Think about your teen.  Do you have a teen who:
          – seems unaware that there is an off switch on all electronic devices?
          – has chosen “early landfill” for his or her bedroom decor
          – is allergic to chores, homework, getting up in the morning, and sometime…you?
          – has caused you to turn into your parents?

Then you need to attend UNDERSTANDING YOUR TEENAGER.  If you see the value in staying close to your kids during the teen years and maintaining a good relationship while you help become teh kind of young men and women that God created them to be, then you should plan on attending this event hosted by Grace Bible Church in Canal Winchester.  Here is some of the details:

       When- Saturday, November 7th 9:30a.m. – 12:30pp.m.
       Location: Grace Bible Church
       Cost: New lowered price of $20 per familyIf you want more info, click here

I want you to imagine your student going to a school that it seemed like every student had a personal relationship with Christ.  When you ask your teen how their day went, you get to hear stories of how he or she got to share their faith with a classmate today.  And how at lunch students spent time praying for their school- not in some weird group, but as a student body.  How cool would that be?  Well all it takes is one student willing to stand for Christ.

That’s why your student needs to attend Ignite ‘09 You can check out the band SINCLAIR HERE

Did you know that there are currently more than 2,000 texting abbreviations? (LOL, TTYL, NSFW)  And there are more created each day as students look for new ways to shorten messages and give them a cryptic code so there parents have no idea what they are talking about.

It is so tough to stay in the know about texting lingo amongst teenagers as well as all the other things that students are doing.  The Wall Street Journal just recently published this great article about the cultural world that is texting, twitter and the shorthand that has been created.  I recommend every parent reads this article.

Oh, and then for fun, LG (the phone manufacturer) is trying to help people out when it comes to translating text shorthand.  They have created  a website, http://dtxtr.com/, that allows you to type in a text shorthand, (PAW, POS, KUTGW, SWU) and get the translation into “normal” English.  You can also type in a phrase and it will let you know if there is a txting way to say it, like laugh out loud is LOL and talk to you later is TTYL.

So go have fun. And if you have a shorthand definition that doesn’t come up, you can add it!

I have waited all year for this!  Extreme Week is finally upon us!!!  And it is going to be AWESOME!!!!  For those you who have never experienced Extreme Week, I can’t really explain it.  But maybe this video from last year can….

Extreme Right?  Well that is like the toddler version compared to this year!  Here are the details you need to know for 2009 Extreme Week:
Dates: Sunday, August 9th – Thursday August 13th at Sycamore Creek Church
Time: 8:30pm to 10:30pm (yea that’s right!  It’s Extreme….at Night!!!)
For Who:  Any student entering 7th grade – class of 2009 high school graduates
Cost:  FREE!!! (but if you want to help purchase supplies, see the very bottom)

What else?  Oh yeah.  Each night has a theme.  Click on the list below to see the themes for the nights!

Need a 2009 Medical Release Form?  Click here
Want to help with the needed supplies? Click EXTREME WEEK 2009 SUPPLY LIST. Just do me a favor- let me know what you are providing so I don’t buy it!

No for real!  I know I have been guilty of it in the past.  But a new study from The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute revealed that texting while driving increased your chances of being involved in an accident by 23 times.

Click here to read the entire article

There are opportunities that come up throughout life where as parents you get the opportunity to “put your money where your mouth is”.  By that I mean, you teach your kids to do certain things because there are things that you know you want your kid to do.  But then there are times where you get the opportunity to show your teen what to do, instead of teach them.  This is one of those opportunities.

We are participating in Sycamore Creek Church’s 24 Hour Prayer Event on Friday May 8th- Saturday May 9th.  We have been asked to take one of the early Saturday morning hours.  So we as a youth family, are taking the 1am prayer hour. 

Now this provides a great opportunity for parents to show their teen how much they value prayer.  At 1am students are not allowed to be driving on the road in Pickerington (it’s the law!) so here is my challenge to parents

Step up and bring your student and join me for an hour at 1am to pray for the people in our church, the needs of our church and for each other! I know some of you have things to do on Saturday, so if you can’t make it at this time, find a different time!

Don’t let an opportunity to “Put your money where your mouth is” pass you by!

I have been chewing on the thought of what I want a student to be like when they graduate from the student ministry at Sycamore Creek Church.  (I posted my thoughts here).  But as I have thought about it, that question really applies to parents as well.  So let me challenge you to think about this-

“What do you want your child to be like when they leave your home?”

After all, most parents would agree that one of the goals of parenting is to prepare your child for a life outside your home.  But I am concerned that parents don’t think strategically (myself included) about how to get their child to where they want them to go.  And one of the big reasons is that parents may not have thought about what they want their child to be like at that point.

Maybe I am wrong, and you have thought about it.  But if you haven’t, seriously think about the destination.   I mean-

- How do you want your child to handle difficult circumstances?
- How do you want them to handle failure?  Success?
- What character qualities do you want them to have?
- What kind of person do you hope to see looking back at you?

Once you begin to see the destination, you can then begin to figure out the path to get there.  No longer will it be “fly by the seat of your pants” type of thing when you know the destination.  It becomes about reaching that goal and doing everything you can to get your child to that point.

Now I have to go and do the same thing for my kids.  The Destination can be set right now…

One-Liners.  Those classic quick response thoughts that we use all the time.  Every one of us has a few of these that we use all the time. Some of my favorite one-liners have to be “Even a blind squirl finds a nut once in a while”, or “your mom!!!” (classic, but don’t use it on your family!), and probably my new favorite one “Ooh, that’s going on facebook!”

But as I thought about it, it hit me- we do this with the Bible too!  We have our go to verses, those verses that we use in situations when we don’t really want to take time to formulate a response.  We say things like “All things work together for good”, or “Don’t judge or you will be judge”.  Classics!

But do we understand these verses?  I mean is there a deeper meaning to some of the most used verses in the Bible? Maybe there is a promise we are missing, or maybe we are using them wrong. 

So over the next few weeks, we will be exploring one verse each week to see what we can learn from some the most famous Bible “One-Liners”.

So if you have a teen, Have them join us at 6pm for Cross Current at Sycamore Creek Church and learn a little bit more about the One-Liners

This is what I am afraid would happen if I left my kids home for a week by themselves…

A survey by Seventeen Magazine and O, the Oprah Magazine has given us some very interesting insights into the sexual activity of middle school and junior high students.  Yes, that is what I said- middle school and junior high! Now understand we should be teaching our children the biblical concept of sex inside of marriage!  But sex is a huge battleground that a lot of our students are giving in to the pressures and it can cause all kinds of issues, both long-term and short-term.

Here are a few stats from the survey:

- Three-quarters of teen girls who have lost their virginity say they have engaged in sex without protection and that most moms are not even aware of it
- 14% of mothers suspected their teen daughter had engaged in oral sex; nearly 30% of teen girls 15-18 years old have engaged in oral sex
- By age 12, 12 percent of students have engaged in vaginal intercourse, many of which say that it has been done without protection.

Now let’s be honest-many of the moms reading this are scared to death. This shows how important it is to have open dialogue with your teenager…or even earlier!

Now here are some (sort of) positive stats to encourage you:

- 3 in 5 teen girls said that “the talk” with their mothers has influenced their sexual choices “positively”
- Girls who talk to their moms about sex are half as likely to get pregnant
- About one quarter of the teen girls that talked with their moms stated that the conversation has made them wait

Listen, the whole point is that your teenager is going to find out about sex.  Don’t be the last one to talk with them about it!

If you want to read the entire article about this survey, click here