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youthHOPE

transforming the lives of global youth

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The Book of the Skaters

May 14, 2012 by Kyle Leave a Comment
Habacuc's Bible

Habacuc went to the skate park Monday night like he normally does.  While he's there he looks for opportunities to connect with skaters in meaningful ways. He told me he's got three questions in mind when he approaches one of the youth: How are you doing? How is your family? and How is your skating going? He's found that by engaging the youth at a personal level, doors sometime open for more questions...like on Monday night. Habacuc wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, taking photos and seeking out some skaters to encourage and chat with. It was when his camera bag was left open by his side that he saw a kid take a peep at what was inside.  Haby had chatted with the guy before.  His team had been praying for him.  They knew that he was doing some bad things, mostly drug related.  The skater reached down and pulled the book out.  "What's this?" he asked.  "Is this the Book of the Skaters?" Habacuc's bible was …
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Filed Under: General, Global Youth Worker Stories Tagged With: adolescence, bible, Chile, community, culture, gospel, partners, relationships, skateboarding, Urban Action

What would your teenager do for an iPad?

May 11, 2012 by Aaron Leave a Comment
ipad

Last month, I finally broke down and bought an iPad (refurbished iPad 2 for $349!!) as prices dropped with the release of the new model. I am really anal retentive about my electronics and have to make sure I need them and that they are going to serve the purpose that I expect from them. I know I probably should chill out, but that’s what happens when you have high expectations and not that much money. As I was doing research about the iPad and whether or not I could travel solo with it, I ran across some crazy news. 1. A 17 year old named Wang sold his kidney to buy the new iPad and the iPhone 4s that came out earlier this year. Five people were arrested including the doctor and “organ broker”. The youth received $3500 for the kidney, which was sold for $35,000. …
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Filed Under: General, Newsworthy Tagged With: adolescence, culture, current events, global needs, gospel, parents, poverty, relationships, youth ministry

Youth Bulge

May 2, 2012 by B Sue Leave a Comment
pinandra

Throughout history, young people have always been a catalyst for revival and renewal of society. The Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening both resulted from youth movements.  The "Haystack Prayer Meeting" was the result of a freshman at Williams College in Massachusetts challenging his prayer group with a vision to advance the nations in Asia.  This was the start of modern day missions. The Welsh revival of 1904-5 resulted in over 150,000 people coming to know Christ as their savior. Lives were TRANSFORMED! The world is experiencing a "youth bulge." A decrease in child mortality rates has led to the largest generation of youth in history, 1.8 billion youth!  According to the Population Reference Bureau, 53% of those youth are in Asia and 29% in Africa. "I believe that the greatest challenge confronting the church in the new millennium relates to youth ministry," says Alvin Reid.  "Of the eyewitness …
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Filed Under: General, Outreach Tagged With: adolescence, Christ, church, community, youth

10 Marks of a Successful Youth Ministry

April 27, 2012 by Justin Leave a Comment
IMG_0771

I recently spent the weekend at Impact Student Ministries of First Baptist Church of Vandalia, OH.  I had the honor of being their guest speaker for a DiscipleNOW weekend they call “Morphis.”  Dale and Christa Puckett have led the youth there for 3 years and what I saw in my time with them was nothing short of fascinating. Psalm 115:1  “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your Name be the glory, for Your mercy (love) and Your truth (faithfulness).”  Success in youth ministry is not quantified by numbers, but rather by fruit.  A youth ministry will not bear fruit unless it is Jesus centered.  This is not an exhaustive list.  However, here are 10 marks of a successful youth ministry, as evidenced by what I saw at FBCV: A team mindset – the small group leaders at Impact serve joyfully.  They know they are part of the team.  Dale & Christa do not micromanage them, they trust that they will minister well to …
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Filed Under: General, Gospel, YM Advice Tagged With: adolescence, church, conferences, gospel, grace, leadership development, making disciples, missional, parents, preaching, relationships, service, team, worship, youth group, youth ministry

Childhood Marriage – a reality for millions

April 25, 2012 by Angie Leave a Comment
yemeni-child-brides-husbands-615

  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

Hope and Hunger: The Games We Play

April 17, 2012 by Aaron Leave a Comment
the hunger games

 “Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little is effective, a lot is dangerous.” Those are the words of President Snow from the film Hunger Games (you can watch the actual clip here).  I just went to see it with my family and some co-workers this weekend.  I had read the trilogy last year after my youngest daughter, Sofi, started reading them. The publisher primarily targeted the teen/young adult literature market, but they have become the latest craze crossing generational lines, similar to the Harry Potter series. The books were by far some of the best fiction that I had read in a long time.  Since I’ve become familiar with them, I have noticed that there has been a lot written about the underlying socio-political messages the books bring to the table.  The gamut stretches from identifying the saga with the “occupy” movement, to Fox News talking about an anti big government message.  Even the Christian …
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Filed Under: Media Reviews Tagged With: adolescence, Christ, culture, current events, global youth, Hope, Jesus, videos, youth

Building Homes and Building Disciples

April 13, 2012 by B Sue Leave a Comment
Bible Study Girls - Web

This morning as I was spending time with God, He revealed to me His presence in the lives of global youth since the foundations of the earth.  He used Jeremiah to edify his chosen people.  He used David to kill Goliath with nothing but a stone, a slingshot, and faith that God was faithful and able to keep His promises. God has always been moving, and at YouthHOPE I have the great privilege of sharing the stories of what He is doing now. Building Houses A year ago one of our global youth workers in Southeast Asia came upon a family that laid heavy on her heart.  Here are some thoughts after her first encounter back in May 2011…. “What we observed that day was disturbing to say the least.  Upon arrival we learned that the mother was in the hospital after having her 12th baby the previous night.  What they called home didn’t even have four walls, the youth hardly had clothes, no shoes and we learned that they all ate …
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Filed Under: General, Global Youth Worker Stories Tagged With: adolescence, building homes, community, discipleship, global youth ministry, Jesus, job creation, Southeast Asia, youth

The future has arrived for the youth of Myanmar

April 11, 2012 by Ryan Leave a Comment
m youth

U.S. Moves to Normalize Relations with Myanmar What this means for holistic youth development? …
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Filed Under: Global Youth Worker Stories Tagged With: adolescence, business, current events, education, global needs, job creation, opportunities, youth

Don’t Walk Away

April 2, 2012 by B Sue Leave a Comment
Dont walk away

A recent post by our global youth ministry partners Urban Action: Youth are mean, rude, and they cuss all the time.  Half of them are on drugs.  They don’t respect their elders or anybody else for that matter.  They think they know everything and won’t listen to advice no matter how wise it is.  They waste all their time doing stupid things like playing video games, listening to terrible music, skateboarding, and chasing  someone of the opposite sex who is even stupider than them.  It’s no wonder no adult wants to spend time with them!  Right? Or maybe it’s us adults.  Maybe we’re just tired.  Work, kids, spouse, friends, email, church, small groups, studies, exercise, hobbies, and Facebook.  Who has time to invest in youth?  Maybe we start to think so negatively about youth as a way to feel better about not spending time with them.   I know.  I know.  It can be tough to work with youth.  I’ve chosen to …
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Filed Under: General, YM Advice Tagged With: adolescence, Chile, youth, youth culture, youth group, youth ministry

One Generation Away

March 28, 2012 by B Sue Leave a Comment
one generation

Beware... you are in for an English and a math lesson.  This may be a simple way of you testing yourself to see if you are "Smarter than a 5th Grader"- 1. What is a verb? 2. This question may require a pencil and sheet of paper- How will you reach the number 1,800,000,000 (1.8 billion) faster, through addition or multiplication? We see the word disciple throughout the Bible.  In fact, it is used in the new testament 269 times.  What I find interesting is that 268 of those times it is used as a noun, and only once is the word used as a verb.  A verb is the part of speech that describes an action or indicates a state of being. Where do we find this verb??  In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus instructs his followers to go and make disciples. The phrase, make disciples, is one word in Greek- matheteuo.  The verb matheteuo has two meanings- to be and to teach. to be a disciple of one, and to follow in his precepts and …
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Filed Under: General, YM Advice Tagged With: adolescence, Christ, discipleship, Jesus, youth ministry

Young and Wild

March 26, 2012 by Aaron Leave a Comment
Joven-y-Alocada3-3-review

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

March 21, 2012 by Katie Leave a Comment
youth-unemployment

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

March 13, 2012 by B Sue Leave a Comment
Runner_in_blocks

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

March 7, 2012 by B Sue Leave a Comment
Myamnar Youth

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

Rap, tats and slang

February 27, 2012 by Justin Leave a Comment
iraq_flag

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
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