I just finished speaking at an event in South Dakota this past weekend. On Saturday night I spoke with a challenge to reach out beyond our church walls, and on Sunday afternoon I did a workshop for parents.

Saturday evening was a lot of fun. It was a hard speaking venue because I followed a really funny comedian (which made my "serious" talk quite the contrast. It worked... but it was tough. But I have to brag about this comedian. His name is  Tim Hawkins and this guy was one of the most hilarious guys I've ever seen.

Let me be clear. This isn't a youth speaker who uses a little bit of humor. This is a guy who plays comedy clubs around the country (trust me- he ain't cheap). But this guy had everyone crying they were laughing so hard.

Here's a sample:

He uses a guitar for about a third of his act doing takeoffs of popular songs. Again- hilarious! Here's his video, "Cletus Take the Reel."

You'll see other clips of him on YouTube- I love his Homeschool video too. You can find some other clips of him on his site.

The weekend was really fun, until trying to get home. My flight from Sioux Falls was delayed last night (Sunday)and I got stuck in Denver (missing my layover). I'm at an airport hotel right now about to catch a shuttle back to the airpot and fly home. I hope to catch up today and blog more tomorrow.

I wanted to take a second and make a few comments about the people of South Dakota. Great folks. I was in Huron. A lot of farmers and ranchers. I spoke for a youth network that brought together people from churches of all denominations. We had Methodist, Baptists and Catholics all in the same room. Great fun.

Gotta run!

Thanks for your prayers.

It's 3:40 AM Saturday (yeah, trust me, I'm TIRED!) and I'm getting ready to head out to the airport to hop on the first flight out to Denver, then on to South Dakota. I will land in Sioux Falls and then drive into Huron where I’ll be speaking at an event tonight, then teaching a parenting workshop on Sunday afternoon (then flying home Sunday night).

This is an exciting trip. When I speak on Saturday night I’ll be speaking to parents and kids. It’s a big event that will be bringing out a huge portion of the small community as well as people from surrounding communities. It’s a church audience and my challenge will be to reach out beyond the church walls.

Sunday is a parent workshop. I’ll be talking to about 125 to 150 parents about today’s youth culture and raising our kids right before rebellion. I love this kind of training workshop… I’m looking forward to it.

Huron, SD is one of the coldest places I have been! Last time I traveled there it was about 7 degrees and the people there were excited how warm it was! I learned to appreciate heated seats (before then, I always wondered about the need of that. Now I don't ask.) I checked weather.com and it's supposed to be 42 in SD today. (Whew!) That's still a tad colder than my chilly Sacramento 62 degrees today.

Well... off I go. If you think of it, please pray for my speaking and my travel.

Thanks so much for your prayers

"What do you want to be when you grow up Kelsey?"

"I want to be a bimbo!"

Where is this kind of thinking coming from? How about a new UK website aimed at girls 9-16 that gives users "bimbo dollars' for plastic surgery, diet pills and risque nightclub outfits. Over 200,000 UK kids are playing the online game called "Miss Bimbo" (1.2 million played when it was released in France). CNN says, "Girls are encouraged to compete against each other to become the "hottest, coolest, most famous bimbo in the whole world."

I jumped on the site myself to check it out. www.Missbimbo.com  It's not shy about it. It says right there on the front page: Even resort to meds or plastic surgery. Stop at nothing to become the reigning bimbo !

TimesOnline from across the pond reports:

A website that encourages girls as young as 9 to embrace plastic surgery and extreme dieting in the search for the perfect figure was condemned as lethal by parents’ groups and healthcare experts yesterday.

The Miss Bimbo internet game has attracted prepubescent girls who are told to buy their virtual characters breast enlargement surgery and to keep them “waif thin” with diet pills.

Healthcare professionals, a parents’ group and an organisation representing people suffering anorexia and bulimia criticised the website for sending a dangerous message to impressionable children.

In the month since it opened the site, which is aimed at girls aged from 9 to 16, has attracted 200,000 members. Players keep a constant watch on the weight, wardrobe, wealth and happiness of their character to create “the coolest, richest and most famous bimbo in the world”. Competing against other children they earn “bimbo dollars” to buy plastic surgery, diet pills, facelifts, lingerie and fashionable nightclub outfits.

The website sparked controversy when it was introduced in France, where it attracted 1.2 million players.
(ht to Anastasia for this link)

The game is under further investigation over fears that it encourages kids to spend real money texting, racking up big phone bills. Vnunet.com reports:

Miss Bimbo is free to play, but players can earn in-game 'dollars' by sending in text messages which cost £1.50 a time.

Fox News also chimes in on the issue.

And here is an MSN video on the subject.

Hmmmmmmm.

I love this little CNN news peice titled, "Famous for what?"

And that's exactly what it's about. People who are famous for... what? Think... Paris Hilton. Yeah. Exactly!

CNN's thoughts on this subject could be summarized with this statement, "It used to be that fame had something to do with talent."

I think I find it more interesting just observing how much our society values "fame" at all.

Here's their two cents.

"Back in Hollywood in the golden era, celebrities knew that they should be famous for what they were actually good at which was acting, performing. They knew that less was more. When it came to their private lives, they only gave us a little bit of a glimpse. So they remained mysterious and they became icons. I don't think we're going to be looking at Cary Grant and Paris Hilton in the same way in generations to come."

Click here for the whole video.

My two cents: Fame definately has changed along with everything else in this culture. Reality TV has probably lowered the bar, changing the old criteria for who can and can not be famous. Is this a bad thing?

What qualities do our kids perceive as valuable: beauty, money, or dare I say... scandal? (in the times where a sex tape or a viral nude photo can springboard someone to stardom?) What message is this communicating to our kids? (Read David's youth culture window article  this week to see one effect this is having on young girls.)

Hmmmmm.

In our current THE SOURCE podcast (Episode #13) I promised I'd blog about it. It's something youth leaders all deal with. We’ve heard it countless times: Every kid in our youth room has a cell phone in their pocket!
  - How do I communicate to kids to stop texting during worship?
  - Can I say “no cell phones” on our trips?
  - What if parents WANT their kids to have cell phones with them?

These are great questions. And, as we said in our podcast, we WANT YOU to help us answer. Here’s the situation:

In the HELP ME section of our most recent podcast, youth worker Matt from Longview, TX asked us:

Our small youth group (25-30) has taken to text-messaging on their cell phones. I'm not against cell phone use, but it has become a distraction. Have you got any ideas for boundaries/limits to cell phone use during youth group activities? Secondly, have you got any clever ideas on how to address the youth with these boundaries? Do you know of successful ways of dealing with this issue? -Matt Longview, TX, USA

In the podcast David and I shared some funny “cell phone” experiences and provided our 2 cents on the matter. The most difficult situation to figure out was what to do on trips. After all, many parents want their kids to have their cell phones so they can be reached (have you read about the epidemic of helicopter parents?). David suggested that we don’t circumvent parents’ authority on the matter, and allow cell phones. Just tell kids to not use cell phones EXCEPT to communicate with their parents.

This, of course, brought a skeptical laugh out of me. So I asked David, “How the heck do you monitor that?!!”

It's not an easy answer. And there probably isn't ONE answer. So... we want to hear from you.

  • How do you control cell phone use at youth group?

  • Do you allow cell phones on trips?

  • Should we put the foot down and say, “no cell phones” on trips?

  • If we allow cell phones on trips, how can we control use?

Share your 2 cents by commenting below. (and if you're not yet a subscriber to this blog, just click on the red word "Subscribe" on the left side bar and sign up. It's free and it will keep you current)

This week we've been researching the self esteem of young girls. David wrote an amazing peice of research in this week's Youth Culture Window- take a peek at that if you haven't seen it. (More on that later this week.)

But today I want you to take a look at an amazing blog that reveals the secrets of tweens and teens. Heartbreaking to read.

AllyKatzz.com is a site that already draws kids with it's fun blogging about Miley Cyrus, the Jonas brothers, etc. But this site offers something unique to members: a place to share your secrets! And that feature provides an incredible window into the hurting souls of youth today. (Thanks to Marko for the link) 

Take a peek at some of the secrets kids posted on this page.

“well.. im going out wit a guy and everone knows it. but secretly we make out, etc..” 

“I'm so confussed i don't know if i like guys, girls,or both.” 

“!~I want 2 have sex, but im 13~! i also wish i can tell all my friends bout da true way i feel about EVERYTHING but i no dey would criticize me cuz dey hav b4!”

“um when i was at my best freinds house i did "stuff" with her Boy freind. IN her room” 

“i have though about througing up a few times just to lose wheight 

“My secret is kinda wierd. I'm going out with this huy and i dont think hes that cute but he's really nice” 

“i feel like im about to explode. my heart hurts. i want this guy so badly, but he's not online, so i cant talk to him, and now he might not even come to my party. hes my friends friend, and i havnt talked to him since 1st grade, but i've been dreaming about him. i want to explode with anxiety, anger, dissapointment and love. i NEED a boyfriend.” 

“I want a boy to like me. not that freaky boy that already does, but a boy that I could like back.

“well. my boyfriend broke up with me becuz i didnt hug him 1 time and i feel stupid”

“I'm freaking fat! Omg I' 13, but I'm 138 lbs! *sniffle*” 

“I wish my mom wouldn't think I'm a perfect little angel... becuase I'm not!!” 

Hmmmmm.

"This is an awareness test."

That's how this 55 second viral YouTube video starts. Go ahead... give it a try. Because during this Easter season, this "test" brings up a pretty good point.

Watch closely: 

It's easy to miss something you're not looking for.

Hmmmm.

Don't miss celebrating the true meaning behind Easter this weekend.

When you gotta go you gotta go!

Mark this one under the category of "Oooops," I guess I handled that one poorly!"

I suppose this Meadowbrook Middle School teacher didn't take the kid seriously. Last Thursdaym, after lunch, a sixth grade student asked the teacher to use the restroom. She refused. Her exact words: "You have two choices. You can pee in this..." and pointed to the kids lunchbox, "...or pee in your pants."

Imagine her surprise when he decided that the lunchbox was a good solution (or should I say, the location of his "solution.")

CNN online video provides the perspective of a few classmates and parents.

Hmmmmmmm.

A couple years ago everything was about MySpace.

Last year seemed to be Facebook's year.

Who's next? According to this Compete blog, the hot site right now is MyYearbook.com, up 284% last month compared to Facebook's 77% growth and MySpace's 1% decline.

Hmmmmmmm.

Some of you are familiar with my MOVIE REVIEW page on our web site. I just viewed Beowulf recently to write a review. Wow. I just saw new boundaries for PG-13 (of course, you can also get the "unrated" director's cut). If I only would have watched the special features section on the DVD first then I could have heard the director's intentions-- and I quote:

“This is Beowulf… It’s gonna be no bullsh**, and it’s gonna be just the way it is.  In the process, it’ll evolve and we’ll figure out what the movie is. Right now, I can only say that this has nothing to do with the Beowulf that you were forced to read in junior high school.  It’s all about eating, drinking, killing, and fornicating.”  –Robert Zemeckis

And take it from me… that summarizes it well. (You can read my entire review of that film here.)

Hmmmmm. Dorothy... we ain't in Kansas anymore!

Any youth worker or parent who has read anything about this young generation has frequently seen the word "multi-tasking." Today's kids can multi-task like no generation before them.

Media Life came out with an article yesterday about kids browsing the internet WHILE watching TV and how marketers are using this opportunity. TV watchers have probably noticed this phenomenon in the last year. You can't watch American Idol or even a football game without being repeatedly pitched to jump on their web site and vote or participate in a poll. You might not be responding to these plea's... but our kids are.

According to the above article:

overall 64 percent of kids go online while watching TV. Just under half do so frequently, between three times a week and several times a day.

It also found that 73 percent of those who are watching TV while online are engaged in active multitasking. That’s up dramatically from the 55 percent of kids who said they had engaged in active multitasking back in 2002.

Some 50 percent said they had visited a web site in direct response to something they'd seen while watching TV. That’s up from 41 percent.

Some 35 percent said they had sent an email or instant message to someone who was watching the same TV show, compared to 18 percent in 2002.

Further, one third said they went online to participate in polls, contests or games after television programs have directed them to while still watching the tube. That’s up from 21 percent.

Another interesting thing to come out in the study is that when kids are on the internet while watching TV, it’s the internet that tends to hold their attention as the primary medium.

I found that last fact fascinating-- when in comes to engaging in internet and TV simultaneously, the internet wins in the fight for attention. Perhaps because it is "interactive" by definition.

More on this research in this article. (thanks for this one Anastasia)

Today's teenagers have never known the world without the internet. That, combined with all the other gadgets readily available to them has created a generation of media junkies who can handle more than a couple mediums at once. I talk about this in Chapter Four (click here for that chapter in article form on our web site) in my book THE NEW BREED, describing how to recruit today's young professional as a volunteer.

Years ago every report was about the effects of TV-- families who leave the TV on during homework or during dinner. Now we're seeing a shift to people doing everything "while browsing the internet."

Hmmmmmmm.

Is it just me, or is the trash we see on that screen in our living room getting a little trashier?

Wow... it's been hard to find clean television entertainment lately. My wife Lori and I tried some more new TV pilots lately. We've noticed something: every pilot had a sex scene. The new show "Unhitched" included a monkey watching two people having sex. The monkey pulled down its pants and jumped on them to join in. In the next scene we see a proctologist examining the guy's butt assessing the damage. (Yes... this was on Fox)

USA Today's Bill Keveney puts it this way.

“Take a couple having sex, add an aroused orangutan, and you’ve got an opening scene worthy of a Farrelly Brothers film. That it’s in a network TV comedy, ‘Unhitched,’ might raise some eyebrows.”

You can read more about the show here.

Now I haven't seen every pilot, but of the four we've watched in the last month, four had sex scenes.

Hmmmmmm.

Wow! We've come a long way since Gilligan's Island.

I've been receiving emails asking me about the results of our music "lyrics" survey. As many of you remember, in a past blog I asked you to survey your kids about whether they think the lyrics affect them.

It all started with the discussion about Soulja Boy's song and what those lyrics mean. I noticed that a girl in a chat room wrote:

i love this song, and

I don't care what the lyrics mean

:p

This prompted some comments, and before we knew it, we were surveying you to see what your kids thought.

I wanted you to know that we collected, tallied, and analyzed the results. The Source's David R. Smith just wrote up a YOUTH CULTURE WINDOW article about it that is on our front page now (look for the magnifying glass) and will appear in this week's EZINE NEWSLETTER. (If you don't already get our ministry's free weekly EZINE, jump on any page of our website now and sign up in the upper right hand corner!)

I think you'll find the results fascinating!

I guess there is more than one way to try to get someone to go to church!

I don't know if a big sign, "Go to Church or the Devil Will Get You!" convinces you... it wouldn't convince me. But these signs are entertaining to look at none the less.

The UK's Times Online provides a fun little galary of these pics. Just click on the little multimedia link that says "Funny Church Signs."

I guess you could file this one under the "duh" factor... but it's nice to see it in print.

So, to all you married guys out there, here's a "post-Valentines" Associated Press headline for you that you'll want to pay attention to: Men Who Do Housework May Get More Sex.

Yahoo News reports:

American men still don't pull their weight when it comes to housework and child care, but collectively they're not the slackers they used to be. The average dad has gradually been getting better about picking himself up off the sofa and pitching in, according to a new report in which a psychologist suggests the payoff for doing more chores could be more sex.

Hmmmmm.

Well... I'd love to keep writing... but I gotta go vaccuum!

Yesterday I shared with you that my wife Lori and I were going surfing (we're on vacation celebrating 17 years of marriage- HEY, NO OLD JOKES!!!) We did, and Lori "owned" (to use my kids' words for "showing me up!").

Neither of us have surfed before. So we showed up for a lesson and were each handed a huge "barge" of a surfboard that a Rhino could get up on. The slogan of this "surf school" is "For beginners and cowards!"

Now you have to realize that it was a HUGE ordeal for me to get Lori to even get out on the ocean on a board. She is scared to death of sharks and was sure that she would be shark meat regardless of any statistics you throw at her. But she made the mistake of mentioning to me how fun surfing would be and I jumped on it before she had a chance to change her mind.

So here we are yesterday at the "surf shop" getting ready. The day started out hilarious as they handed us these "rash guard" covers for our upper body (long sleeve shirts) so we wouldn't get all scraped up. Then they told Lori that she should wear some long shorts to protect her from scraping up her legs. So they dress her up like a clown and I can't stop laughing. Here's my cute little wife who was wearing this cute little swim suit... and now she looks like something between a clown and a colorblind tourist in blue floral print (not that my red outfit was much better).

My laughing was short lived. It was time to surf.

After a quick "land lesson," our instructor Ikeka took us out on the water. Lori rides the first wave all the way in and I fall flat on my butt. A photographer was there to document the whole thing. Look! Lori stays up even when I wipe out next to her, knocking my board into hers.

It takes me about four times before I really got the hang of it. Meanwhile, all the instructors are gawking at Lori because (despite her clownsuit), she's trying all these cool things that the instructer is telling her like switching to fakey (jumping off the board and switching the other direction mid-wave). And then... I kid you not... she does another trick... she puts her feet together, faces backwards and rides it backwards!!!

She showed me up big time.

But we had a blast and got to ride a few in together.

Yes, the biggest wave we experienced was about 4 feet. Yes, our boards were barges. Real surfers would have laughed at us. But we had a blast. And Lori's a lot more sore than me this morning! Ha!

If you're married and haven't done something like this together... I recommend it.

Surfing, Kid Rock arrested, American Idol contestant a stripper, new iPod technology, Moses and the Israelites stoned??? What do these have to do with each other?

Blogs are short and sparse of late... I'm on vacation with my wife Lori celebrating 17 years of marriage (Wow, I sound old!). We're having a blast in a tropical getaway, our first time really away for a week in a spot like this (it seems like so many of our vacations are attached to a speaking trip to save money, travel, etc. This vacation is truly 100% VACATION. Wow!) My parents are taking care of our three kiddos (learning what it's like to taxi three kids to different activities... they'll sleep well when we're back), so very cool of them.

I am very excited about today. This morning I talked Lori into going surfing. No, we don't surf. But we're going this morning. It's amazing because all my wife talks about is sharks and somehow I still convinced her to go. I'll report back about that. The vacation is a nice break. 

Anyway... back to blogging- some quick random news for you to know. (I always like to keep you updated with the stuff your kids might be talking about... or stuff that's just interesting to me. Hey... it's my blog!)

In the media, all the talk is about American Idol contestant David Hernandez who used to strip for a living a Phoenix... at a male strip club. CNN reports:

The 24-year-old finalist from Glendale, Arizona, once worked as a stripper at Dick's Cabaret, appearing fully nude and performing lap dances for the club's "mostly male" clientele, club manager Gordy Bryan said Monday.

"He had the look and the type that people like, so he made pretty good money here," Bryan said.

It's not clear whether a history as a stripper could disqualify Hernandez from the competition. In 2003, finalist Frenchie Davis was dismissed because of her appearance on an adult Web site; but last year, Antonella Barba remained in the competition after racy photos of her surfaced on the Internet.

(updated)TV Guide spoke with Idol's executive producer about the situation in this interview. Here's a snippet:

TVGuide.com: Will the revelations about David's stripper past have any impact on whether he stays on the show?

Ken Warwick: No, it won't make any difference. The truth is, we're never judgmental about what people do to earn a living. They've got to put food in people's mouths. We've had strippers on the show before. Nikki McKibbon was one in [Season] 1. We're never judgmental about people who do things like that. If it were some sort of heavy porn, then maybe we'd have to take action. But certainly not on this.

TVGuide.com: Were you aware of his past before it was reported?

Warwick: No, I wasn't. [Laughs] But the truth of the matter is, it wouldn't have made any difference. There are a lot of people I know who'd love to have the opportunity just to make a better living by taking their clothes off.

Sigh.

And another celeb in trouble. Outspoken musician Kid Rock got himself arrested for punching, kicking and hitting a victom with a chair in a Waffle House. Do I need to even say anything further about this?

The techno side of me just collided with my interest in working out in this news piece. Nike and Apple are working together to make the iPod compatable with gym equipment. I've been keeping my eyes open for anything iPod of late with the launch of our new podcast for teenagers. But this side article caught my attention:

The companies announced Tuesday that they are working with gym equipment manufacturers and health clubs to allow members to plug their iPod Nano into cardio equipment to track workouts, set goals and upload the information to a Nike Web site.

And in ludicrous news, I sure hope no one believes this:

The biblical Israelites may have been high on a hallucinogenic plant when Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, according to a new study by an Israeli psychology professor.

Hmmmmmmm...

The podcast is called A Li'l Bit. It's a weekly 10 minute Bible study for teenagers. It's free, it's quick, it gets them in the Word, and it provides application and a reading challenge for the rest of the week.

The idea is this: we've seen more Christian teenagers carrying iPods than Bibles (sadly, even at church camps and retreats). So, why not provide yet another way to get the Word into their heads... through their earphones.

In last week's EZINE I shared about this and linked a report about podcast use among teenagers. Over 50% do listen to podcasts. More importantly, 78% of teenagers have a portable media player, of which 82% are iPods. If youth workers publicize the convenient little iBible-study to their Christian students struggling to get in the Word, chances are they will give it a shot.

We just launched the podcast a week ago with three episodes already-- the fourth will be launching today. Last week we announced it for the first time in our EZINE. So far the responses have been very postive. But I'm curious what you think. If you have a few moments, do me this favor:

• Jump on A Li'l Bit's web site www.ALilBit.com and check it out.
• Click on the link for any of the episodes (using the iPod controls on the site- pretty cool) and give a listen to an episode or two.
• Use iTunes comment feature to post a comment if you like it.
• Feel free to comment here in this blog as well. We'd love your feedback.
• Most importantly, spread the word to your kids. Send your kids an email and have them subscribe to this free podcast. We're all about getting the Word in their heads!