Here are the supporting Scriptures from the message on ‘A Father’s Heart’, June 20, 2010. The audio message will be posted here: A Father’s Heart

… and the slides are here:

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Further readings on ‘A Father’s Heart’:

Want to know what your teenage kids are up against? This is an eye-opener:

… and here’s another …

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I think this is clever marketing. In Japan, although newspapers are more widely subscribed to than in the US, the publishers can see an inevitable decline as the next generation moves up. They also observe that the next generation is crazy about manga – a stylized form of cartoon.

Wired Magazine on 'Manga News'

Putting the two together, they are appealing to young potential readers by setting the news into manga – real news in cartoon form. Talk about adjusting your approach to meet the culture!

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Brad Cooper is the student pastor at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. He recently wrote a blog about how momentum ALWAYS starts with students. I see a number of reasons why this should be so:

• Teens are driven by a genetic imperative to build an identity that separates them from their parents, so they look for something new.
• Teens are in the middle of the mating dance (also a genetic imperative!) – both sexes showing off and trying to be cool, often by being silly – so again they’re looking for something new.
• Young brains get far more ‘exercise’ – they’ve had to absorb language, safety and culture lessons since birth – and are wired to assimilate, synthesize and communicate. This seems to slow down during the twenties, but during the teen years it’s at its peak.
• Teens have an enormous amount of time and encouragement to socialize – high school is designed to be engaging and fun; they are encouraged to date; they are expected to watch a lot of television and go to movies. Their work load is relatively low – mostly homework and a few chores. Some take jobs, it’s true, but as a whole (and we’re talking about teens as a class here remember) they have a lot of time.
• Kids are expected to make mistakes, so they can afford to take greater risks because they know they will be indulged and forgiven. Some of the trends they start are simply moronic – wearing baseball hats backwards or sideways; pants that look like they’re falling off (don’t you just want to get out your power stapler?); jeans with holes in them – the sillier the better at present, although in 20 years there’s a chance they’ll look back at photographs and wince.
• Parents indulge their children in other ways too, which is why, as Brad notes, vast segments of the economy are tuned to teens – music, electronics, clothing. And in turn, since these corporations are trying to discover and market to the culture leaders among the teens, other teens watch what the corporations are selling so they can get in on those trends and look like leaders.

However, just because we can see some of the reasons for teens’ creativity doesn’t mean we can adapt them for us older folks (sorry!).

Teens are the life-blood of any cross-generation organization, whether we’re talking about a town or a church. And when a town or church fails to invest in their teens and design for them, they will leave. How does this connect with what you’re seeing around you – in your town or your church?

Are you seeing the exodus of the 13-31 year-olds in your church?

Check out Brad’s post here.

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