Maybe its one of your “friends” from Trails … Though Marko I might not like everything you write … I love your passion for God and for students. That my friend is worth it all. Don’t let the “Reviewer” bring you down but know whose you are and Who is in Control. Keep up the good work. BTW I like Every Picture Tells a Story .. one of my favourite YS items. (I left it @ my last ministry I might need to purchase that again)

Just from reading those reviews quickly now I got the same vibe (that it could be the same person). My church uses your resources and many other YS resources regularly and the feedback we get from kids is that it’s both enlightening and engaging.

i had the same thought as gman, it’s the haters… either lhtrails or emerg-no - i doubt that it has anything to do with your writing chops (i have used most of your books and loved them - i’ll review them btw, it never crossed my mind that curricula was reviewable on amazon, duh!)

i think that this has more to do with ys-enemies and people who want to indoctrinate their children and youth instead of challenge their minds with big thoughts and interactive learning.

my guess is that they’re not post-modern enough themselves to teach that style with finesse. too much preperation and thinking on your feet needed instead of just lecturing (sermonizing) at their students. poor kids…

again - i think you’re take on it being a concerted effort by one or two ‘fake people’ to smear either you or the product. i would assume that amazon has IP addresses and records of the reviewers that could be examined to see if these false named reviewers are really the same person or not.

I know you said you didn’t care… but my middle school students love when I teach using wild truths. I have even started to try and design my own teaching into 3 or 4 segments that change things up and encourage interaction and move quickly (avoiding my boring lectures).

I found it interesting that they clearly hated your books, yet want the reader to believe that they read each one and found it lacking. If you suck as a curriculum source, why did they keep coming back for more?

I echo what Eric said, my students have always responded well with your resources, so much so, that I took your ideas and ran with my own creations. This Amazon crap is just some jack-legged haters, who should be at Mickey D’s with a student instead of hunting you down on Amazon.

Mark,

First of all, I’ve had about 3-4 people say I could be your twin brother. Had to say it before I forgot. It’s the first thing Doug and Lilly’s said to me.

About Amazon reviews…seriously does anyone even pay attention to them? I love reading reviews on books, but there are so many to sift through and I find a lot more personal bashing then anything else. Most of the people who bash won’t even respond to e-mails. Just cowardice in my opinion.

I got tired of putting up reviews b/c of it. I applaud your effort to try and reconcile, but since you a such a high profile youth ministry and church guy, you have to expect it.

Every Picture That Tells a Story is one of my most used resources with ALL ages, not just students. Thanks for putting it out.

Grace,

Mike

Just to jump on the bandwagon, our middle school teachers want MORE Wild Truth. Our students have grown and enjoyed them, and I’m looking for more YS MS resources.

See you in Austin!

I used wild truth for a couple years … kids loved it and I loved it - and it was before I ever met you or starting reading your blog, so I didn’t have any kind of personal bias, etc., at the time. I also had the thought that it was weird that these people who thought your resources were a waste of money seem to have kept getting them … it’s just someone trying to steer people away from you for some reason. Pretty pathetic, really.

A lot of Jr. High (and Sr. High too) youth ministry is in the presenter. You could have the best resource in the world - and if it’s not presented well - it won’t fly.

Likewise, you can have crap for resources, and yet - if it strikes the right chord for an idea, a great presenter could make it work (with modifications.)

Indeed though - reviews like “this is just someone making money off volunteers…” - are uncalled for. I’m sorry someone wasn’t more sensitive and didn’t stop to think that the author could be reading it.

thanks for all the nice comments about my stuff, all — i wasn’t looking for affirmations, but they’re always nice to hear!

Marko,

I think we really need to find out why Dan Kimball (Dan K) does not like your work. jk :)

i thought the same thing, randy!

we should line em all up and let that guy with the big roll of string roll it down a hill and ten pin em!

all in love of course!

Marko, maybe if you sent me a copy of each one of the resources you have written, I could accurately speak to this topic. You can contact me at…

If they are real, people need to know that some resources work for some groups and other don’t. I have used your books. Some have worked, some have not. But I still think it is great that you do what you do because I would find it hard to put together a something like that while trying to make it work for many different groups.

I know this post is older by now but I missed a few and felt it necessary to add to this.