Hey Parents,
It's Spring Break week for most of our students, so hopefully you're finding some time to enjoy this beautiful weather with your students this week! A couple of things we want to make you aware of this week:
1. IGNITE is TONIGHT! We're gonna play a game called "Poop Deck" (not in anyway as gross or inappropriate as the name suggests!), have some trivia about one of everybody's favorite things.....bread!! Then we're take a look at the significance and symbolism that bread has throughout Scripture as we talk about God being our provision! Doors open @ 5:45! Hope to see your students there!
2. Sunday night, we'll be back to our regular schedule....Girls bible study at the Kelly house, guys Bible study at Josh's house, and of course "Recess" - our time for parents will be up in The Attic @ 6 PM. I really encourage you to come and give it a try....we had a good group of 20 our first week and we had some good time playing together, talking together and praying together!!
3. Last Sunday, we started our Pure Sex series in Sunday School and it was a great and powerful morning as we challenged our students to think about the idea of purity and what role it's going to play in their lives moving forward.
This week we're going to be tackling pornography and media messaging which is transforming our culture into a sex-driven monster. We'll be very frank about the truth behind porn and show the dangers that it can pose to our students as individuals and also to their future relationships.
Also, if you're a parent who is concerned about the effects of porn on your family, and honestly it's getting to the point where most of us should have at least a small amount of worry about this issue, I would like to suggest a resource to you. MANY of our young males are struggling with the temptation to find porn on computers, smartphones, gaming consoles, etc....The accessibility of porn is at a level unlike anything we've ever experienced. If this concerns you, check out the website x3watch.com. It's basically a set of software you can install on your computers and for $7 a month it monitors the websites and videos that are visited. It also allows for an accountability partner to be assigned to your computer....for example your child's website activity can be sent as a report to you as a parent, to a youth pastor, sunday school teacher, etc... This brings a new facet to this type of technology that makes it not just a policing software, but one with the ability to allow for students to have someone to hold them to what they're doing online. If you have any questions, please feel free to grab me and we can chat about this!
4. You should be getting a letter this week with information concerning Centrifuge 2012 at Panama City Beach. It includes the dates, info about track times, and also the payment schedule for deposits and balance payments over the next several months.
I hope you have a great week...and a thought for you below:
Is Technology Killing Your Family?
I kind of like technology. You might say I'm a bit addicted.
There are two people who live my house - me and my wife, (Crystal would say that our dog Aubie counts too, but I disagree!) Today, between the two of us we have 2 iPhones, a Macbook, an XBox360, a PS3, a Kindle, and a strong desire for an iPad. Throw our TV and Netflix and Hulu into the mix and it's a little ridiculous.
Or is it? It is the 21st Century after all. This scene gets played out all over North America. After dinner, your daughter is on Facebooking her friends. Your son is gaming, obsessively trying to get to the next level. You're on your laptop and your spouse is texting a friend while the two of you are watching TV.
The challenge this poses is simple. Everyone is connecting with someone - just not with the people in the room.
So, who's to blame? It's easy to finger technology for creating a relational disconnect. According to a recent study, only 35 percent of tweens and teens feel emotionally close to their dads, and only 59 percent feel emotionally close to their moms.
We can pretend that life was simpler back in the day before WiFi left no room unconnected. When you're struggling to have a conversation with your kids, and between the Wii and YouTube you can't get a word in edge-wise, it's natural to think technology has killed your family.
I'm not sure it's that simple. Here's a question to wrestle with: What if technology isn't good or evil, but simply reveals and amplifies what's already there?
There may indeed be a relational disconnect, but many of us grew up in a home where the primary activity we shared decades ago was watching TV. (Ironically, that' still the number one activity parents and teens engage in together today.) And more than a few of us grew up in homes where relationship was hard to come by. Many children of the sixties, seventies and eighties had parents who worked long hours, moms who were busy with friends, distracted by book clubs or endless housework, or dads who came home only to disappear to the golf course or to the garage to tinker all night. Distraction and disconnection aren't new.
Maybe technology is simply revealing and amplifying a problem that's been with us for a while.
Which is why I'm so glad you're reading this blog this week: relationships within families are worth fighting for and technology doesn't have to kill your family. In fact, technology gives us incredible opportunities and the potential for unprecedented connectedness. But like all things, it needs to be managed so it becomes a servant of what matters most - our relationship with God and each other.
Something else to think about: there's a reasonable likelihood technology is here to stay. So, our families need to learn how to manage it well.
Start this week by asking this question.....If all the technology in your home was removed tomorrow, what would be left of your relationships with your family?
I realize that can be a tough question, but tough questions can lead us to great places relationally. Especially if, like me, you like technology.
So, if the power went out and the WiFi and cable went down, what would be left of the relationships in your home?
See ya tonight or Sunday!
Jeff
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