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YouthWorker eJournal -- February 27, 2008
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Oscar and Juno
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Juno won four trophies at Sunday’s Oscar Awards, including one for Original Screen Play – high praise for a great film that raises important questions about teen pregnancy. Recently we heard from Ginger Sinsabaugh MacDonald at TastyFaith.com, which produces “Fresh Resources for Urban Youth Ministry.” Tasty Faith’s “Life After Birth” Bible studies are designed for teen girls who are dealing with an unwanted pregnancy.Here’s what Ginger says:“Over the past twenty years as an urban youth leader in Chicago, I’ve seen more girls end up with baby carriages than high school diplomas. Worse than that, once the girls had their babies, they tended to drift away from church. Some felt they got “the stink eye” from deacons. Others got swamped with responsibilities.“Some felt they didn’t know where to connect, being too young for the mom group and too grown up for the youth group. So they’d drift away from God at the time they needed His help the most.“That’s what prompted me to create LIFE AFTER BIRTH Bible studies for teen moms. This outreach tool can help the church, Christians, and crisis pregnancy centers connect with the “teen mom” at a pivotal point of her life.“If we truly are advocates of the pro-life movement, we must help these girls once they ‘choose life.’ We can support teen moms in prayer, encourage them to finish school, and help these young ladies learn from former teen moms, like a famous one named Mary.“Beyond that, God commanded His people to take care of the fatherless child no less than 42 times in the Scripture.”If you want to know more about “Life After Birth” and other Tasty resources, visit: TastyFaith.com
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Choking Game Turns Deadly
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At least 82 teens and preteens have died while participating in the so-called "choking game," according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers warn that number is probably low. Experts estimate about 20 percent of youths have played the "game" at one time or another, which involves wrapping bungee cords, dog leashes, or other things around their necks to cut off blood circulation temporarily to the head. Once the constriction around the neck is released, blood rushes back to the brain, causing a sort of dreamy high. While the game can be played in groups, most of the fatalities occurred to kids playing alone.According to the CDC, warning signs include bloodshot eyes, marks on the neck, frequent headaches and disorientation after spending time alone. (Associated Press)
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Pop Culture On the Way! |
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The March/April issue of YouthWorker Journal is all about Pop Culture. If you’re a subscriber the issue is on the way to your mailbox now. If not, here’s a sample from the opening article by Dick Staub:
“While I was writing The Culturally Savvy Christian, people would ask what it was about. I would say something like this: ‘We live in a superficial popular culture that is soulless, spiritually delusional, and driven by celebrity. Today’s Christianity has taken on those same qualities. Because we are created in God’s image, with spiritual, intellectual, creative, moral, and relational capacities, we never will be satisfied with a superficial, mindless culture or religion; the result is that religious and irreligious people alike are experiencing deep spiritual hunger.’”
Want more of Dick’s insights, plus articles on pop culture from Doug Fields, Walt Mueller, Pamela Erwin, Mark Helsel, Lilly Lewin, Tyler Wigg Stevenson, and Peggy Kendall? Then quit fooling around and subscribe! [you can subscribe here]
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Worship Feast: Complete Worship Outlines for Lent and Easter by Mike Baughman and Jenny Youngman Abingdon Press , January 2008, 64 pp., $19.00www.abingdonpress.com
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This fabulous little book gives a solid history of Lent, comprehensive ideas for services during Lent and Holy Week, and five original worship songs on an included CD. It is written specifically for you to use in walking your youth group through Lent. The services are multi-sensory to help your kids learn and retain as much as possible about the climactic event of Easter. The five songs are well-written and performed, and the guitar chords and lyrics are included in the book for use in your group.Buy this book, and use it well. You’ll be glad you did.—John Dunham
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The YouthWorker eJournal Survey: How Do You Handle Teen Pregnancy?
The Oscar-nominated movie Juno explores what happens when a teen gets pregnant.
Have girls in your group ever become pregnant? If so, what did you do? How will you handle this scenario the next time it happens?
Tell us what you think and we’ll report back next time.
How do you handle teen pregnancy in your group?
We don’t really have a plan for addressing teen pregnancy.
Our church has a plan in place to minister to pregnant teens and support them through their pregnancy.
Whenever one of our kids has become pregnant they have drifted away from our group.
Teen pregnancy is not an issue for us because our kids don’t have sex!
Go to youthworker.com to participate in this issue's survey.
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The YouthWorker eJournal Survey Results: What Are You Doing about Presidential Politics? Last time we asked you how you were handling this year’s presidential elections, which involve religion, values, race, gender, and unprecedented levels of excitement among young people. Here’s what you told us:
What are you doing about the election with your kids?
I think politics is for adults, so we don’t address it that much with our kids. 15%
Politics is such a controversial issue at our church that we don’t touch it in youth ministry. 15%
Our church leadership makes it clear where they stand in terms of political parties and candidates, so that doesn’t give us much freedom to tackle the topic. 0%
We are talking about the election with our kids, helping them connect biblical values to candidates’ positions on the issues. 46%
What election? 23%
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[To subscribe to Youth WorkerJournal, click here]
Thanks for joining us for this issue of the YouthWorker eJournal. See you next time. And I'll be seeing some of you at Group's national conference in Cincinnati. Sincerely, Steve Rabey, YouthWorker Journal editor, and our entire crew
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