You try being the #1 Youth Pastor to the World!

And keep up to date on a blog. I have a hard enought time making time for my podcast that I haven't even had time to blog recently.

SO, you try having "America's Pastor" as a boss...

you try working at "One of the Fastest Growing Churches in the 20th Century"

you try running one of the most popular Youth Ministry buisness...

Ok, I'll stop complaining now....

Google Searches that lead here Vol. 1

Ok, so I stole this fro griff, But I thought it was funny

These are what people type into Google to find my blog!

• doug fields blog
• "blog" doug fields
• hair transitions
• "I love powerpoint"
• "what is crunk music"
• What is Purpose Driven Youth Ministry
• Kathy Fields...(hey, who's looking her up!)

My Travels...

So it seems like I am always traveling--wether it be to a conference to speak, or even just to pawn my resources, or to a country to help people, I find my schedule busy with travel. To make things easier, I thought I would just send my picture to different places--after all, that's why people come to see me anyway--my fantastic good looks and bodybuilding physique!

Check out my travels at http://flatfields.blogspot.com/

Or buy some of my cool stuff at Simply Youth Ministry - simplifying ministry and saving you time!

The Summer is over!

Wow! This is my favorite time of year, when all the kids go back to school! We just had a great "kick-off" concert by the Family of 5...or Force of 5...or Forced to be a Family of 5...Oh, I don't remember what their name was but it was wicked awesome! Kids jumping, Singers screaming, and I think I saw Rick Muchow in the back asking someone, "What is crunk music anyway?"

This is why I love Youth Ministry! Becasue of Christian Music!

My Facial Hair Transitions!

I wanted to take a few minutes to explain the evolution of my facial hair.

First, and you can tell this is old becasue of the black and white, was the moustache. I liked the look as I came out of college, becasue it made me look older, and lets face it--all the sexy men had great moustaches.

Then came the clean face. This was after I lost a bet about how many taco's I could eat. But as I noticed, I think I liked the look, and Cathy said she liked it--So it stuck.


Then the 90's hit and everyone--and I mean everyone-- had a goatee. So of course, I had to join in the fun. I liked not having to shave part of my face everyday, but kept finding food in the beard, so one day...

...I had to trim it up. I cleaned the lines of the look and went with a combination of the old moustache, and the goatee. I received many compliments from 40 year old women, then realized it was becasue I looked like Magnum, P.I.

So here I am today, with "the Triangle." I know, I know...I look like I'm 25 again! But now, at my age, youth is a great look! I am thinking about growing it longer. Maybe about 6 inches or so. I saw this website called http://www.growyourcrowder.com/ and thought I should give it a try. Who is this Crowder guy anyway and why do they call it that?

Let me know what you think!

Just a quick post to ask for your comments! I'd like to know what you think of my little space on the web...

Be a friend, not a stranger!

My Super Famous Pod Cast!

I know that only 2 or 3 of you actually read this, but if you didn't know I do a little thing called a Pod Cast. Yeah, I know it is a weird name but Griff said we should do this and so now I have to take an hour out of my busy week(I am a nationally recognized speaker for heaven's sake!) and cast some pod.

Well, for the 4 listeners out there, we did rise high in the carts initially, but have since slipped down the spiral of Napoleon Dynamite (popular at first but now a bit cliche') We are actually sitting at Number 35. THIRTY FIVE!--that is unacceptable!!!

I need you to go into your local library and subscribe on every computer. I need you to make a Chem announcement on Sunday morning and get your people to subscribe. I have to be number 1. I won't say who is on top, but his name sounds like Foel Josteen. Rick is not happy. When he gets back from all his adventures I will be on the negative side of some beatdowns if I have not reached number 1. Help Me!

My African Safari!

I traveld to Kenya for the last few days (I lost count of how many actually) and while there we had a guide named Adjewai. He was a special man, becasue he was the head of youth ministry for Africa (Some would say he is my African counterpart.) Adjewai has written many books including "Bone Driven Youth Ministry" Interesting ly enough, YS has also decided to publish, market, and distribute the book!


Adjewai was also widely known as "One who connects with Youth." I beleive one of his many ways of doing this and staying cultuarally relevant was to get a few piercings. It is all the rage in Africa, so kids flock to him like he really knows what is going on in their lives--like he must understand them!


Adjewai finally convinced me that if I wanted to stay real and be good friends with my students I needed to get a piercing or two. I decided to let him do it, since obviously he was an expert!

I can't show you the other piercing I had done!

I "L.O.V.E." Powerpoint

There are many reasons to love this graphic presentation software package, but I want to outline 4 of my "L.O.V.E."s of Powerpoint.



Learning Styles: Every student has a different way of learning and showing them my outline points on the screen, as well as silly pictures, will help them to learn better.

Outlines and Notes: These are easy to transfer to the big screen through the simple to use converting my Word documents to Powerpoint slides.

Versitility: I can show all sorts of things, such as notes, song lyrics, pictures and more. Maybe one day I can graduate to MediaShout to be able to show even more!

Everybody can learn to use this program!: Well, everyone but me--you see the ministry has used powerpoint for many years, but I have never been able to really figure it out so I have my lackey students do it for me--and I call it ministry!

My Family is First!

I just wanted to shout to everyone that I love my family. My wife Cathy is the best Youth Pastor's wife ever. She lets me go off on retreats, hang out with teenagers, and even do many speaking occasions. Not everyone's wife would be this gracious.

I also love my son Cody. No matter what is going on, I always have room for him. In fact I coach his baseball team. Below is a picture of us together after winning something!


I have other kids, but I forget their names right now. Cody is Awesome!

Congratulations, You're gifted!

One of my favorite saying for any student who talks to me is, "Congratulations, you're gifted." When I say this to students, I am trying to encourage them to get involved in Ministry--or Discover their SHAPE. (Just an acronym, which I like to use once in a while!)

I have had some strange experiences after saying this to a few students. One student, Jeff, got real excited and went home and told his mom. He switched to all College Prep courses because he thought I meant he was "exceptionally gifted" or smart. Later that week he failed all his tests, dropped out of school, and began selling hemp bracelets at Lake Forest mall.

Kayla, another student who mistook me, thought I was being sarcastic (where would she ever get and idea that I would be sarcastic) and ran out of the room in tears. Little did I know, she rode the short bus to school because of a small learning disability she had ever since transferring in from being homeschooled.

But every once in a while you get a Tom. He took this statement to understand that he had a special SHAPE that God had given him so he started collecting shoes for homeless people and started a brand new ministry.

I have to tell you about this one--this other student, Matt, agreed when I said he was gifted. But his gifting was something I would have never guessed. He could tell you what you had for lunch simply by smelling your flagalents. Gross, I know, but I knew this man had a future in youth ministry. I liked him so much I eventually decided to hire him to be our High School Pastor (though he has since shared that his special gift has disappeared and thus he must resign his post!)

Diet Pepsi and Taco Bell!

If we went out after church one afternoon and sat knee to knee, eye to eye, I'd probably take you to my favorite fine dining establishment--Taco Bell. It is way better than that other place Del Barfo!

We'd sit and I would enjoy the never ending fountain of bliss known as Diet Pepsi. I'd listen to you talk about your ministry and your issues, and then give you some great advice (and probably slip in a shameless plug for what chapter in PDYM your question can be answered by.)

It would be nice.

Freebies!

Because I am from Orange County, CA, one of my favorite things to do for other poor youth workers in the US is to give stuff away! I love to give anything away, even though my store manager Andy thinks I will lose all my money, that's OK!

Something else I love is funny pictures (especially ones you'd never expect to see in church!) So here is the best of both worlds: A freebie funny picture of drunk babies!

Purpose Driven!

Well, I'd be remiss to not mention my 42 time platinum book (can books go platinum?)

Purpose Driven Youth Ministry

In case you aren't sold on the book, or if you miss the obvious connection, check out the forward by the great Rick Warren himself. He explains how his purpose driven whatever book is something like this book (but I think he thinks his is better--I can tell the way he looks at me.)

I Love this book so much, that if you ask me a ministry question, most likely I can point you to the exact chapter you can find the answer in the book!



Don't miss my other book, gaining popularity so fast it will soon beat out all Purpose Driven material put together:

365 Things Every Golfer Should Know

This book is so awesome, it doesn't need a famous person to write the forward, even though I sought out Tiger Woods to write one. He said he wasn't able to--mostly because he doesn't dress like a Scottish white man