DAVEMIERS.COM
Sarti Design have just released volume 4 of their backgrounds. Go buy them… or download the 15 free samples that they offer. I haven’t yet bought any background packs (although a set have been bought for our nitechurch and youth group) but I have close to 300 backgrounds that have been legitimately downloaded for free.
There’s some more freebies here, here and here. Got any more?
This is from the sun-herald. (Coasties might recognise one of the students in the photo). The strategy doesn't seem to work for non-Christian teenagers – and for Christian teenagers the pledge to sexual purity ought to be driven by obedience to God and trusting that He knows what's best rather than the dangers of premarital sex. Only the gospel of Jesus' death & resurrection can bring lasting change.
www.youthministry.com have recently relaunched their site. It’s much better looking and more usable.
Also over on The Youth Vanguard we have a new feature in the right column. I’ve set up an RSS feed with youth ministry websites that I stumble upon. Here is the feed if you want to subscribe.
Got any good youth ministry links? Either for youth or youth leaders?
Check out saturdayEV.com for a great answer to the above question.
Adoption. We who were once not a people have been adopted by the creator of the universe. Christians are now sons of God and Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers. John Piper talks about adoption being at the heart of the gospel and his church are loud advocates theologically, politically and practically in the realm of human adoption. Their stance on adoption makes sense considering their stance on abortion. I can’t remember where I read it or heard it (it was in one of the sermons or articles on desiringGod.org), but there are some 80 families that have adopted Children in the church that Piper pastors. That’s exciting.
I’m the youth ministry champion in our church. I wonder if part of championing youth ministry and reaching out to teenagers on the Central Coast involves adopting teenagers. Teenagers are the hardest children to find families willing to adopt… there are many issues with adopting teenagers… and from what I understand it’s more likely for them to be fostered as opposed to adopted.
It would be important that the teenager being fostered is younger than the youngest child in that family. I also think that the fail rate is high in fostering teenagers. So expectations and difficulties would need to be realistically communicated to potential families. It would take special parents to pull this off. I would love to see this start happening in our church. It would be great way to love teenagers who need to be loved and God-willing we’d see teenagers come to know Jesus who has loved them supremely in his death for their sins.
Do you know of any churches that are actively involved in encouraging families to adopt/foster teenagers? Any other thoughts?
PRAYER FRIDAY: