Dating In The Real World {Part II}
Why do I date and when am I ready? I began this message with the question, why do we date? The students had several answers. For fun, to find a mate, to learn what and who you like, and so on and so forth. So really, why do we date? Is it to find Mr. or Ms. Right? Is it to have fun, go out, and do things as a couple because the world is organized around coupledom? I admit. Dating can be fun, it can help us to learn more about the opposite sex and it is certainly an exciting thing to do that teenagers rush into as soon as they can. But what is its real purpose? Ultimately it is to find someone who you would want to spend the rest of your life with. This very rarely happens in high school by the way. 1 in 10 relationships last over a year and less than that make it...
Dating In The Real World {Part I}
We started a new series on dating for our Wednesday evening youth program. I wanted to start the semester off with a few practical messages that the students would be able to apply to their lives at the beginning of the school year. I broke the series down into 5 messages and used 5 questions about dating as the title and theme of each message. The first message of the series is: What do I need to know about me before I start dating? Topic: Discovering who we really are and how that affects our relationships “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. ” – Ralph Waldo...
Modesty In The Church: Are Our Teens In Trouble?
Several days ago Dr. Mohler had a podcast that discussed Modesty at Christian Weddings. This has actually been an on going discussion on several different blogs including: Joshua Harris, Trying to be Mary in a Martha World, A Puritan’s Hope, and GirlTalk. On the Molher program a lady called in and made the comment that she didn’t think a man should tell a woman how to dress and while I think men are not the ones to go to for fashion advice, I thought Dr. Mohler made a good point. It is the man who will likely sin because of the way a woman dresses and therefore the man should have some input. Fathers should give advice to their daughters about their wedding dresses because fathers know how men think and react to the clothing women wear. Guys are...
The Scavenger Hunt: Fun Youth Events
I came up with a new scavenger hunt today for my youth group. After driving around for two hours, trying to find pay phones that work, I came up with 7 different areas around our town and neighboring towns that have phones. With the help of Kendall, I then made up riddles to lead our students to each of these locations, for example: (“I’m closed for the season, deserted and bare, but when summer comes my outlook is Fair.” – answer:The Sullivan Fairgrounds) I gave each team a notebook, a roll of quarters, a digital camera, and seven sealed envelopes containing the seven riddles I had made up earlier. Here are the rules: 1. As soon as I say go the team can tear open the first envelope and read the riddle. The time starts at this point...
30 Hour Famine – Community Service Projects
Today was all about community service. Our students went to two different nursing homes, to the Agape House, to Meramec Mission, to rake some yards of the elderly, and to do some odd jobs for some people in our church who can’t do them. They painted, sorted clothes, bought groceries, and did several other things for the community. The group I went to help was at Meramec Community Mission. They sent us to the store to buy food for the pantry this week. Each week they spend over $1000 in food and they give that much away on a weekly basis. It’s amazing to see how many people are helped by the mission, even in our town. So far we have raised $5,600 for World Vision and the students still have two weeks to continue getting donations. I hope to...