Blog Disclosure Policy? Really?

(photo originally uploaded to Flickr by Stéfan)

Apparently there must be an influx of bloggers who are trying to stick it to the man by not disclosing the millions of dollars in endorsements they make blogging because the FTC is threatening an $11,000 fine to bloggers who do not disclose the nature of their relationships to links, reviews, etc. That being said, I do understand the implications of conflicts of interest and such, so here goes my disclosure:

While it would be nice to make a living writing this blog, truth be told, I don’t. I started this blog because I love ministry to children, children’s culture and the interaction of the two. Plus, I was tiring out my friends with my opinions on children’s ministry. I do have an audience, though, (that’s all of you reading this… thanks for reading!) and because of that there have been a few perks… and by perks, I mean I’ve had the privilege of receiving resources (i.e. books, curriculum, products, etc.) for review from various sources. I am also part of the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger program as well as ViralBloggers.com. When reviewing these resources, I offer my honest opinion of the material whether positive or negative. I do not offer favorable reviews in exchange for any type of compensation.

I am also part of the Amazon affiliate program and receive a percentage of material purchased through Amazon links on this blog in the form of Amazon gift certificates. While it isn’t much, I am able to turn around and buy a book after a year or so! In the same way, if someone clicks on one of the product links on the sidebar and purchases the product, I would receive small compensation which would go back into paying for hosting fees for this blog. So far, I haven’t received anything from those links. Also, if someone ever decided to donate via the PayPal link

those funds would go to help offset the cost of hosting this blog. Some day I might put up sponsored links that pay for ad space on this blog, but as of now, no one has paid me to have a link on this blog. (If you are interested in me putting up a sponsored link for you, though, feel free to contact me!)

Readers are under no obligation to click on any of the links on the blog or to purchase anything as a result of following any links on this blog.

One more thing… I do my best to give credit where credit is due. If I have posted something on this blog that belongs to you and I haven’t credited you, contact me so I can fix that. If you would like to reprint something from this blog either electronically or in print, or if you would like to use something from this blog in any other form of communication please be sure to reference either Henry Zonio or this blog (along with URL www.elementalcm.com) in accordance with the Creative Commons license.

Well, that ends my disclosure of this blog. If I failed to mention anything in this disclosure it’s because I’m tired and need to go to bed… not because I’m trying to hide something.

There! Are you happy, FTC?

Restraining Policies?

(picture originally uploaded to Flickr by theloushe)

As I was perusing the White House blog, I came across this about new legislation regarding policies about restraining children who are causing harm to themselves or others at school. It got me wondering about what would happen if we ever had a child that might need to be restrained to keep himself or other children safe. What would/wouldn’t be appropriate. Right now, we have a “hands-off” policy when it comes to any kind of disciplinary issue. Is there ever a need when restraining or seclusion is needed? I remember one time as a volunteer when one of the CM leaders at the church I was at had to restrain a child, but that leader was a special needs educator trained to know when and how to restrain a child… for the record, the child was weilding scissors with the intent to harm someone. On another occasion, a church I was on staff at had a child with some major behavioural issues who would throw furniture… at those times we would simply seclude him away from other kids with a leader until he calmed dow.

I’m interested to know what others in CM do? Do you have policies regarding extreme behavioural issues? What are the legal implications? Just curious.

Life According to 9-Year-Olds

Take a look at this video of some nine year old kids and their reflections. (HT: Alltop)

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7989835&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1It’s interesting what you learn about kids when you take time to talk and listen to them. When is the last time you sat down with a group of kids and simply listened to them? When’s the last time you’ve heard their take on the world around them?

Salvation from an Orthodox Christian perspective

A couple of days ago, Scot McKnight posted the following video on his blog:

So, what do you think?

While I didn’t agree completely with the theology in the video, it did get me thinking. It presented the Orthodox Church view of salvation pretty well. I liked the statement, “I was originally saved over 2000 years ago…” In evangelical Christianity, we spend so much time on the personal decision to follow Christ, that the power of what Christ did when he died and rose again seems somewhat downplayed. How do we teach kids that their salvation was purchased once and for all 2000 years ago while at the same time not losing sight of the recognition that we are saved by grace and works are an outpouring of that grace working within us?

Christmas Simplified

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(picture originally uploaded to Flickr by tonystl)

Recently, Ed Stetzer had an article in SermonCentral.com on not getting caught up in the cluttering of the Christmas. He makes a very good point:

“The very word ‘advent’ essentially means the arrival of something. So, as we celebrate Christmas, we supposedly celebrate the arrival of God into human form. The Incarnation is a moment to savor. All of our presents and lights and parties ought to have a better meaning. But usually, they don’t. So, in a bid to create a more relevant/helpful/meaningful advent season, the church of late has sought to delineate itself from the commercialization of our country’s Christmas culture. Oddly enough, we have done so by simply offering Christianized versions of what they were already doing—Christmas dinners, Christmas plays, Christmas musicals, and Christmas events in every size and shape. But alas, we have done no better than my neighbor. The church has cluttered the advent season with our own set of lawn décor.”

Book Review: Green by Ted Dekker

The following is a guest review posted by my wife, Erin, who is the author of the Finding Coloring in Gray blog.

Ted Dekker’s Green is the fourth book in his Circle series. The first of the series, Black, was published about five years ago, with its sequels, Red and White, being published in the few years following.

This book completes the circle-story of a man named Thomas Hunter who lives in another world, but has connections to ours. It continues to tell the story of Elyon’s love for all humanity, but the focus of this book is on His love for the Horde. I had the impression that Dekker didn’t feel like the story was over at the publishing of White, that there was more he wanted to tell. Some of the questions raised by the previous books, such as “How did that happen?” and “Why was Thomas the one?”, were answered, and even more details of the story were filled in.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas… at least sound like it!

It’s that time of year again! No, it’s not time to get the tree or decorate… OK, you probably want to do those things… What I’m talking about is Steve’s 25 Days of Christmas Music! My friend Steve Tanner of BevReview.com fame as well as the web operations manager for Kidology has done it, again, this year. He has brought back his much anticipated musical advent calendar. Each day, beginning today, up until Christmas day, Steve will be posting Christmas music over at Tannerworld Junction. You can go check it out and download today’s track.