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Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry Tuesday, September 6, 2005
September 6, 2005 "I've never been so scared in my life. And not scared of hurricanes or floods ... scared of people!" That's what one man who "escaped" the Superdome told reporters yesterday. What's more terrifying? A hurricane? A flood? ...or mankind? The news went on to describe the horror of rape and murder in the Superdome, the only shelter that many families were able to escape to. But most who fled to the Superdome wished they never had. "I've never seen such a lack of humanity." Blurted a man who "escaped" the Superdome with his family after three days. "I've never seen such a display of cruelty and utter selfishness ... people taking advantage of an already horrible situation." Sitting with her daughter and other relatives, Trolkyn Joseph, 37, said men had wandered the cavernous convention center in recent nights raping and murdering children. They found a dead 14-year old girl at 5 a.m. on Friday morning, four hours after the young girl went missing from her parents inside the convention center. "She was raped for four hours until she was dead," Joseph said through tears. "Another child, a seven-year old boy was found raped and murdered in the kitchen freezer last night." (Yahoo news, Sept. 2, 2005) A group of British students who sought shelter in the Superdome were so terrified by the people there, they gathered into a group of 30 and set up a sort of protective perimeter. Zoe Smith, 21, from Hull, said: "All us girls sat in the middle while the boys sat on the outside, with chairs as protection." Another student reported, "We were absolutely terrified, the situation had descended into chaos, people were very hostile and the living conditions were horrendous." (mirror.co.uk, Sept. 2, 2005) The picture wasn't a pretty one. It's a picture of sin on a rampage. It's sad to see how humans respond to tragedy. Instead of compassion and care, we see looting, rape and murder. A lack of supervision and authority creates an opportunity for theft and robbery. The picture isn't pretty when accountability is removed ... when the lights go out. THE QUESTION OF CHARACTER: A friend of mine was in a California mall when the 1989 earthquake hit during the World Series. The power went out, the stores went dark and chaos broke out. My friend said that voices throughout the store whispered, "Grab it!" "Take it!" ... as people were snatching merchandise and running for the doors. Who are you when the lights go out? How do you respond in situations like the above? A DISCUSSION IDEA: This brings up the subject of character. What happens when the lights go out and sin seems to go un-noticed? This is the subject of one of the VIDEO CLIP IDEA discussions that we just added to our web page. The movie clip is from Ocean's Eleven when the power goes off in the casinos. The lights shut off and chaos breaks out. People are screaming, madly grabbing money and running. GROUP QUESTIONS AND A WRAP UP
In the aftermath of the Katrina disaster, many of our students might have questions about "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People." Or where is God "When Life Stinks?" For those of you who frequent our web site www.TheSource4YM.com ... you know that we like to use movie clips as "jumpstarters" for discussions with teenagers. Jump on our VIDEO CLIP IDEAS page and scroll down to the category "When Life Stinks." In this category alone check out 11 different video clip ideas and discussion starters. Most of these discussion starters include small group questions, messages and/or wrap ups.
Kids are back to school and summer break is over. Now many of you are back in the saddle ready for the new school year. What did you miss from us at THE SOURCE this summer? If you missed some of our free EZINE newsletter's this Summer, take a peek at some of the articles we brought you:
Youth Specialties/Zondervan recently released
Jonathan's hit new book, DO THEY RUN WHEN THEY SEE YOU COMING? REACHING OUT TO UNCHURCHED
TEENAGERS. (CLICK
HERE FOR THE BOOK) And the training is coming to two U.S. cities this month!-Waupun, WI- September 17th, Jonathan is doing a Saturday workshop (9AM to 3PM) for youth workers within driving distance of the Milwaukee, Madison, and Fox Valley areas. If you're a youth worker, paid or a volunteer, this is for you! Here's the details: WHEN:
September 24th, Jonathan is doing a Saturday workshop (9AM to 3PM) for youth workers in the West Tennessee/West Kentucky area. If you're a youth worker, paid or a volunteer, this is for you! Here's the details: WHEN:
We've got less than 400 of our 2005 Outreach Resource CD's left-and we're giving them away for free to anyone who orders now. Jonathan's new book, DO THEY RUN WHEN THEY SEE YOU COMING is the book that everyone's talking about. Saddleback's Kurt Johnston says it best: "Most youth workers feel like we just aren't reaching enough students for Christ-at least that's how I feel. In this book, Jonathan took me on a journey that was both convicting and encouraging at the same time! Instead of a few "happy hops to Heaven," Jonathan provides a holistic approach to reaching this generation of un-churched students." Recommended by Mark Oestreicher, Bo Boshers, Jim Burns, Walt Mueller, Chap Clark, Wayne Rice, and more! AND GET THE FREE CD Delivered free via e-mail to subscribers each week. We encourage you to distribute this newsletter freely and ask only that you not change its contents. HAVE YOU MISSED PAST "EZINE" ARTICLES? CLICK HERE FOR JONATHAN'S "EZINE" ARCHIVES And for more FREE resources and ideas ... go to THE SOURCE www.TheSource4YM.com Copyright ©2005 The Source for Youth Ministry All rights reserved. |
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 PRE-ORDER JONATHAN'S BRAND NEW BOOK NOW... COMES WITH FREE CD!   CLICK HERE FOR MORE |
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