Homeward's Weekly Culture Brief: 7/8/11

Great resource for parents, see more info here. 

iTunes Top 10 Downloaded Songs - 7/8/11
   1. Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO
   2. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) - Katy Perry
   3. Give Me Everything - Pitbull
   4. Rolling in the Deep - Adele
   5. Good Life - OneRepublic
   6. Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
   7. Tonight Tonight - Hot Chelle Rae
   8. How to Live - Lil Wayne
   9. Dirt Road Anthem - Jason Aldean
  10. The Edge of Glory - Lady GaGa
Source: Apple iTunes

Top 5 Most Viewed Videos on YouTube - Week Ending - 7/8/11
   1. Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
   2. Shakira - Rabiosa (English Version)
   3. Rihanna - Man Down
   4. Chris Brown - Next to You
   5. Britney Spears - I Wanna Go
Source: YouTube 

Eastview Parent Weekly-January 25-31 2009

Dear Parents,


Websites and Articles of Interest to Parents:

Children’s Six-hour Screen Day
Walt Mueller Review of Christless Christianity
Self-injury

Upcoming Events:

GORF- Middle School Trip to Iowa/Nebraska Christian Convention

• We’re leaving THIS Friday by 11am, and will return no later than 4pm on Sunday, February 1. Please be at Eastview by 10:30 so we can load and leave promptly at 11.
• We’re staying at the Holiday Inn Downtown Omaha, the site of the Convention. This Holiday Inn is also the home of “Coco Key Water Resort”, a 6000 square foot water park...make sure your kids bring their swim gear!
• We have 4 students going, Beth Frederick, Brianna Scott, Kyle Hoback and Tyler Wright.
  

Lincoln Christian College and Seminary Campus Visit

• Seniors only!
• We’ll leave Sunday after church (exact time to be determined), drive to Lincoln, sleep in the dorm and spend Monday checking out the campus. We’ll be home Monday evening.
• Cost is $30 for a few meals, and any spending money.
• Please let me know by the end of this week if your student is going.
  

A little further down the road...Summer 2009 Ministry Events


Mission: Kansas 2009 June 28-July 3 2009

• We’ll be talking about our upcoming Mission:Kansas mission trip, and the possibility of making it a “middle school only” trip. Do you have an opinion on the matter? We want to hear it, and our February ministry team meeting is the place to talk about it.
  

Summer Camp 2009

• Camp season 2009 is right around the corner. This week at youth group, the kids will each get a handout with some specific information about their camp weeks. We’re doing this now because we want your kids to go to camp!

CIY Summer Conference July 27-August 1 2009

• CIY’s summer conference is just for high schoolers. We have 5 high school graduates for whom this will be their last chance to attend as a student, and at least that many new freshman (for 2009-2010) that can go for the first time.
• I can’t think of a better send-off for our senior or a better welcome for our freshmen than CIY. It is an intense week of spiritual challenge and growth. They won’t want to miss it.
  

Have a great week!

The New Sexuality

Dear Parents,

I spent part of my afternoon today viewing the video portion of the material that we’ll be using in February as part of our “New Sexuality” curriculum and all I can say is “wow”. To see some of the videos, hop on over here.

There are 16 discussion starters (topics) to choose from. Many are gender-specific; some are only for girls, some only for guys. Some of the videos are definitely for high school students only. Here’s a quote from Rusty Van Deusen, a 30-year youth ministry veteran and interlinc (the curriculum provider) writer.

“I’m for an honest face-to-face look at the ‘new sexuality.’ My input from students is that Christians are in total denial about the pervasive involvement of Christian students in a broad range of sexual activity. I believe Youth Leaders Only (the material) is the forum to address sexual honesty and in a way that says to students, ‘These guys get it.’ Let’s address pornography, same-sex issues, hooking-up, and the ‘gone wild’ culture head on. The kids are. Let’s engage them.”

This material will be a part of our annual parent’s meeting on January 17, from 11am-1pm. It is my hope that you’ll be there with us.

"Ethics of American Youth" survey

Courtesy of one of our parents, Mike Greene, comes a link to the 2008 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth. It is based on a survey of nearly 30,000 students in high schools across the U.S. "The results paint a troubling picture of our future politicians and parents, cops and corporate executives, and journalists and generals."

Sadly, there are few differences between students who attend religious-oriented schools and those who do not.

Excerpts from the summary:

"STEALING. In bad news for business, more than one in three boys (35 percent) and one-fourth of the girls (26 percent) — a total of 30 percent overall — admitted stealing from a store within the past year. In 2006 the overall theft rate was 28 percent (32 percent males, 23 percent females).

LYING. More than two of five (42 percent) said that they sometimes lie to save money. Again, the male-female difference was significant: 49 percent of the males, 36 percent of the females. In 2006, 39 percent said they lied to save money (47 percent males, 31 percent females).

CHEATING. Cheating in school continues to be rampant and it’s getting worse. A substantial majority (64 percent) cheated on a test during the past year (38 percent did so two or more times), up from 60 percent and 35 percent, respectively, in 2006. There were no gender differences on the issue of cheating on exams."

You can view the entire report here.

Parent Resources

I thought I'd pass along some of the resources that have come to my e-mail inbox this week. I'll pass them on to you and hope that you'll check them out.

Focus on the Family

9 Marks

Center For Parent/Youth Understanding

In addition to those, I have several books that you might find interesting.

By Walt Mueller-
Youth Culture 101
Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture

By Mark DeVries
Family-Based Youth Ministry
Partnering with Parents in Youth Ministry (written with Chap Clark)

Please remember that I am here to help in any way that I can. If you'd like some resources or to just get together and talk...I'm here for you!

Youth Culture Watch

I heard the song, "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry last week, and was quite disturbed by it. Today, I received a "Culture Update" from CPYU, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding about the song and video. First, the video...

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

I recommend reading the "3D Evaluation" of this song and video at Walt Mueller's website, found here.

Finally, go to the MTV link where people can leave comments about the video. Here are some sample comments...

"You never really know if you are straight or gay unless you try with both genders."

"I love it!!! I think every girl at some point in their life "kissed a girl" "just to try it" :-)"

"About time American publicizes girls that swing towards boys but are fully capable of enjoying their gfs on occasion :)"

Eastview Parent's Weekly, the Resource Issue

One of the values for our ministry here is to equip you as parents, especially as you try to help them become disciples of Christ. Here are some things that I have found valuable to our ministry; these will give you a little peak into the minds of those who minister to your students. Some are articles from the blogs from other youth ministers as well as youth ministry and culture websites, some are podcasts and sermons I listen to, others are books, many of which I own, and are available for me to loan to you.

Weblogs/Web Pages:
“Understanding and Parenting Your Teen”

“An Open Letter to All Youth Group Parents”

“Center for Parent Youth Understanding”

Podcasts
“A Vision For the Next Generation”
A five-part series from John Piper on the importance of the people of the next generation (our students) within the Body of Christ. The link for the
first in this series is at the bottom of the webpage.

“Understanding and Parenting Your Teen”

Books
“Family-Based Youth Ministry”-Mark DeVries

“Partnering With Parents in Youth Ministry”-Jim Burns, Mark DeVries

“Hurt: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers”-Chap Clark

“Youth Culture 101”-Walt Mueller

“Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture”-Walt Mueller

Movies/Videos
“Soul Searching: A Movie About Teenagers and God”

PBS Home Video: Frontline: Growing Up Online

Please let me know if you would like to borrow one of these resources!

If you could ask God one question that He had to answer...what would you ask Him?

Why did you create us?
Why do people have such bad tempers
When will I die?
Why did you make me the way I am?
How can you love people who disobey you so much?
How is the world going to end, and when?
How old are you?
Did Samson really love Delilah?
So, Explain this whole love thing again...
What the hey is going on here?

This Week's Question

Question: What is it about Jesus that attracted you to Him?

Answers:

He died for us so I thought it was really cool
He has the best coping skill ever
Forgiving soul and sin
Filling the hole
Someone I could talk to
Confidence in knowing I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength
His grace-scandalous acceptance of sinners and adamant for searching for the "sick"

This week's questions

Each week, we are asking the students who come to Wednesday night youth group to respond to 2 questions. Here are this weeks' questions and responses.

Question 1-What does God require of us?

-Believe in him and his word
-our everything 24/7
-obey him
-he requires us to do the Ten Commandments
-to obey your parents
-obey
-to be good people
-to listen to your older sister
-to live by his word and not to put no gods before him
-to believe in him
-love, glory and honor
-authenticity
-to do his will with him in mind

Question 2- What are your biggest temptations?

-seeing people happier than me
-peer pressure
-lust
-greed
-to be alone with myself and look at all of the horrible things I have done
-thinking everyone is prettier than me
-rebellion
-lust
-selfishness

Last night's questions

Last night, we asked the kids to respond to the questions written on 2 white boards in the fellowship hall.

Question 1: Do you have any questions about baptism?

Responses:
What does baptism mean?
Why do people get baptized?
How to schedule one?
Is baptism necessary for salvation?
Is there anything to gain from it?
Why is original sin/sin from my parents so reflective on your life?

Question 2: What good has God done in your life?

Responses:
He has given me everything in the world.
Seen me when I cried and been what I need to get through the night.
He saved me.
Everything.
He has given me hope and joy in troubled times and great parents.
He's been with me when it seemed everyone left. He has seen me through everything.
Loved me when I'm crap, given me incredible friends, been there for me when I wanted him to be.

Next week, we'll be discussing the baptism of Jesus and we'll answer their questions as well. As for the second question, we'll be discussing this more on our Youth Culture day, March 15th, at Eastview Christian Church from 10am-3pm. The second question is dealt with specifically in the "Soul Searching" movie that we will watch that day. We hope you'll join us!

WAKE UP!

Take a look at the following blog post (language warning):

"I want to cut so bad.
I'm shaking at the moment, from wanting to cut and being so cold. I hate this.
When I was in the tub, my mind wandered from making up that story to my thighs. Fat ass thighs. I saw myself taking the blade and running it from my knee to my hip. Ugh. I haven't cut there in forever and I want it. So easy to hide, it's easy to sit there and tear myself to pieces.
I honestly don't really want this whole recovery crap. I don't think I'm made for it. I'd rather just cut and cut, that makes things better."

If this were your student, how would you minister to them? What would you do? Would you even know if your student had a weblog? How would you know? How do you know that they do not?

Many, if not most, of our students have a blog of some sort. Did you know that there are entire weblog groups created and run by students that encourage one another to hide their self-injury, that tell one another where the cuts can be concealed the easiest? That there are groups dedicated to Ana (anorexia) and Mia (bulimia) lifestyles?

I don't put these things without purpose, and my purpose is not to make you mad or cause you to be paranoid. My purpose is to issue you, all of us, a wake-up call. If you are a believer, scratch that, if you are a PARENT, you have a responsibility to be involved and engaged in the raising of your children.

We're not talking about someone else's kids, or even the "non-churched" kids. We have had kids in our ministry here at Eastview who self-injure. We have kids who struggle with self-image, which leads to eating disorders.

On March 15th, here at Eastview, we are having a discussion on youth culture. On YOUR youth's culture. I hope you'll join us.

This is a promotional video for the upcoming Frontline episode "Growing Up Online" on PBS.