He’s asked me to make all 350+ pages of his work, “Issues and Answers,” available to you for free! This curriculum is intended to be a teaching guide to help youth workers and parents provide biblical answers for some of the tough issues in our society. In the introduction, Rol explains the format as:

“…a topical listing of 47 issues alphabetically, the Biblical background on the issue, the basic conclusions of Biblical teaching surrounding the issue, a statement of the youth’s culture prevailing perspective on the topic, and bibliographical helps for further study plus an interesting bit of trivia to add a little ‘seasoning’ to the subject matter.

The issues covered are:

• Abortion
• Alcohol
• Authority
• Bible (The)
• Birth Control
• Church (The)
• Cloning
• Clothes/Fads
• Counseling
• Cults/Occult
• Dancing
• Dating
• Death and Dying
• Death Penalty
• Depression
• Devotional Life
• Discipleship
• Divorce
• Drugs
• Ecology
• Evolution
• Euthanasia
• Food
• Gambling
• God
• Homosexuality
• Marriage
• Modern Day Religions
• Money-(Stewardship)
• Music
• M.T.V.
• Parent-Child Relationships
• Peer Pressure
• Pets
• Politics
• Pornography
• Pre-Marital Sex
• Racism
• Sabbath/Sunday (The)
• School
• Smoking
• Sports
• Suicide
• Swearing
• Tattoos/(Body Piercing)
• War
• Women’s Rights

Obviously, some of the topics are open to a lot of interpretation based on your theological background. I promise Roland Boyce will not take it personally if you disagree with his conclusions on any of these issues!

IMPORTANT: Each lesson has parts that are in different documents. The main lesson is clearly titled as such, but supplemental statistics for each lesson can be found in the “issues and answers stats.doc” document, and a teachable activity/exercise for each lesson along with the lesson’s aim is found in the “Life Labs” document.

ALSO IMPORTANT: Pastor Roland Boyce is providing this to you for free, but he would greatly appreciate hearing your feedback about it, especially if you use it with your groups. Please email him at rboyce@alexandriacovenant.org with your thoughts, recommendations, suggestions and encouragement.

Download “Issues and Answers” Youth Group Curriculum

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Join us at 2:00 PM EST this afternoon in our LIVE YM Talk. Our featured guest is Jeff Borton, co-author of a brand new book, Simple Student Ministry. He’ll lead us in a discussion about simplifying our student ministries. See the LIVE YM Talk page for details on how to join the call and/or the live chat.

Activity Ideas

• Community tree-plantings: municipal parks, side-walk shade trees, urban tree plantings, etc.; also flower gardens
• Trash pick-ups: local parks, “Adopt A Spot” public-right-of-ways, stream banks, etc. Always wear protective gloves!
• Flower or Veggie garden: community designated spot or church property

General Tips/Tricks

• Connect with local and state authorities; NGO’s or wildlife refuges for activity ideas or jumping on board an established one. NGO’s and wildlife refuges always welcome volunteers and are often planning events themselves.
• Always get explicit permission from the municipality if public lands involved.
• Check out Americorps, the “domestic Peace Corps” where I served. Trained personnel are available at no charge to help plan your own project or get you involved with one of theirs.
• Donations: Large companies have budgets for “social responsibility” requirements. Search their web pages or talk to the store manager. Giants like Home Depot and Lowes are will be able to provide you with lawn/leaf bags, plants, shovels etc., also grant money for larger projects. Contacting the store manager for simple items like lawn/leaf bags. Ask for donations from local “mom and pop” garden centers, too.
• Other local businesses may contribute if you have a set plan and give them proper credit for their contribution. By telling other members of the community that this local business supported a community project, it sends a strong message about that business’s commitment to the well-being of its customers.
• Fostering Stewardship: Set the example! You, as a youth leader are responsible for feeling a strong sense of stewardship in the first place and passing in on to your group. Not everyone may bite, but guaranteed you’ll at least a few who really latch on. Do background research on the project and similar projects, and give examples to your group about successful projects elsewhere and how that community has benefited. Before/after photos are especially helpful! Also, keep track of the process. If you are doing tree plantings for example, take photos before, during, after, and waaay after to show your group and new members how your trees have grown. Talk about difficulties encountered and how it makes each person feel to see the positive changes they’ve contributed to their environment.

Schedule activities on a yearly basis (i.e. every Earth Day have an activity). Or every October have one just because. If it becomes and annual event, you are more likely to keep youths interested and involved, and new ones will see that the older kids think it’s cool too. Eventually, parents and other church members will become more supportive of your efforts as they see their children looking forward to “this year’s event.” You can also solicit the general public to volunteer at an event as well. Ask them to bring a non-perishable food item too.

Also, connect with the spiritual side of embracing the world around you. Take some time to reflect on the day’s activities. Put your palm on the trunk of an old tree or young sapling. Think about the many years that old tree has “seen” come and go, how it has weathered the impacts of humans on earth, “seen” changes in it’s landscape, and been powerless to defend itself in a changing environment. Think of how this new, young sapling has so much life to live, and could very well outlive you. Give it hope for a long, healthy life by promising to do your part by keeping the air, water, and soil it needs to live clean. In turn, that tree will help keep the air, water, and soil you need to live, clean, too. We’re all connected in one-way or another. God put us on this earth to do great things, and He gave us a magnificent planet to work with. Respect the earth and care for it as God would have you nurture your own children.

I would love to share ideas with you, I have many!! Contact me at kdacanay2@yahoo.com.

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Kira Dacanay is a Master’s Candidate at the University of Rhode Island in the Department of Marine Affairs, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Management from Rutgers University, NJ. She completed 1700 hours of community service work with the AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassador Program in 2007 and worked nearly 2 years with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection prior to beginning her Master’s degree. She enjoys connecting spiritually with the natural world and strives to improve her stewardship of the great resource that God has provided.

This MSNBC news video is worth watching.

[ht Inetta Smith via email]

1. It’s very emotional, unlike any other job. You’ll experience the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows.

2. It’s very messy, and always will be as long as you work with people who are just as imperfect and sinful as you are.

3. It’s constantly changing. Youth culture never stays the same from year to year, and neither do the kids, values, nor worldviews. Youth ministry must always morph along with it. As soon as you think you have a handle on it, think again.

4. It requires strong vision casting. Any leadership position does, but leadership in youth ministry does especially. Your leaders, teens, parents, church and community all depend on it.

5. Don’t think you need to do it all. In fact, the ministry is healthier when you enable others to serve instead of taking responsibility for every youth event, trip, fundraiser, small group, idea, and strategy that furthers the vision.

6. No matter what people at your new church say, don’t make deep rooted changes in the ministry until after two years of building trust and respect.

7. Live a life that is above reproach in everything. Eventually even “little things” will come to light and you will be held to a higher level of accountability for it (and rightly so).

8. Kids really don’t care how “cool” you are or how well you know scripture as much as they care about how much you love them as individuals, not as a group.

9. Have a firm grasp on what your values are in ministry and make sure they’re are aligned with a church’s written and unwritten values before accepting a paid youth ministry position there.

10. Don’t be too discouraged if you don’t see results and life-change take place right away. Sometimes it takes years, and even then you won’t always hear about it.

What do you wish someone would’ve told you about youth ministry before you got started? We’d all love to hear it in the comments below.

The cycle of youth culture

It’s really not surprising to me that this is happening. It’s the cycle of youth culture. Teens gravitate to something, usually under criticism from adults, until it becomes common and mainstream. As the adults eventually start adopting it themselves, teens gradually move on to something else.

Remember that, in his day, Elvis Presley was greatly criticized for his gyrating hips and the moral values his followers were adopting, but eventually his music became common among adults, parents, and teens alike. So, teens moved on to other flavors of rock and roll. As those flavors became mainstream with adults, teens moved once again to alternative rock. And so on…

Mark Oestreicher, in his book, Youth Ministry 3.0, summarizes it well:

Youth culture has become the dominate culture…. Middle-aged and younger parents listen to the same music their teenagers listen to (or, at least, used to listen to)…. Clothing brands cross age barriers…. Adults are all over Facebook and MySpace. …youth culture cannot stand by while it becomes completely commoditized and commonplace. That rubs against the essential fabric of adolescence…. Teenagers’ constant need to differentiate from the adult world… drives them to new, “other” ways of connecting, coping, and creating. Every time some aspect of youth culture becomes commoditized and mainstream, accepted by adults and culture at large, teenagers tweak it in a new way for themselves or create a whole new category. Case in point: All Web-watchers and adolescent speculators were still convinced that teenagers were going to continue using email and online chat rooms to connect with each other virtually, but teenagers slid out from under that and embraced instant messaging. Then we adults… were shocked… that teens would slide out from under our assumptions about their IM use and move to texting as the most common form of social networking. (Pages 65, 66, 68.)

It’s impossible to predict what teens will move toward next, but I will take the liberty of going on record to say that the general population of teens will move away from Facebook in the next two years.

This is becoming more and more evident as young adults like Julian Smith are annoyed that grandparents are joining Facebook. In his popular video, 25 Things I Hate About Facebook, Julian says there should be an age limit to Facebook (1:14 in the video).

Some teens I know still love Facebook and use it daily, but not everyone. Actually, what prompted me to write this blog post a couple months ago was a conversation I had with a teen who said he closed his Facebook account because there’s too many adults there and it’s too bloated with random features he doesn’t care about.

So what’s next?

I have no idea what they’ll gravitate toward as teens stop checking Facebook multiple times a day and start checking it only once a day, eventually checking it a couple times a week and then only once in a while, but I think it will have a couple elements:

1. It will not be tethered to a computer. Although Facebook has a mobile version and features, it’s still largely bound to a computer. As teens become more and more mobile and as smart phone data plans become more common, their networking will move to a mobile device that connects to a computer rather than the other way around.

2. It will still enhance and lead to face-to-face socializing. When the telephone was gaining traction, the criticism was that people would no longer meet face-to-face to talk and the dangers of miscommunication from not seeing body language would create a lot of problems. Today we all know people still continue to meet face-to-face anyway. The telephone just extended our communication. Oddly enough, however, that’s the same argument that was made when I was younger and email and IM was gaining traction, except that those communication methods didn’t even have talking involved! But yet, here we are today still meeting in person, despite all the text messaging and social networking sites. Remember, God has created mankind with an innate need for relationships, primarily with Himself, but also with each other. That face-to-face component will never go away, just the expressions of it change as technology and youth culture continues to develop.

One possibility of something teens might gravitate toward is something like Loopt, a social service that utilizes the GPS capabilities of newer phones to show you where your friends are in proximity to you, what they’re doing, and quickly contact them so you can meet together face-to-face. (This Apple commercial explains it a bit more.) Whether or not it will reach the widespread acceptance like Facebook is yet to be seen (I kinda think it won’t).

Whatever teens move toward, though, it will initially come under criticism from adults just like MySpace and Facebook did. Soon enough adults will accept it and cause the teens to once again move elsewhere, but thus is the cycle of youth culture and all the subsequent challenges of youth ministry.

What do you think?

Do you think it will take teens longer than two years to move to something else? Shorter? Will Facebook be able to keep up with the morphing trends in culture and adolescence? Have an idea of what they’ll move toward after Facebook? Would love to hear from you in the comments below.

Read my short article on “Dealing with an Addiction to Porn.”

In the article I mention a program called Covenant Eyes. I highly recommend it, even over some of the free alternatives out there. If you try it out using the promo code “YouthMinistry” you’ll get the first 30 days for free just to try it out. And even if you don’t struggle with porn, it serves as a protection against any future accusations that may unfortunately come.

You may also want to check out this free ebook I offered in an earlier blog post that addresses this struggle in more detail. And also watch this video discussion between me and two other guys about internet accountability for youth workers.

The video below was produced by Covenant Eyes. It contains some good insights about this struggle. Definitely worth your time to watch “Struggle with a pornography temptation?”

Ministry Mutiny is a required text for those in the Youth Ministry Mentorship program because it has so many critical insights for new youth workers (of things to avoid) and for veteran youth workers (of things to change). I put together a discussion guide for the mentor team to use as they go through the book with their mentees and am now making it freely available for you.

The Ministry Mutiny discussion guide goes through each chapter in the book, asking tough questions about the ideas and principles mentioned, along with self-reflective evaluations of our own lives in ministry. Dare 2 Share may distribute this guide with Ministry Mutiny in a forthcoming second revision, but for now you can grab it free right here:

Download the Ministry Mutiny discussion guide

[ Ministry Mutiny on Amazon ]

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There is NO LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation today! Instead, I’m at the National Youth Workers Convention in Sacramento, CA, liveblogging the event. Go to http://www.nywc.com/live to follow the play-by-play of thoughts, ideas, videos, pictures, and more of what’s happening at the conference.

There once was a day when MTV stood for music television. Now, I won’t even touch that channel with a 10 foot pole. Whether it is the popular tween “drama” The Hills, or reality television that will make you want to visit the pepto-bismol bottle, it is getting a little ridiculous.

Now, it has gotten a lot ridiculous. It was bad enough the advertising on another network for the other top teen drama “Gossip Girl” produced a slogan of “It’s your parent’s worst nightmare.” Now we have to see the new reality series on MTV is being promoted as “girls willing to shed the pounds (30-80 lbs), become a model and win $100,000!” Right, because that is the only way to become a model or be beautiful is to lose 5, 10…80 pounds! What a great message for our youth of America.

For all those young girls that may read this, hoping to find ways for dramatic weight loss here is the most important message on your body you will ever find:

1 Samuel 16:7 “…for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

As youth workers it’s time we teach and model (no pun intended) beauty is on the inside. This isn’t just a cliche to put at the end of children’s books. God truly cares more about your heart than the number that shows up on the scale. Sure, take care of your body, eat right and try to exercise. But God’s Word says “bodily exercise profiteth little” compared to living a godly life. That will make you more beautiful than any Hills star or any model on the runways of New York.

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My name is Jeff Beckley, and I am a youth pastor in Ohio. My passion is to train and equip the leaders of tomorrow. My blog site contains relevant articles to help you face the world with a Biblical worldview, humorous “top ten” lists, and helpful young ministry links. Also, this blog will supply youth pastors/workers with helpful tips on forming a Youth Leader Staff, mission trip tips, event helps, and other advice that I learned the hard way or from veterans in the field.

The purpose of this blog series was to discuss how teens can develop as sexual beings without being sexually active. Having accomplished the purpose, some questions deserve appropriate attention.

• Can this type of sexual education really work?
• Is this type of sexual education appropriate in the context of a spiritual community?
• When is the proper time for this type of sexual education to start?

Concerning the first question, I would answer that it can. If, as Christians, we consider growth in Christ a realistic goal of religious education, and we believe that sexuality and spirituality are inseparable, it follows, then, that a holistic, biblical approach to teaching sexuality can work.

Is this type of approach appropriate in the context of a spiritual community? This question does not have a “one size fits all” answer. Certainly, community provides encouragement, accountability, and correction. However, teens may not be mature enough to be open about their sexual development in a communal setting. Age and maturity are factors in making this determination. Without the community, though, teens may find it easier to succumb to sexual temptation. My assertion is that community is important to both spiritual and sexual development, but local factors will determine how to organize the community.

When is the proper time for this type of sexual education to start? I believe that this type of education actually starts in early childhood. If parents and church workers wait to discuss sexuality until the onset of puberty, sexuality has again been divorced from spirituality. However, if the spiritual education of children is more transformative than informative in purpose, then this approach to sexual education builds upon a firm foundation. Especially important, I think, is finding age appropriate ways to engage children in spiritual disciplines. On some level, many of the personal disciplines involve abstaining from something. The Bible states that the parents are responsible for their children’s spiritual education, not the church. Therefore, parents are to model self-sacrifice and lead their children in doing it as a part of their spiritual education. To expect teenagers to abstain from sexual activity having never practiced abstinence on any other level, I believe, is setting them up for failure. However, if parents model abstinence in the spiritual disciplines as sacrificial worship to God, then it is conceivable that their children could learn, through example and through experience, the link between abstinence and worship. From this foundation, teenagers may find it easier to choose sexual abstinence.

If a teenager commits to be faithful to their future mate by remaining abstinent until marriage, will current methods of teaching abstinence give them both the holistic understanding and the tools to do it? The possibility does exist, since God works through imperfect people and imperfect means to accomplish His will. Yet, if there is still a disconnect, what are youth workers, parents, and seminary professors going to do to address the challenge? Hopefully, this series has take steps to address this challenge, but the work is far from complete.

Read the other posts in this “Teaching Teen Sexuality” series.

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Shannon Bond is in his first year as the youth minister at First Baptist Church in Bangs, TX. He is married to the former Stephanie DeBoom of Copperas Cove, TX and has three children: Raegan (6-year-old daughter), Sydnie (4-year-old daughter), and Joey (2-year-old son). He is a student at Logsdon Seminary in Abilene, TX. Before becoming a youth minister, Shannon spent 13 years as a teacher and coach.

A biblically grounded sexuality redeems the relationship between the spiritual and the sexual. If God does not exist, as atheists and evolutionists argue, then sexuality is merely for pleasure or procreation. It has no spiritual component to it. However, if God does exist, and He merely wants people to abstain from sexual intercourse, then oral sex, heavy petting, and fondling must be acceptable practices—after all, those practices are not really “sex.”

Youth workers and parents combat these lies by teaching students to understand that humans are both spiritual and sexual. According to Richard Foster, “[W]e do not have a body, we are a body; we do not have a spirit, we are a spirit. What touches the body deeply touches the spirit as well [italics authors].” The Bible calls this becoming “one flesh.” Students often fail to realize this until it is too late.

Youth workers and parents should help students understand that sexuality is best expressed through worship. Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (NIV). Worship involves sacrifice. When teenagers pledge to be abstinent as a moral choice, they often depend upon their own moral fiber to fulfill their vow. A fear of consequences guides their decision-making. Conversely, when teenagers understand that abstinence is a spiritual act of worship, they give the Holy Spirit room to empower them to sacrifice and to lead them around any “loopholes.” Love guides their decision-making. Morality and love are now intertwined. If a couple follows this path toward the marriage altar, they will arrive there having begun to experience a purer intimacy and unity on two levels: in their relationship as a couple, and in their individual relationships with God.

Citations
Richard J. Foster, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1985), 117.

Read the other posts in this “Teaching Teen Sexuality” series.

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Shannon Bond is in his first year as the youth minister at First Baptist Church in Bangs, TX. He is married to the former Stephanie DeBoom of Copperas Cove, TX and has three children: Raegan (6-year-old daughter), Sydnie (4-year-old daughter), and Joey (2-year-old son). He is a student at Logsdon Seminary in Abilene, TX. Before becoming a youth minister, Shannon spent 13 years as a teacher and coach.

Love is very misunderstood. Most teenagers understand love as a feeling, identifying it with the emotions. When a relationship feels good, teenagers feel like they are “in love.” These relationships are lacking in commitment and sacrificial love. Teenagers need help understanding the different dimensions of love and their proper expression.

Both the Greek and Hebrew languages have multiple words translated into English as “love.” The Greek words are agape, phileo, storgeo, and eros. The Hebrew words are raya, ahava, and dod. Both phileo and raya portray a friendship type of love. Both agape and ahava portray a deeper, self-sacrificing love of commitment. Both eros and dod portray erotic, sexual love. In the Nooma short film entitled “Flame,” pastor and author Rob Bell says,

We have our raya flame. We have our ahava flame. And we have our dod flame. One flame burning all by itself will never be as hot as all the flames burning together. I mean, we were created for all the flames to burn as one. When you separate the flames, it can never really satisfy. It’s like your living outside how God wired you to live.

Teenagers, much like the rest of society, are quick to jump straight into eros/dod without including agape/ahava or phileo/raya. The emotional damage from this type of sexual activity is deep and slow to heal. Nonetheless, media messages bombard teens with “Everyone is doing it. It’s a natural part of growing up.” The messages have an underlying assertion that teens who are not having sex are abnormal.

Youth workers and parents combat this lie by explaining the biblical words for love and their appropriate expression in the lives of their teenagers. Teenagers do not understand how all three of the “flames” of love burn together as one. They need mature adults to model this for them and mentor them as they develop friendship love and experience the emotional fulfillment it brings. Foster writes, “Loving does not need to be genital to be intimate, and the capacity to love is vital to our sexuality. And so the single person should develop many relationships that are wholesome and caring.” Furthermore, he states, “The single person’s sexuality is expressed in the need to experience emotional fulfillment. The decision to reserve genital sex for marriage is not a decision to remain emotionally unfulfilled. Warm, satisfying friendships are legitimate ways single people can express their sexuality.” Teenagers have to be taught how to have healthy friendships. It is natural for friendships with people of the opposite sex to have an erotic dimension. Teenagers need to learn that they need not act on those feelings.

Furthermore, youth workers and parents combat this lie by teaching and mentoring teenagers in knowing when it is appropriate to make a deeper, more meaningful commitment in a relationship. Deeper commitments bring couples closer to eros, so students need help to establish and to commit to following biblical boundaries for their relationship. Despite all of the media messages pressuring teenagers to have sex, teenagers need to be taught and reminded that not everyone is having sex — plus, God does not intend for them to outside the bond of marriage.

Citations

• Rob Bell, Flame. Disc 2, Nooma, DVD (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005).
• Richard J. Foster, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1985), 115.

Read the other posts in this “Teaching Teen Sexuality” series.

—————————————————————————–

Shannon Bond is in his first year as the youth minister at First Baptist Church in Bangs, TX. He is married to the former Stephanie DeBoom of Copperas Cove, TX and has three children: Raegan (6-year-old daughter), Sydnie (4-year-old daughter), and Joey (2-year-old son). He is a student at Logsdon Seminary in Abilene, TX. Before becoming a youth minister, Shannon spent 13 years as a teacher and coach.

One of the most misunderstood areas of our sexuality concerns the mind. Foster writes, “Although all lust involves sexual fantasy, not all sexual fantasies lead to lust. How do we know the difference?” In answering the question, Foster notes, “Lust is an untamed, inordinate sexual passion to possess, and this is a very different thing from the usual erotic awareness experienced in sexual fantasy.” Sexual fantasy is a natural part of sexuality that needs redemption and submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ. When teens do not know the difference between lust and healthy sexual fantasy, guilt sets in and they feel as if they will never experience victory in this area. Then they ask God, “Why did you make me this way? Why did you give me these desires and then tell me to wait?” Giving in to temptation is not far off now.

Youth workers and parents combat this lie by helping teens to realize that sexual fantasy is a normal part of their development. Foster says, “Sometimes sexual fantasies signify a longing for intimacy; at other times, they express attraction toward a beautiful and winsome person.” Under the lordship of Christ, sexual fantasy allows teenagers to use their imagination in a positive way, glorifying God and honoring their future mate. When teenagers think that every sexual thought is sin, guilt becomes overwhelming. They deem themselves incurable sexual addicts who are without hope.

Two actions will prove helpful in this area. First, teens have to understand that temptation is not sin. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (NIV). This realization can be very freeing for teens. Second, teens have to understand the role of temptation in the life of the believer. Teens often feel as if God has stacked the deck against them. Youth workers who can explain how temptation fits into the sovereignty of God and His good plan for His people will help teens immensely.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (NIV). “All things” must apply to temptation or we deny the sovereignty of God. Just as God used sinful people to crucify Christ, producing something good, He can use temptation in the life of the believer to produce something good.

For believers, salvation is “already, but not yet.” In other words, we are already saved (justified), but we are not completely saved (glorified). God uses temptation to produce growth in Christlikeness during our lifelong journey of justification. According to Hull and Mascarella, “To live as Jesus Lived, we must train ourselves to follow God into temptation, because in God’s skillful hands even temptation is transformational.” In similar fashion, as sexual beings, teenage sexuality is “already, but not yet.” They are sexual beings, but the ultimate realization of their sexuality, the sexual relationship between a husband and wife, has not yet happened. In the meantime, God can use sexual temptation to promote mature development in teenagers, both as Christians and as sexual beings. Teenagers need mentors who can lead the way in this area, both in the area of overcoming temptation and in understanding its role in the transformation of the believer.

Citations

• Richard J. Foster, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1985), 120, 121.
• Bill Hull and Paul Mascarella, Live as Jesus Lived: Transformed Character, Book 2 of Experience the Life: Making the Jesus Way a Habit (Richardson, Texas: Biblical Studies Press, 2007), 31.

Read the other posts in this “Teaching Teen Sexuality” series.

—————————————————————————–

Shannon Bond is in his first year as the youth minister at First Baptist Church in Bangs, TX. He is married to the former Stephanie DeBoom of Copperas Cove, TX and has three children: Raegan (6-year-old daughter), Sydnie (4-year-old daughter), and Joey (2-year-old son). He is a student at Logsdon Seminary in Abilene, TX. Before becoming a youth minister, Shannon spent 13 years as a teacher and coach.

A biblically grounded sexuality redeems the physical body. Because of misinformation and a lack of instruction and guidance, students lack a biblical image of their bodies. Parents often feel as if they lack the skills and vocabulary to talk to their own children about sexuality. As the children enter puberty and their body starts the maturation process, many of them believe lies about their bodies.

One lie is that personal body image is an indicator of one’s development as a sexual being. The student whose body matures at a faster rate — who looks more like the girl in Seventeen magazine or the guy in the music video — is the one who is elevated to the status of “hottie” or “stud.” Students who do not develop as quickly feel inferior and may take drastic steps to correct their body image. Girls are particularly prone to eating disorders when they feel that their body image does not measure up to the “standard.” Guys may avoid taking showers in gym class for fear of being ridiculed for being less developed.

Another lie that students believe is that some of the changes that are happening to their bodies are dirty. Boys who have nocturnal emissions may think such thoughts. Girls may think that their period is disgusting and gross. These natural occurrences have the possibility of wreaking havoc on a student. The enemy is quick to pounce on these opportunities at tearing down student’s self-image. Poor self-image leads many students down a path of self-destruction, as they look for anyone who will make them feel good about how they look.

Youth workers and parents combat these lies by explaining God’s view of the body and its beauty. Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (NIV). Youth workers who personalize and contextualize these verses for students will do much to correct distorted body images. Furthermore, girls in particular require teaching and mentoring in inner beauty. Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” (NIV). First Peter 3:3-5 says,
“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful (NIV).”

Therefore, teenagers are encouraged to see their beauty as both internal and external, within a biblical concept. Helping girls in particular to see the lies behind the media messages about beauty will help girls to build a solid self-image.

For teenagers, especially girls, who feel physically unattractive, reassuring hugs gives positive examples of healthy touching, which conveys a sense of worth to them. It also helps them to distinguish between healthy, loving touching and unhealthy, possessive touching. Richard Foster writes, “Singles should welcome the touch, the hug, the warm embrace. These are essential ingredients in our human sexuality, and it is not wise to cut ourselves off from them.” A problem arises when a teenager cannot distinguish between healthy and unhealthy touching. When self-image is low, unhealthy touching can lead teenagers to seek worth in a relationship that initially promises to give it, only to find that it steals it instead.

Furthermore, youth workers and parents combat these lies by explaining that the natural maturation process is just a part of becoming an adult man or woman. Instead of hiding in embarrassment, teens can celebrate that God’s gift is growing and maturing in them. Stephen Arterburn writes, “Nocturnal emissions kick in naturally in response to your normal, natural sperm buildup. This means that the fixed part of your sex drive will more or less be taken care of by God’s natural relief valve.” Yet, this occurrence can be quite disconcerting to a young boy. A weekend mother/daughter or father/son retreat can be a good way for mothers and fathers to talk to and reassure their daughters and sons during this time of transition into adulthood. Reassuring teens that natural physical development is a good thing can help keep a positive self-image intact, is good for developing the parent/child relationship, and is helpful in helping them in their journey into adulthood. Bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs serve a similar purpose for Jewish teenagers.

In addition, teens will need help understanding how their body reacts to sexual stimuli. Boys need help recognizing how visually driven they are and need help developing tools for avoiding lustful thoughts and actions. Girls need help recognizing how touching makes them react sexually and emotionally. Both need help understanding that these feelings and urges are natural and need not be repressed, but taken captive to the will of God.

Citations:

• Richard J. Foster, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1985), 154.
• Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker, with Mike Yorkey, Every Young Man’s Battle: Strategies for Victory in the Real World of Sexual Temptation (Colorado Springs, Colorado: Water Brook Press, 2002), 130.

Read the other posts in this “Teaching Teen Sexuality” series.

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Shannon Bond is in his first year as the youth minister at First Baptist Church in Bangs, TX. He is married to the former Stephanie DeBoom of Copperas Cove, TX and has three children: Raegan (6-year-old daughter), Sydnie (4-year-old daughter), and Joey (2-year-old son). He is a student at Logsdon Seminary in Abilene, TX. Before becoming a youth minister, Shannon spent 13 years as a teacher and coach.

What would a biblically grounded sexuality look like? First, a biblically grounded sexuality redeems gender. God created men and women to be different physically, emotionally, and psychologically. He created them to complement and complete each other. However, there are those who purport the lie that gender is not important to one’s sexuality. According to Scott Davis:

Maleness and femaleness are no longer seen as precious aspects of our beings, inestimable gifts from God to His creations, but are now the incidental leftovers of blind evolutionary processes. All that remain are odd gender stereotypes and sexual organs that can be manipulated for pleasure. [Scott Davis, "From Pimp to Pure via Youth Ministry," Youth Worker Journal, September 4, 2007, http://www.youthworker.com/11553168 (accessed May 21, 2008).]

This line of thinking opens the door to all types of aberrant sexual behaviors.

Those who do not practice heterosexuality justify their behaviors in two ways. One way is to say that God does not exist. Without an objective moral authority, people are free to go wherever their ideas of love and pleasure take them. Another way is to say that the biblical passages concerning aberrant sexual behaviors have been misinterpreted or taken out of context. For example, some assert that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their inhospitality. Others say that when Paul referred to homosexuality, he was not condemning the practice as is practiced today within loving, committed relationships. Instead, Paul was condemning pederasty or homosexual prostitution. These verses, they assert, would not apply to those who are born homosexual.

Youth workers and parents combat this lie by unashamedly declaring what the Bible says about gender. Christians believe that God exists and that He reveals Himself personally through Scripture. Christians believe in God’s goodness and that He wants the best for all of humanity. Therefore, what God has to say about gender in the Bible is the definitive standard. According to the Bible, gender is a part of the gift of sexuality, intended to be discovered through relationships, through love, and ultimately, through heterosexual sexual intercourse in a marriage relationship. The Bible is clear about the heterosexual marriage relationship as the highest realization of human love and sexual expression. Youth workers will do well, though, to act with sensitivity toward those struggling with their sexual identity.

Furthermore, youth workers combat this lie by reinforcing the goodness of gender outside of sexual activity by declaring that it is okay for boys to act like boys and for girls to act like girls. Organized “Girls Only” or “Guys Only” events where activities are gender specific (without trying to reinforce gender stereotypes) are wonderful ways of reinforcing positive ideas about gender and sexuality. Positive adult role models will add to the experience.

Read the other posts in this “Teaching Teen Sexuality” series.

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Shannon Bond is in his first year as the youth minister at First Baptist Church in Bangs, TX. He is married to the former Stephanie DeBoom of Copperas Cove, TX and has three children: Raegan (6-year-old daughter), Sydnie (4-year-old daughter), and Joey (2-year-old son). He is a student at Logsdon Seminary in Abilene, TX. Before becoming a youth minister, Shannon spent 13 years as a teacher and coach.

Josh began attending church not long after he was born. For sixteen years, he has been a member of the same church. He has a close-knit group of friends, many of them members of that particular church. As a group, they went through AWANA together, started middle school and high school together, went on numerous youth trips and to many camps together, and sat through the “sex talk” many times since they started youth group together as seventh graders. Josh and his friends know the risks and potential consequences of sexual activity before marriage: sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, emotional pain, guilt, and a bad reputation, to name just a few. During a weekend event emphasizing abstinence, Josh pledged to wait until marriage to become sexually active. He understands the risks of sexual activity and the rewards of abstinence until marriage. Yet, he feels as though he is a dam that is about to break. The pressures — from his own sexual urges and drives, from a sex-saturated society, and from the attractive girls making advances at him — make the “wait until marriage” defense seem weak and powerless against the never-ending onslaught. Some of his peers offer masturbation as a solution, which he tries, only to have guilt flood over him. Others chide him for his vow of purity, saying, “Everyone is doing it. You are missing all of the fun.” At a party just before his seventeenth birthday, Josh has oral sex with a girl. “After all,” he says, “it is not really sex.” Now his pledge of abstinence seems worthless. After years of saying “no,” Josh’s compartmentalized and dualistic understanding of his sexuality has not helped him find the parts of his sexuality that he can say “yes” to. Consequently, he is finding it increasingly difficult to say “no.”

Although Josh is a fictitious character, his story, sadly, is true for many teenagers raised in the church. Despite the best efforts of youth workers and parents, Christian teens are sexually active. What are the church and the family to do? Giving up is not an option. Although teens attend church for any number of reasons, many of them attend because they seek direction for their lives. What direction does the church give teens concerning their sexuality? Current approaches to teaching sexuality may need to be re-examined and re-focused in order to be more holistic.

The purpose of this blog series is to discuss how teens may develop as sexual beings without becoming sexually active. If this purpose is achieved, whether on Tim’s blog or in other circles of influence, the goal of such a discussion is to provide a framework from which youth workers and parents may teach and mentor teens so that they arrive at the marriage altar having understood and embraced their God-given sexuality while having practiced abstinence.

We’ll begin by defining sexuality. Next, we’ll give attention to the various components of sexuality, exposing lies distorting the perceptions and understandings of these components and replacing those lies with biblical truth and spiritually empowered application appropriate to teenagers. Finally, it will address whether an approach of this nature is realistic and applicable in both the church and family settings.

Read the other posts in this “Teaching Teen Sexuality” series.

—————————————————————————–

Shannon Bond is in his first year as the youth minister at First Baptist Church in Bangs, TX. He is married to the former Stephanie DeBoom of Copperas Cove, TX and has three children: Raegan (6-year-old daughter), Sydnie (4-year-old daughter), and Joey (2-year-old son). He is a student at Logsdon Seminary in Abilene, TX. Before becoming a youth minister, Shannon spent 13 years as a teacher and coach.

In the ’70s and ’80s youth workers started telling their church’s leadership, “Hey, we need to get these kids involved in the church, but we have to change church a little in order for them to connect because right now it’s just for adults.” The church leaders considered this and promptly replied, “No, we’ve been doing church a lot longer than you have and we know how it works best.” So, in an attempt to keep the kids in church, youth leaders started having their own little Bible studies instead of sending kids to hear the sermon.

A bit later we said, “Hey, here are some kids who can play instruments and lead worship in church, but it’s not the piano or organ.” Again the leaders said, “No, we like our music exactly the way it is. We’re not going to change it.” So again, youth leaders responded by forming their own worship bands and eventually started having their own worship services, essentially creating a mini-church within the larger church, both of which were grossly disconnected from each other.

Throughout this time teenagers continued to develop relationships with only their youth group peers and adult leaders, and by the time graduation came around they knew no one in the “big church” and had little to no attraction to it because they had spent all their time in the mini youth church.

Fast forward to the end of a student’s first year of college. He returns home, goes back to church, pops in on “youth church” because that’s where he is known and feels comfortable, but quickly realizes he doesn’t belong there anymore. However, he doesn’t feel connected to anything else in the church, so he drops out altogether.

I realize this is a gross over-simplification, but the point is clear: Youth ministry must abandon this “mini youth church” approach and purposefully integrate teenagers into the life of the body as a whole. No more “Youth Sundays” — youth are to be involved every Sunday. No more having youth service during the main church service. No more church leaders who are too stubborn and too comfortable to accept change. No more delegating responsibility and leadership roles only to adults. No more adding 20-something programs that do nothing more than continue to segregate the body.

It won’t solve all our problems, but our fundamental approach to giving students ownership must change nevertheless. Otherwise, we die and pass on a church system that is incredibly broken, disconnected and outdated.

The first half of the film was dreadfully boring. Walking into the theater I already knew that Ben Stein’s quest was to expose the “behind the scenes” censorship of Intelligent Design in the academic world, but in the beginning I seriously had a difficult time trying to figure out what his point was and where he was going with it. The arguments were less than compelling, Ben Stein was not funny, and the constant little TV clips from the ’40s started to get on my nerves. If I had been watching it on DVD at home, I probably would’ve turned it off and found something more interesting to do.

It wasn’t until half-way through the film when Ben Stein started making the connection between Darwinism and German Nazis that I started paying attention to the film, mostly because some emotion was finally pricked as Ben Stein, a Jew, toured the concentration camps. From that point on the movie seemed to flow with a sense of direction and interviews that were actually intriguing. Richard Dawkins’ perspective was fascinating as he clearly tied religion and worldview to the position one takes on science, specifically human origin. Religion and science cannot be two different categories.

Dana and I decided that for the price of free, it’s worth bringing to our community for a screening since it’s not playing anywhere close. We’ll target mostly high school and college students in our community while intentionally keeping our church’s name off the event.

For your purposes in youth ministry, don’t expect the movie to convert all your students to Intelligent Design, nor to even turn them off to evolution as a science. It may help spark some discussion in your group, though, so be prepared to respond accordingly.

The Internet is changing the definition of friendship.

Because of my blog, I tend to have a lot of people who I don’t know and have never met request to be my friend on Facebook. Like everyone else, I blindly accept pretty much anyone. My wife gets it, too, on Virb.com. A couple days ago she said, “Look at this person who requested my friendship.” The way she said it sparked something in me I hadn’t thought of before: the Internet is changing our definition of friendship. A person we’ve never met, never talked to and have never heard of instantly becomes a friend just by clicking the “Accept” button. In real life this person would be called a stranger. If you talk a time or two they become an acquaintance and if you intentionally hang out together maybe then they’d be considered a friend. Not so online.

I wonder what kind of ramifications this will have on the “Myspace generation.” We already know that the Internet has completely altered teenagers’ perspective of community and now possibly on the individual level of friendship, too.

I don’t really have any answers here, just something I’ve been thinking about.

[tags]Facebook, Virb[/tags]

The workshop starts at 7:00 PM central time on Tuesday, November 6, 2007. If you can’t make time for the live event, Ustream.tv will also archive the video, so you can watch it later at that same address.

Here’s my tentative general outline for the meeting so far. Any input, suggestions, comments or ideas?

Overview

• Teen usage of the Internet
• Misconceptions
• Sexual victimization
• Cyber bullying
• How home life affects Internet life
• Statistics

Introduction to social networking sites

• What is a social networking site?
• MySpace demo
• Facebook demo
• Deviant Art demo

Introduction to media sites

• How broadband has changed the Internet
• YouTube demo
• Flickr demo

Introduction to Instant Messenger

• What is Instant Messenger?
• AIM demo
• MSN demo
• Yahoo! demo
• Trillian demo

Introduction to blogs

• What is a blog?
• Facebook/MySpace
• Live Journal demo
• Xanga demo
• Blogger/Wordpress demo

Introduction to MMORPGs

• What is an MMORPG?
• Why are they so addicting?
• What is the spiritual influence?
• What’s good about them? What’s bad about them?
• How much time is too much?
• World of Warcraft demo

Potential upcoming social sites

• Twitter demo
• Virb demo
• Ustream.tv demo

What happened to email?

• Why kids don’t use email to communicate with each other.
• How kids communicate now and why: PM, SMS, IM

Tips for the home: What should we do with this info?

• Strategic computer placement
• Communicate with your teen
• Learn from your kids
• Search Google
• Learn from their history
• Your relationship makes all the difference
• Shoulder surfing
• A better solution than monitoring software
• Join your kids!

General Q&A for Tim and a panel of students

Specific family Q&A (cut the live feed)

Here’s the promo video I made that will run in church services and be sent around online in various ways. Feel free to share it with others and tell people to watch the event on Ustream.tv on November 6 at 7:00 PM central time.

Here’s the video (may not be viewable in RSS readers or email):

Ypulse has a great response to this on what the industry can do to stop this onslaught.

(ht to Ypulse)

A lot of youth workers talk about the media’s influence on culture in reference to music, TV, movies and celebrities and rarely in reference to World of Warcraft, DDR, Guitar Hero and Halo. The reality is that video games are no longer an entertainment genre for overweight geeks in suspenders and thick glasses. They’re mainstream now and have been for at least two generations. Last week Halo 3 broke the world record for the most revenue earned in a single day by any form of entertainment: $170 million in 24 hours! World of Warcraft has over 9 million players and experts say that up to 40% of them are clinically addicted. (I have my own theories about why World of Warcraft and MMORPGs in general are so addictive.) According to the Entertainment Software Association, the average age of video game buyer is 38 years old and 38% of them are women, meaning that video games are not just for young teenage boys with no jobs, as the common perception may be.

Video games are a living and breathing part of our culture and will only continue to grow. As youth workers, some of us make a necessary effort to stay up-to-date on music and fashion, but let’s also not forget to educate ourselves on video games and the fantasy worlds they create. We need to be aware of the messages and values kids are unconsciously swallowing and teach them to consciously filter it all through scripture.

[If you're not familiar with World of Warcraft, check out my blog series on World of Warcraft FAQs for Christians.]

[tags]Halo 3, World of Warcraft, DDR, Guitar Hero[/tags]

For a couple years now I’ve been increasingly disappointed in the direction Ron Luce and Teen Mania are going with this whole Battle Cry thing. I attended one of the first Battle Cry conferences with my youth group in Texas and I was okay with it then, but it just keeps getting more and more extreme, militaristic and almost hateful. I fully support standing against negative influences and dedicating yourself to God, but I don’t support condemning others who are just as sinful as I am. How does protesting homosexuality on a street corner and shouting, “Jesus loves you!” communicate Christ’s love? They made a lot of people very angry that day and then they have the audacity to return to that same spot a year later and do it again. If I was an unbeliever, that shows me that they’re more concerned with exercising civil rights than they are with loving sinners.

And what does that tell the kid in my youth group who quietly struggles with homosexuality? He/she will probably never talk about it with me or any other Christian adult when they see us picketing the very thing that tears them apart inside.

The “4% of evangelical Christians in this next generation” statistic is thrown around creating lots of fear and hype (and selling lots of books). I completely agree that our approach to youth ministry and spiritual formation needs an overhaul, but fear and desperation is not the attitude to approach such matters. The truth is, Christianity has always been one generation away from extinction. A couple thousand years after Christ’s death and we’re still here. What happened to the sovereignty of God? He’s kept His Word 100% inerrant through the ages despite countless attacks to alter its contents and even purge it from existence altogether. Can He not do the same with those who believe in Him? Somehow I don’t think this whole generation leaving the faith is a problem too big for God to handle. Maybe we should spend less time freaking out and reading “guaranteed strategies for doubling and even quadrupling your youth group” and more time in prayer seeking God’s heart for our ministries.

Last year my youth group in Texas ditched the Acquire The Fire tradition and attended Mark Matlock’s Planet Wisdom student conference instead. One of my former youth group students blogged about the experience. Her insights are very interesting as she compares her Acquire The Fire and Battle Cry experiences to her experience at Planet Wisdom. Definitely a thought-provoking journal entry. Her critical evaluation is right on target. This year my new youth group here in Minnesota is making the same switch.

Stuart Delony makes some great observations about the whole Battle Cry movement, too, along with a news video on the movement. I wholeheartedly agree with him. I couldn’t say it any better myself.

[tags]Battle Cry, Planet Wisdom, Acquire the Fire, Teen Mania[/tags]

I wonder what sort of message this sends to our young, impressionable women.

(ht to Ypulse)

I recently read an article by Greg Stier titled, “Why Mormons Do Better Youth Ministry Than We Do.” It really confirms a lot of my struggles about why church and youth group are often at the bottom of the priority list for both students and parents. Greg says this:

• Mormons expect a lot out of their teenagers. We don’t.
• Mormons ordain their young men into the ministry at the age of twelve. We don’t.
• Mormons require their teens to attend seminary every day of high school. We don’t.
• Mormons ask for two years in the field of every graduating senior. We don’t.

Maybe that’s why we don’t meet a lot of ex-Mormons, while there are hundreds of thousands of former church attendees in the true church of Jesus Christ (of everyday saints) who flee the church after graduating from high school.

Mormons set high standards for their students! If I set some of the expectations that are listen above, most students would not commit and parents would not support it because of conflicts with athletics and other extracurricular activities. Why? Because even school athletic teams and musical groups set higher expectations than we do.

I often hear comments like, “I can’t go to camp because I have football practice that week and if I don’t go to practice, I won’t have a starting spot on next year’s team.” Coaches set the standards high and hold students to it. But then at church and at home from parents students hear the exact opposite: “If you can’t come to youth group this week because you haven’t finished your homework yet, that’s fine. Attend when you can, if you want to.” What that communicates to the student is that academic, athletic and musical development are more important than spiritual development. We have such lazy expectations.

I think parents help feed this mentality of church as a last priority by often restricting youth group activities if homework isn’t done or skipping Sunday morning services for an entire soccer season due to the game schedule. My parents raised me with the exact opposite priorities. My brothers and I were selected on a few occasions to join the elite soccer and wrestling teams, but my parents always said no because the games were on Sunday mornings. As a young kid, that taught me a very valuable lesson: God always comes first. The price for this lesson? A couple little league soccer games and wrestling matches. And today we’re all involved in some sort of ministry.

But it’s just not the parents’ fault, youth pastors contribute to this, as well. We work hard to avoid conflicts with school events and, by doing so, possibly reinforce that academic and athletic development are a higher priority than spiritual development. I think we should avoid scheduling conflicts when it’s possible, but neither should we bend over backwards to avoid it. (I bet religion class every day for Mormon teenagers conflicts with a lot.) We need to set the standards high and stick to ‘em. This is spiritual development we’re talking about here. Shouldn’t that be everyone’s #1 priority? Isn’t it much more important than athletic ability?

I think we expect way too little.

While young women may express their sexuality more overtly than they have in the past, for the most part, their behavior isn’t cause for alarm. It’s a necessary step in growing up.

“There’s a difference between posting a picture of yourself in virtual space, like Myspace or YouTube or Friendster, and posing in provocative clothing in public,” said John Broughton, Columbia University professor of psychology and education.

According to Hancock, by dressing provocatively, dancing seductively and posting salacious photos on social networking sites, young women are trying to accomplish a time-honored goal of adolescence: establishing their independence.

“Putting up pictures of yourself scantily dressed on MySpace is, in a way, kind of a good sign,” he said. “The good news is that it’s somebody who isn’t horrified by their appearance. Also if they get some positive response, that can be very supportive.”

What’s also interesting is that this article reports that teen sex has declined from 49 percent in 1995 to 46 percent in 2002.

Conversely, another article came out last week of a lady telling her story about how pre-marital sex affected her emotionally, especially as she searches for a husband.

1. They want to be validated and to receive constant attention and feedback (vs. feeling isolated and ignored)
2. They want to be discovered (not have to stress so hard about getting into good schools, what they will do for a career)
3. They want to be rich (not have to worry about money, be taken care of, possibly have money to take care of their own parents who may be struggling…and yes, to have lots of stuff)
4. They want to perform and entertain people (we all like to grab the karaoke mic once in a while, sing in the shower or fantasize about being Danny or Sandy in the Broadway production of “Grease.” The fact that reality TV is creating “American Idols” like Fantasia and Carrie Underwood who came from nothing, fuels this desire even more.)
5. They want to have fun (The hedonistic lifestyle that is sold to them through pop culture from “Entourage” to MTV looks like fun, does it not?)

The first one we can (and should) do in youth group.

The second we can also do, not in the sense of academics and careers, but in seeking them out from the community. Then go back to item #1.

The third we can’t provide, but we can teach and model lives that find security in Christ instead of money.

The fourth is easy — use them on-stage at youth group events. What’s not so easy, however, is teaching them at the stage is a platform for pointing kids to Jesus, not a place to gain selfish attention.

Hopefully we accomplish the last point, too. Youth group should be fun, not as it’s primary focus, but definitely as a defined core value.

What makes you happy?
Mom is still an important figure in the lives of both tweens and teens, as majorities (91% of tweens and 77% of teens) say that Mom makes them happy. Overall, Friends (85%), Grandma (69%), Dad (67%) and pets (58%) round out the top five of those people and pets that make youth happy.

It’s unfortunate that friends rank so much higher than dads. This makes me think I should spend a little more time talking with my youth group guys about godly manhood.

(ht YPulse)

#2- Major media production houses will follow the lead of Christian production companies and begin to include spiritual elements to their releases.
This is a generation that increasingly responds to faith based marketing like the Christian productions of Amazing Grace, Left Behind video games, etc. Sales and stats are showing a rising popularity among teens to explore spiritual themes. Companies and businesses are responding to this with a variety of options for this generation and in 2007; more movies, TV shows, and video games will be released with spiritual or faith based elements in them; specifically targeted to the teen audience.

#3- Teens will increasingly individualize their beliefs
This is a generation that embraces a “Starbucks” spirituality. Teens today are used to customizing every aspect of their life, so why wouldn’t this spill over into the area of spiritual beliefs? When forming their opinions about faith based matters, picture most 13-18 year olds ordering up a Grande Carmel-Kabbalah latte with a dash of Buddhism and a Hindu Krishna cookie on the side.

If this is true, I guess youth workers can continue to look forward to addressing the “schmorgesborg spirituality” that’s already bombarding this generation. Absolute truth will only become more relative. Wonderful.

Discuss: Which of these issues apply specifically to your youth ministry? What changes can you make to address them in 2007?

What do you see as some of the main issues youth ministry is struggling with today?

• Students are under a tremendous amount of stress and pressure.
• It is vital that we remind them constantly that Jesus needs to have first priority in their lives and that He holds their future in His hands. Students are so busy and God and church is not always the #1 priority.
• We need students to be global Christians.
• The idea of godly sexuality for all people needs to be put back on the agenda.
• Mental health.
• The whole question of “church” is becoming more and more of a struggle for youth ministry.
• Professional youth pastors and senior pastors looking for job security.
• This generation is facing identity issues, sexuality issues, authority issues, and vocation/purpose issues, but in a much more intense, aggressive, combative, pluralistic context.
• Discipleship and teaching students to grow on their own.
• Retention after graduation.
• Engaging parents.
• Cultural relevance. The Church is often reluctant to change sufficiently to genuinely include the young people.
• Defining Success.
• Recruiting and training adult volunteers to be effective.
• Presenting God as the right and better choice over pop culture.
• A lack of understanding of youth culture and no desire to learn it.
• We’re spending so much time trying to keep the ones we have that we are not reaching the lost.
• The church leadership believes there are only a couple of kids caught up in major issues and the rest of the kids are great, god fearing and perfect.
• Employed Christian youth workers are only deployed where there are churches with significant financial resources, meaning deployment is based on money not need.
• The “dumbing down” of programs because of the myth that junior high students cannot go “deep.”
• Connections between people and real community.
• We should be focusing more on is inner-city and “fringe” type of neighborhoods and young people.
• The issue of personal holiness, from youth ministers to parents to students. Our calling should be to BE children of God and pant after Him so that teens can see HIS power in our lives.
• Apathy of the “cradle-Christian” student.
• Not enough long term funding or funding in general.
• The church allows the youth to be isolated, and sometimes they want the youth isolated, which is anything but unifying for the church.
• Viewing youth ministry as a stepping-stone to becoming a Sr. Pastor, as if it’s important to practice ministry on “little people” before being qualified to work with “real people.”

What do you see as some of the main issues youth ministry is responding to effectively?

• Loving teens and connecting with them in their world.
• The call to missions.
• Youth ministry is attempting to address the same issues that the adult church may be after, but the amazing thing is that there is more of a willingness to experiment.
• Provides a safe place for hurting students. We are responding to the deep-seated hurts of teenagers in more effective ways than ever.
• Giving students time and space to be in community with each other.
• A desire to do ministry outside of the church and where kids are.
• Youth ministry allows young people to encounter adults (and young people) who seek to live a 24/7 faith and model a life that’s Christ centered and counter cultural.

In what ways does youth ministry need to change?

• We need to make sure we’re taking our young people deeper into their faith. But not just in Bible studies, but in their experience of mission, church, worship and so on.
• Students need to be IN ministry and not just the recipient of it. If students don’t lead they’ll leave. We need to believe in students and their ability to minister effectively to their peers.
• Relational-driven is more work and less to show…at first.
• Do your deal, follow Jesus, create this environment in the student ministry IF YOU CAN. If you can’t – shut up and leave and find a place where you can if it’s that important to you.
• Less reliance on programs.
• Less “next big thing” thinking.
• Less trendy, fad, youth workers.
• Longevity. Finding a way to keep youth pastors and leader in their positions for the long haul.
• Youth ministers need to adopt more of a “Family Ministry” rather than a “Youth Ministry.” Parents need to be central to the process of our teenagers’ spiritual formation and not disengaged bystanders.
• Emotional health.
• We need to have a plan for when the kids arrive in 6th grade they graduate high school knowing the fundamentals of scripture while at the same time encountering God rather than just being taught facts about Him.
• Plug students into the greater body of Christ.
• Church leaders need to understand what youth pastors are facing and stand with them in a major way.
• Giving opportunity to live faith not just hear about it.
• There is a pretty big void when it comes to Junior High Ministry Curriculum.
• Starting where young people are instead of where we want them to be.
• Student ministry needs to change first in the heart of Lead and Senior pastors across America.

[Read previous authors and posts in this series, "Issues in youth ministry."]

In my opinion so often I see that youth ministry is struggling with being relevant. For the past few weeks I have been talking with some of our top leaders about how we can draw in a high school crowd. In time past it was often said that winning teens to Christ by the time they were 18 was the goal cause after that the chances of them coming to God drops dramatically. From my perspective now back in ministry after a 5 year hiatus, it is as if you better win them before 8th grade. But I see so many youth ministries that aren’t relevant to today’s unsaved teens. So many are spending so much time trying to keep the ones they have that they are not reaching the lost. There are 32,000 teens from 6th grade to 12th grade within 30 miles of our church. So for us, even though our [volunteer] team has doubled our youth [group] attendance since April, we are not satisfied cause there are so many teens out there that have not heard the gospel.

What do you see as some of the main issues youth ministry is responding to effectively?

I really have to think about this one [because, since] coming back [to youth ministry], I have such a focus on the unsaved teenager. Sometimes I wonder if youth ministry is responding effectively. Are we making a true difference? If the statistics are true, and some people don’t want to believe them, then we are failing. And one thing I am not ever going to do is say “that as long as I am there for the few that come I feel I am doing my part.” If the statistics say the only 4% of this generation is saved, then we are not responding effectively. And I am not even going to say that our ministry is being effective as well. Until the status quo changes we won’t know. Every week what drives me is whether we have created an environment that teens can bring their unsaved friends to.

Here is the thing: God has charged us with equipping our teens to reach their generation. So often we are equipping them with who “we” are as Christians and not equipping them to truly be effective. Then we send them out to do goofy Christian things and when there is no response or our teens are ridiculed we say things like, “Sometimes we are going to be persecuted for our faith.” Come on, man. God has called us to be more creative and relevant than that. Jesus changed water into “wine” (now I’m all about not drinking) and I believe it totally baffles the church but to the unbelievers of His time it was so on point. Jesus spent so much time being relevant to a lost generation that He wasn’t relevant to the church (Pharisees & Sadducees).

In what ways does youth ministry need to change?

It goes back to the whole relevant thing. If a group of unsaved teens walked in to our youth ministry, would we be speaking their language? Too often we are speaking so much “Christianese” and our “services” are designed for Christians. We are striving hard to change that in our meetings. Even changing the terms that we call everything. Sermons are messages, services are meetings, etc.

Jason Curlee is a youth pastor in Corpus Christi, TX. Check out his blog at Making Difference Makers.

[Read previous authors and posts in this series, "Issues in youth ministry."]

- Actress Kate Winslet, Time, December 4, 2006, p. 103.

To see videos of what Kate Winslet means, see here first and here second.

(ht to CYPU’s 12/6/06 e-update)

[tags]Kate Winslet, distorted beauty[/tags]

Back in March I blogged about why I stay away from MySpace and even today I still do not have a MySpace account. However, I’ve used Facebook for quite some time now. Here’s why:

• Most of the advertisements on Facebook are not sexually stimulating.
• The layout is organized, uncluttered and gives a sense of uniformity to every user.
• Privacy and security controls are excellent and very customizable.
• I love the variety of groups and the potential they create for interaction.

Personally, I’m glad to see the shift moving from MySpace to Facebook. Facebook seems like a much cleaner and safer environment. And now that Facebook registration is open to the general public, there’s really no advantage to stick with MySpace except that it has many more registered users. Give it some time, though, and the Facebook phenomenon will soon catch up.

If you’re a Facebook user, feel free to add me as a friend. Or, join the Youth Specialties group I created.

(ht to Shift Conference Blog)

[tags]Facebook, MySpace[/tags]

As the church faces cultural issues, youth, I think, deal with these even harder, because they’re younger, more impressionable, and still searching for their version of right and wrong. Example(s): Homosexuality, Abortion, offensive Speech, Materialism, etc. How do we convey to students what God wants, but more importantly, how do we present that God, who flies in the face of popular culture like an unwanted relative, actually is the right and better choice than pop culture?

My divine paradox: The idea of God as entertainment is purely repulsive to me. However, when we present God, we have this illusion that we must be entertaining. (That’s not to say that genuine passion can’t exist within the parameters of entertainment.) So we’re entertaining with smoke, lights, sound, huge facilities, almost a rock concert because there’s this “new” God that students seem to be wanting. They crave a deepness with something they can’t see, yet almost everything that they can see, let’s them down. Walking the line of entertainment, passion for God, and genuine relationship with the same is an incredibly difficult and almost symphonic line to orchestrate.

What do you see as some of the main issues youth ministry is responding to effectively?

I think youth ministry gives hurting students that place they can feel safe. Regardless of whether or not they find (much less seek) God, they find someone who loves them and cares for them, in a safe place. The American family is no longer the constant place of emotional safety. Mom and Dad have been defining themselves by the success of their careers, not their success as parents. Thankfully, I saw an ABC report [a couple weeks ago] that says this may be shifting from the former towards the latter.

Evan Mattei is a youth pastor in the Dallas, TX area. Visit his blog at http://youthguyevan.blogspot.com/.

[Read previous authors and posts in this series, "Issues in youth ministry."]

“Our #1 challenge in this culture [is] the availability of new believers for discipleship, and then involving them in a local church. Kids’ lives revolve around prep for the college entrance exam. Only 2% ‘pass.’ The other 98% feel their future is lost. Some commit suicide over the results. So, there are no sports teams, marching bands, cheer leading squads, or drama clubs. It’s all academics, pure and simple, 7am-5pm, with extra weekend classes. Kids fear spending their time in any other way but studying.”

Wow. I don’t think I can even imagine students who fear doing anything else but studying. That’s crazy! It seems to me that most American teenagers generally seem to be kinda apathetic toward education (as described by one of my youth group students). Most students I know would skip school in a heart-beat if given the chance. I don’t think apathy should be students’ response to education, but neither should fear.

If school, for whatever reasons, seems to generate a sense of apathy toward education, why do we adopt this model in Christian education and call it “Sunday school?” Certainly we don’t want to replicate the same “school attitude” in our churches. Even preaching and teaching can sometimes feel like a classroom lecture in a fancy auditorium. If people mentally check out during classroom time in school, maybe the church should find or develop a more effective model for our weekly programming. I want to see students studying scripture as fervently as Chinese students study academics, but with a holy and reverent fear, not an insecure fear.

Our current approach to Christian education can’t possibly be the best we can do.

• They don’t like attending traditional worship.
• They shy away from labels.
• They identify with no specific religion or, if Christian, call themselves non-denominational.
• They demonstrate overwhelming belief in God.
• They show interest in how spiritual matters relate to their lives and their world.
• Many reject dogma and large institutions, instead preferring personal and convenient ways to find answers.
• They send prayer e-mail, look for love online, join smaller ministry groups.
• They fuel an industry of spiritually inspired books, movies and music.

I can identify with pretty much everything on that list, except I wouldn’t say that I don’t like attending traditional worship because sometimes I do. Rather, I would say I usually prefer modern formats of worship, but still have an appreciation for traditional styles.

What is the state of America’s youth?
Students are searching for a place where they belong, feel safe, are understood, cared for and loved unconditionally. They’ll even do whatever is necessary in order to gain that approval, which is why we see students wearing one mask at school, another at church and yet another on the athletic field, for example. They’ll conform to the pressures around them in order to feel like they fit in and are accepted. Youth ministry today needs to respond to this by creating an environment of safety, unconditional love, acceptance and a sense of belonging. So when I look at the state of students today, the only way I can see us effectively responding to this is by creating a place where genuine and authentic relationships are key and biblical community is intentional.

No matter what position someone holds in ministry — whether it be in music, youth, children, adults, administrative, whatever — as long as you’re working with real people, counseling is a very necessary skill. I’m not even a counselor but I talk with parents and students all the time and, after earning a little bit of trust, issues always come up.

I’m looking forward to [tag]Youth Specialties[/tag]‘ theCORE this year because apparently it’s supposed to deal with part of this issue by training youth leaders to work with hurting kids. Even though I was the administrative director for Teenhopeline.com and may have more experience than some, I still wish I had a lot more training than I currently do. We all need it. And the people we talk to probably appreciate it when we have it, too.

LEADING CHANGE IN YOUR YOUTH MINISTRY, BY MARK OESTREICHER
I really enjoyed Marko’s seminar because most of it came from personal stories of failure and mistakes. He wasn’t afraid to say, “Here’s how I messed up big-time and here’s what I learned from it.” It was kinda refreshing in a way to know that I’m not the only youth pastor that makes mistakes and learns the hard way. I just hope I can avoid some mistakes in the future by learning from people like him.

Last week I thought to myself, “If I could back up two and a half years and start everything over again at my youth ministry, what would I do differently?” Two things come to mind that I would change if I could start over. First, I’d make outreach a priority rather than letting students become comfortable with their own little group. Second, I’d be more intentional about making sure communication was clear and complete between students, parents, volunteers and church leadership. I can’t go back and change them, but following Marko’s example I can learn for the future and start to make the necessary changes now.

One thing Marko’s learning about leadership right now is that people are more comfortable with change when they know and see that we’re around and available to their lives. This doesn’t mean scheduling time to meet with someone — this means normal, unscheduled time spent together.

There are plenty of things in my youth group that need to change. Marko mentioned that change works best when it’s a continual cycle that people are used to. When people start to feel comfortable and settle into a routine, change becomes more difficult and needs to be approached differently. This is true because there is a major weakness of our youth ministry that I’m trying hard to change, but it feels like little ground is being made because I let it go too long. Everyone feels too “stable” and I know now that I need to address these things before they become the norm.

Marko left us with a practical process for future-dreaming and evaluating ministry that they use for Youth Specialties. It has 5 steps and should be done thoroughly with a team of people.

1. Dream up a long list of “Imagine if…” statements. Dream way bigger than what you actually want to do.

2. What are the things we clearly value in this ministry? Which old values do we want to hold on to and what new ones do we want to adopt?

3. What characteristics define who your ministry is? Give your ministry a name and think of it as a living human. What characteristics does your ministry posses? What is the ministry like? Where do we want this ministry to move?

4. Identify the “sacred cows.” What are some road-blocks to changing these things? Most sacred cows are unspoken in our ministries. There are three levels to the sacred cows: red light = this will never change, it’s non-negotiable; yellow light = this might be changeable, but changing it will be costly; green light = this cow is easy to slaughter.

Marko gave us some time to start discussing these things with our church group, so Dana, Jessica and myself did so. Here’s a couple items from our “Imagine if…” list:
– Imagine if every student brought a friend to church on the same day.
– Imagine if students were more concerned for others than themselves.
– Imagine if students had a passion to worship God genuinely and publicly.
– Imagine if students had a burden for unsaved people and were missional-minded.
– Imagine if all the youth group students were unified together.

After attending Marko’s session I think I feel a little more confident to tackle some of these issues and do my best to make change take place.

EVENING GENERAL SESSION, DONALD MILLER
Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz, wasn’t a very dynamic kinda guy as I anticipated he would be, but after I got over the fact that he’s pretty introverted and soft-spoken, man, that guy is loaded with insights!

Donald Miller really challenged me to be more intentional about building relationships with unsaved people and leading them to Christ. Unfortunately, I am pretty wrapped up in a Christian bubble. The most contact I have with unbelievers is when I get online to play Guild Wars with about 10 other guys. It’s a double-standard for me to encourage students to get to know unbelievers at their school and invite them to Christ if I’m not doing the same.

Donald said two things clearly. First, the church needs to change. How we “do church” must be taken back to scripture and evaluated. Unfortunately, the only thing scripture tells us about how to “do church” is how to pick elders for it, that’s it. We have a blank slate on pretty much everything else concerning “doing church.” The example we have is bunch of people sitting around a table as a family breaking bread and drinking wine together. If the church should be like a family, then it’s going to be pretty small, messy, hard and it’s going to take time.

Second, Christians are taught to stay inside the Christian culture in order to stay safe and avoid people who disagree with us. In Acts, though, the apostles went so far out into culture that they were killed for it! Donald used the traditional passage of Paul in Athens in Acts 17 to point out that Paul discussed the gospel to the people of Athens in their meeting place. Then he went to the streets and talked with anyone who came along and the people loved him!

Darwin’s influence on the church is the survival of the fittest — if they don’t agree with you, starve them out. But Paul does the opposite. He seeks them out and intentionally builds relationships with them. Because of this, he’s invited to speak more and, in this meeting, he opens with a complement, “I see that you are deeply spiritual.” He looks at them and thinks, “What do we have in common?” People have 99% of everything on common, so build relationships on these things.

Paul was also involved in their culture by memorizing poetry. Some say that this was Paul’s strategy, but Donald Miller thinks it was because Paul actually liked these people. He enjoyed them and invested time into what they were all about.

The personal application is clear.

[tags]National Youth Workers Convention, NYWC, Youth Specialties, Rollie Martinson, Donald Miller, Mark Oestreicher, church[/tags]

Shifting from a youth ministry to a group of youth missionaries, by Dan Kimball
Despite the fact that Dan was functioning on only a couple hours of sleep from the night before, he presented this seminar very well. He addressed a big question many of us have thought before, “Why do teenagers get so passionate and excited about serving God and being evangelistic on Mexico mission trips (and other trips like that), but when they are back home fall into more of a routine and neutral passion about evangelism?”

His answer was basically this: We need to intentionally view our town as a mission field and model a lifestyle that actively seeks to reach others for Christ.

In Matthew 4:17-20 Jesus calls the disciples to follow Him and be fishers of people. Their primary role is the worship God, their secondary roll is to reach people. Acts 1:8 carries this same message. When we start reading the Bible through a missional lens, the whole book is missional, too.

Evangelism in Christian sub-culture becomes events and concerts. My personal observation is that Christians attend Christian outreach events more than non-Christians. What’s supposed to be an event for reaching the lost becomes entertainment for those already saved. Even though outreach events may reach some, I’ve seen relational outreach be much more effective. The success rate of relational evangelism seems to be so much higher than that of big events that I sometimes wonder why we still bother with them. Relational evangelism is just so much easier, too!

Unfortunately, the longer we’re Christians the more we stop socializing and hanging out with non-Christian friends, so by the time we reach a ripe old age and have grown to be mature in our faith, the only people who see it are other believers.

Dan said he thinks the reason teens drop out of church after high school is because they’re bored with the “bunny slope” (short-term missions) and they don’t know that the black diamond slope even exists (our life is on a mission). If they lived like they’re on a mission in a mission field their prayer lives would increase, their spirituality would be strengthened and their knowledge of scripture would abound. Our kids have skis but they need to put them on an go down the hill!

Some ideas and questions in creating guilt-free and non-awkward missionaries
1. Do an experiment of presenting your local town as a mission field. Give demographic stats, the perks, the struggles, what previous missionaries have tried there and what it will cost them (free!), but present it initially as if it were a village somewhere.

2. Personally re-think our role. Are we “youth group leaders” or “leaders of youth missionaries?” Do we see ourselves as youth leaders or just hang out with church kids? We need to intentionally go to the unsaved community and use our teens to reach them.

3. Write missionary letters or missionary journals as an exercise. Send newsletters and mission updates and prayer support letters just like we would for any short-term missions trip.

4. Teach and train youth to better understand how to think about critical key issues in our culture, such as the trustworthiness of scripture and other apologetics.

BOTTOM LINE FOR ME: Relational ministry is the most effective form of evangelism, which obviously indicates it must be an ongoing visible lifestyle, not a calendar event.

General Session #1: Buster Soaries
Normal faith is not what we need — it’s inadequate. We need to pray for astonishing faith if we want to see what God has in store for us.

In Matthew 8:5-10 the Centurion had faith that God could heal his servant from a distance. Whenever God is revealed, something happens!

How did the Centurion know Jesus could heal from a distance It had never been done before. Jesus touched other sick people or was in the presence in some way. The Centurion’s faith was so astonishing. He believed God could do what He’s never done before. God specializes in things that have never happened before, not reruns.

BOTTOM LINE FOR ME: Faith involves risk. When I ask the Lord to interact with my life I then need to trust Him with it. God wants to do things through me that He’s never done before and He needs me to take my hands off!

The importance of theology in youth ministry (or any ministry in a church), by Dan Kimball
Dan’s main roll in this seminar was to raise a lot of questions about why we do what we do in church. Most of it is not based on scripture but rather has just passed down through tradition. Whether we like it or not, the way we do church communicates a lot about our theology and values. A lot of his questions and conclusions are some of the exact same ones I’ve been wrestling with personally and blogging about the past several months. Some people may read my skepticism about the current model for this thing we call church and be immediately label me a heretic, so it was refreshing for me to sit in Dan’s seminar and hear all my same questions being asked by someone who’s more well-known and respected than me.

The modern church has fallen into a subtle trap that has caused some people to re-think what church is supposed to look like. Dan said it goes through several phases.

Phase 1: First we re-think our methodology. How are ministry methods supposed to change as culture changed? Rethinking methods usually begins with changing the worship gathering, as I kinda thought through in a blog post earlier this week. Why do we do what we do?

Phase 2: We then re-think the youth ministry, realizing that it is not in isolation and culture and theology is beyond an age group. Discipleship is not something limited to just certain age groups.

Phase 3: Next we rethink our ecclesiology. What is church? (It’s not a building or a place. It’s not some place we go. WE are the church, I am a part of it.) Our theology about church is indicated in many ways, including how we set up a room. Pews separate the speaker from the audience, raising him to some “more important” status of the church. Pews also make the church service a performance with spectators. It doesn’t teach community as we stare at that backs of people’s heads. Our ecclesiology is also indicated by what we teach about worship. We don’t go to church to worship (as I also blogged about two weeks ago), as if what takes place at church is something different than what should take place at home. We also equate worship with singing and thereby ignore many other forms of worship in services.

This leads to start rethinking spiritual formation, evangelism, community, preaching, church “membership,” and the roll of a “pastor.” What is a pastor? What’s a youth pastor? In scripture “pastor” is a spiritual gift, but we’ve turned it into a title.

Phase 4: No we start rethinking our theology (without losing truth). This means changes are more than just contemporary music and adding some candles. More questions are bound to come up and thus we MUST know what we believe and why. Students need to know the Bible, its origin, inspiration, how to handle difficult passages and how to understand it holistically. They also need a theology of human sexuality, marriage, homosexuality and divorce. Furthermore, they need to understand the church, the roll of women, what “church” is, the roll of the Holy Spirit and more.

Phase 5: We start being the church rather than going to church.

BOTTOM LINE FOR ME: Dan Kimball: “Getting the latest youth ministry fad materials lasts for only minutes, but theology will last students their lifetime.” I also walked away feeling more confident about my critical questions concerning church and that I need to continue exploring scripture’s intent and how that plays out for us today.

General Session #2: Mike Pilavachi
Jesus didn’t try to entertain anyone into the kingdom. He just had them hang out with Him through daily life and He taught them along the way. He had the disciples feed the 5,000 from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. Jesus likes to perform miracles through His disciples. The disciples finally cast out a demon and they were excited. Jesus said, “Rejoice not that demons flee, but that your names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Jesus taught them as they went.

BOTTOM LINE FOR ME: It confirms the importance for relational ministry and teaching through real-life situations.

[tags]Evangelism, Dan Kimball, Youth Specialties, National Youth Workers Convention, NYWC, Outreach, Mike Pilavachi, Buster Soaries, church, missions[/tags]

Even so, I’m not willing to dismiss the fact that church services could probably stand to be re-evaluated for effectiveness. The [tag]Purpose Driven[/tag] [tag]ministry philosophy[/tag] is big on evaluating, scrapping and tweaking programs that aren’t effectively accomplishing their purpose. There’s probably a lot we could change in our services to make them more effective. I wonder what a church service would look like if we stripped away everything that’s not in scripture and honored God’s Word more than tradition and people’s opinions.

The Sunday morning format has generally been the same in every church I’ve attended since I was born. It starts with music followed by a quick welcome, more music, announcements, special music, tithing, sermon, closing song, see ya next week. And almost every service is geared around the sermon topic, the focal point of the worship service. The approach to each of these elements has generally been the same, too. Now, at 26 years old, I’m still kinda young, but our world has changed considerably even in my short lifespan. Why is the church still the same?

Seth Godwin, marketing expert and author of the best seller Permission Marketing, said this in his blog last Sunday and I think it has big implications for preaching:

What’s the point of talking to a group?…

I’m serious. We spend a lot of time in presentations, or at the United Nations, or sending our kids to school. We have orientation sessions and keynote speeches and long-winded oratory on the floor the Senate. Why?…

Here’s my point: In our scan and skip world, in a world where technology makes it obvious that we can treat different people differently, how can we possibly justify teaching via a speech?

Speech is both linear and unpaceable. You can’t skip around and you can’t speed it up. When the speaker covers something you know, you are bored. When he quickly covers something you don’t understand, you are lost.

If you teach – teach anything – I think you need to start by acknowledging that there’s a need to sell your ideas emotionally. So you need to use whatever tools are available to you–an evocative powerpoint image, say, or a truly impassioned speech.

If it’s worth teaching, it’s worth teaching well. If it’s worth investing the time of 30 or 230 or 3330 people, then it’s worth investing the effort to actually figure out how to get the message across. School is broken. Legislative politics are broken. Linear is broken. YouTube and Bloglines, on the other hand, are new platforms, platforms that enable the education of millions of people every day, quickly and for free.

I’m not at all thinking that preaching should be done away with, just that it needs to be evaluated and modified for maximum effectiveness in today’s society. Right now an average church sermon at an average church often feels like sitting through a lecture at school except without accountability to report its contents on a pending exam.

Dennis Poulette reminded me of a quote from The Youth Worker’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis,

Most listeners process information in the range of 300 to 500 words per minute (the rate generally declines with age). But most people speak at a rate of 100 to 200 words per minute, which means there’s serious excess capacity on the listening side of the transaction. And with excess capacity comes the tendency to daydream, fret, plan, doodle, and – if we’re not careful – lose track of what the other person is saying. (page 62)

It seems to me that the [tag]modern church[/tag] (and youth group) needs to find new effective ways of communicating the truth of God’s Word to those attending the services. How can we change our presentations to be less linear, to keep up with the rate that people process information, utilize new platforms and “emotionally sell” our message while, the same time, not lose anyone in the process?

Of course, this does nothing to to force people to seek God during on a personal level during the week, but given the state of our ever-changing culture I’m sure there’s still a lot that can be improved about our church services that might encourage such spiritual development.

Dennis is generously making his e-book available online for FREE under the Creative Commons License, so download it and check it out.

So I’m wondering if it’s accurate to say that the state of the youth group sometimes reflects the state of the church. People may complain about what’s wrong with their youth ministry, but a short discussion about what’s happening in the church as a whole usually reveals that the same thing is happening among the adults. Common issues like disconnected students and spiritual apathy may be an issue among the youth, but maybe these themes also run true among the whole church body and are just covered up by more experienced actors. Whether we realize it or not, kids watch what our hearts model and often reflect it in their own attitudes toward God and spirituality. The difference is that students are less apt to “fake it” at church. If teenagers are bored senseless, their actions show it. If adults are bored senseless of church, they still act “polite” and pretend to be connected to the Truth.

When members of the youth group aren’t connecting real life with spiritual matters then maybe the first step is to build a healthy church where parents and adults serve as a model for teenagers to follow. If students see this kind of connection taking place at home, at church and in the lives on their youth leaders then maybe it has a higher chance to take place in their lives. Instead of witnessing the superficial spiritual fluff all around them that leaves little impact on daily living, they should witness first-hand in our lives that scripture is not just theoretical trivia but, as Hebrews 4:12 says, is “living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.”

We’ve all heard the statistic of high school graduates leaving the church in masses. I can’t help but wonder if the first step in finding the solution is not to figure out what’s wrong with youth ministry, but figure out what’s wrong with the church. Adults and parents need to live a true example of following Christ and applying scripture to daily concerns. If students don’t see this, then why would they want to adopt our impractical “spirituality?” I think the solution to this mass exodus starts with a spiritual revival among church parents and adults to live spiritually contagious lives.

The part I did see, however, was kinda disturbing, but unfortunately expected. It seems like the world is continuing to follow a downward sexual spiral. It was hard to make it through 60 seconds of the VMAs without seeing women dressed immodestly and sensual dances. Everything from Evanescence’s little talk on having sex with yourself versus group sex to Victoria’s Secret commercials that sold a lot more than just an underwear product. Other prevalent themes I saw were drunkenness, partying and pressure on girls to be physically thin.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, though, since I can’t expect lost people to act like anything other than what they are.

Still, my heart goes out to the teenagers who watch TV programming like this and unconsciously adopt the hidden worldview being communicated as if it is liberating and carefree. Little do they know the damaging affect it will ultimately have on their lives. As a youth pastor, the need to instill Godly values in the lives of teenagers and develop them to be leaders seems to be more important now than ever before.

And then today I read Church Marketing Sucks’s blog recommending an audio presentation by Rick Klau, Vice President at Feedburner, a service I use here for my own blog. I intended to listen to the audio stream while working in my office at church, but quickly stopped what I was doing to take notes. Three typed pages later, I’m rethinking my idea of the online youth group community I’ve sought to build these past two weeks.

For anyone in ministry, I highly recommend taking the hour and fourteen minutes to listen to Rick’s presentation. Maybe not entirely surprising information, but definitely good insights. Here are some of my notes:

We need to find our community, learn to engage them and seek to communicate with them. Just being on the Internet doesn’t not mean we’re reaching our audience. We need to go to where they are. Just having a website doesn’t reach people. Our potential to reach an audience online is no different than that of any big company out there.

Give people a voice in our community. Give them a place to interact. This works perfectly in the context of the church. People will be more attracted to us as an organization.

A funny dance video online makes 30 million views in 4 months not from big marketing campaigns but from people telling friends and sharing it online.

For people under 20 years old, two-thirds of their communication is done through instant messaging. Publish your pastor’s IM screen name on your website.

MySpace is overtaking Google for the most traffic on the Internet. People spend more time interacting with friends on MySpace than they do looking for information.

One hundred million people watch YouTube every day. That’s more than how many people are watching TV.

Blogs are Google’s drug of choice. Blogs have fresh content and lots of links. Church websites don’t have content that other people will link to. If someone is traveling to our church, then the info might be helpful, but if we don’t create incoming links to our site and give reason for returning visits then our site will be buried in the Internet and unlikely to be found.

If all we did was post sermons on our site every week, it will increase value on the Internet because now it’s being updated. It tells Google that you have a site that’s more relevant to someone else. Blogs are the single best then you can do to make your site more relevant and more findable.

Sermons from church posted as podcasts allows others to hear the message when they have time to focus. In this sense, the church goes to the audience wherever they are instead of assuming they will always make it to church.

In April 2006 Feedburner managed more podcasts than there are radio stations in the world. Podcasts are not the same as radio stations, and that’s the point! Radio stations are limited to geographical locations and are very expensive. Podcasts go anywhere in the world for free. It’s powerful for our ability to find an audience that wants to hear our message.

Churches are putting their sermons videos online. It’s not hard. More should be doing this. Most of us already have the means to do it. A video camera, computer, Internet connection. Takes about 10-20 minutes to upload to YouTube [Google video doesn't have the 10 minute length limitation] and you’re done.

Get your site started with the content you already have.

Discussion forums exist to closed communities that demand people come to your site to contribute content. Blogs encourage contributing from various places with less limitations.

That last point came from a question in the audience, but it’s the most valid to me. Should my youth group’s website and forum be a source that’s open to the Internet at large or should it be private to those in our group? Before hearing Rich’s presentation I probably would’ve sided with the later, but now I’m not so sure.

What does a youth group website need in order to be an effective ministry tool? Obviously it’s more than just a way of communicating news and necessary information. How can it be used to build relationships, promote spiritual growth, and reach the unsaved community at large? And how can I give everyone a voice besides little forms for comments and a forum used by a minority of the youth group? Please, your ideas and input.

A couple weeks ago I was asked about my personal relationship with Christ and what I did to maintain it. I guess most people except an answer like, “I read my Bible, pray, and have personal worship time and 6:00AM every morning.” Although I participate in these things (rarely at 6:00AM, though!), it’s not a forced disciplined routine for me. My time with God is different all the time. I find new and creative things to do with Him. Otherwise my spiritual walk begins to feel like a rut, not an active and vital relationship.

Although Mark Batterson’s post relates more to ministry philosophy than to personal spiritual growth, I think his concept can be applied both ways.

As we sat in the back of that van driving from the YS Convention in Atlanta back to Philadelphia, I recorded several thoughts that I later only partly developed. Maybe I’ll post parts of it here some other time. For now, however, I’m glad to see what the NY Times reports on how youth ministry, culture, and technology are finally coming together through Teen Mania. It’s about time the Christian community offers something of quality that may actually compete with mainstream marketing. No more cheesy Onesimus video games or lame Christian t-shirts that play off popular brand names. It’s time we graduate from mooching off the success of others and instead successfully advance our own creative innovative ideas for reaching a generation for Christ.

Apparently Microsoft plans to unveil a website later this year that will rival the social networking giant, MySpace. It will offer users “an entirely new way for consumers to express their individuality online.”

FREE DVR is available this week from Yahoo! They are offering a beta version of Yahoo Go, a free Windows download that provides DVR functionality (with no monthly fee), tools for enjoying photos and music, and more.

It looks like Internet Explorer haters are taking action. Google will now pay you $1 for every person you refer to download Firefox.

The movie United 93 comes out on Friday. The tragic events of 9/11 were only 5 years ago. I’m not sure I’m ready to see a film about it yet. Hollywood waited 60 years to make a movie about Perl Harbor. Why this movie so soon? Just watching the trailer gives me a very cold uncomfortable feeling. Paul Greengrass’ defense for creating this film at this time is explained here and on the movie’s website, but even so, I’m still not sure I want to see it in theaters.

1. Media has a much bigger influence on me than I originally thought.

2. Personal entertainment should always be prioritized after time spent with the Lord and other people.

3. Video games provide some sort of adrenaline stimulation that somehow provides a calming sensation for me. (Probably not a good thing, huh?)

4. Why do I entertain myself with music that is anything less than positive and does not glorify the Lord? There is nothing wrong with a lot of this music, but now it feels like time wasted from focusing on God instead.

5. During free time, I naturally seek to entertain myself by whatever means are available. Wasting time is pretty easy even with limited resources. This indicates that there is something about me that seeks to please myself and procrastinate from doing what I know is best.

For anyone who might be thinking about taking part in this media fast, I highly encourage you to participate. It’s only one week. What can you possibly miss in the entertainment industry that is more important than a week of extra time spent with the Lord, self-evaluation, and meeting other personal goals? If you take the challenge, let me know — I’d love to keep up with your thoughts through the process.

It is evident that we’re all learning a lot and that a shift in morals has taken place. One guy even reported that his attitudes toward family members have changed through this. We also agreed that it’s pretty much impossible to filter out what we see on TV, hear in music, and play in video games. We each used to feel that we could filter out the bad stuff without too much difficulty, but now that this content has been completely removed from our lives for these couple days, we already see the subliminal effect it actually has. Even innocent game shows like Fear Factor are an issue for us now because of the outfits the women wear. There’s not one guy out there who hasn’t noticed this, but yet most of us Christians watch it anyway because the stunts are cool. As a small group of guys, we could not think of a single way to see these women and not be even minimally affected by it. I’m proud of them for that! It shows they’re raising the standard for the media they view. They’re critically evaluating it all instead of just absorbing it like some zombie.

A couple days ago I mentioned my goals for the week. Here’s how I’m doing:

1. Spend more time in scripture.
This is going well, but I’d like to see it increase even more. Colossians is so cool.

2. Spend more time in prayer.
Again, going well but could still bear to be increased.

3. Finish up several youth ministry books I’m half-way through.
Uhhh… not going so well. I’ve spent that time blogging here instead. Seminary seemed to really “burn me out” from reading. I guess I still haven’t fully recovered yet. *shrugs*

4. Make a list of little things I can do to influence culture.
Done. See here.

5. Work out at least 4 times.
Man, I’m such a slacker. I’ve only worked out once so far. That means I need to work out every remaining day this week to meet the goal.

Oh, and I also got a new phone today! Now I can record Andy Griffith on my home-made TiVo, convert it to 3g2 format, and watch it on my cell phone.

The thing about culture is that it never stays the same. Based on my observations, I would argue that it consistently becomes more graphic and obscene as time progresses. Only 50 years ago the content that was show on TV, movies and sung about by popular artists was a whole lot more tame and innocent. But, because people eventually become accustomed to what they’re exposed to, the producers must continually increase the “shock value” in order to hold our attention. If this trend does not change, I hate to see what kind of entertainment content will be commonplace 50 years from now.

I don’t think we realize just how much media and culture really affects us. In just these two days I see that Ron Luce is right — media really does control us in subliminal ways. Of course our natural response is, “Nah, I’m fine. I do a good job with filtering out the negative stuff.” I said the same thing, but now that I’ve removed those influences for only two days I’m seeing just how faulty that excuse is for clinging to what makes us comfortable.

Earlier today CBS News reported this:

Teens who see and hear a lot about sex in the media may be more than twice as likely to have early sexual intercourse as those who are rarely exposed to sexual content.

A new study shows that 12- to 14-year-olds exposed to the most sexual content in movies, music, magazines, and on television were 2.2 times more likely to have had sexual intercourse when re-interviewed two years later then their peers who had a lighter sexual media diet.

What we expose ourselves to really makes a difference in our thinking and actions! I don’t see how this point could be debated any other way.

What if I refused to expose myself to negative aspects of pop culture and media and instead exposed myself more to God’s Word and prayer? What if a million teenagers around the country took a stand to do the same and said “no” to the garbage we’re feeding on? This is the vision that was communicated at the Battle Cry student conference last weekend that I hope teenagers are taking seriously. So far I know myself and several of my high school guys are acting on this vision and I trust others are, as well. (As a side thought, has anyone else noticed the constant string of sexually immoral references just in the TV show, Friends? And then we’re trained to laugh at it.)

One of the things I said I wanted to do with all my free time this week was make a list of things I can start doing to take back culture. Here’s that list.

1. When I see inappropriate images, magazines, and posters in stores, I will politely tell a manager that these things offend me and ask to have them removed. Many of those on the far-left do this all the time when they see religious material that offends them. It seems to be pretty effective for them, so why not for me? If our religious materials are removed due to complaints and people being offended, then we should do the same for what offends us.

2. I will be selective in what I expose to my eyes, ears and mind. Philippians 4:8 must come into affect. Hollywood probably doesn’t care if I refuse to see one of their movies due to some foul language (something I never liked, but would tolerate for the sake of a good movie), but what if I’m just one of a million teenagers who say the same thing? Now THAT would grab Hollywood’s attention. But even if I’m the only one, knowing that I’m guarding my soul and standing against sin, that’s still enough reason for me to stand alone.

3. At least once a week I will ask myself, “What has God asked me to change lately?” My life is so full of holes and sin it’s ridiculous. The more I understand God’s holiness, the more and more this becomes a striking reality. If a week goes by and I can’t think of anything God’s asked me to change, then I’m definitely not listening and am probably focused on something else that’s obviously less important.

4. “Set” my mind and heart on God.

Colossians 3:1-5
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above…. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things…. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Some strong terms here. First, it says to “set” our hearts and minds on things above. Apparently this isn’t something that will just accidentally happen. It’s an intentional effort that goes against our very nature of sin. And second, “put to death” carries a lot of obvious implications. It implies that this requires some action on our part and that these earthly sins should never return, buried and gone forever.

Conclusion
Somehow I don’t really think all of this counter-culture living should be that unusual or radical. It’s something scripture commanded a long time ago anyway. Maybe it’s just taking me longer than most to take it as seriously as God does.

1 Peter 1:13-17
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

Following the Battle Cry event, the youth group high school guys who were present piled into my car and immediately started discussing the conference, its philosophy, and the suggested implications for our lives. The questions they had were very thought provoking as well as their many insightful comments and answers. The biggest question they raised: “How would our lives be different if we actually cut out the garbage secular media is feeding us?” No one was quite sure, so we decided to try it just for one week and see. Our test is now underway. Until next Saturday at 10:00 PM, the five of us are committed to no television, no video games, and no secular music.

When we added up the time we spend each week on TV, video games, and music, we averaged around 15 hours per person. That’s almost a part-time job for each of us! Imagine what this country would look like if 1 million teenagers took their “part-time job” hours each week and used it in Kingdom work. It might as well start with us. This week we’re each taking that extra 15 hours and doing something useful with it. What exactly that looks like is different for each of us, but for me it includes more time in the Word, more time in prayer, finishing a couple youth ministry books I’m half-way through, making a list of little things I can do to stand against negative influences, and to work out at least four times.

We’re only a little over 24-hours into this “experiment” and I’m already feeling the pressure. TV and mainstream music I can shrug off without much difficulty, but not playing Guild Wars for a week is gonna be tough. Some of the high school guys were talking after Sunday school this morning and said they’re feeling the same way. I’m curious to see how our feelings change by the time Saturday night rolls around. Will I be counting the seconds to be able to play again or will I be content with the better use of my time? One thing is for sure — my restlessness over not playing a video game indicates that I should’ve cut back on this a long time ago.

I’ll post my thoughts concerning Battle Cry sometime later. For now, though, I thought I’d include the video clip from Ron Luce’s interview on The O’Reilly Factor for anyone who hasn’t seen it.

Several years ago I sat before a church’s “youth pastor search committee” and mentioned that I enjoyed keeping up with students online via instant messaging. At that time the service was relatively new. Parents in the group had heard of it, but they knew little more than that. After some discussion they seemed pleased that I was using the latest in student culture and technology as ministry tools, something I still try my best to do.

With over 50 million teenage and young adult users, MySpace is definitely a part of student culture. Every student I know has a MySpace account and uses it regularly. However, despite it’s popularity and potential for ministry, I made the decision a long time ago not to move in on this phenomenon and have yet to register an account at the site. It’s a decision I sometimes re-think, but my reasoning for staying away from MySpace is as follows:

1. It generates high scores on my Covenant Eyes report. MySpace is full of sexually explicit images, language, and inappropriate material that I do not need to unnecessarily expose to my mind. Even if I only look at entries that contain clean material, the banner advertisements on every page are often sexually suggestive. What do these advertisements subliminally teach teenagers about sexuality and relationships? Nothing positive! It seriously makes me angry to see the advertisements they have targeting students, as if the 1,300 soft porn images that flash across MTV every day isn’t enough.

2. Maintaining my own mental purity comes first. Even though MySpace has the potential for incredible ministry opportunities (especially through events like Internet Evangelism Day), I must first care for my own soul. I cannot regularly visit a site like MySpace without feeling the sexual onslaught. Taking care of myself comes before ministry to others.

3. People are different. They really are. People will say things online that they’d never say in person. Personally, I value this aspect of online communities because it’s a window into what someone really thinks and feels, not just what they cover up in church. The problem for me comes when people start lying about their age, personality, and physical appearance. Youth ministry aside, how can I trust anyone else on MySpace? When I monitor Internet usage at my other job, I see employees maintaining up to eight real-life romances with people they met on MySpace. Without a single exception, they all lie about their jobs, where they were the night before, what they enjoy doing, and claim that they are deeply in love (sexually) with only that one person. I got so sick of it that I blocked myspace.com on every computer in the workplace. My personal time could be better spent on something better than MySpace.

4. My social networking is already fine. Although a minor detail, I really don’t feel like I need more friends. I have enough already.

5. I can use RSS feeds to keep up with students without an account. Fortunately, I don’t need an account at MySpace to keep up with what youth group students are posting on the site. RSS feeds allow me to stream new content from each user’s account to my Feed on Feeds aggregator, even the content users mark as “private for friends only.” (MySpace should probably fix this security flaw sometime, huh?) Although I can’t post comments on other MySpace accounts, I can still keep up with what they write.

Please understand that I’m not condemning MySpace nor am I claiming that Christians need to stay away from it. What other people do is between them and God. The Lord holds us accountable for our actions based on our convictions, not what others tell us we need to do. I’m confident there is a lot of effective ministry that takes place on the site (it certainly has the potential). These are only my personal values and why it is best for me to stay away.

Scott Greene, a youth pastor in Indiana, is going back to high school as a sophomore for two weeks to experience a little of what students go through. He’s keeping his blog updated with what he learns. It sounds like his investment will be very beneficial for all of us. I’m definitely looking forward to reading about his journey.

ht to Ashley.

Apparently I’ve been using the term “hooked up” much differently than how society defines it, which would explain the rumors that started when I used it in front of a church congregation in Virginia Beach several years ago. I was introducing a young new female youth worker to the church and said something about us having attended the same college at the same time but never met until we “hooked up” there in Virginia. lol! No wonder people jumped to weird conclusions.

But more importantly, the article really made me evaluate just how well the Sr. High in my youth ministry are being prepared for life after high school. Will they be ones to stand up against low sexual standards or will they fall into the statistics like most everyone else? Sometimes it’s easy to feel so overwhelmed with just how much work needs to be done and how little time we have to accomplish it between 6th and 12th grades.

Right now I’m doing my best to prepare them for intellectual objections to Christianity by spending several Sundays discussing issues of apologetics. We’re spending several weeks on each of the following issues by using sources outside scripture for defense:
– How do we know God exists?
– Is the Bible really true?
– Was Jesus really God?
– Did Jesus come back to life?
– Is Jesus really the only way to God?
– What about all the other intellectual objections?
– Conclusion: the verdict

I might have to speed it up a little, though, in order to fit in lessons preparing students for the movie, Da Vinci Code, releasing May 19. These lessons will eventually be available here on my blog, too, in case anyone else can make use of them.

Anyone else feel that much of what we do in youth ministry is a reaction to society rather than defining it for the future? Why are we always on the defensive, addressing cultural issues and problems rather than setting our own issues for society to deal with instead? That’s probably a topic for a future blog entry…

I’ve been doing lots of reading on the subject, trying to gather comic fodder. I fully expected to validate my preconceived notion that the Darwinists had a mountain of credible evidence and the Intelligent Design folks were creationist kooks disguising themselves as scientists. That’s the way the media paints it. I had no reason to believe otherwise. The truth is a lot more interesting.

The 216+ comments are a little much to sift through, but they’re mostly skimmable. I posted a brief comment, but it hasn’t been approved yet. It should be around #218, though.

Read his full blog entry here.

*deep breath* Okay, so after watching the video I decided I needed a good “pick-me-up” and that this entry should do more to offer encouragement for the answer that lies in Christ rather than point out what most of us already know to be true about America’s youth. Jeremy Camp’s video also addresses pain in life but from a much different perspective. His message offers hope, a message I intend to communicate to as many students as possible.

Discussing her friend “Emma,” Ashley says, “The story is that she had oral sex with a guy friend of ours last week. Just for fun. They’re not dating, although they’ve always flirted with each other a lot. Emma took one look at my face this morning, and she knew I knew.”

Emma goes on to claim that oral sex “is not even sex,” but Ashley disagrees, saying, “God’s definition of sexual purity covers much more than intercourse.”

Following Ashley’s narrative is a warning that “the physical and emotional effects of oral sex are similar to intercourse,” along with tips for dealing with friends who are engaging in the practice.

Although some people are calling this kind of work a disgrace to our scripture and are trying to make Zondervan pull it off shelves, I applaud their work and the step they’re taking to get real with teenagers. I agree that it probably shouldn’t be given to a young home schooled kid who’s never heard of sex, but the average teenager experiences these struggles almost every day. I’m glad Zondervan isn’t backing down from this.

The only suggestion I have is that the company somehow find a way to tactfully make the content of these two Bibles known to the consumer before purchase. It’s definitely not an “innocent” Bible that anyone could pull off a shelf and hand to any ol’ teenager. But given the right context, these Bibles can be extremely helpful and give students an opportunity to see that this age-old book addresses relevant issues in their daily life.

Since I was once part of the home school community, I feel I have the freedom to say this: if they don’t like it, they don’t have to buy it. Yes, these student Bibles are pretty graphic in nature, but they weren’t written with them in mind as the target audience anyway.

It’s a show called, Next. It’s kinda the same idea of Blind Date except for gays. A group of five guys in their early twenties compete to win the affection of another guy that’s about the same age. They go on a date, flirt, drop sexual innuendos, enjoy time as a couple and at the end decide if they’d like to go on a second date or back out and get some cash… Okay, here’s the part where I freak out… WHAT IN THE WORLD?!! Am I the only one who sees the HUGE detrimental affect this will have on teenagers? Is MTV intentionally making an effort to erode heterosexual relationships and thereby destroy marriages, the foundation of any great country? Has our country’s demise really fallen this low that it accepts a show like this on the biggest TV network that intentionally targets teenagers and young adults? This show portrays homosexuality as being a completely viable lifestyle that is acceptable and natural. Teenagers are already struggling with sexual identity. Why is MTV and other like-minded influencers of pop-culture pumping out this kind of demoralizing message…. Blah blah blah, I don’t have time to continue my rant. You get the idea.

So I watched Next for about 10 or 15 minutes and couldn’t take it any longer. I finally found my comfortable Fox News Network and heard the latest on the 16-year old teenager suspected of brutally murdering the wife of a prominent defense attorney. He broke into the house, beat her 30-some times on the head with a piece of molding, and then proceeded to carve pentagram into her back. Even after this, he hang around the corpse for a while, almost enjoying its company. The motive for the murder is still under investigation, but what we do know is that this teenager was a normal every-day baseball kinda kid until his half-sister was killed in a car accident two years ago. His friends say that he became very closed after this event. He started dressing in black, isolated himself, and adopted a gothic lifestyle. The trigger for this murder, however, seems to be the fact that three days earlier his parents finally filed for divorce.

Talk about a teenager who’s hurting, wow! A little bit of love, time, and personal attention from almost anyone could’ve completely altered the direction of this kid’s life. We can all talk about how awful this event is, and it is, but what about the countless other teenagers out there who are currently sharing in his pain and life experiences? Those are the ones we need to reach out to and connect with. Christ’s love needs to permeate their experiences and we’re the ones to take it to them.

I feel that the goal of reclaiming the American teenager is an uphill struggle. Culture and society is working against us. The decline of marriage and family relationships are making the job nearly impossible, both in homosexuality and in divorce. It’s very frustrating to see these things happening in our world. I wanna reach every teenager out there and it’s hard to know that I can’t. However, it does serve as a grave reminder just how important my job is, probably one of the most significant ones out there. If I can reach the American teenager and help alter their perspective on life and their world, maybe marriages can again be solidified and numerous murders and suicides will be prevented. With a strong generation of teenagers that are willing to say “No!” to the morals and values of their culture, this country will be a very different place. The future of America rests on the shoulders of our youth workers.

So for now, I’m gonna leave my TV turned off until I’m ready to see another accurate portrayal of the hopeless world in which I live.

No wonder we all start to ask questions during times like this. Where is God in all this? Why didn’t He stop it? Is He really out there? Does He care? Why all the injustice? Why do innocent people suffer while the evil people seem to control everything? Why doesn’t God do something? Why? Why? Why?

These questions are not new to God. Hundreds of years before Jesus was even born an ancient prophet looked around at his world and cried out to God, “Why do You make me look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrong? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Hab 1:3, 13) When you personally ask these questions, chances are God will not come before you and explain everything, but that’s okay because someone else already got the answers for you. This prophet not only asked God these mysterious questions but received the answers too. The answers given by the Creator of the universe are written for us in a little book called Habakkuk.

Habakkuk probably isn’t a book you spend too much time in, but it’s still very unique and worth just as much of our time as the rest of His Word. This little book tells of an interview God had with Habakkuk, a conversation between Almighty God and a perplexed prophet.

When Habakkuk wrote this book, the world was in a state of crisis. Babylonia was the current powerhouse, crushing every known nation around. Shortly after this book was written Babylonia would finally attain complete world power by overtaking Judah and carrying the civilians away in captivity. However, right before this happened, in a time of great fear and uncertainty, Habakkuk recorded his conversation with the Lord for us to read today.

Besides the international crisis, the nation of Judah was in an even more serious state of corruption. They had several kings, each very wicked. Except for one king named Josiah, they all hated the Lord and did everything in their power to reject Him, mock Him, and kill anyone who admitted to be committed to Him. The people were violent, greedy, fought over everything, and did injustice to everyone. Habakkuk looked at not only the wicked state of the nation around him but also at the crisis the world was in due to Babylonia’s domination.

It’s no wonder he cried out to God, “Why don’t you do something?” We also continue to ask this same question today during tragic times. In a time of national crisis and corruption, many of us begin to question God and wonder what He’s doing. Terrorists rise up against nations, we develop an ever-increasing array of complex weapons, and then try to live in peace without the Prince of Peace.

While we are at war against terrorists from other countries, our nation continues to decline on the inside by a mentality that says personal pleasure is the ultimate rule in life. Crime increases while church attendance decreases. Homes crumble, drugs prevail, faith dies, and divorce grows to be commonplace. “In God We Trust” is a meaningless phrase that carries little weight, just four words to stamp on a coin.

In the dark days of the prophet Habakkuk’s time, he writes an unusual message of hope and encouragement for God’s people. Though doubts and confusion reign when sin runs rampant, an encounter with God can turn those doubts into devotion and all confusion into confidence.

Habakkuk’s book begins with asking God a series of “Why?” questions, discontent with the circumstances around him. However, by the time the book ends, God has both answered his questions and calmed his fears. Maybe not the way Habakkuk was looking for but it was an answer just the same. His worry changed to worship and his fear altered to reverence. He closes the book with hope and adoration of God and who He is in comparison to this world.

What begins with a question mark ends with an exclamation point. The question “Why?” is best answered with the everlasting “Who!” Though the outlook on this world may elicit fear in our hearts, the “uplook” elicits trust. The prophet’s questions and fears were replaced with a confident faith in God. His confusion, “Why all the conflict?” is resolved with his understanding of who is in control: God!

In such a world of crisis and chaos, Habakkuk clearly speaks. This little book is as relevant for us today as the morning newspaper. Read it.

(Adapted from “The Bible Knowledge Commentary”. Warlvoord and Zuck. Victor Books: Wheaton, IL. 1986)

“Our father, God, Allah, we thank you for this moment in time. Bless Kanye, bless his album, take over his album and take it to the highest place possible . . . In the name of Jesus, in the name of Allah and the spirit of our inner essence. Amen.�
- Prayer by rapper Common prior to a Kanye West concert, Blender, September 2005, p. 126.

lol! Who’s he praying to? If he actually had any idea about the “gods” he’s praying to he’d know that his prayer is one of the most rediculous ideas out there. Here’s a guy who I guess trying to please a lot of people but in doing so proves his total ignorance of who God is, Allah, and whatever “inner essence” is. These concepts are all completely opposed and contradictory to each other. He might as well pray to the gods of oil, water, and gravy.

“My body was made for sin.�
- Singer/actress Jessica Simpson, Blender, September 2005, p. 46.

Jessica is going downhill fast. Whats’ the deal with her? She used to be the last female pop artist that held some kind of morals, but after her sexually-charged appearance in Dukes of Hazzard and a statement like this, I start wondering where her morals went. When asked about her role in the film, she says that God put her here on this earth to make people happy. “If showing clevage makes people happy, then that’s what I need to do. Besides, I work d*** hard for my body so I’m gonna show it.” She’s lost my respect.

Furthermore, The Parents Television Council examined 136 shows on MTV over a six month period and discovered there were 1,480 instances of swear words (938 bleeped and 542 non-bleeped) in the 71 hours of programming studied. The PTC also reports that 73% and 78% of 12-19 year-old watch MTV. That’s more than a swear word every 3 minutes! Plus, the network’s intentional agenda of promoting casual relationships, meaningless sexuality, and selfish “do what feels good” mesasges should make a Christian reconsider if anything positive could come out of consuming it’s programs.

On the other hand, the Christian band Relient K is making the charts in the mainstream market. Their music video of Be My Escape from their latest album made it into the top 10 on MTV’s TRL. The band even performed the song live on TRL on August 16, 2005. Watch the video on MTV’s site by clicking HERE.