My generation’s answer to Air Guitar

If you’re over 40 and love Classic Rock like I do, the title of this blog should be enough. Everyone ought to try this game once.  Especially those that always wanted to play guitar but never got past the imaginary level. (Like me.) All I had was a tennis racket. If you happen to be at Youth Specialties in St. Louis or Atlanta, we’ll have one at the ReConstruct booth. Come by and play.

Email to IM to Text Messaging

I’ve been intrigued lately by how technology is moving so fast and especially how it’s changing student’s lives. I teach 9th grade boys Sunday School. This past Sunday I decided to do an impromptu survey. I had about 20 boys in the class. Here are the results of the survey.
1. How many of you have a Facebook or My Space page? (About 3 or 4 raised their hand. They used My Space.)
2. How many of you have email? (About 4 raised their hand.)
3. Those of you that have email, how many check it daily? (All the hands went down.)
4. How many of you have a cell phone? (About 2/3’s had one.)
5. How many have text messaging? (About 10 of those did. Only 4 had unlimited text messaging.)
6. How many of you I M (Instant Messaging)? (None raised their hands. In fact I kind of think that a few had never heard of it.)
These 9th graders weren’t even born when CD’s were introduced. Now they don’t even buy them. They download the songs they want.
I predict that when they become adults almost all of them will not have a land-line at their residence.
They now can have three conversations at one time using text messaging on their phone.
I truly love the generation of these 9th graders. In a world where they’re searching for value and purpose, I believe they have so much potential because of what they can do with their “technological knowledge.”
Be patient with them. Give them a chance to express who they are. Accept them for who they are. Pray for them. They’re facing a world that’s not fast-paced. It’s light-speed.
Go to the Barna Group website for some great survey data. I’ve found it very helpful and even enlightening.

ReConstruct Sample Video 2007

Most church youth groups that go on any type summer trip, whether it’s a mission trip or camp, have a sharing time with their congregation when they return. This is what ReConstruct groups receive at the end of their project week. It gives them a great visual presentation to share with their church. Honesty, with as many of these as I’ve seen, I still love to see more because I’m always amazed at how God uses these guys. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. We have other videos available on YouTube as well.

Growth through Service

As Christians, we are here to worship, disciple and serve. All three are important in our spiritual growth. We don’t think much about how serving those in need impacts our spiritual growth, but it does. I’m convinced of it. It’s not just about getting out of our comfort zone. It’s about being and example by spreading the love of Christ. That can be done in so many ways. Even by paint and roofing a house for those how need it. Our Christian Spiritual growth is a process. It doesn’t end when we become a Christian. It begins. In a time when we measure the success of almost everything, it can’t be done with spiritual growth. The process changes with ever circumstance. We call them valleys and mountains or perseverance and victory.

www.reconstruct.org