eZine 12.01.2009

What kinds of kids do you encounter in your ministry area? Do you connect with all six types of kids? What does that look like week to week? – Episode #31 (11/9/2009)

In this episode we fly to Canada where the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches interviews Jonathan about one of the most important aspects of ministry: connecting with kids in one-on-one relationships. Enjoy hearing these three Canadian youth workers pick Jonathan’s brain about his brand new book CONNECT, and how adults can connect with today’s ‘disconnected’ teenagers.

Listen to it now for free on iTunes! (CLICK HERE) Or, if you don’t have iTunes already… jump on Apple’s web page for a free download, then click on our podcast page.

Episode Highlights:

• Understand how “big picture” thinking can help lay the groundwork for effective relational ministry
• Hear the plural word for “moose”
• Meet the six types of kids that we will encounter in our ministry areas
• Hear about talking with kids on the “front lines” without sounding creepy
• Learn the first two questions a kid will ask you when you meet them on their turf
• Take a peek at what “making relational ministry a priority” can look like in your ministry weekly

Unless you just crawled out of a cocoon, you’ve heard a toe-tapping, electronic, synth-laden, emo song about insects that your teenage girls absolutely love. When it plays, they’re drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

But, who’s that group making all the noise at the top of the charts?

Where’s Owl City?
You won’t find Owl City on a map; it doesn’t exist. But you will find them on the music charts… near the top. Owl City ? an abbreviated and fictitious name taken from the lead singer’s legit hometown of Owatonna, Minnesota ? is the name of a fairly new band.

Their hit Fireflies is currently ranked #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it peaked at #1 in October. It’s also #4 on iTunes at the time of this writing. Further, the band is enjoying performances at sold out showings on an international tour. Here’s a brief review of the albums from this band you’ve never heard of.

But Owl City isn’t your typical band.

First of all, the “them” is actually just a “him.” Owl City has a population of one. The band’s only member is a twentysomething named Adam Young; he serves as vocalist, drummer, keyboardist, guitarist, producer, etc. Second, he is a confessed insomniac who became famous only after putting his nocturnal disorder to good use. (Losing sleep and not being able to sleep are themes that run throughout several pieces of Young’s music.) Finally, he talks openly about having Christian faith, and the folks at Interlinc have already endorsed him to thousands of youth workers…

Yesterday, Jonathan talked about a training he’s doing this
weekend using the same free ppt available on our web site

Another Sexting-related Bullying Suicide
Posted on Sunday, November 29, 2009 9:36 PM
David, my director of content development for TheSource4YM.com just emailed me a sad article about an incident only 15 miles from his house in Tampa, FL.

Many of you have heard horror stories about sexting- I’ve blogged about them before. It usually goes like this: girl sends boyfriend nude photo. Girlfriend and boyfriend eventually break up. Boyfriend passes around nude photo. Girlfriend is shamed and reacts… sometimes in suicide.

That’s similar to Hope’s story, as told here by the St. Petersburg Times:

At the end of the school year at Beth Shields Middle School, the taunting got so bad that Hope Witsell’s friends surrounded her between classes. They escorted her down hallways like human shields, fending off insults such as “whore” and “slut.” A few days before, Hope had forwarded a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked – a practice widely known as “sexting.” The image found its way to other students, who forwarded it to their friends. Soon the nude photo was circulating through cell phones at Shields Middle and Lennard High School, according to multiple students at both schools. “Tons of people talk about me behind my back and I hate it because they call me a whore!” Hope wrote in her journal. “And I can’t be a whore i’m too inexperienced. So secretly TONS of people hate me … ” School authorities learned of the nude photo around the end of the school year and suspended Hope for the first week of eighth-grade, which started in August. About two weeks after she returned to school, a counselor observed cuts on Hope’s legs and had her sign a “no-harm” contract, in which Hope agreed to tell an adult if she felt inclined to hurt herself, her family says. The next day, Hope hanged herself in her bedroom. She was 13.

So sad.

Pray for Hope’s family.

And keep talking with our kids about these kinds of issues (we’ve outlined some ways to do this in this article and even provided discussion outlines for you like the one here).