“Life is way too short to waste time doing average things, since average things produce average results. I would rather search for the greater things in life and die searching; better this than to never search and always wonder.” ~Anonymous

I found it! Search no farther: it’s youth ministry. Spiritually invest into teenagers, impact the present, and change the future.

An interesting article by ABC News that suggests it’s OK for girls to be overly expressive about their sexuality in their early teens. Some quotes that make me raise my eyebrow:

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.

“I do have an issue with this kind of image of perfection that a movie can put across. You want to say to people ‘Stop! Stop! It’s not real. We’ve been in makeup for 2½ hours. We don’t really look like that.’ I mean, I’m living proof that we don’t really look like that.”

- 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]

Mark Batterson blogged this quote from a seminar lab by Craig Groeschel at the Catalyst Conference.

His student group grew backwards and someone said to him, “If you blame yourself for the decline you’ll be tempted to take credit for the incline!”

What an interesting perspective.

I’ve never heard of the book Accidential Youth Leader, but Marshall posted some good quotes from it.

- Young people are purpose-built by God to shake the status-quo of the previous generation.

- When God went looking for a king, He went looking for a young person.

- There are only 2 reasons you go to school – to eat lunch and to talk about Jesus.

- Position doesn’t give you the right to speak into someone’s life – relationship does.

- The youth leader/pastor who does not honour and serve their senior pastor is a fool.

Characteristics of great team members:
- GTMs (great team members ) are able to bring a touch of God

- GTMs know how to succeed

- GTMs are able to fit in the house

- GTMs attract the favour of people

- GTMs are able to see the bigger picture

- GTMs are able to instinctively recognise & respect boundaries

- GTMs are willing to serve God’s person

- GTMs are able to look good (what r u reflecting?)

- GTMs can see dreams

- GTMs can interpret dreams

“Life is way too short to waste time doing average things, since average things produce average results. I would rather search for the greater things in life and die searching; better this than to never search and always wonder.” ~Anonymous