Crash Fusion this Sunday
October 6, 2008
Crash will be having Fusion at the Backs home (1513 Canterbury Lane) from 6:30-8:30.
We’re going to do chili for dinner, hopefully someone will poop their pants! You can email me (justin.talley@shoalcreek.org) to sign up to bring something, but it doesn’t cost anything to come and eat.
We’re also going to be working our way through some of the things Jesus did and said and discuss the relevance of it to our lives.
For questions, call Justin Talley (816-510-3859).
New Definitions for Adolescence
October 4, 2008
Youth Ministry in an Age of Delayed Adulthood by Chap Clark is probably the clearest article that I’ve read yet to day about this stage in development called “adolescence.”
If you want to read only one article about adolescence, make it this article. It will expand the way you look at anybody from age 10 to the mid-20′s.
Quotes:
The problem is that when a culture lacks rites of passage designed to prepare and train young people for adulthood (like ours), and then removes almost every definable ritual signpost from childhood to adulthood (like ours), it’s very difficult to agree on when adolescence ends and adulthood begins.
David Elkind of Tufts University (Ties That Stress: The New Family Imbalance), a leading voice in cultural change, argues that most relational, social rules are passé and postmodern parents and adults have abandoned kids and adolescents in order to “take care of their own needs.” Thus in a postmodern world, where kids have been on their own to discover what it means to live, relativism is the emerging philosophy of the day—and adulthood is a distant, unattractive endgame of adolescence. And the young float through life trying to survive one day at a time.
The Importance of Fathers in the Lives of Our Youth
October 2, 2008
Click here to read an amazing article about the huge significance fathers play in the lives of their children. This is an article at the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding.
Here are some quotes from the article by Paul Robertson:
One 2001 study found that highly involved biological fathers had children who were 43 percent more likely than other children to achieve mostly “A” marks and 33 percent less likely to repeat a grade (The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children – Rosenberg and Wilcox, 2006).
The same researchers show children with involved dads are more likely to be emotionally secure, be confident to explore their surrounding, and have better social connections with peers as they continue to mature.
Fathers who simply spend time in unstructured play with their children will find that their children are adjusted both emotionally and socially. For example, fathers who spend time wrestling with their kids can teach them how to deal with aggressive impulses and physical contact without losing their tempers.
What’s Coming…
October 2, 2008
Eyes On AIDS 5/10k Walk/Run 8:00-10:30 at Shoal Creek Campus. If you still haven’t heard, Shoal Creek is putting on a little race (all in friendly competition!) this Saturday to raise money for our partners in South Africa. The more specific things we are trying to do is sponsor children that have been left orphaned by the AIDS pandemic. For more info, please go visit the official website at www.eyesonaids.com.
Buya students are going to be sponsoring the water station, which involves handing out water and cheering on the runners, probably like the best place ever to be in an event like this, cause really, do you want to run that bad? If you think you’re a student who is interested or that you have a student who might be interested, contact Laura Mullennix (816-429-660)
Buya Servant Team meeting this Sunday. From 5:00-6:00pm, Buya students that are wanting to play a bigger role in our Buya ministry can come be a part of our Buya Servant Team. During this hour the students will be focusing their time on how to serve in upcoming events like the Shoal Creek Halloween Bash. The Buya Servant Team encourages students to become servant leaders around Shoal Creek, in their schools, families, and elsewhere. Dinner will be provided and there is no cost.
Buya Plunge this Sunday from 6:00-8:00 in the Shoal Creek Auditorium. This night is the place where we can do some really in-depth and intensive activities that help students understand their personal and spiritual lives. Plunge is an environment that we really can’t recreate anyway else except for those Sunday nights in the auditorium, and it’s our goal to have students to come experience what we can do. The night’s topic will be “God’s Masterpieces,” and it will be an extended time of musical worship mixed with other types of creative worship.
Also, for this Plunge, we’d like to invite any high school or collage-aged young adults to come worship with us as kind of a joint worship experience of our entire Elevate Student Ministry.
Buya Girls Small Group! Starting in October, Cindy Haggerty will be starting a small group for any Buya girl that would like to be involved in one. The start-up date is Tuesday October 21st for right now. We’d like to hear from the girls that are interested, because some of the times and dates have a little flexibility to them. Any girl who is interested should directly contact Cindy either by phone (415-3197) or by email (cin95haggerty@kc.rr.com) as soon as possible.
Cindy has let me know the plan is to hangout, get some ice cream or other things together as a group for the first several meetings, and then try to go a more in-depth as everybody gets to know one another. I highly suggest Buya girls to try it out for awhile and see how you like it. Cindy has an amazing heart for listening and just plain being there. If you’re a Buya girl or the family member of a Buya girl, this is a place that is going to be safe place to escape from all the trash talk that goes on at school behind each other’s backs and all the other crazy stuff (like boys!) that are out there.
If you’d like more info about Cindy, check out her blog at www.buyayouthchronicles.blogspot.com.