Youth Sunday

Our church allows for a Youth takeover in our Sunday Morning worship once a year. Today was the day! Here are some random thoughts/reflections from this service.

1. Teens deal with a lot of 'crap' today. Topics like suicide, pregnancy/abortion, cutting/self-mutilation, drugs/alcohol are more prevalent now than in any other generation. I think back 10 years to my high school days and sex and beer were the 'rebellious choices'. Now there are so many more layers.

2. We, the church have to figure out proactive solutions to these issues. Too often we do not have a voice for hope with these people until they come to us broken.

3. Parents and youth leaders have a huge responsibility to invest in their kids lives and make their homes a fun and welcome place for hanging out so that kids have alternatives to the 'crap'.

4. One of the teens on the worship team had a mountain dew on stage, instead of the normal H2O option. It is good to see someone placing the dew in a venerated position.

5. Teens need to be courageous for the cause of Christ. It seems that every high school kid I know is overwhelmed with all that they are involved in. Sports, music, speech, schoolwork, etc. consume their schedules. I get the feeling that faith in Christ/being involved in youth group is just another 'thing' on their schedule rather than the most important, life giving, life changing thing that they know. This is an indictment on parents, because kids learn habits from those they are connected to. Is your kid seeing the transformative power of good news in your daily life?

I just got wind of this conference that is coming to Orrville. I think parents and teens should go to this together.