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Government Expands Reach of Abstinence Programs

It looks like abstinence ed isn't just for kids anymore, at least as far as the federal government is concerned.

The government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007, USA Today reported today.

The National Center for Health Statistics says well over 90% of adults ages 20-29 have had sexual intercourse.

But Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at the Department of Health and Human Services, told USA Today the revision is aimed at 19- to 29-year-olds because more unmarried women in that age group are having children.

Government data released last month show that 998,262 births in 2004 were to unmarried women 19-29, the ages with the most births to unmarried women.

Chuck Norris Uses Net To Share Faith

Q:  How does Chuck Norris share his faith?

A:  Anyway he wants!

Well, if you've spent much time hanging around the youth room you know that Chuck Norris is a phenomenon among teens and college students.  There are more than 50,000 jokes making their way around the Internet that purport to be "facts" -- all playing off Norris' movie roles as a "tough guy" and his history as a martial arts champion.

Here are some samples:

*  "Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink."

*  "Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming that 'Law & Order' are the names of his left and right legs."

*  "Chuck Norris sleeps with a night-light because the dark is afraid of him."

*  "Superman owns a pair of Chuck Norris pajamas."

You get the idea.  But now, Norris is using the internet -- the very thing that made him a pop culture icon -- to share his faith in God, through a new column Norris is writing on WorldNet Daily.  In his debut column, published today, Norris writes:

Alleged Chuck Norris Fact: "Chuck Norris' tears can cure cancer. Too bad he never cries. Ever."

There was a man whose tears could cure cancer or any other disease, including the real cause of all diseases – sin. His blood did. His name was Jesus, not Chuck Norris.

If your soul needs healing, the prescription you need is not Chuck Norris' tears, it's Jesus' blood.

Again, I'm flattered and amazed by the way I've become a fascinating public figure for a whole new generation of young people around the world. But I am not the characters I play. And even the toughest characters I have played could never measure up to the real power in this universe.

Way to go, Texas Ranger!

The H-Word Is Upon Us

It's that time of year again.

Today through Tuesday, churches in almost every community in America will be hosting "fall festivals" or similarly-named events -- all intended to provide a safe, alternative to the H-word.  (No, not that H-word.)  I'm talking about Halloween.

Churches just can't seem to agree on how evil Halloween really is, or whether there is anything evil about it at all.  But one thing is clear, it is popular.

Americans will spend almost $5 billion on Halloween this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), a jump of more than a billion dollars over last year.  It is second only to Christmas in spending. 

It's also clearly not just for kids.  Nearly 80 percent of 25-34 year-olds will dress up in costume, according to an NRF survey, which lists witches, pirates and vampires as its top adult get-ups for 2006. The holiday is the only time during the year that grown-ups can really let loose, act silly and get away with it, say retailers.

So you can sound intelligent when a parent asks you about Halloween, check out this article from the Indiana Statesman, promising "Everything You Need to Know About Halloween."

Why Do High School Seniors Go To Youth Group?

The Center for Youth and Family Ministry (CYFM) at Fuller Theological Seminary has been conducting a three-year study surveying high school seniors going off to college.  This week, it released its first wave of results.

One of the most surprising findings is that the top reason seniors go to youth group is because of their youth pastor.  According to the responses received, 162 of which were usable, 68 percent said it is "very true" or "completely true" they go to youth group because they like their youth pastor. The second most popular reason was "I learn about God there," which was followed by 58 percent who said "It's fun."

Other reasons listed as "very true" or "completely true" by at least 50 percent of the students included "I feel comfortable there," "I've always gone to church/youth group," "It's a place where I can learn to serve," and "It feels like a real community."

Contrast this finding with the recently released results of a Group Magazine study of 10,000 students (not just seniors) that found that only 13.4% of students cited their youth pastor as their number one reason spiritual influencer.  (See my Oct. 18 blog entry for more info on the Group study.)

So, how can relationship with youth pastor be so high on the list for seniors and not as big a factor for underclassmen and middle schoolers?  Well, I think the answer is obvious:  it's borne out of shared experience and longevity.  Think about that the next time you're tempted to change churches every two years.

Since we seem to carry so much weight with seniors, we need to spend more time intentionally investing in them and helping them set a course for a life-long journey with Christ.

Is this a revival or what?

I don't really know what to write.  I've spent the past two days at the Next Generation Alliance (NGA) meeting immersed in the subject of evangelism.

I have to admit, there are few topics I am more concerned about than evangelism.  There is something about sharing the Gospel that just seems to ignite my ministry passions. 

I have spent quite a bit of time on this blog over the past couple of months on the broad subject of Awakening.  There really could not be a more stark contrast in the U.S. corner of Christendom:  some people say we are in the midst of a great national revival; others say we're going down the tubes.

This morning, I was a bit surprised to hear Luis Palau take up the topic.  (NGA is a division of the Louis Palau Association.)  He said, "The New York Times seems to think we're entering a period of Awakening" but many in the Church aren't so sure.

Palau declared, "We are so self-critical that we forget that an Awakening could well be going on today."  Palau reminded the room full of evangelists that "the harvest" often comes much later than the beginnings of religious movements, citing several historical examples, such as Europe 50 years after the death of John Wesley.

Palau rattled off comparitive statistics regarding church attendance and other factors in the U.S. from several decades ago.  "Is this a revival or what?" he asked.  "I think so."

With election day around the corner, Palau mentioned that half of the White House staff gathers for prayer and Bible study on Thursdays.  Similar movements are occuring on Capitol Hill, he said.

"There are enormous things going on," said Palau.  "God is not dead!"

Well said. 

Next Gen Evangelism

Evangelism is alive and well.

I spent today with a group of young evangelists at the Next Generation Alliance meeting.  With about 200 folks in attendance, most probably in their 20s and 30s, there was enough energy in the room to blow the roof off the place.

I will file extended comments re: the meeting and some of the cool stuff going on tomorrow night.

Time to Chill

It's that time of year.  Budgets.  Calendars.  Summer mission trip planning.  The list goes on and on.

But take heart.  Today is Take Back Your Time Day.

So turn off the cell phone, look at the falling leaves, sit down to a family dinner, take a nap or just take a deep breath

"Time is so important," organizer Bonnie Michaels, a work-life consultant based in Naples, Florida, tells Reuters news agency.  "What we're offering is to help people pay attention to the fact there are little ways to take it back."

This will be the fourth annual Take Back Your Time Day, marked by events ranging from panel discussions to potluck suppers, organizers say.

Feel free to show this entry to your senior pastor if you need a note excusing you fro staff meeting.

Mainstream Means Sink or Swim

I went to Barnes & Noble on Saturday with no intension of buying a religious book.  On the contrary, I have a long flight this week to the west coast and was simply looking to pick up a quick read for the plane.

But, unable to find anything interesting, I found myself back in the religion section where I happened upon Monique El-Faizy's new book, God And Country:  How Evangelicals Have Become America's New Mainstream.  El-Fraizy, a New York journalist, had a "fundamentalist upbringing" and writes that she "began this project reluctantly."  Says E-Fraizy:  "[W]hen I revisited the world of my youth, I saw a vastly different place, one that had grown to resemble the secular world -- in style, if not in substance."

Essentially, El-Fraizy is joining a chorus of authors recently who are making the case that -- 30 years after Christianity Today proclaimed 1976 the "Year of the Evangelical" -- evangelical Christianity is finally moving from the sub-culture to the mainstream.

"While estimates as to the size of the evangelical community range from 44 million to more than 100 million, depending on how pollsters phrase the question, evangelicals can be found in every Christian denomination and in nondenominational churches," writes El-Fraizy.  "In a May 2006 Gallup survey, 44 percent of American adults identified themselves as born-again or evangelical, about 86 million people."

If we look closely at American high schools, many things that were once sub-culture are now pretty mainstream.  Even nerds.  A remake of the 1984 classic "Revenge of the Nerds" is set to hit the big screen next year.  The reason?  Its makers claim that "nerds have moved from the subculture to the mainstream now."  Look no further than the success of ABC's Ugly Betty or to the fact that "nerd glasses" are among this season's hottest fashion accessory.

Last month, I wrote about new research from the Barna Group that found that three out of five teens in the U.S. attend a youth group meeting or church service within a given three month period, with about half of all teens attending church on a weekly basis.  The part of their survey that got all the attention, however, was their finding that roughly four-fifths of teens are abandoning their faith after high school.

It can be fair to say that, assuming El-Fraizy is correct and evangelical Christianity is entering the mainstream, teens are a driving force behind the trend.  Teens drive culture like Dale Earnhardt Jr. drives a race car.  The question is, will it have staying power?  Teen attention can be a pretty fickle thing.

Ron Luce, founder of Teen Mania Ministries, clearly does not think so.  In fact, he predicts this generation of young people will crash hard off of the Christianity of their teens.  Even more so than those who passed through our youth groups five and 10 years ago.

Saturday's Colorado Gazette, under a banner headline "4 Percent:  Pastor Wonders If Evangelicals Can Survive" said, "Ron Luce says the Christian church is in deep trouble.  The evangelical youth pastor thinks only 4 percent of today’s youth will be evangelical Christians when they grow up — and he’s shouting it across the country. "

That message may sell books and fill stadiums, but is it real?  Just when everybody says we're becoming "mainstream?"

No one knows for sure, of course, but even many who are skeptical about Luce's stat say we can't take any chances.  The high school ministry at Colorado Springs' New Life Church has just launched the "More Than Four" program -- a nod to Luce's statistic.

The question nobody is asking is:  does it matter where teens go to church?  To my knowledge, no one has done much research into the question of what types of churches seem to be holding onto their kids.  That's probably due to the fact that a truly comprehensive study would take a decade or longer to complete.

Only time will tell how all this shakes out.  Will the more mainstream version of evangelical Christianity help churches hang onto their young?  Maybe.  Will mainline churches continue to decline and mega churches continue to increase?  Maybe. 

I have to wonder, though, whether we in youth ministry are prepared for what might happen when the very thing that made evangelicalism bubble to the mainstream surface to begin with (more teens joining the Christian sub-culture) makes it lose its appeal to many teens?

   

Gamers Go To School...Don't Be Left Behind

The Federation of American Scientists usually spends its time weighing in on matters of nuclear weaponry and government secrecy.  This week, however, it turned its atention to video games.

Capping a year of study, the group called for federal research into how the addictive pizazz of video games can be converted into serious learning tools for schools, the Associated Press reported.

The theory is that games teach skills that employers want: analytical thinking, team building, multitasking and problem-solving under duress. Unlike humans, the games never lose patience. And they are second nature to many kids.

We'll see how Washington reacts to this one.  More than 45 million homes now have video game consoles, however, and it is a medium that cannot be ignored.

Following the success of the Left Behind book series (over 63 million copies sold to date), a new entity, Left Behind Games, has licensed the name and has its first product coming to a game system near you on Nov. 7.  If you think this is small potatoes, consider that the company has already lined up more than 10,000 retail locations to sell the product, in addition to the blitz that is going on to distribute through church youth ministries.  Left Behind Games is a publicly traded company that currently trades on the OTC Bulletin Board.

Just as Hollywood has discovered the Christian market, I suspect gaming companies are watching the launch of the Left Behind video game more closely than we might imagine.

While I am not personally a huge Left Behind fan, I do hope the release of the video game results in the creation of more mainstream games with Christian themes.

SBC's 'Exit Strategy'

From today's WorldNet Daily

If you like sexually transmitted diseases, shootings and high teen pregnancy rates, by all means, send your children to public schools. That's the word from a leader in the fast-growing movement within the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention for parents to pull their children from those schools in favor of homeschooling.

The program is called Exit Strategy and Pastor Wiley Drake, whose home state of California has done some things especially offensive to Christians this year, is a leading promoter.

In an interview with WND, he said that those problems and others are prevalent in public schools, and some Christian leaders even have said it could be considered child abuse just to register children in such a facility.

That's why resolutions encouraging members of the nation's largest Protestant church organization to exit public schools have been submitted in every SBC state and regional convention in the U.S., he said.

"Basically, (the education system) has been saying, 'You have to let us teach your kids anything we want,'" said Wiley, citing some of the pro-homosexual material being required in public education.

"Well, we don't like it and we're not going to put up with it," he said.

Read the full story here.

I encourage you -- especially youth pastors from SBC churches -- to post your comments re: this story.  I have to wonder what the implications for youth ministry would be at SBC churches if all members pulled their kids out of public schools...