Amanda Drury - Teen Apathy in Faith and Forming an Immersive Faith via The Youth Cartel’s Summit. http://adammclane.com/
Multempire - Thoughts on Youth Ministry
Clearing YM Noise Away
The Wii U. With new systems (xbox720, ps4) coming out this year, are you excited?
Gone Crazy Shopping for Foods. #groceries
First new Audio Adrenaline single with K-Max on lead vocals: “Kings & Queens”
Gotta love Kevin Max with Audio Adrenaline! C’mon. This is great for an opener and to remind your kids about upcoming Global work :D
Breakfast prayer from the “too cool” 8th grade boy this morning…
Dear Lord,
Please bless our, like, cereal, and like, our day and all of that stuff. And like, thanks for an awesome trip and stuff.
Amen.
Tim Hawkins - Christian Comedian - We showed this video to get the night kicked off. The kids were laughing at the silly over-dramatic poses, and they knew the “Jesus Take the Wheel” video, so this was so right. The story is hilarious, but shows how friends can help each other, even if in a ridiculous way. Start off with this video for breaking the ice in your youth group sometime. And check out Tim Hawkins sometime. Very funny.
Susan Boyle Video - A few years ago she made a splash. Most of your kids will recognize or have seen this video. I used it last week to talk about making a splash for Christ this summer. More than just doing Good, but letting love overflow from what God has been doing in our hearts. I am praying for Friends reaching Friends this summer, and being “witnesses” (a theme we have been using from Hebrews chapter 12) for Jesus, telling them all the amazing things that God is doing in their lives in clear and effective ways. I am hoping our youth become leaders and people of Great Purpose in our community this summer.
iheartyouthministry.com- Youth Ministry Blog: Youth Ministry 101: Helping Your jr. high & High School Parents
Youth Ministry 101: Helping Your jr. high & High School ParentsAs I’m writing this post I’ve just finished up a meeting with a couple of Jr. High parents who were concerned about their students falling through the cracks (their students hadn’t really gotten “plugged in” deeply to our youth ministry) in the church.
As I was listening to their concerns, a few thoughts came to me about partnering with parents. Here are some simple things to remember when it comes to caring for the parents of the students in your Youth Ministry:
1) OFFER THE PARENTS IN YOUR MINISTRY HELP & HOPE. Make helping parents a priority! No one is more invested in the well being of the students in your youth group than their parents. Parents want their kids to grow and to get connected. Do your best to be helpful as often as you can. Every week, when parents are picking up their students ask “how is your family doing? or “How can I be praying for you guys this week?”. Be a resource for parents who are having a rough time with their kids. Two words to keep in mind: HELP & HOPE!
2) KEEP THE LINES OF COMMUNICATIONS OPEN & OFTEN. Parents love to be “in the know”. You can never give parents “too much” information. Send out weekly parent emails, send group texts, create a special page on your website just for parents. Do whatever it takes to keep the parents in your ministry informed. Informed parents are happy parents!
3) FIND WAYS TO PARTNER WITH PARENTS. More often then not, parents would love to help you out and be more involved. Maybe you could have some parents come in during the week to help with office work ( I know a lot of youth workers would love that). Create a parent prayer team or a carpool cohort…you get the idea. Find some creative ways to partner with the parents in your ministry but getting them involved. The more involved they are in your youth ministry, the more buy-in they will have.
That’s it. Keep it simple. When it comes to the parents of our students: Offer help & hope, communicate openly and often and find ways to partner with parents!
Daniel Durant: You’ve alluded to the need for worship and wonder. Do you think that worship can also be an escape for some?
Ravi Zacharias: Yes, I think the way we worship can be an escape. Sometimes I wonder about the evangelical world where worship to us has become so much noise. I often wonder how much that really couches the most important thing: for you to be still. Sometimes we’re afraid to be alone.We’re afraid to listen to our inner voice. Worship can be an escape, but if worship is the ultimate recognition of the sacred then it’s not an escape. It’s a fountain from which all else flows and you sense it. But it’s a great question and I think you’re right. Many times not just worship itself but even religion in general can be an escape. All kinds of things can be an escape:
watching television, watching sports. So the truth ultimately has to be settled: What is the paradigm from which I view everything else? The Bible talks about what you believe, so you are, and how you think, so you are. Worship, when it is a legitimate expression, is not an escape; it’s ultimate fulfillment.
(Source: rzim.org)
What Do We Make of the Riots. This Youth Worker tries to make sense of society and its reaction to the riots and how it degrades the humanity of all those involved. The image of young people in British society is at issue, so is the animalization of other humans (degradation).
I walked the streets of Croyden (outside of London) two days after the riots ended and saw the boarded windows, though life seemed to be returning to normal. It was the self-reflecting, the punishments, and the editorializing in the papers that brought light to many issues in British society, but which have parallels to America as well.
Thoughts that come up in my mind as I watched this:
(1) How we view young people (and their role in society) is a social justice issue that needs to be part of our culture’s conversation. They cannot just remain a monetized group with no purpose or vision for life - let alone the issue of joblessness.
(2) The vision of young people as trouble makers and responsible for the ills of society is disproportionate to the actuality (note the stats on who actually participated in the riots - 80 percent adults).
(3) Punishments on young people, when they are used as a scapegoat, are much more severe than punishments on those wealthy elites or politicians who perpetrate much greater crimes (note last frames on comparison of punishments).
I watched this and was fascinated. Partly because I can’t stop listening to the English accent, but also because the anger and the disconnection between the rulers and the young people is something the US has been dealing in different ways (Columbine?).
When people have no purpose and are given no dignity or goal, and time widdles away, sooner or later something is going to burn.
As youth workers and ministers, what is our role in this? How do we address anger in youth? How do we point them to hope in Christ? Hope in a future for them, their families, their dreams?
(Source: http)
