Tuesday, September 25, 2007

There are a few things coming up I wanted to let you know/remind you about...

1- We have a fundraiser at Wendy’s on Collins Rd coming up. We need people to help us make this effective. Basically, we’ll be promoting our church and youth ministry there that night. We’ll be volunteering to clear tables, get refills, etc. It will be a fun and easy fundraiser for us. It is also a profitable one. We need at least 6 people. Please let me know that you’ll be there!


2- In October, we’ll be doing at least a group photo, and maybe individual ones again for our group. I know there were parents who wondered why their kids’ photos were not in the wall, so this time, I’m letting you know that we’ll be taking them, the date will be out soon.


3- On October 21st after our corporate worship service, we’ll be have an informational meeting about our mission trips planned for next year. If you have a student involved in our ministry, both they and you need to be there!

Thanks for all that you do with your kids! You are setting the example for them, and you are doing great. You have created a home environment that makes them want to know Jesus!

Jesus is working in the lives of your students, your homes and our ministry. Keep up the good work.

Friday, September 21, 2007

This is related to my September parents letter.


Source

Women on Facebook think provocative is empowering

As I was scrolling through some profiles of my friends on Facebook, I came across a slightly surprising sight. An acquaintance of mine had uploaded photos of herself and girlfriends scantily clad and in positions simulating the most risqué sex acts possible. Subsequent pictures showed her and her friends licking salt off each other's breasts and pelvic bones, or holding bottles of alcohol next to their heads and making pouty smiles.

The beauty of this situation is that none of my female acquaintances can be angry at me for putting this into writing, because at least 50 of them have photos of themselves online doing the same thing. The ugly part of this situation is that there might be photos of me out there, too.

Although I am not one for body shots, there probably are photos out there of me drinking and smothering my friends' cheeks in kisses. If I hadn't already ruled it out for myself, my shot at being elected president is, well, shot. And if prospective employers saw these photos of me, they might think twice about what a level-headed job candidate I am.

Which raises an important question: Why do teens love taking pictures of themselves doing illicit things and posting it on the Web?

Teen rebellion to authority — especially when it comes to alcohol, drugs and sex — is not new, but the ways of expressing that defiance are, thanks to the Internet.

Like Paris Hilton or Britney Spears, you, too, can appear online in photos or videos doing provocative or naughty things. In a generation that worships privilege and fame, many teens seem to feel that if they photograph themselves drinking and posing provocatively the way celebrities do, the glamour might translate into their lives.

But how glamorous is it when your grandmother can easily stumble upon photos of you and your friends in a drunken pose that puts the Kama Sutra to shame?

Should there be limits on how far is too far? According to a Facebook spokesperson, users "may not post or share content that … is obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit." But the fact that so many photos of disrobed young women adorn users' photo albums suggests that "obscene" and "sexually explicit" cover only the truly extreme, if that. Or maybe Facebook needs more babysitters trolling what its users are up to.

My generation has a faulty concept of privacy. Instead of journaling in marble composition notebooks, we do it on blogs for anyone to read. When we see other teens getting attention from their silly (and often confessional) YouTube videos, we learn that keeping one's life an open book is a ticket to fame. We find that when it comes to Vanity Fair, Nicole Richie concealing the private details of her public fight with Paris Hilton cost her a spot on the cover, which Teri Hatcher "earned" upon disclosing that she had been sexually abused as a child.

Many of us Generation Y-ers learn in social studies classes that our government has the power to violate citizens' privacy with the USA Patriot Act. We learn both in de facto and de jure ways that privacy just isn't a priority today.

And as the continuing reports about photos of beauty queens in compromising situations (most recently involving Miss New Jersey) suggest, this phenomenon mainly applies to young women. Although young men are often photographed with cans of beer, they don't pose for countless pictures with their buddies doing illegal things. Young women act as though they derive some kind of power from the act.

Perhaps young women of my generation truly need to reconsider what power is and what empowerment means to them. Does publicly flaunting raunchy photos really boost one's status? Definitely not.

And if embarrassing photos of oneself surface during a job hunt or a campaign for elected office, pursuing faux power could get in the way of acquiring real power.

Liz Funk is a freelance writer based in New York and a junior at Stony Brook University.

Thursday, September 20, 2007




I thought this was worthy of posting. KJ-52 is an artist who serves Jesus, and is telling us about the kids that we minister to on a weekly basis here at Eastview. Maybe, even YOUR kid.

The lyrics are below.

"My arms are sliced up but I’m not embarrassed
It’s the only way I get attention now from my parents
It’s not like they really take the time to be caring
They just use me to watch the baby when they run they errands
My name is ______ I got a friend named Karen
She gave me your CD with the track for Eminem
You wrote a song called #1 fan I listened and
I wanted to know if you can help me like you was helping them
She had something even harder to be mentioning
Like every single day I struggle just with fitting in
Plus the boys won’t give me no attention and
I get teased and made fun of by all my friends and then
See I’m feeling like I’m wishing now that I could end
My life cuz I’m sick and tired of all the time I spend
Trying to figure out how I could be worth anything
Can u help me KJ from your fan

I’m writing this letter
Cause I have to tell ya
I need some help from you
I’m writing this letter
I hope that you get it
I need some help from you

I live with my mom ever since my parents split
And At home I spend my time on the Internet
Looking at porn Im addicted and I’m sick of it
Myspace dot com is mostly where I’m getting it
On top of that there’s videos that I can watch
And I really wanna quit but its like I can’t stop
See I’m scared that I’m just gonna get caught
And when I see a girl all I think is dirty thoughts
And its not that I don’t know that it’s really wrong
But its right there for me every time I’m logging on
I got all your CD’s I really like your songs
Well I downloaded em but anyway moving on
My screen name is KJ-52 is the bomb
I want to do a website KJ rock’s dot com
I really some help cuz I can’t tell my Mom
Oh by the way my real name is ________

I’m writing this letter
Cause I have to tell ya
I need some help from you
I’m writing this letter
I hope that you get it
I need some help from you

I took the time just to write you
We play you every Wednesday at my youth group
I love your music and we all think that you’s cool
But I been struggling ever since I moved to a new school
See everybody thinks that I’m the perfect Christian girl
I had a hard time trying to believe that God is real
I’ve been on mission trips and camps the whole deal
My dad had cancer tho I prayed that God would heal
But he died anyway so it’s hard to feel
Like he cares about me so was it God’s will
To take away my dad I really got a raw deal
Sometimes I just want to swallow all my mom’s pills
When I pray I really doubt it
I’ve lost my way or maybe I’ve never found it
I been smoking and drinking nobody knows about it
By the way my name is _____ don’t mispronounce it…

If I could write to every kid that’s out there
Every kid that’s hurting feels like nobody cares
I would tell them that God can wipe away tear
And he's right near and I would say it quite clear
Your here for a reason you’re not a mistake
You are a special creation that God himself made
To the victims of abuse to every girl that was raped
You can live you can be free from your pain
And find strength and no longer be ashamed
You can find peace and hope In Jesus name
You aint gotta live with this hurt every day
Christ came to give you life in a much better way
To every kid right now that’s full of hate
And bitterness I'd tell em just to give it all away
To the one that came to take all the blame
That’s what I’d write here’s what I’d say "

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Iowa Teen Challenge info

We’ll be departing Eastview promptly at 5pm this Friday. The event ends Sunday around 11am, so they will be back in Cedar Rapids mid-afternoon. The students will call home once we hit 380 by Iowa City.

The adult sponsors for this event are Sher Barns, Lori DuCharme and Josh Davis. Katie Mulholland is going as “junior sponsor”.

Sher will be the lead sponsor. Her mobile number is 319-521-5667.

Please have your students at church by 4:45pm on Friday for loading and a 5pm departure!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

More info coming soon.