Ministry and Meteorology? » youth

My Anger Talk for Youth Group

jeff — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:41:37 +0000

With all that was going on, and the feelings that I have been processing through, I felt God asking me to work this one up. Part of this comes from a conversation at Celebrate Recovery (no details, just that we were talking about making amends and forgiveness, a couple of the chapters cover these) and part from some videos that I own.

We started off with an object lesson that included the students to take an Alka-Seltzer tablet in their mouth and then put 7up in there and try to hold it for as long as possible. Anger is like that isn’t it? It cause us foam at the mouth or we try to hold it in. When we do let it out we create a mess and it leaves a bad taste in our mouthes. Paul said in Ephesians, “In your anger, do not sin.” (remember that sin is separation from God).

What are we looking for?

We want to be free, healthy, and whole. We don’t want what somebody else did to you to determine your life.

So how do we react when somebody does something to us?

Revenge becomes our only hope, so we really aren’t free. Revenge is saying to God, “I don’t trust you to take care of this the way I want it to end.” However, revenge doesn’t satisfy.

So Forgiveness is the answer. The Cross is God’s sign of forgiveness to us. So let’s see how Jesus deals this.

Mark 3:1-6

Here Jesus – gets angry

- identifies with an injustice and not a selfish desire

- anger leads to an act of healing

Anger is the body’s reaction to your will being blocked.

People’s anger usually has nothing to with the person to whom it is vented.

The problem isn’t anger, but what we do with it.

What does your anger do?

Jesus in the “Sermon on the Mount.”- Matthew 5:38-41

Jesus quotes from Leviticus about an eye for an eye. Here’s a little background on that passage: There was so much revenge in Genesis to Exodus. Anyone who sinned against Cain would get back 7 times (Genesis 4:15) and later Lamech talks about being avenged seventy time seven (Genesis 4:23-24). So revenge had an escalating quality. You do something to me and I’ll do something worse. This went on until Moses when he limited what could be done. Don’t do more than was done to you. Now Jesus says to let God handle it and love the wrong doer.

So channel anger into healing.

So Paul talks about this many times. Here are a few: Ephesians 4:26-27, 31-32 and Romans 12:16-21 (and Paul quotes Proverbs 25:21-22).

In Celebrate Recovery, we learn to do an inventory of our hurts, habits, and hang ups. We search for where our anger comes from. Do you have the courage to search where your anger comes from? Do you want to be free?

There will always be things to complain about. People will always need your help.

Which will you choose? Being a slave to anger? or the freedom to heal?

Teens and barriers

jeff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:07:41 +0000

We have been seeing more of this at the youth group:

For today’s teenagers, it’s less about breaking down barriers than retreating behind them. Anxiety levels are rising among the young, thanks perhaps to a mix of political events and “paranoid parenting.” Recent surveys suggest as many as one in five teens now suffers from clinical depression. A typical teenager today exhibits more anxiety than child psychiatric patients did in the 1950s, according to the American Psychological Association. This is driving a trend for more conservative behaviors.

So what does it take to break down these barriers? Any thoughts?

via Old Is the New Young.

Teens waiting for Black Friday

jeff — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:05:10 +0000

What are we teaching our kids?

Black Friday fever in Florida |West Palm Beach News, South Florida Breaking News, Forecast, Video from WPTV.

Overcoming the Youth Ministry Gap

jeff — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:32:26 +0000

Adam McLane over at Youth Specialities posed a question about a “youth ministry gap.” That is a gap between the youth ministry that is run by a paid staffer vs. the volunteer, and the differences between the two. He asks a good question about how do we bridge the gap. I left my two cents in the comments, but it boils down to linking the two leaders so that they help each other, so that they body of Christ comes together for the good of the upcoming generation.

The Youth Ministry Gap#comment-7084.

Pregraduation prep in the fall

jeff — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:47:03 +0000

I watched one of the the Youth Specialities podcasts and they mentioned that we should start working with our graduating seniors now so that when they graduate next year they can transition into a college world easier. Interesting thoughts on how to do it.

A Secular View of Teen Sex

jeff — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:08:00 +0000

I usually read this stuff through XXXChurch.com, but I ran into this through another blog site. This secular view of the trends is what we have been saying has been happening. This is a secular site so I’ll give a warning for some of the language in the article.

HOW INTERNET PORN IS CHANGING TEEN SEX: DETAILS Article on men.style.com.

iGens and Nobody’s Happy

jeff — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:20:00 +0000

I was listening to the Net @ Night podcast with Leo Laporte and Sarah Lane (standing in for Amber MacArthur) the other night. Somehow the subject they started talking about was a portion of the Conan O’Brien show from earlier in the week. This was an interesting, because Scot McKnight, a theologian and blogger that I regularly read just got done with a series about the book Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled–and More Miserable Than Ever Before. Both of these hit on the unique subject that with everything we have, people are more miserable. I see this with the youth group kids and the some people in church. Listening to the podcast Money Life with Chuck Bentley, he has been hammering the fact that we have put ourselves into debt to buy things that end up making us miserable. So we keep trying to earn money to buy our happiness, only to be unfulfilled. I won’t go into details, but there are people that I am close to that they haven’t figured that out yet. In fact, they once told me that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I think that in the coming years, that America will realize that we need to change…

The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Thoughts

jeff — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:21:00 +0000

I’m glad the youth of America want the unvarnished truth:

And research suggests teens do want the awful truth: Three-quarters say they would like the media to talk more about the consequences of sex, according to a 2007 study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

‘Secret Life of the American Teenager’ explores teen pregnancy – Los Angeles Times

I just hope that Hollywood would get the message and not send us more unrealistic stuff. I’m middle of the road on the series. It has good moments and statistics, but sometimes falls back on stereotypes for some of the dialog. However, it’s not bad.

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Chuck Colson’s take on Blogojevich

jeff — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 04:54:00 +0000

Commentary: I know what Illinois governor feels like now – CNN.com

I like this quote from Mr. Colson:

At the height of Watergate, a dear friend of mine, Tom Phillips, then CEO of Raytheon, invited me to his home. As we sat in his kitchen, Tom read to me a chapter on pride from a little book by C.S. Lewis titled “Mere Christianity.”

Lewis wrote, “There is one vice of which no man in the world is free. … The vice I am talking about is Pride or Self-conceit. …. Pride leads to every other vice. … A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. … Pride is a spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.“

I couldn’t agree more. I see it in the mirror in the morning and I see in the kids we work with.

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Tyra ‘shocked’ by risky teen sex

jeff — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:37:00 +0000

Tyra ‘shocked’ by risky teen sex – Parenting & Family – TODAYshow.com

I guess Tyra doesn’t get out much. While I don’t doubt some of the information, this survey is skewed by who goes and takes it. It doesn’t have any scientific validity, so I question the statistics.

But when some of girls surveyed came onto her show and described their sexual activities, “I was shocked again,” she added. “I don’t think they were trying to be sensational. I really do believe that they were telling the truth.”

Well, some of them may be telling the truth, but knowing that people fake stuff just to get on Jerry Springer, then I think that Tyra is really naive.

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