The Truth About Teen Girls

As I was reading blogs tonight I came across this on DC Curry’s Blog.  He is a youth pastor at Granger Community Church in Indiana.  This article is a must read for every parent of a teenage girl and for every parent who has a girl who will soon be a teen or tween.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1840556-1,00.html

Busy Kids

There is a huge debate going on in society about the pros and cons of busy kids.  People ultimatly fall into one of two categories.  They either feel that the busier a kid is the less trouble they will get in and they will develop habits that will cause them to be successful for the rest of their life or they fell that the busier a kid is the more broken they will be.

Over the next couple days I will give you both views and let you decide for yourself.

On average students will spend more time at school each day than they will at home.  “Here are some vital turths about busy kids that will help guide us as we make these personal changes.”

1. Busy students are achieving students…generally, the kids who are the busiest are also the kids who are and will accomplish the most. These students are the movers and the shakers of the future.
2. Busy students are motivated students…at some point they have made the decision to do whatever it takes to be the best.
3. Busy students are responsible students…the busy student has a high threshold of responsibility.
4. Busy students are demanding students…because there is such a demand on the busy students schedule they tend to do the same to others.
5. Busy students are our students…they desire to be a part of something bigger.

Because of the business of our students this ministry suggests that we:

1. Change our vision…
2. Change our direction…
3. Change our action…
4. Change our expectations…

“Reaching busy students is difficult but I believe it can be done.  When we begin to see and learn truths about busy kids, we are then guided to make personal changes in our lives.  Change is not easy.  To change something means something must stop.  Creativity and courage must be our attitude as we change vision, direction, action, and expectation.  I want busy kids in our student ministry!”

Remember I will give my view on this topic in the 3rd installment of this busy kids series.

Sunday Night Wrap-Up

• Once again those who were in our volunteer central today did a great job!
• Our greeters were awesome today, you guys were all over the place!
• Guest services continue to blow me away at how effeciant you are!
• Ushers did a great job and we had a lot more on your plate today!
• Tear down went smooth, if your not involved you are missing out.
• Middle school life groups were awesome.
• We had a kid throw up from the game…always a bonus, I had to clean it up…not so much a bonus.
• Beat the ministry intern Kyle in the soda chug game…represented the staff well.
• Ben’s communication system in the morning is great…unless you have A.D.D. like me…I couldn’t focus.
• I really love KFC.
• Our skit in November will be insane…Jess great job in getting everyone to step up for it.
• John spoke with a passion that very few pastors possess…the reality was, what you saw was real…he really is that broken for the Delaware Valley…Who will ELEVATE with us?
• Did I mention I had to clean up vomit?
• C3 Conference will be awesome up at Northway…I will email PDF’s this week to all my teams.
• We have an All-nighter coming up this Friday from 7pm-7am, $5.00 per person.  I love All-nighters (he types with sarcasm)
• UNITED is coming up October 4th.  New worship songs will be awesome.
• Celebration Sunday is next week from 1-4pm on the Campus grounds…it will be awesome…mmm…pulled pork.  I love me some pig.
• Still disturbed by the vomit.
• As I write the Eagles and Phillies are winning.  Mets have lost, hoping Dallas loses tonight.
• Parents, student Bibles on sale for $20.00, make sure your teen gets one for life groups.
• Matthew got in a fight with his brother because he kissed his girlfriend.  THEY ARE 4 and 5…Are you kidding me?
• See you at the pole is this Wednesday at 7:00am on every school campus in America…go connect with people you didn’t even know were believers.

Bittersweet

I went to the open house for Concord school and met Matthew’s teacher who is a great lady.  The school is awesome and has everything you could want or even imagine.  They have snack time which is a favorite of Matthew’s.  One day for snack day he asked his teacher why don’t they pray for the snack…and of course they just don’t.

Jess did really good with Matthew explaining how he could pray on his own and what to say if anybody asked him what he was doing.  It was a great teaching opportunity that Jess took advantage of.

Changing Trends

If you are a parent, teenager or have any contact with teenagers then you know that youth culture changes every six months and in many cases even quicker.  The shoes or music that are in now will not be in by Christmas, especially if the shoes are white because we all know the Labor Day rule.

Walt Mueller had a couple things to say that he observed from the MTV Video awards that I thought were worth noting.  Walt is one of those guys who job is to study youth culture and the impact of everything on that culture and he does a great job.  He is nationally known and he is local guy from Lancaster.

• “Notoriously absent was the usual pit of screaming “regular people” and fans, as was the balcony or gallery seats loaded with screaming young adolescents who would keep the shrieks of adoration coming regularly thought the broadcast. Instead, a deliberate effort was made by MTV to cater to young viewers with the choice of presenters and performers. . . . including everyone from the cast of High School Musical, to Miley Cyrus, to the Jonas Brothers, to Jordin Sparks. With so many media choices facing our kids, MTV knows they’ve got to get ‘em young.”

I picked up on this right away that things were different from the past.  They were going for small, quaint, less clutter and noise and back to the roots of music.  Everybody who announced the awards was somebody who has been on the Nickelodeon awards or Disney awards shows.  Jordin Sparks offered a stark contrast from the sexual and political media blitz that was occurring by taking her own stand on sexual purity which constituted an apology from the host.

• “I was especially struck by how so many of the commercials were visually embedded in textual promos reminding viewers to hang in there and keep watching for what’s “coming up in 5 minutes. . . .”, quizzes, teasers, etc. Even MTV is battling to hold the attention of a generation that’s been so media-blitzed they’re having a hard time focusing. I seriously wonder if our ministry attempts to draw them in by providing more entertaining stimulus is a good thing. I don’t think it is. We need to teach kids how to “be still” to listen, hear, and know God.”

I did not pick up on this but what a key observation.  They were promoting and marketing throughout the entire night.  Every commercial was in a box that was telling them what to expect next.  I think our ministry is doing a great job of balancing the art of keeping them entertained but at the same time engaging them with the life changing power of God’s Word.

MTV VMA’s

MTV Video Music Awards

• Deep sexual undertone on a majority of the songs.  They pushed it even further than they usually do.
• Once again they outdid themselves with their video, lighting, and pyrotechnics.  The moving and spinning stage was ingenious.
• Took a new angle and did the music awards on a Hollywood movie lot.  It gave it a whole new look and once again created a buzz with the marketing.
• Integrated their commercials throughout the whole night.  They are a master at marketing.
• Took a strong political stand for Barack Obama.  They used a British host to push an “agenda”.  They promoted this whole Brittany Spears ordeal and would she kiss Katie Perry who sings the song “I kissed a girl”?  She simply announced the beginning of the show…but they did all they could to create a buzz.  *Later she won best pop video.
• There was a fine line between the hip hop industry and rock industry.  Both won several awards and both performed.  They are being more careful not to push one music style.  The VMA’s will in some instances dictate the direction of youth culture.  Or at the very least it shows us where culture has been.
• Very little country.
• Painted Michael Phelps as a hip hop icon.
• Leather is back in?
• Teen bands not as big as they appear to be on itunes…Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers.
• They once again made light of being trashed when Slip Knot was on stage.
• Ironic that Slip Knot was the announcer of the Best Rap Video.
• Jordan Sparks with the quote of the night.  It is not bad to wear a promise ring because maybe not everyone wants to be a slut. Way to represent.
• They did do a great job of throwing back to artists of the past and mixing it with the artists of the future.
• High school musical did not get a very loud applause. Disney kids did intro a former Disney kid.
• Christina Aguilera still has an incredible voice…
• Nothing as it seems was their theme and really didn’t make sense.
• Gossip Girls still a popular show even though all it does is show the brokenness that every teen deals with.  Maybe it is easier to watch it in someone else’s life that to deal with it yourself?
• Best new artist was a rock group, Tokio Hotel…lead singer I thought it was a guy, still not sure?
• Does LL Cool J have an AARP card yet?
• DJ AM and TBarker sound sick together.
• Paris Hilton is so last year, seriously she is getting desperate with her new show my new BFF.
• Everybody wanted to thank God…very touching.
• Why can’t a church look like an MTV set?
• Kid Rock…washed up
• Market Kobe Bryant like I never have seen them do before…they let him intro video of the year the biggest award of the night.
• Britney Spears, Jonas Brothers, Chris Brown, Pussycat Dolls, The Thing TIngs…winner-Britney Spears.  Thus completing her musical come back.  Is that her real hair?
• Kanye West closed out the show with his usual flair and dynamic approach.  MTV did a great job with the visuals of a live concert performance. The drummers that started with the entrance did the same with the exit…sort of like the Olympics.
• The host was all about inner joy.

Overall the production was top notch.  They set the pace again when it comes to imagery.  They had a tremendous opportunity to paint a picture of the future of teenagers.  Not all teens are about sex, drugs and hip hop.  There are some teens out there that are doing good things.  They are taking care of themselves and respecting others.  Sadly MTV does not paint the picture.  Only the picture of crazed teenagers.  Not all hip hop is bad and not all rock is bad.  There is a long list of talented artists who do have some good things to say.  There is some good music on the radio that speaks positively into the lives of those who listen.  I am neither pro nor con on the MTV awards and the music that is shown.  Every person needs to make that choice for themselves.  This is just some random thoughts of what I took away from the show this year.  The question is what is the wise thing to listen to?

Communication

Can you tell the difference when something is communicated well or not?  I sure can.  So many times I feel as if I communicated something well only to find out that I didn’t.  Everybody communicates differently and at times it can be hard to connect with everyone.

This week we launched several ministries in our church and with our student ministries.  Some of them I communicated well others I had a lot of room for improvement.  For those who were affected by my poor communication I apologize.  Just as our church is Elevating the way we do ministry I am working on the way I communicate.  Communication is always a work in progress.

Thanks to all of you who served today.  Some of you were outside your comfort zone but you did amazing.  Can’t wait to do it again.

UNITED

UNITED was great tonight.  We had a good turnout and worship was awesome!  Our team did awesome connecting with students.  We had so many new students it was incredible.  We had some great comments from kids.

Here are a few:

• I didn’t know church could be like this.
• Our youth group was never like this.
• God and I needed to do some business tonight.
• This program is incredible.
• Can’t wait till life groups
• I can’t wait to come back

Can’t wait for life groups to start tomorrow night (well actually I can, I’m exhausted).  As one leader said tonight, “It is good to be back in the swing of things.”

T.I.M.E.

Taken from Simply Strategic Volunteers.

Whenever you lead people they are always wanting your time.  There are times when people you serve, work with or even yourself may beomce selfish, stubborn, reflect a poor attitude, or simply just create difficult situations.  There is a point where either them or you need inspiration and motivation.  They need encouragment and touch.  Sometimes T.I.M.E. makes the tension go away.

T is for touch.  Appropriate touch goes a long way in giving confidence to the other person.  Makes them feel good.  It can be in a variety of different ways but at the end of the day it makes people feel good.

I is for inspiration.  Everybody needs to know at one point or another why they are doing what they are doing.

M is for motivation.  Training and stories of life change motivate people to get through the tough times.

E is for encouragement.  Listening to others is one of the best ways to encourage others.  It lets them know that you care about them and that you value them and that they are special.

More importantly than giving your T.I.M.E. is teaching your leaders or coworkers the importance of giving their time as well.  This typically doesn’t come naturally but is huge to be an effective leader.

Ministry Intern

In case you have not had a chance to meet Kyle Short you need to this Sunday.  Kyle has joined the Fellowship staff as our ministry intern.  This guy brings so much charisma and personality to the table.  He loves teenagers.  His dad is a pastor and brings so he brings another perspective on life.  Parents, he will bless your kids so be a blessing to him. He is one of the best I have ever seen at building relationships.

Students he will be at UNITED this Saturday at 6:00pm, as he begins his journey of of full time ministry.  When you see him introduce yourself to him and give him time to remember your name because, hey he’s new.