Global Needs - youthHOPE

Childhood Marriage – a reality for millions

Apr

2012

I have a twelve-year-old daughter. She loves to dance and sing and act. She is a free spirited girl. I still call her my baby. Today I read a statistic that makes my heart hurt. According to the United Nations website, in rural Yemen the average age of marriage for girls was 12-13 years old. Twelve…married? That is a startling reality. But child marriage, defined as marriage before the age of 18, is not that uncommon in the rural developing world even outside of Africa. In fact, South Asia has the highest percentage of child marriages. In India and Bangladesh the percentage of girls wed before reaching what we would consider “adulthood” is 50%. According to Unicef, “Marrying girls under 18 years old is rooted in gender discrimination, encouraging premature and continuous child bearing and giving preference to boys’ education. Child marriage is also a strategy for economic survival as families marry …
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Filed Under: Global Needs Tagged With: adolescence, bangladesh, childhood marriage, culture, education, global health issue, global youth, poverty

Impacting Business Leaders is as easy as 1,2,3!

Apr

2012

We have an exciting announcement to make at YouthHOPE for the youth of Myanmar! God has opened doors for three international business as mission trainers from Chiang Mai, Thailand to train our summer internship participants and the Myanmar business community on business as mission skills. Originally our summer interns were going to travel to a conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand before coming to Myanmar. However, due to lack of interest from college students there, the company was forced to cancel the training. Our interns still needed training before this summer so he asked the trainers if they’d come to Myanmar instead. Their calendars were free and they accepted! It gets better! In wanting to make their time in Myanmar worthwhile, Ryan talked with a couple of organizations in his network and the response was overwhelming. He approached the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce about doing a two hour session with some of their …
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Filed Under: Global Needs Tagged With: community, current events, education, global needs, global youth, global youth worker, holistic needs, Interns, job creation, opportunities, Southeast Asia, unemployment

I misunderstood missions.

Apr

2012

Much of my life I heard of people going on mission "trips".... They would often come back with a new understanding of God and His character. In my heart I desired stories like that, to be a part of something bigger than myself. My freshman year of college I had the chance to take a mission trip to help build houses. I had a mindset that "I am going to bring these people something that they need and it is my responsibility to do it." Our team came in, worked hard, built relationships, built houses, and then left. I remember saying goodbye at the end of 7 days with a deep sense of heartache thinking, what's next? Looking back I see how this mission trip was more about me than it was about those I went to serve. Honestly, it was like I had my own agenda, wanting to fill this need deep inside of me to help others. I had an opportunity to travel to Cambodia last summer with YouthHOPE, and unintentionally, I took …
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Filed Under: General, Global Needs Tagged With: Chile, church, community, culture, global needs, job creation, Kenya, leadership development, relationships, Southeast Asia

A Snapshot of YouthHOPE

Apr

2012

We felt it was time to let you know: YouthHOPE is growing. God is doing some amazing things in our team and through our partnerships around the world. It seems as though when one initiative takes off another one begins. Folks are constantly getting in touch with us to explore how we can partner together to mutually live out the callings God has placed on our hearts. Here's a quick snapshot of the growth we've been experiencing: - Mobilized YH Development Team members into ministry overseas: Adam & Kristy Griffith are about the Lord's business in Chiang Mai, Thailand while Ryan Russell has re-joined his wife Mary in Myanmar where they lead the Opportunities Now Entrepreneurship School. - Development Team Growth: Miguel Faundez has arrived from Santiago, Chile to spearhead YouthHOPE's global youth ministry training initiatives. The engaged Josh Kaminsky and Sarah Waddell are busy developing their prayer and provision in …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Global Youth Worker Stories Tagged With: Argentina, business as mission, Chile, Development, entrepreneurship, partnership, relationships, sex trafficking, Southeast Asia, Thailand

Young and Wild

Mar

2012

I was chatting with a friend in Chile the other day and he asked me if I had heard about the new Chilean movie that had just won the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival. It is called Joven y Alocada - Young and Wild (WARNING: the trailer for the movie is VERY graphic, please do not watch it if you think that you would be offended. The movie itself is rated NC-17 and is extremely sexually graphic, which is not uncommon for Chilean TV and film.). It is about the life of a young girl who grew up in an very conservative “evangelical” (a term used in Chile to describe the non-catholic or protestant Christians, which usually have a Pentecostal style) home. Her uncle was the preacher and her parents were very involved in the church. The thing is that their kids were just not vibing with this ultra conservative lifestyle. It was a very controlling and legalistic environment. The oldest daughter was kicked …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Media Reviews Tagged With: adolescence, church, culture, holistic needs, Malawi, relationship, sex education, videos, youth ministry

Youth Unemployment and a Challenge to the Church

Mar

2012

Dozens of articles and reports by the UN, CNN, BBC, Unicef and others in the past few years have focused on the global youth unemployment crisis. As the global economy continues to waiver and bend, millions around the world fight the effects of unemployment. According to a report by the International Labor Office, there were approximately 81 million unemployed youth between the ages of 15-24 at the end of 2009--the highest ever. Many governments and organizations are establishing programs and schemes to fight this trend, to give hope to a generation trying to find their place. In the UK, the prime minister is planning an incentive that would give employers subsidies to employ 18-24 year olds for six-month periods. Throughout the world, programs are starting up to train youth for small business ventures and entrepreneurship opportunities. The world seems to be taking notice of this global youth crisis, slowly, but …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Newsworthy Tagged With: adolescence, Christ, church, community, current events, education, global needs, global youth ministry, job creation, opportunities

Potential Energy

Mar

2012

I spent 4 years studying the body, how it works and functions. Every function of the body is a result of stored potential energy. Runners use this form of energy by positioning their legs at the most optimum angle in the starting blocks. Divers depend on the potential energy in the elasticity of the diving board to launch them into the air. These athletes see the advantage of positioning themselves and others on their team in a place where they can use potential energy in its purest form. On March 10th, 2012 there were an estimated 6.9 billion people in the world, half of which are under the age of 25. If I did my math right, that is equal to 450.5 trillion BTUs (British Thermal Units) of potential energy (averaging 150 lb person) in the youth of the world. Lets put that in practical terms shall we?? That is the same amount of energy contained in- 78 million barrels of crude oil 4 billion gallons of gasoline 1600 …
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Filed Under: General, Global Needs Tagged With: adolescence, Christ, church, global needs, global youth, missiology, mission work, relationships, resources, youth, youth group

Awareness by itself is inadequate

Mar

2012

What stereotypes do you have toward a prostitute or someone who is a victim of sex-trafficking? In the United States the average age of entry into prostitution is 13, globally it’s 12. They are youth. Nearly 100% of all people who will later be trapped in sexual slavery have a past ridden with abuse and neglect. Poverty, incest, abuse, and abandonment leave youth vulnerable to traffickers who lure them with opportunities at love, a job, and protection. In fact, if we rescued every victim today, we'd wake up to a demand for 100+ million new slaves tomorrow. The issue of sex-trafficking hits a little closer to home than we would like. Sex-trafficking thrives off of pornography and broken families, making women a commodity and leaving men and women with a broken view of God and his bride the church. Sin is just like any disease, we must have both treatment and preventative measures. We need to have an impact at every level, the …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Gospel Tagged With: adolescence, culture, global needs, gospel, leadership development, relationships, sex trafficking, youth, youth ministry

Would you like to start a college in India?

Mar

2012

During the last year, we have been talking with several different ministries in India about partnership opportunities. There are some wonderful ministries that God is working through in India and this year we will be visiting some of them to learn and look for direction about moving forward. We are very excited since the need in India is so great. Only about 2% of the country is Christian, where more than half of the 1.2 billion people living there are under the age of 25 years old. There are few places where the global youth ministry opportunity is greater. As I was reading the news the other day, the following headline slapped me right in the face “In India, the challenge of building 50,000 colleges”. I read the article and learned that India is trying to solve the problem of the need to educate more than 100 million young people over the next ten years. At the moment a mere 17% of their graduates are immediately …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Newsworthy Tagged With: Bible College, campus ministry, church, global needs, india, job creation, opportunities, partnership, poverty, students

Rap, tats and slang

Feb

2012

I came across an Associated Press article written a few months ago, entitled "US military legacy rubs off on Iraqi youth." The article highlights how 8,000,000 "Iraqis - a quarter of the population - have been born since the US led invasion of 2003 and nearly half the country is under the age of 19." In 2010, the population of Iraq was 32 million people. That means that there are 16 million under the age of 19. It would stand to reason that half of these are likely teenagers. Roughly 8 million youth in a country that is predominantly Muslim. 96.85% according to the most recent Operation World text. While the US military spent the past 8 years fighting for apparent freedom, the negative influence on youth was "hip-hop styles, tough-guy mannerisms, and slangy English patter." That means that they have heard of Eminem and 50 Cent, seen the Twilight movies, but have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This reminds me of …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Gospel Tagged With: adolescence, Christ, church, education, global needs, gospel, iraq, relationships, youth

Can’t Alleviate Poverty Without….

Dec

2011

About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live in absolute poverty today and almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. With few resources to meet their basic needs, youth who are in poverty are trying to make ends meet in order to survive. This is a deadly disease and is a widespread pandemic. And believe it or not, income differentials are widening, which means the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Poverty is persistent, deadly and breeds hopelessness. But the local church is even more persistent breaking down the walls of impoverished people. In Southeast Asia, global youth workers are creating an entrepreneurship school. In Zambia, youth now have access to sustainable jobs and better farming techniques through youth worker training. In Malawi, youth are given HIV education in secondary schools, and the youth workers are empowering the youth …
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Filed Under: General, Global Needs Tagged With: church, global youth, holistic needs, poverty, relationship, youth

Small Dreams

Dec

2011

A few months ago we had a brainstorming meeting trying to tackle our developing problem of having too much going on around the globe. It is a great problem, but we realize we have more requests from teams around the world for long-term workers to come alongside them than we could realistically fill over the next year or two. One idea that came out of the meeting was to catalog the opportunities and create a database online of job openings in global youth ministry. We ended up with not only a database, but also an interactive map. Within days of it being up and running on our website we had someone fill out an application to serve full-time in Zambia. We obviously did not expect results this quickly. The speed of the application coming in was not the most exciting bit though, but rather the location. The applicant was a Kenyan feeling called by God to do youth ministry in Zambia. We had not anticipated non-North Americans applying. …
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Filed Under: General, Global Needs Tagged With: global needs, global youth ministry, job creation, long term workers

Sex; Proceed w/Caution

Dec

2011

Have you had the sex talk? With your child? With the youth you are discipling? With your youth group? You should. Do it early and often. Seriously. There are tons of resources out there. Books. Articles. Youth workers with tons of experience in a similar context you could ask for advice. Consult some of those, even if it is only for building your confidence, then the very next time you see youth you have some influence with begin the conversation. Proceed, but please proceed with caution, because some that have gone before you in their attempt to provide Christian guidance to the next generation have actually done some harm. In their attempt to communicate Christian teaching about sex they have actually contradicted the basic tenants of the faith. Matt Chandler, the lead pastor of The Village Church, makes this point in a sermon a few years ago way better than I could with words. Take a moment to watch it, and …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, YM Advice Tagged With: church, youth group, youth ministry

Presentation Matters

Nov

2011

Youth Ministry is beginning to think globally. Mission trips and awareness programs have become a staple. Your youth group though, do they care? Do the youth God has entrusted you to disciple share His same heart for the nations? If not, I suggest it may be your fault. Not because you aren’t hip to the times and aren’t putting the issue before them, but rather because how you are presenting the information. Check out this article recently released by Psychology Today. As Americans, being obsessed with productivity and efficiency you would assume we would be more willing to give to a cause that offers us the best return on investment. We’d be most concerned with our money impacting as many lives in as many ways as possible. But an article recently released by Psychology Today states otherwise. Their research shows that Americans are actually far more likely to respond to appeals made on behalf of just one person. My …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Newsworthy Tagged With: global youth ministry, media articles, youth ministry

Is There Anybody Out There? – A Global Youth Cry

Nov

2011

The other day I was reading an electronic newsletter from some missionaries, Paul and Mary Triller that are supported by the local church that I attend. I met them a couple years ago and have been following their ministry. They are not specifically focused on youth ministry, but as their organizational goal states “empower and multiply a new generation of leaders to create movements to facilitate the expansion of God’s Kingdom,” they are intent on looking at the younger generation as a place to invest. The following is something they wrote in their last e-newsletter: "There are about 52 orphanages in Moldova, they house approximately 6800 boys and girls. The most they can look forward to is being released after their 16th birthday with $30.00 and a bus ticket to 'home'. They are easy prey for human traffickers. They are sold into slavery. They are turned into prostitutes forced to perform sex acts from 30-50 times a day. …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Newsworthy Tagged With: Europe, global needs, global youth

Childhood Marriage – a reality for millions

Impacting Business Leaders is as easy as 1,2,3!

I misunderstood missions.

A Snapshot of YouthHOPE

Young and Wild

Youth Unemployment and a Challenge to the Church

Potential Energy

Awareness by itself is inadequate

Would you like to start a college in India?

Rap, tats and slang

Can’t Alleviate Poverty Without….

Small Dreams

Sex; Proceed w/Caution

Presentation Matters

Is There Anybody Out There? – A Global Youth Cry

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