Fostering Healthy Development

In my seminary studies I have the opportunity to glean from a variety of sources on topics of theology, church history, youth ministry, and many other topics. The book I am currently reading is called Hear My Story by Dean Borgman. I'm only in the beginning, but so far this book has already helped me so much in understanding youth culture and the situations they are facing today. This book is a great resource for those of you who want to dive more deeply into understanding teenagers, adolescent development, and all the problems and pitfalls that hit our students on a daily basis.

I just got through reading two chapters on growth, socialization, and fostering healthy development in kids during their formative years. Borgman cites several very interesting stories about children lacking socialization. For instance, two girls named Kamala and Amala in the 1920's were found in the jungle having been raised by wolves. These girls did not learn how to speak, how to interact with people, were not toilet trained, and were unable to perform several other aspects of socialization that children learn from parental figures in their lives. Borgman goes on to say that "these stories highlight the fact that animals live mostly by instinctive behaviors; human beings by learned behaviors."

This is a somewhat obvious fact, but while I was reading these chapters it really struck home with me how much influence parents have on their children. You help them learn to speak. You help them learn decision making processes. You help them learn to eat on their own. You help them learn what it looks like to be human.

You also have the same influence in your child's spiritual development. These students are looking to you as parents and adults to teach them about faith, model authentic Christian love, and demonstrate a genuine Christian lifestyle. You help them learn what it looks like to be a Christian. The beauty of this is that God designed it this way. Your children need you. Kids today need loving and caring adults to "train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (Prov. 22:6). Let's take some time to look at our lives and see how we can better raise this next generation to follow God and change the world through His love.

Get Involved!

One of our biggest prayers that we have for parents of REALife students is that they can fulfill their roles as spiritual leaders of their families. That means engaging your son or daughter in conversations that relate to God and their faith as it relates to their lives, and guiding them towards living a Christian life. We hope to help you in your pursuit of these efforts, so please feel free to contact us for any advice, suggestions, or questions. Being the spiritual leader of your family is the BEST way to get involved in the ministry. See last week's post on how to incorporate the lessons we learn at REALife into the rest of your week.

In addition to leading your family towards following Jesus, there are still plenty of ways to get involved at REALife from becoming a relational leader to taking on a specific task for our ministry. There is always room for a parent to join our leadership team. We currently have a need for relational leaders, set-up team members, tear-down team members, and check-in team members. Please contact Robby Smernoff if you are interested in serving in our ministry or if you have questions about how you can get involved. (email: rsmernoff@mecklenburg.org)

REALife Sermon Follow-up Readings

In case you didn't already know, at REALife we have taken this semester to go through the book of Mark in the Bible to study the life and teachings of Jesus. This is a great way to give students an in-depth look into how to relate the messages of this gospel into their lives. It has been a wonderful journey so far, and I hope and pray that our students are growing spiritually through this effort.

To compliment these messages we have developed additional readings that relate to the message shared at REALife. Each Monday we will post a document that is able to be downloaded from our website that gives extra readings for the five days of the week. These are short readings with just a few questions to keep the students thinking about what we are learning at REALife all week long.

As parents, feel free to download this reading yourself, but also encourage your teens who to download these readings and make them a part of their daily routine. I pray that this is a great resource to help students grow even when they are not physically at church.

Click Here to go to our website to download the readings.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween Parents.

This holiday has it's pluses and minuses. There is fun to be had with friends, eating candy, dressing up, and hanging out, but there are also the darker sides to this holiday.

My suggestions about this holiday...

1_ Pray for your students...against temptation, for safety, to remember their God in all they do.

2_ Be informed...know where they are going, who they are with, who will be chaperoning, etc.

3_ Exert your parental authority...if you don't approve of where your student wants to go for Halloween, help them find something else to do.

Have a great week. God bless.

Great Start for REALife

Hey REALife Parents.

Well, we've kicked off our fall, and it has been awesome to see what God is doing at REALife. We started the year off with 75 students! That's a huge answer to prayer. And this past week we saw 72 students. Please continue to pray for God to move through the high school students in this area. There are so many that need to be reached in the name of Jesus.

So here's one area where you can be a huge help. Encourage your son or daughter to invite there friends to REALife. Praise them when they do invite their friends. Offer to drive them or pick their friends up from their houses. Do what it takes, but encourage them to reach out to their friends. You can be a huge part of fostering that care in the hearts of your son or daughter and in training them to care for those who need to hear about the love of Jesus.

The Severity of "Sexting"

The phenomenon of sexting is by no means new, but has received much attention lately as severe punishments are being given out to those who take or send naked pictures through text messaging. Please read this CNN article and talk to your teenager about the severity of the punishments for these crimes.

Click Here to read read the article