Priorities—–So one day when I complete my MDIV I will resume blogging.
Posted by: Jody Shelton | June 14, 2010
To be continued…
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted by: Jody Shelton | February 11, 2010
Autism’s toughest battle
So if I am honest the toughest battle for me with Dawson is talking. I really want my son to speak. This is some pretty amazing video of him doing his very best to talk, watch and tell me what you think. I would say he has nailed cookie and apple. My prayer is that his vocabulary list gets longer and one day Dawson and I are able to carry on a conversation. I must say a HUGE thank you for all the people who help us with Dawson’s ABA therapy without your help Dawson would not be where he is today. If you would like to make a (tax deduction) donation to help with Dawson’s therapy you can do so here. You can track Dawson’s progress on my youtube channel.
Posted by: Jody Shelton | January 30, 2010
Apologetics Study Bible for Students
Recently, my church Mount Zion hosted an Apologetic Weekend with Sean McDowell, Here are some links so you can
purchase his newest release, The Apologetic Study Bible for Students. You can purchase a copy at Lifeway Christian Stores or on Amazon, this is the first Bible for students of this kind. The truth is up to 66% of students are walking away from the church when they graduate high school. This Bible will give you the tools to combat people who try and disprove God and His Word. Get a copy today. Adults buy one for every teenager-college student you know.
Here is the audio podcasts for the three messages Sean taught while at Mount Zion
1. Shattering the Myths of Evolution 2. Why the New Testament Can be Trusted?
Posted in Advice, Apologetics | Tags: Apologetic Study Bible for Students, Apologetics, Sean McDowell, Shattering the Myths of Evolution, Understanding Apologetics, Understanding Intelligent Design, Where can I go for resources about apologetics, Why should i study apologeticss, Why the New Testament Can be Trusted
Posted by: Jody Shelton | January 28, 2010
The Biological Hand Grenade Ladder
The Biological Hand Grenade Ladder is the best illustration I have seen that describes the natural progression in a guy/girl relationship. God has designed humans to have an attraction towards the opposite sex. The key is to keep these desires in check and obey God’s Word. This is much easier said then done. We are saturated in our culture with sex, movies and music that is sending the message that it is ok to enjoy someone of the opposite sex and to experiment as long as you protect yourself. This is contrary to God’s Will for humanity. God created sex for the purpose of reproducing and for our enjoyment. Sex in the right context of marriage is a wonderful experience, however outside of the right context it can produce feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment and insecurity.
I want to list for you the stages that occur in a physical relationship. Picture each of these stages as a step up this ladder.
- Holding hands
- Arm Around
- Light Kissing
- Lingering Kissing
- Heavy Kissing
- Light Touching
- Heavy Touching
- Intercourse
Tips to remember:
1. Once you go up the ladder it is difficult to take steps down.
2. If you begin to date someone and they have gone to a step higher than you have, the person who has experienced more will want you to jump to the step they are on at that time. This is one of the huge obstacles that exists in a new relationship.
3. Once you begin to take steps up the ladder, The Law of Diminishing returns comes into play. Watch this video I did to illustrate the point.
Song of Solomon 8:4 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
Simply put what Solomon is saying is do not begin to awaken love or take steps onto the ladder until you are in a place in life where you can fulfill your natural desires that place is marriage. God’s perfect will for each of us is One Man, One Woman for a lifetime! God is not trying to rain on your parade, He is trying to protect you and reveal to you His plan. God created sex and wants you to experience it in the right CONTEXT—-Marriage! What happens is we tend to base our security in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex instead of God’s love for us. No relationship can substitute God’s perfect love for you.
My advice to you be careful when you begin to take steps up the Biological Hand Grenade Ladder. Once you take steps up it is difficult to come back down.
Here are some passages for you to Memorize.
For further Reading: Check out:
Posted in Advice, Devotion, Misc | Tags: Biological hand Grenade ladder, Bob Stone, God's perfect plan, How far is too far? keys to a healthy relationship, How to know when you are in love, relationships with the opposite sex, Song of Solomon 8:4, steps to a healthy relationship, teenagers and sex, The Dating Dilemma
Posted by: Jody Shelton | December 3, 2009
Night of Worship
Last night was an amazing night of worship @ Mount Zion. I am amazed at the work of the Spirit of God in our midst. Most people would think there is now way students could be quite for over an hour, however last night I saw it first hand. I wanted to share with some of my youth pastor friends and students who could not make it last night some of the videos that were used! MZS thank you allowing God to work in you continue to strive for conforming to image of Jesus Christ!
To my youth pastor friends,
So here are some videos for you, youtube is great but takes time to search and find good stuff. We took the videos and downloaded them from youtube into a mpeg4 format. I was able to take it as an mpeg4 and put into my editing software and turn it into an avi format. Avi will go into media shout 4, so this allowed us to use youtube videos and load them into a seamlessly smooth format in worship. If I can help you let me know. Working together benefits us all! One last thing, you can use other audio in these videos–we switched the audio in all of them but one.
Posted in Student Ministry | Tags: cyberlink editing software, editing video in student ministry, good videos for youth ministry, great editing software, helping other youth pastors, how to find good youtube videos for studet ministry, jodyshelton.org, life-changing videos for student ministry, media shout 4, mount zion baptist, mountzionstudents, power director 8, Student Ministry, tools for youth leaders, tools for youth ministry, worship, youtube, youtube videos for youth ministry
Posted by: Jody Shelton | November 22, 2009
Is church really important?
I have been in church since the very beginning of my life. My parents didn’t give us the “option” to attend, as I look back I am so thankful! So what are some reasons why church is important? I’m glad you asked!
1. Connection-There is something amazing about meeting new people and seeing people every week that you love deeply and care about. As Christians we should do our best to connect with others and build relationships with people who are like minded and diverse. The friendships I have with people from church surpass any of my other relationships. Be real with people and remember we are seeking the same thing–to conform to the image of Jesus Christ. Don’t forget we are all on different levels of conformity, some brand new babies in the faith some mature disciples. Be patient!
2. Corporate Worship-Singing to God as a body of believer’s, studying God’s Word together, celebrating baptism, experiencing the Lord’s Supper, watching and listening to the Pastor give a challenge from the Word of God—-my favorite, seeing someone give their life to Jesus Christ! These experiences you can not watch on TV or on a webcast.
3. Community-It is not enough to just show up at church, leave and forget what you have been taught. If there is one thing the
local church needs to strive for it is the idea of “doing life together.” If you are involved in your church you have brothers and sisters who love and care about you. There will be times when those people in your church come alongside of you and help you through the tough times that will inevitably come. Doing life together and experiencing biblical community takes your “church experience” to a whole new level. God’s desire for each of us is to have a family of people who love us and genuinely care. Spend time with God’s people and be at church every time you are able. God will not only teach you from His Word, He will also teach you from the relationships you develop with others.
Closing thought
Go to a bible believing church and begin using your gifts and passions to make your church better.
Don’t forget it’s ok to laugh and have fun at church Jesus made that pretty clear!!!
See ya Sunday!
Posted by: Jody Shelton | November 5, 2009
Dawson–doing some homework!
Dawson working on his colors
Dawson getting letters A-F!!!!
Posted in Autism, Family | Tags: Aba therapy, Autism, autism awareness, Dawson Shelton, how to deal with autism, Jody Shelton, jodyshelton.org, therapies for autism
Posted by: Jody Shelton | October 30, 2009
Some of my ministry secrets!
The Internet has opened up so many amazing opportunities for the world of student ministry. I can remember the days where youth pastor’s used overhead projectors and transparencies. When I first started in youth ministry we also used books of clipart to copy images for flyers and other activities. I want to share with you some tools I use that have made an awesome impact in the way I communicate with our students and our Wednesday night program thExchange. One thing I really enjoy about my job is networking with other student pastor’s if I can give you any ideas that will help you—please take it—chances are someone gave me the idea as well!
1. Simply Youth Ministry offers all kinds of incredible games, crowdbreakers, countdowns (t-minus), message series, powerpoint backgrounds and many other items. Send me an email if you need some recommendations. This site is by far the BEST for practical help in preparing for your program!
2. Powerpointsermons.com, My Pastor introduced me to this website, it does require a fee however it has made our Sunday morning graphics at our church come alive. I use it for messages and announcement slides on Wednesday nights and it has made a tremendous impact. Here are a few of my favorites.
3. Media Shout–Not sure what we did before moving images during worship. This will add a whole new dynamic to your praise and worship time. Make sure your computer has the specs that Media Shout needs. I know there is other companies out there but Media Shout is what we use and I have been very happy with the results!
4. Simply Txt–When I first started out at my present church Mount Zion I sent mail to all of my parents, then I went to everything being on the website (which I still do), email….facebook….now I send out mass text messages to my entire group. I have the largest plan so for $40 a month I can inform over 100 people an important announcement in a matter of seconds. They just added a new feature that allows text forwarding back to my phone so if I need to answer a question I can. You can also create groups and teams within the software. One thing we know for sure…..teenagers ALWAYS have their phone and they love getting text messages! This software has become invaluable to me!
5. Youtube–Remember all the video books we used to have to buy and the many rentals in order to show video clips in our groups—now you just have to search hard enough on youtube and you will find good stuff. I have saved money by having wi-fi in our youth building and showing clips from the internet rather than renting. Here are some recent clips I have used from youtube.
Making friends, What is a friend, Be Still, God’s Chisel, Intro to Jesus, In the Beginning
6. Poll Everywhere–It is difficult to impress a teenager however this software will do it—have you ever wanted to see what your students were really thinking about the topic you are speaking about? Are you curious where they are in their relationship with Christ? Poll Everywhere is completely confidential so it allows you to get a sense of your groups thoughts and beliefs. Here is a video of the software being used in my youth group MZS, watch our Wednesday night promo video here. I have the $65 a month package and Poll Everywhere allows you to pay month by month as needed. Thanks to Josh Griffin for the idea!
7. One great way to inform your students of what is coming up in your ministry is a website. One of the best decisions I have made was purchasing 2 snapshot websites for our church and my student ministry MZS. If you decide to buy a website, I would be happy to get you started and help you with your ministry site just shoot me an email. I had no experience in building a website until we bought from snapshot and it was a great decision and very simple to use! Now I am able to update both websites with no problem at all!
Here is a few more tools:
Facebook—I use the group feature for getting word out along with Simplytxt.
GLO—Absolutely amazing–requires a lot of space on your computer but if you got the space you need glo, we use it for pictures on Wednesday night and also bookmark passages that you can navigate with the click of a button!
Church Graphics—Josh is the owner and does amazing work, he designed our MZS logo and has done a ton of work for our church, his prices are great and he is easy to work with, which is a big deal. Here is one piece he just did for our recent emphasis at Mount Zion. Checkout Fit Brochure
Action Awards—I have been using these guys for t-shirts, logos, sweat shirts etc.. They do a fantastic job at a great price–talk to Spencer when you call he is a great guy and will do anything to help you get what you need.
So here are my secrets, hope you get some fresh ideas!!!
Posted in Advice, Misc, Student Ministry | Tags: action awards, actionawards.com, churchgraphics.org, companies that do great graphics, finding a website for a youth group, glo, globible.com, graphic companies in the atlanta area, great bible software, helpful websites for student ministry, helpful websites in student ministry, how to find good youtube videos for studet ministry, ideas, Jody Shelton, jodyshelton.org, josh feit, media shout, mount zion baptist snellville ga, mountzionstudents.com, MZS, need some fresh ideas for student ministry, new ideas for my youth ministry, new ideas for student ministry, poll everywhere, Polleverywhere.com, simply text, simply youth ministry, simplytxt, Snapshotweb, snapshotweb.com, spencer melton, technology and student ministry, texting in student ministry, The Exchange, ThExchange, tools for student ministry, what is the best bible software, who should I use to do a youth group t-shirt
Posted by: Jody Shelton | October 25, 2009
Watching Dawson—the light bulbs are coming on!
When we first were told Dawson had autism we thought he would never be able to truly function in the real world. There was a time that Dawson could hardly understand anything we said. However, with so many people working together Dawson understands so many amazing things. For instance when you see on these videos Dawson picking the right picture like shoes, hat, car… that enables us to tell him what we are doing or where we are going and he understands and follows our prompts. This translates to an easier life for us and cognitive growth on Dawson’s part.
The hardest part of this process is that ABA therapy is NOT covered by insurance. Every hour of Dawson’s therapy has come from wonderful people giving sacrificially to help him become who he is today. All I can say to those who have helped is you are truly a blessing not only to Dawson but to all of us. Words cannot express how much we thank you. Every month is a new venture to pray that God provides for Dawson through people from all over. If you would like to make a donation for Dawson’s therapy and expenses you can do so here. If you would rather send a check make it payable to Mount Zion Baptist Church with “Shelton Fund” in the memo line. Please understand any gift you give to Dawson is a tax deduction. We greatly appreciate your help and you will now see in these 3 video clips how far Dawson has come. Thanks Again.
Posted in Autism | Tags: aba, Aba therapy, Autism and vaccines, autism awareness, Can autism be helped, Dawson Shellton, Dr. Coby Lund, IBS, Integrated Behavior Solutions, Jody Shelton, jodyshelton.org, mount zion baptist church, Nyemade Baker-Marsh, videos of aba therapy, What is ABA, What is autism
Posted by: Jody Shelton | October 14, 2009
