Rick Warren on Susan Boyle

Here's a great video of Rick Warren talking about Susan Boyle. What do you think?

Teenage Culture

This past week I went to a seminar on youth culture, which was led by Dr. Chap Clark. (No relation that I know of) Dr. Clark is a professor and director at the Fuller Seminary Youth Institute and has authored dozens of books on youth culture and youth ministry. Needless to say he is a guru on youth culture.

Dr. Clark discussed his research on youth and talked about how teens have been abandoned by adults. He talked about the secret world that lies beneath the surface of teenagers and how most kids are really hurting inside, but don't know it or don't know how to deal with it.

I resonated with a lot of the things that Dr. Clark discussed especially the parts about the ways kids are recognized in society. He said that kids are welcomed into society when and if they:

-perform well enough to be accepted
-conform enough to be accepted, or
-portray an image that is pleasing enough to be accepted.

I thought about this through my lens as a youth minister and high school sports coach and I couldn't agree more. We tell kids that athletics is for character building, but I see parents upset with their son if they make an error or drop a pass. I see kids who live one life at school and another at church. I see kids portray one identity around their parents and a who different identity on facebook. There is something very wrong with the message that we are sending to kids about what it means to be successful and what it means to live life to the fullest. I think that we need to seriously consider what messages we are sending to kids and rethink what we tell kids it means to be a mature follower of Christ.

Too Busy to be a Teen

It is really hard to be a teenager these days, but it might even be just as hard for teenage parents. I don't fit into either one of those categories, but I have a lot of interactions with both groups. Here is my outsider perspective on one of the major issues facing teens and parents: Teens are way too busy! High school has changed so much in the past 5 to 10 years. Kids are taking AP classes, playing AAU sports, learning multiple languages, staying involved at church, and not to mention the endless opportunities of clubs that they can join at school. Mix in some time for friends and family, and hopefully there is enough time to relax and just enjoy being a teen.

I am a high school baseball coach and youth pastor, so I know first hand all of time that kids are pressured into committing to. Just last night I had a phone call from a parent of one of the boys on my baseball team. She asked if it was okay with me if her son left a few of our baseball games early to get to an AAU basketball practice, which is over an hour drive away. I wanted to reach through the phone and smack her for even allowing her son to play two sports at one time, let alone drive him to practice in a city that is over an hour away. I told her that it is baseball season and not basketball season. Basketball season just ended a few weeks ago for high school and already AAU practices are starting. She was worried that if he didn't go to AAU practice that he wouldn't play and then he wouldn't make the team next year. I told her that if he leaves baseball games early, he wont be able to play this season. I understand her concern about playing time, but since when does a 14 year-old freshman boy worry so much about playing time on a AAU team while in the middle of a season of another sport? It's just crazy how much things have changed for teenagers.

I came across this article in the Washington Post that discusses teenage busyness:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/14/AR2008071401396_pf.html

I think that this article is right on and as a coach and youth pastor, I am going to continue to encourage kids and parents to just take time to be a teen. To relax and enjoy this season of life, because it will be over with so soon.