thursday, September 6, 2012


If you own an Easton x1 bat then sell that thing! My son a, 16 year old baseball player, has broken two of them this season. The picture at the right is a picture of the latest one he broke! In my opinion, this is just poor engineering on Easton's part. It's not the only one that I've seen break, my younger son's team broke two of them this year.

 The company was great on the first broken bat because they sent him a new bat, but I still had to pay postage to the tune of $25! 

 The second time, last month, I called and said I did not want this bat again. I was informed that I could return the broken bat and choose a cheaper bat (all aluminum) but that I would not be given the difference, which was about $200. I'm currently waiting for customer service to contact me back. Below is the email I sent to customer service, I'll keep you updated as to what they say.

Easton Sports 
7855 Haskell Ave.
Suite 103
Van Nuys, CA. 91406

Reference # 606188077
To whom it may concern,

I would appreciate if someone in the management area of customer service at Easton bats would call me as soon as your receive this bat. I find if troubling that my only options are to replace this bat (this is our second one that broke, I don’t want another one), or choose a lesser one piece aluminum bat. We have chosen the cheaper aluminum one but the agent I spoke with said that we would not receive any money back as compensation for taking a cheaper bat! I paid 399.99 dollars for the original bat and I have chosen a bat that is $100 cheaper (I hope you have that in your records!) Not to mention that it has cost me over $50 in shipping fees to send these bats back. The least you could do is give me a $100 credit from Easton so that we can purchase another product from you. A badly engineered bat should not cost money out of my pocket! 

Bottom Line... Don't buy a two piece composite bat until the improve the technology.

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Only The Strong Survive: Lift To Live Longer

By Steve | Published Monday, May 14, 2012

Great article by Nick Bromberg over at the ThePostGame.com. Looks like I'll be putting that website in my Flipboard!  I think I'll also be purchasing the book by Lou Schuler. Let me know what you think about the article!

"I used to be able to do that when I was your age."
It's a phrase you've undoubtedly heard countless times. Heck, many of you have probably uttered a similar line more times than you'd like to admit.
The aging process can be a hard thing to accept. Our bodies make it easier to store fat as we start to lose muscle. Aches and pains that didn't exist 10 years ago occur on a frequent basis.
But it doesn't have to be that way. We're all going to go down someday, but why go down without a fight? With the right training approach, your athletic prime could be in front of you, rather than a speck in the rear-view mirror.
"We've seen research on every age group, from children to men and women in their 90s, and it's clear that you can get stronger at any age," says Lou Schuler, co-author of the new book The New Rules of Lifting for Life.
"That's pretty well-established. What's less well known is that strength is directly correlated to longevity. It almost doesn't matter what type of strength is being measured -- abs, thighs, grip. The strongest people live the longest. So no matter what age you are, being even a little stronger is always better.
"The great thing about strength training is that it addresses most of the major problems that sneak up on us as we get older. The average man or woman will lose about 1 percent of their muscle mass per year, starting in middle age. With muscle goes a lot of stuff we rarely think about -- the thickness and strength of our tendons and ligaments, the size of our bones, the number of muscle fibers and nerves we can call on when we need them."
But don't blindly dash off to the gym just yet in your newfound quest to be the oldest living person. You have to train intelligently; focusing on stability and mobility in the areas you need it most, and total body strength. Strength that comes from lifting relatively heavy weights -- that means you, ladies -- and for the guys, total-body workouts that don't involve 15 different sets of arm exercises.
"Middle-aged and older women think their bones will shatter if they pick up a weight that's heavier than their purse. There's nothing stranger than seeing a woman do a bench press or bent-over row with a dumbbell that's smaller than her forearm," Schuler says.
"Then you have the guy with a 40-inch waist who comes into the gym and spends the first half-hour working on his arms. Those are the only exercises he can do with weights that seem manly enough for him. First of all, what a total freaking waste of time. Here's a guy with a body that, more than anything, needs exercise. It needs to move. And what's he doing? He's sitting on a bench, trying to move nothing but his elbow joints."
We need that stability most in our midsections -- namely our abdominals and lower back -- which are abused daily when we sit in our cars, at our desks, and in front of the television. We need the mobility in areas like our hips and shoulders, which also suffer greatly during our prolonged periods of sitting down. And what's the best antidote for sitting down? Standing up -- and Schuler's co-author Alwyn Cosgrove incorporates that premise frequently.
"Sitting for hours at a time is probably the most dangerous thing we do on a daily basis," Schuler says. "But when people go to the gym, young or old, what do they do? They sit. They sit on recumbent bikes, they sit down to do cable rows and lat pulldowns, they sit on benches to do shoulder presses. In between sets, they sit some more.
"In Alwyn's workouts, you don't sit. If you're going to do a lat pulldown, you're either kneeling or standing. Same with a cable row. It's a great exercise when you stand up to do it. You have to brace the muscles in your core to maintain your balance and posture. Not only does that make it tougher, it keeps you on your feet."
And it may make you the last one standing.

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