Youtube videos I used at church camp (if you weren’t there, I swear they made more sense at the time)

Last week, I keynoted youth camp at Community of the Great Commission in the Sierras.

Several youth wanted links to the videos I used at camp.

Providing the links here does not mean I endorse every single word or image–sometimes the video was just used for effect. And I certainly don’t endorse the music of R Kelly–the link below is the exception that proves the rule.

On the other hand, I think these links indicate I’m a vaguely-more-hip-than-average church camp keynote. And am available for hire. 🙂

There were no mirrors in my nana’s house by Sweet Honey in the Rock (a little glimpse of Eden)

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Ubuntu, Forgiveness, and avoiding that pain in your tum-tum

I, Too, Sing America, by Langston Hughes (and to all my high school friends: no, I did not use this because Denzel Washington narrates it.)

Global WarNing by Earth Amplified (why, yes. Yes I do know half the people in this video. Thank you for noticing I’m cool.)

Taylor Mali on speaking powerfully (and why we don’t)….shout-outs to Rachelle Ryness for lifting this one up. His one on “what teachers make” rocks, too.

Gonna Have to Serve Somebody by Bob Dylan (covered by Etta James). On an unrelated note, Keith Richards in a Rolling Stone interview said, “Bob Dylan once told us, ‘I could have written “Satisfaction,” but you couldn’t have written ‘Blowing in the Wind.’ Yeah, but could he sing it?”

Let Your Light Shine by R Kelly (to my conscious hip hop friends, before you get your knickers in a twist [as my mother would say] about this video, watch it–it is striking how far those images have faded from our memory in the 6 years since Katrina)

Blessed are the Cheesemakers. One of the youth asked if they were speaking English.

The Not for Sale campaign on ending human trafficking

An MTV video on human trafficking and the true cost of what we buy.

Alberta Canada teens’ “Loser Like Me” flash mob. It gets better. Seriously. It does.

Where did all the good people go? by Jack Johnson. I pointed out that since Jack Johnson is about my age (one year older, for the record), he does what my generation does a lot, which is complain about how the generation above ours broke the toy and that we’re waiting for them to fix it before we start playing with it.

I cannot now find the harry potter video clip, but suffice it to say, “It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices.”

Would you harbor me by Sweet Honey in the Rock, for background music during our drawing sessions

Indian non-violent protest of the Salt Works from the film Gandhi. (Parents, I promise I contextualized this HEAVILY.)

Chris Tse on why he’s sorry he’s a Christian. (Again, lots of context. And it’s always worth asking WHY we’re getting triggered.)

We have not come here to take prisoners, by Hafiz. DUDE, this guy was writing this stuff in the 1300s! That blows me away! This was a particular favorite of our friends, Turkey missionaries Ken and Betty Frank. (The cool kind of missionaries who love people of all religions and feel called to serve the world.)

Where is the love by the Black Eyed Peas. Kickin’ it old’ school en español.

And finally, a summary of Ubuntu.

Seriously, how did I have time to talk while showing all these movie clips???

Thanks to some of the most powerful and inspiring youth I have ever worked with for an amazing week. And thanks to this region and this denomination for knowing that the message of love is the most critical message of all.