Today I headed out to the movies to see the new movie “To Save a Life” with some of the members of my youth group.  After watching it and having some brief discussion afterward I can say that this is a movie that I would have no problem recommending to youth, to those that work with youth (either in a school setting, church setting or anyplace else) and to parents of teenagers.

Is the movie perfect?  Nope.  They try to cram in a bit too many things in the two hour running time (suicide, drinking, drugs, sex, pregnancy, abortion, divorce, cutting).  However, everything they do put in is handled well.  This is NOT an ABC after-school special. It does not hold anything back with depiction of any of these things….you see teens drinking, smoking, cutting themselves and the suicide scene is replayed (as a memory of Jake’s) a number of times.  It can be a bit much for some kids.  That being said, it is all handled very well and in a way that I don’t feel dishonors God. It doesn’t get overly preachy…and it even challenges the church on a few points.

I know that my youth were still talking about it tonight before and after our evening worship service.  I think they all enjoyed it and I’m praying that it really gets them thinking about their own lives and the lives of those around them and the impact they can make.  I challenged them to go home and reflect on the movie and how it made them feel, what it got them thinking about.  We’re going to be talking about it this Wednesday night at youth group and I’m looking forward to the discussion as I really think it’s going to be a good one.

As I mentioned earlier, there are also some great challenges thrown out to both teens AND the church in general.  At one point while at a youth group meeting the main character is upset about the way that people made his girlfriend feel when she came (and soon left).  He gets up and goes on a little tirade but then says this line to them, “What’s the point of all this if you’re not going to let this change you?”  How many of our own congregations need to hear that question?

Do yourself a favor and head to the theaters to catch this movie before it leaves.  I can’t deny that I was a bit discouraged that the theater we saw it in was empty except for our group.  I’m hoping that word of mouth from the youth that saw it will help get people back in the seats this weekend but I’m not expecting that it will last in the theaters a long time.

I survived DORMS Day!!  DORMS Stands for Doylestown, Orville, Rittman, Marshallville & Smithville.  Tonight the Rittman Church hosted the youth of these five churchs (well, four – Smithville wasn’t able to make it).  We had about 30 Jr. Hiigh and Sr. High youth there as well as a host of “older youth”.  For the first event like this I think it went really well.

The night began with sign-in’s.  As each youth signed in they received a tattoo to designate their “tribe”.  Each tribe was composed of youth from all of the youth groups so that everyone could get to know each other.  They then had an icebreaker where they spent time learning some fun facts about their tribemates. We could hear a lot of laughter during this part.

After this we began the “competitions”.  Four games that got crazier as the night wore on.

The first competition consisted of “elephant tag” – a game that required you to squat down, grab your ankles and walk around trying to knock the other “elephants” over.

Next was…well, I didn’t give it a name.  It was a “hunting” game.  I put stuffed animals on a picnic table.  We then took a tennis ball, stuck it in a knee-high pantyhose and used this as a weapon to try and knock over the animals.  It’s a lot harder than it sounds and was a lot of fun (the best of the night was four animals).

Things then started getting a little messier.  “Egg Toss” was next up.  The tribes lined up and had to throw eggs down the line to their teammates that were about 5-6 foot away without breaking them.  I didn’t see anyone with egg on their face or body – which is good.

Finally, came “Chesse Ball Toss”.  This is where the mess factor got kicked up a notch.  One person from each tribe had whipped cream plastered all over their face.  Then the rest of their teammates had to throw cheeseballs at them and try and get them to stick.  My son, Taylor, was the volunteer for his tribe and well…a picture is worth a thousand words so:

After this it was time to eat – always a winner at any youth event.  No, there were no cheeseballs left to eat, but there was a lot of other great food.

We closed the night with some worship around the bonfire.  Of course, me being the geek I am, we had a couple amps, microphone, a projector and a screen out there for this.  Then we had a testimony from Sarah, one of the Youth from the Orville Youth Group.  The testimony was absolutely wonderful – Sarah did a wonderful job of reminding us all that only by trusting completely in God can we survive what life throws at us.

I have to say that tonight wouldn’t have been successful without the help of all the volunteers.  Pastors Chuck, Ron and Carl were all fabulous.  Don Hart did a great job getting things together and designed some cool T-Shirts (the log at the top and bottom of this post were his for the front and back of the shirts).  Brett, Heather, Sandy, Chad, Beth, and a couple who’s names I forget – thank you all for your help with everything.  Finally, thanks a ton to Seth for helping with worship.  I love playing with this guy – he’s got some crazy mad skills on the electric guitar!

After the success of tonight I think it’s safe to say that more DORMS events will be coming in the future and I can’t wait.

So, Over at one of my favorite blog sites – Ragamuffinsoul.com – Carlos hosts a weekly post called “Creative Chaos” where a bunch of people have an opportunity to share their stuff and learn from each other. 

As I mentioned in a previous post this past Sunday was our Youth Sunday and the theme was “Silence is not an option” with an emphasis on evangelism.  As part of the Sunday morning service someone came up with the idea to put together a video to help punch some of the points home.  The video starts off asking a hypothetical what if – what if you had found the cure for AIDS and could save millions of lives.  Would you share that life saving information or keep it to yourself?  Since we know the answer to how to save our eternal lives – Jesus Christ – why aren’t we sharing it? 

Here’s the video that the youth put together with the help of the youth group director and one of the advisors. 

So – what will YOU do?

Wow – been a few days since I’ve updated this.  I can be such a slacker sometimes.

So this past weekend was Youth Sunday at our church.  I’m going to get a post up later tonight on that with more details, but for now I just wanted to throw this out there.  The theme for this year was “Silence is not an option”.  The message was that we can not stay silent about our faith, we need to spread the good news to those in our lives that need to hear it.  This was spurred by a trip by some of the youth and some of the advisors to a Dare to Share conference a few months ago.  The conference was very powerful and really challenged the youth (and us as adults) to step out of our comfort zone and share our faith with others. 

So, I’m wondering?  Why don’t we share our faith?  I mean, if we believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God and that he died so that we may be forgiven of our sins and be saved why don’t we tell others?  And please know – when I saw “we” I mean “ME”.  I’m just as guilty about this as anyone and I’ve been challenged a number of times to share my faith with others.  I mean, I talk about it with people.  People that I work with know that I am a Christian and that I lead worship and that I work with the youth at church.  But I don’t go deeper.  I don’t ask that tough question – “What do YOU believe”. 

I’ve got a good friend who I am not sure exactly where his beliefs stand.  I know he knows what I believe, but I’ve never stepped out of my comfort zone to ask him what HE believes, whether HE has a relationship with Jesus Christ, whether he has truely acceppted him as his Lord and Saviour. 

So – it’s time for me to step up and talk with him – to ask the questions that need asked.  I’ll post an update here and let you know how it goes.  My challenge for you is to pick one person – someone you know needs to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and take that step and share it with them.  Remember that we are to do this sensatively, loving and with Christ in our hearts and in our words.  Remember the words of when he told the disciples in Matthew 10:19-20,

“…do not worry about what to say or how to say it.  At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

I would ask that you pray for me and my friend and if you let me know via the comments that you will be doing this as well I will be sure and lift you and your person up in prayer as well.

I first saw this video about six months ago. This is a “skit” that was performed by a group called Mission Baltimore at the 2006 Smoky Mountain Winterfest in Knoxville, Tenn. It moves me to tears every time I see it. It is a depiction of the battle that goes on inside of many of today’s teens – and adults. It portrays our struggles with sex, money, drugs\alcohol, image and suicide. It has been watched over 6 million times on GodTube.com.