Over on SimplyYouthMinistry.com we launched a great bundle this morning.  The Super Awesome Bundle 2.  It’s 8 great resources for $49. As the bundle sells it get’s better. Check out the bundle page for all the details.

Here’s a little video we made about how we came up with the bundle.  (Why do I always end up in these videos?)

Quantities are limited, so don’t wait too long.

Also 10% of the sales go to help the Center for Parent / Teen Understanding.

This week over at YouthMinistry.com there was a great series of articles on using games in youth ministry.

Part one: GAME ON! how games can enhance your ministry – it’s a great reminder of why we play games in youth ministry.

Part two: GAME OVER! seven game mistakes that will derail your effectiveness – goes over some common mistakes that can derail your games.

Part three: TIME OUT! three practices that will strengthen your game plan – gives some great suggestions about making your games the best they can.

If you are looking for some new games to play, YouthMinistry.com also has some new free game e-books for you.  You can download  Grass Stain: Outdoor Youth Ministry Games or Rugburn: Indoor Youth Ministry Games.  To get the free downloads you need to sign-up for the YouthMinistry.com Daily email from Doug Fields and Matt McGill, but you also get access to some other great e-books as well as content like these articles in your inbox 4 days a week.

I’ve been involved in a project to provide free Youth Ministry resources online at umyouthpastor.com for a while now.  We thought about doing a training podcast for a while, but wanted to make sure that we were adding something worthwhile rather than just creating more work for ourselves.  After consuming a lot of podcasts, I realized that what I wanted was a periodic training/idea podcast that was short and to the point.  That is where the idea for 10-minute Training (itunes link) began.

Each episode is an interview with a talented youth minister about a specific topic covering everything from having hard conversations to indoor game idea roundups.  Every episode then concludes with a resource recommendation from the guest.  All in about 10 minutes.

I love and listen to tons of long-format podcasts like the SYM podcast (iTunes link), but know very few people who are both entertaining enough to listen to for that long and experienced/talented enough to have that much quality content (Doug and the gang are some of the few in youth ministry).  The point of the podcast is to get you some usable information or idea as quickly as possible, or as the tagline suggests… we get to the point so you get the training. Check it out by going to the website or subscribing via iTunes.

Today is the last day to enter to win an iPad over at Simply Youth Ministry.

Also it’s the last day to save 40% off on almost 300 resources.  It’s only good till 3 PM PST today, so hurry over.

Simply Youth Ministry 40 40 40 Sale

It’s time for the anual 40 40 40 sale at SimplyYouthMinistry.com.  You can get 40% off tons of great resources.  There’s also $1 off select books. It only lasts for 40 hours so hurry.

There are a couple of other bonuses:

-40 Free Backgrounds – 40 great summer backgrounds for your ministry.

-Win an Ipad – Who doesn’t want this magical device.  Just fill out the form to enter.  Good Luck!

There’s no denying the fact the you see and hear about environmental issues every where these days. In fact we’ve even set aside a day to remind us (just so happens today is the day).

I don’t really hear much from Christians on the subject, and even fewer teaching resources to show our students a Biblical perspective. If it’s some a topic you’ve ever thought abut tackling, here’s a great resource:

Save the Planet

Green is in. Recycling, driving hybrid cars, and conserving energy gas, and water have become just a few of the ways that we’re able to care for the environment. But what does the Bible have to say about caring for the environment? This 3-week series by Josh Griffin, high school pastor at Saddleback Church, is designed to help students get a glimpse of how to care for the environment through a biblical perspective. And with everything you need to teach them included inside, it’s easy enough for you to dive in and use tonight. Lessons include: Creation Speaks about what God is Like 5 Little Ways Make a Big Difference Perfection. Sin. Hope.

Link:
Save the Planet

Last weekend was the Simply Youth Ministry Conference, and there was lots of great training. One of the speakers, Tim Schmoyer videoed his seminar on Communicating Youth Group News with Teens and Parents and dropped it on YouTube. You can watch it here (it was really good):

If you’d like to pickup more seminars from last week end you can get them here. Or if you’d like to register for next year (It’s going to sell out early) Visit: youthministry.com/symc.

Over at SimplyYouthMinistry.com we are having an 80′s won’t die sale.  80 products and you pay 80% (that’s 20% off, get it?).  There’s some great stuff.  In honor of celebrating the decade of Big Hair we made this video.

WARNING:  This video contains a side of Andy Brazelton you may wish you never saw.

Click here to check out the 80/80 Sale.

Well 2009 is officially over, and I was thinking about some of the tech that made it’s way into my world during the year. Here’s some of my favorites:

Software:
Mozy – I committed to online backup this year having deciding that my time machine wasn’t enough.  Mostly because if something happened at my house the chances of losing both were pretty high.  I went with Mozy, and after having a harddrive crash while on a trip and I was still able to access my data, I’m sold.  It’s definitely worth the $5 a month it costs.

Dropbox – This has become a tool I use daily.  Great for online storage and sharing.  And it’s FREE!

Teleport – This little bit of software allows you to share one keyboard and mouse between 2 macs without any extra hardware.  It’s really cleaned up my desk and I love the way it works.  Price: FREE

Hardware:
iPhone 3gs – This is so much more than a phone to me. It allows me to be away from the office but still take care of quite a bit of my daily tasks.  I love it.

MacBook Pro Uni-body – My old Macbook Pro was great for almost 3 years, but my recent upgrade to one of the new Uni-body models has been a great one.  The power is awesome.  To compare, my old machine took 90 minutes to export the SYM podcast that I produce each week, and the new laptop does the same video in 35.  I love it.  Although if you are thinking about upgrading, I would wait to see if there are any upgrades early in the year.

Flip MinoHD Camcorder – This is such a great little camera.  So easy to use and a great picture for what it costs.  You aren’t going to produce a major motion picture with this, but to capture camp memory, quick event highlights, and fun family moments, I love it.  Read my full review here: review-flip-minohd.

Kindle 2 -I upgraded my ebook reader to the Kindle this year.  I really enjoy reading on it.  A few things that make it great:

1. Battery life
2. Amazon Store – so many titles, and great prices.
3. Always connected – I can download books where ever I am, and it doesn’t cost any extra

Web:
Gdgt.com: Great new gadget site.  I do a lot of my gadget research here.  I also really enjoy their podcast.

LIVE Curriculum: I think most of you know, I am the web manager for Simply Youth Ministry, and one of the big projects I worked on this year was this online curriculum. I am really proud of what we put together, and when I think of 2009 it was a huge part of it.

Now on to 2010.

There’s a lot of Christmas Freebies floating around this year.  I thought I’d let you know about some before it’s too late.

• Free Media from the Simply Youth Ministry Media Store
• Free Media from Centerline Blog
• Free Training from Cadre Connection
• iTunes Holiday Sampler
• Appvent Calendar – Free iPhone games
• Free Christmas PowerPoint Game
• Free Christmas Backgrounds
• Free Christmas Message – “The Christmas Killers”

Some of these are daily or every couple days.  Even if you missed a few of them, there’s still a lot of freebies left before Christmas.