Here was is a picture from Pakistan where a bunch of spiders covered this tree. I don’t know about you but I would be freaked out seeing this.I got this from an article from Wired.

A great article to share with parents: Article

This would be fun to try!

Role for the youth

Your job as a youth pastor should be to show Christ to the youth of the church. This is a great responsibility as you get opportunities to share Christ with the youth as well as guide them in the way of Christ. This is hands on work where confrontation, accountability, and growth can take place. It is easy to overlook the brevity of the task at hand as you do only get the youth for a short amount of time. The youth have many different difficulties and as a youth pastor you have the chance to point them to Christ as the one who died on the cross, and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death. We have the freedom from sin and point to the life of grace.

Not only do you work with youth but also the parents. You encourage the parents to continue in their roles as raising up their children in the ways of the Lord. This sometimes can be difficult but the work done with parents will be a big impact in the lives of the youth.

Your Role with the Senior Pastor

I have the opportunity to work with a great team of pastors that work in unison. We all know the vision of our senior pastor, what he is called to do and our role to support him in his tasks. The senior pastor is busy with many tasks over the whole of the church and  you as the youth pastor have the opportunity to fill him in with the spiritual needs of the youth. You stand as a buffer to process the important information, the struggles they may be facing and to help with the vision of the church. I am thankful the value placed on youth by our senior pastor as he knows they are the next generation and the desire for them to live for Christ.

What is your role in the church? How to you help with the youth and with the senior pastor?

Here some bullet points from why there is pastoral care, found on pages 80-81.

• Because the sheep are precious to Jesus, who purchased them with his own blood
• Because wolves are present and ready to destroy the sheep.
• Because pastors will give an account to God for how they cared for his people.
• Because hirelings abound in the church (Taken from John 10:12-13)

Here is a fun video from a youth group. Do you guys have any to share? This is a reminder that not everything we do has to be serious. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up with the ministry workload and forget that we can have fun once in a while.

When I went to Cambodia some years ago, we saw many ruts that would develop in the road due to the rain water that would collect. Our missionary friend who road a dirt bike to the local villages would say, sometimes you would get stuck in these rain ruts and would have to ride them out. Sometimes when you would stand in these ruts you would even sink down to being waist high with the rest of the ground!

How do you view ministry? Are you stuck in a rut? I do think it can be easy to feel like ministry can be a rut if your eyes are off of Jesus Christ. Ministry is with people but the focus should always be Christ. A book that we have been going over with our leaders in the ministry is, “On Being a Servant” by Warren Wiersbe. He defines ministry as this, “Ministry takes place when divine resources meets human needs through loving channels to the glory of God.” In this book, he talks about how we are not manufacturers of ministry but we are distributors.

If you are finding yourself in the rut of ministry and having a pity party than I suggest making sure your perspective aligns with the cross. It is easy when certain things may not go as planned or feeling unappreciative for all the hard work but you must ask yourself why do you do ministry? It is because of the work of Jesus Christ that I go in and out everyday. That is why Paul tells us in Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men.” What a great opportunity we have to work with such a crucial age group. As Ephesians 5:16 tells us, “make the best use of our time, because the days are evil.”

On a more practical note with being stuck in a rut, not only making sure your focus is right, make sure you have a strong godly leader that you can go to that may understand the task of ministry. This person can pray for you and encourage you as this is battle ground.

The con’s were those who are considered “addicted” were prone to have aggressive behaviors and become depressed. They were more likely to use drugs and alcohol. Also gamers were more likely to drink caffeinated beverages such as energy drinks, soda, and coffee.

In a study by Kay S. Hymowitz, that 12 to 17 year old males will play video games for over 2 1/2 hours every day. I do not know what is considered addicted but for someone to play that long or longer a day seems like an “addiction.” I am no way condemning video games but I am asking the parents to monitor their child’s video game playing, content and length.

Here are some questions to ask:

• Do I know what the rating of the games are that my child is playing? To see the ERSB click Here.
• If they play online do I know what they talk about with other gamers?
• Do I monitor their length of play?
• Do I set up time frames when they can and cannot play? For example, they can play after homework, 6:00pm and must be turned off by 7:00pm.
• Do you notice a behavior change; becoming more aggressive or language has changed?
• Do you pick certain days they cannot play at all?

These questions should be asked as a parent so you can be more involved and help them in the ways of the Lord. The Bible talks about not having anything take the place of God. Video games can become someones god if they allow it to control their lives. Be proactive!

For the article by Cha Cha click: VIDEO GAME

For the article by the Kay S. Hymowitz click: Article