7 Kinds of Visitors

After we had a wonderful time with some young adults from college in our home, our oldest daughter Susanna (age 9) penned the following words...

THERE ARE SEVEN KINDS OF VISITORS

1) Adults who you enjoy and are sad when they leave.
{This description fit who we had just seen.}

2) Adults who are fun for the first half hour and then get boring.

3) Adults who you have no idea what they are saying.

4) Kids who you enjoy and are sad when they leave.

5) Kids who are fun for the first half hour and then get boring.

6) Kids who you have no idea what they are saying.

7) Salespeople.


If I was smart, I would stop blogging right now and acknowledge that I will never be as good a writer as my precious preteen.

In addition to Jen and I laughing hysterically, I thought of how do students see me as a youth guy. Am I an adult that they "enjoy and are sad" when I leave? Am I building relationships or burning bridges (no slight to Project 86!)?

Should a person recommend a resource they've never read? I've always passed on titles that I've found especially engaging, i.e. "Here Am I, Lord. Send Aaron", so I won't stop now.

Jonathan McKee's book "Do They Run When They See You Coming?" came to mind after Susanna's insightful list. It speaks to this topic.

On the same note, how do you handle what one youth worker friend calls the "dance"? You know, the ways of speaking teen-ese without being seen as a poser. I especially remember about a year ago using "bounce" as in "I gotta bounce" (AKA "I see that it is time for me to depart" for my English major bride) with four teens and one of them didn't know me very well. The three that knew me didn't blink -- the one that didn't know me kind of smirked/laughed and said out loud, "He said, 'Bounce'."

Ahhh, the life of a youth worker...

Youth Workers Retreat

Wow! You guys are amazing!

It was a blast to interact with 64 people from across the country that are investing in the lives of teens. My heart smiled as I overheard conversations about real life personal issues and about heartfelt concern for teenagers. Thanks for being transparent about your needs and your students needs. The prayer times...the worship times (thanks, Matt!)...the break-an-ankle gym times...the laughing times...I must have the best job in the world!

Dave & Rennie -- what can I say?!? Aren't they fantastic? I received comments like "they are so on target" or "they really show heart and give skills" or "can we have them back next year?"

Our planning group will discuss within the next month our 13th Annual YWR -- January 9-11, 2009 (that's weird to see in print) -- including trainers, layout, and location in HAWAII!...just kidding...exotic Wisconsin because of our tremendous service at the ARC.

Do you have ideas? I want to hear them.

NFL Playoffs

I'm guessing you are looking for the authority on the NFL Playoffs. You've come to the right place!

The Wild Card round is often entertaining, but tends to not have a big impact on the Super Bowl qualifiers (except the Pittsburgh Steelers of two seasons ago).

Predictions:

This Weekend
Seattle 24, Packers 20
Dallas 31, New York 10
Indy 27, San Diego 14
Patriots 41, Jacksonville 24

Next Weekend
Dallas 20, Seattle 17
Patriots 30, Indy 28

Super Bowl...you'll have to check back!

Soy Sauce & Sin

My wife Jennifer enjoys Chinese food. I know that Chinese food can always be a solid contributor to a date night that blesses her.

Recently Jen made some for supper. Do you like soy sauce on your Chinese food? Our family does. "Liquid Salt" is a big part of any Asian cuisine served at our table.

Our youngest Micah (age 3) hasn't quite got the handle on "a little" soy sauce. If Jen and I aren't careful, Micah will grab the small glass bottle and drown his entire plate in black liquid salt.

This last time Jen served Chinese food Micah did great...kind of. I've been coaching him to do two quick dashes on his food. Micah, eyeing me all the way, carefully applied two short pours on his food.

Success! The moment I started to compliment him on his effort he reached up his other hand with the small red cap in it, and licked the cover!


Uggghh...so close to obedience. It got me thinking about communicating God's Word to teens and the realities of sin.

How many times do we share Biblical guidance and give students the sense that the ultimate goal is an outward behavior -- like two proper dashes of soy sauce?

How many times do we fail to acknowledge the old nature's desires to lick the cap?

As we seek to shepherd students, it seems important to recognize the old nature and putting off the old self (Eph. 4:20-22) and then putting on the new self (Eph. 4:23-24), which leads to instructions on godliness in His life and His freedom (Eph. 4:25-32).

Yes, we desire godliness in lives of the teens we serve! Yes, we know that obedience carries blessing in walking faithfully with Jesus. But no, may we not slip into a religiousity that fails to keep Christ as the foundation of faith and obedience.

Maybe it's just me, but if a teen's understanding of spiritual maturity is outward conformity without the source coming from their relationship with Jesus, then we will raise a generation of Pharisees.

That's a scary thought to me.

Moment of the Month

The pursuit of youth ministry leads us to offer a Youth Ministry MOMENT of the Month on the AFLC Youth Min website - www.aflc.org/youth



January's installment is from the band NEEDTOBREATHE. Their release "Shine On" paints a beautiful picture for us as believers called to radiate the light of Jesus.



How bright are you today?

The Silent Trip

One morning traveling in to the office in the last month, I noticed in the rear view mirror a teen girl riding (likely to school) with her dad. A pretty common scene, right?

What struck me in the moments that I surveyed the two of them was silence.

The dad appeared lost in thought -- thoughts about work, thoughts about money, and so on. The teen did her part, too -- the daze created by her iPod playlist with earphones cemented in place.

The traffic moved in such a manner that over the next four or five minutes I was able to periodically check in on my parent-student test case for communication.

Still silence.

My thought (probably rooted in being a dad myself) was, "Why doesn't he say something? Why doesn't he try to connect?"

The traffic shifted and my observation group was gone. I yearned for them to communicate. I hungered for them to connect. Why is it so hard for parents and teens to talk? Does it have to be that way?

A resource that I've found helpful is "How to Get Your Teen to Talk to You"
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/search?author=Kent%20Julian&detailed_search=1&action=Search

How do you encourage real communication between parents and teens?
How do you engage in effective communication?

~ Jason