Teens Overdosing

Teens overdosing on prescription drugs at record numbers

Fentanyl is a pain reliever patch, but like many prescription drugs, teens figure out ways to use them to get high. In David's case, he somehow ingested the gel in the patch, which is 80 times the power of morphine. He went to sleep that night and never woke up.It's one tragic story of dozens in Houston. Teens are dying in record numbers using prescription drugs. "Kids getting whacked out of their mind and just reckless ingestion of chemicals," said a former drug user  we're calling "Johnny." Johnny knows too many people to expose himself, he says. "You've done them, all haven't you?" we asked Johnny. "Oh yeah, I've pretty much done everything under the sun," he said. Johnny's a popular but former, he says, Houston teenage peddler, pusher and user of drugs. "You continue to go to the parties. You see the high school kids out there. What kinds of designer drugs are  they taking today?" we asked him. "They're just taking it because the end result it will make them feel better," he said. "What's the wake up call to parents? What do you want parents to know?" we asked. "That anyone and everybody could be using this drug, could dealing this drug. Parents should be worried  because the availability, the cheapness of them -- 10 bucks a pop, for the experimental chemicals or whatever, acid," Johnny said. "This is cheap allowance money that can get them high?" we asked. "Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's paper route  money," Johnny said. The frightening reality is that these prescription drugs are so easy to get a hold of. The drug David died from  was believed to have been stolen by friends from a grandmother's cabinet. "You understand people are dying because of this?" we asked Johnny. "Yea," he said. "Kids are dying?" we asked. "Kids, yeah," he replied. "You know the users, you know the pushers, you've been at the parties. Why is it you don't expose all of  this?" we asked.  "I don't know. I'm not proud of it," he said. For Mason, exposing his son's drug pushers is an eventual priority. But for now, he just wants to make it  through another week. "That boy made a difference, he made a difference in us," Mason said. He's still trying desperately to understand the unthinkable, the death of a son by prescription drugs. "My son is with Jesus and I have that peace, I have that peace," Mason said. It is such a tragic loss. The strong advice from the father, however, is to talk to your teenagers, explain the  dangers and dead-end road of drugs. Even the seemingly best of kids are getting involved with prescription  drugs. For more information, visit the Teen Drug Abuse website or the National Institute on Drug Abuse  website.

A Calendar Life

If you are in Student Ministry then you are aware of something that most in the church do not give a great deal of thought to – the extensive calendar that affects your life.  As a student minister, your life and your ministry to a great extent revolve around a school and ministry calendar.

Appropriate ministry events or happenings are used to attract students, sustain momentum or generate anticipation and excitement on an entry level. A well done ministry event can also produce a huge spiritual impact and catapult students towards deepening discipleship in their life. 

Too often though student ministries suffer from TWO extreme calendar mistakes. Either they have no calendaring strategy, very little on the calendar and consequently enjoy no traction towards a maturing, purposeful ministry event.  The other extreme is to fill a student ministry calendar so full that there is literally some sort of ministry event all the time. Its like trying to put 50 lbs of cement in a 20lb bag.

Now those you who have read Simple Student Ministry by Eric Geiger and Jeff Borton may have adjusted your ministry towards the middle and become healthier in the process.
But there are many in student ministry who mistakenly applied an extreme version of Simple Student Ministry and slashed their ministry events so far back that the only students still attending are those ready for deepening discipleship or those who have no choice in their participation.A healthy youth ministry is has a leader who endeavors to create strategic fun and deepening discipleship within the same ministry.
I want to share with you a brief but helpful strategy for calendaring your life and ministry.  Its called STATEGY 336The title simply reflects the number of months represented in each segment of the strategy.It looks like this3 months = CONCRETE3 months = TENTATIVE6 months = SKELETAL Now before we jump into that first let me share a few verses with you to help convince you that JESUS is honored in your planning efforts and smiles when you apply planning to His kingdom work.Now we know about the advance planning of Nehemiah and his advance planning and organization skills applied to rebuilding Jerusalem. We could stop there but. . . I Corinthians 14:33 tells us that “God is not a god of confusion”
but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. Proverbs 21:5

Luke 14:28-30 ask us to consider the truth of planning and organization saying “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,

Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house. Prov. 24:27

So, strategic calendaring with purpose is practical and biblical.

The first part of the 336 strategy is 3 Months CONCRETE.  Just like it implies, these are 3 months of calendar that should never be deleted or dropped unless an emergency arises. In other words, they are “set” in concrete. The larger the church the more months that may be applied to each segment but for the sake of explanation lets just go with 3,3,6.

Three months CONCRETE = Name of Event or happening, the date is set, the purpose of the event is established, the specific target audience is determined, the cost is printed and the place booked. You know what programming is being planned and any speaker is booked and other elements set. Also if you use Lead Teams (and I hope you do) A Lead Team coordinator and Lead Team members are already enlisted to “do the work of the ministry” for that particular ministry event.

So, the first three months are CONCRETE!

The second 3 mos are called Tentative! Just as it suggest, there a few ministry decision or elements that “in-process” they are TENTATIVE. During these three months of calendaring, you have a pretty firm date, a defined purpose, appx cost, location is being determined if not final, but you may only have a LTC and not a full Lead Team yet, or you may have a target audience like MS students but you don’t know precisely what elements are going into the programming. Maybe you have a speaker or two as options and trying to settle it out. Or maybe you are looking at your budget to see if you will be able to book a guest speaker or band or what elements you can weave into the event. During this phase of calendaring, you have enlisted a LTC but not a full team. In other words, some things are concrete and some things are in-process or TENTATIVE.

The final segment is six months. This is the SKELATAL period.  During these six months you may only have a date and an idea. For example, you know you are going to camp and it is locked into the calendar but you don’t yet know where or what the theme is. During this period you may have a cost range or target price you will charge but that might change. You are busy establishing the major elements of the ministry event but the details are just in the planning stages.  You may not have a LTC yet but you are recruiting both a LTC and a LT to begin the work.

Remember the larger your church or youth group, the more time is needed to calendar plan. Because you may be coordinating a ministry calendar with several other ministries within the same church, you may need more time. So your 336 strategy may be a 6-6-12 strategy.  There is no set standard but there are some principals that should guide your calendaring.

1^st – Make sure you calendar with Purpose. There should not be anything on your ministry calendar that does not require a ministry to pull it off.

2^nd Don’t over or under do it. If you plan a lean or slim calendar it will be full by the end of the year. If you plan a packed calendar your leadership and you may be pleading for relief by the end of the year. So plan lean, and execute well.

3^rd. Don’t become a lone ranger! Involve people in the whole process and give the ministry away. 

Survey results Shock MTV

Survey results Shock MTV

A groundbreaking survey from an unlikely source backs up what family groups and youth ministers have been saying about kids all along. The survey reveals that teens are highly influenced and attracted to role models and family. While not extremely suprising to those in the youth ministry trenches, this is really good news. The MTV/Associated Press poll shows what kids really desire is TIME with family. Four areas of the survey are outlined below. The survey question was: What makes you most happy? The top response garnishing 20 % from teens age 13 to 24 was spending time with family. Seventy-three percent of teens are somewhat or very happy with their relationship with their parents. Many parents wrongly assume that teens simply do not want to spend time together. The truth is, they want their space and they want their family too! Lead Parents and Teens to make time for both! 50% ot teens also said that one or both parents are their heroes.

New Words Generation

New Words for a New Generation

One encompasses more than 165,000 entries. The other allows for just 140 characters. No matter. The  Merriam-Webster Dictionary has found it in its loquacious soul to allow the word tweet into its newest edition.  Tweet, referring to the brief missives sent on the popular micro-social networking service Twitter, joined more  than 100 new words and terms in the 2012 edition. Americana, referring to a style of music, got an entry.  Cougar got an extra definition (that referring to an older women who has a thing for younger men).  Bromance made the cut, too, as did helicopter parent and boomerang child. (AP)

The Ultimate Permission/Release Form

Ultimate Permission Release form

82% of unchurched people are "some what likely" to . . .

Research indicates 82% of unchurched people are "somewhat  likely" to attend church if invited and escorted personally. But, only 21% of professing Christians invited anyone  to church last year. Dadgumit! - lets either get busy living or get busy dyeing.

Body Image - Tatoos: a skin-deep reflection

Tattoos: A skin-deep reflection of adolescent life By Paul Robertson Although a little hard to see, she never forgets. She wears the discreet tattoo of a small tree on her right shoulder. When asked to tell the story behind her tattoo she replies, “After I was born, my father planted this tree in our  backyard in honor of my arrival. He was so proud of me. At 10 years of age, he walked out on us. When I turned  16 I got a tattoo of the tree to remind myself that at one point in my life I was very important to my dad. I  haven’t seen him in years and the tree is gone, but he can’t take my tattoo away.” Young people get body art for many reasons. Some do it because they want to fit in, while others succumb to  peer pressure. Many are a testimony to the power of media to influence our choices. For some, it is a mark of  shock and rebellion, while tattoos make others feel sexier. Some simply see tattoos as works of fine art to adorn  their human canvas. Every generation has had a mark that distinguished it from previous cohorts. Over the past 50 years, prior  generations have left us reminders of their passing—ducktail haircuts, cramming phone booths, rock’n roll,  transistor radios, long hair, dropping drugs, dropping out, bell bottom jeans, platform shoes, polyester pants,  pet rocks, disco, baggy pants and backwards hats, hip hop, rap, sex without boundaries, body modification, and  lives lived out on the Internet. So what is left to make this generation unique when they are looked back on by history? They will be the  generation remembered for creating the most personal form of media there is—a permanent story painted on  young bodies. Many of today’s youth will look back on this decade and remember it, not with fondness, but hesitation as they  recall their struggles to simply survive. They will remember words such as divorce, separation, fatherlessness, abandonment, abuse and blended. In many ways they are a generation who lost their most special place in that  thing called family. There is another reason why some kids have tattoos. For a generation of kids consumed by the media, it has in  many ways become their closest friend, understanding and listening to the issues many adults miss. In their  identification with the media, they in turn have become the medium. If you have a story to tell then why not put  it on your body? Why not put it out there for all to see in the hopes that someone, anyone, might take time to  listen to your tale? Why not put an enduring picture on your body about a particular “chapter” of your life for all  to read? At least this is one thing your family can’t take away from you. And it is permanent, always there, unlike  your family. It is the most personal form of media there is. The medium is the message. You are the medium. Desiree, 20, says “Getting a tattoo is a right of passage in a time when we’ve lost all the traditional ones that a  kid usually gets in a normal family.” Des, as her friends call her, has a pair of angel wings on her back. Growing  up in a home where her dad went to jail when she was 18 months and returned when she was 18 years old provide d lots of challenges. It was life with a single mom that she could only describe as “hell.” Entering her second year  of college, the wings are a constant reminder that there isn’t anything she can’t “rise” above. Meaghan, 20, sees it similarly: “A tattoo is about me. It is a form of personal expression; part of the culture shift.  Tattoos fill a void for meaning in a postmodern culture. We need permanency in world of constant transition. It  forever expresses how I felt at that moment in time. It captures a point in time when I was alive. It is our longing  for permanence in a world of disposable everything.” Tattoos can reflect the journey, beliefs, values and hopes of any young person. Many different “chapters” are  represented by their body art. One of those “chapters” is the family. Chanel’s father was an executive chef who took his family all over the world. She didn’t move between cities; she  moved between countries and cultures. Putting down deep roots at any one time was not the norm as they lived  in Houston, the Bahamas, Vancouver and Jamaica during her first 14 years. Chanel’s father was always busy and  had little time for her. One Christmas, she recalls, he only spent two hours with her. At 15, Chanel fell into a deep depression. She felt she wasn’t wanted and having a mother who yelled, “I wished I  never had you,” didn’t help. As usual, her dad was never around and being left to her own, using her own  judgment and strength seemed the best she could hope for. This was the beginning of her rebellion. With her green hair and a fondness for the wilder side of life, she made  friends with many guys and fell into a life of alcohol, drugs, sex, angry music and disappointment. Korn, The  Beastie Boys and Nirvana spoke to her empty soul. Her dad was living 7,000 miles away and her mom worked  long hours. The words, “It’s all for you!” rang empty because all she wanted was a family that cared. Even a  short relationship with Jesus didn’t help her. Chanel got her first tattoo at 17 and now has 10. All her tattoos reflect her life’s journey, values and interests,  including a pair of X-wing fighters from Star Wars on her stomach. Another is of a robot boy who never really  knew his father—just like Chanel. Perhaps the most amazing tattoo of all runs the full length of her right side starting just below her shoulder and  ending just above the ankle. It contains the complete lyrics to “Waiting for the Great Destruction” by The Matthew  Good Band; a song that questions relational happiness and longs for truth. Chanel says it is a song about her  male relationships and how many of them she has ruined. She sees herself as the great destruction in having  lost many friendships during her short lifetime. It is a reminder to her about the importance of relationships  including those with her mother and father. Scot’s name seems quite appropriate for a boy born in Scotland. He is 21 years old and has inherited his dad’s  artistic talents. Scot and his dad were very close and shared many wonderful memories. Sadly, Scot’s father  James died a couple of years ago. Shortly before he passed away, he was quite impressed that Scot had his  father’s initials tattooed on his arm. However, his dad was too afraid to get a similar one. Two months after his father’s death from lung cancer, Scot wanted to find a way to remember his father. The  gravestone has the picture of a white dove with a Scottish thistle in its mouth. Scot decided to pick up on that  theme so he drew a childhood picture of himself releasing the dove as a picture of his father’s freedom. It serves  as a daily reminder of a father he loved deeply and misses greatly. For Jennifer, age 20, a small rose speaks of healing and wholeness in a life that was once marked by depression  and hopelessness. It is a reminder to never give up. Jen’s life began to crumble when she was in eighth grade, beginning with her grandmother’s death. As Jen  says, “My grandmother was a very, very strong piece of my life.” Three weeks after she died, her grandfather  had a stroke. A few weeks later, her adopted sister decided to move back with her birth parents for a short period. At about the same time Jen switched high schools, a traumatic enough event, and soon suffered a sports injury that meant  she could no longer compete. Jen says she “bottomed out with depression” in ninth grade when her sister left for good. She still misses her grand mother and feels the pressure of trying to keep the family together. Jen was also sexually assaulted during her  later high school years. In her own strength, Jen began to look for ways to heal. It was then she remembered a  saying she used to share with her sister, “every rose has its thorn,” from a song with the same name by the group Poison. Jen shares how she arrived at just the right location for her blue rose tattoo, the color of the rose she laid on her grandmother’s coffin. As well as being her grandmother’s favorite color, blue also signifies Jen’s love for swimming and water. She says, “Everyone has burdens to carry and everybody carries them in a different way. My grandmother always said you carry the stones on your shoulders and you carry the bull on your back. The bigger the p roblems are, the bigger that bull is. And when I started getting rid of my burdens I realized she was right. And  just as a reminder for her, I had the rose put on my lower back.” If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many books may well be written on youthful bodies? We only have  covered a few stories in abbreviated format. What we cannot capture is their tone of voice—one moment filled  with pain and despair and the next minute full of joy and hope. We cannot look into their faces. We cannot feel  what they have been through. However, we can be more understanding by realizing that some painted people  are not who we think they are. Next time you see a young person with a tattoo, why not ask them to share the story behind it? You might be  amazed at what you hear … and be better off for it. The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding grants permission for this article to be copied in its entirety, provided the copies  are distributed free of charge and the copies indicate the source as the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding.