life, sex and love

“A magazine poll of teenagers in 59 countries found that 99 percent of the American teenagers surveyed cited sex as the most important issue facing today’s youth.”
“According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control among high school students in the United States, 47 percent have had sexual intercourse before graduating. The good news is that this figure has declined steadily since 1991, when 54 percent of students admitted to having sexual intercourse.”

Culture expert, Walt Mueller goes on to explain that most experts and culture watchers indicate there is little attitudinal and behavior differences between Christian teenagers and their non-Christian peers.

Chap Clark strongly believes high school students are engaging in more and more sexual activity because they are trying to fill a void in their life. He says that teens have been systematically abandoned by adults, adult programs, adult agendas and the adult world. This no doubt leads to loneliness and a feeling of being ostracized by society. Reaching out sexually to peers is a temporary "love" fix. Much like a drug, high school students (even fourth and fifth graders) engage in sexual acts because for a moment they feel loved and accepted for who they are.

For the month of February Pulse will begin a new teaching series, Best Sex Ever! This four week series is based entirely on God’s Word and will address many of the common struggles teens have with sex, life, and love. Please continue to pray for our students.

Pat Robertson comments

The Christians world has been under fire due to the comments that were made by Pat Robertson. I found a brief video of his comments on youtube.
Pat Robertson video

I'm curious what your thoughts are in regards to his words. I've been reading a few other articles from other well known Christians and ran across a response from Donald Miller. I like what he had to say and feel that he responded humbly and with love. Your thoughts?
Don Miller responds

Spiritual "To Do" Lists

1. Pray
2. Read Bible
3. Memorize important verses.
4. Confess Sins
4a. Confess that I don't pray enough or read my bible.
4b. Confess that I don't memorize scripture or confess sin enough.
5. Tell others about Jesus.
6. Give more money away... To anyone or anything that sounds like Jesus would support.
7. Decide to fast from T.V., fried food and desserts, and other evils of the world.
8. Confess that there is no way I can fast from fried food and desserts, T.V., and other things that I'm mildly addicted to.
9. Explain to Jesus that I really want to be more like Him but I don't have the time to fit everything in.
10. Get a good nights sleep so I can fail at being a super Christian again tomorrow.

I've been reading "The Naked GOSPEL and Andrew Farley has been explaining that Christ has fulfilled the law and we are no longer under it. He explains that while we are no longer under the law, Christians tend to make up their own laws in order to be "better" Christians. This is often a failed attempt to feel closer to Christ. This is especially significant for teenagers.

Teens are looking for a magical formula for spiritual success. A simple "To Do" list or a 5 Easy Steps program that guarantees happiness and satisfaction knowing you are doing everything Jesus wants you to do. The problem is that life doesn't work that way. High school students spend the majority of their time being graded and rewarded on how they perform. They are often told to do more, work harder, and get more accomplished in a shorter and shorter amount of time. This outlook on life and spirituality is a failed one.

High school students know how to do all the good Christian things Jesus would want them to but have no idea how to spend time with Him. They struggle to connect with Him and talk to Him. Resting in Christ is an oxymoron due to the fact that they have been raised in a culture that values hard work and results, which is the opposite of rest. Since when did being with Christ become so foreign and difficult for Christians?

As parents, teachers, and youth workers how can we help students engage with Jesus and shorten their guilt motivated Christian "To Do" List?

The Bible O.T. Style

I had no idea what the Old Testament was about when I entered high school. Come to think of it I didn't really know much about it when I graduated. I knew that God got angry and had many people killed by a flood, had a guy swallowed by a fish, created ten commandments that seem impossible to follow, and allowed his chosen people to kill other nations only to turn around and have those nations start killing them. Special attention was paid to a building which housed an ark, a tabernacle (which I thought was a well known choir) and only one guy was allowed to stand in the presence of God. How come God's chosen people couldn't be in His presence? Shouldn't it be called God's chosen person? Anyway, apparently God's chosen people were separated from the mother land (or was it the promise land) and then hundreds of years later Jesus appears. Its all too confusing,

Pulse's new Sunday morning series is a survey of the Old Testament. Throughout the next few months students will study important events and key themes throughout the Old Testament Scriptures in order to better understand God, the significance of Jesus Christ, and to understand the Biblical story as a whole.

Can you explain the Biblical story to your son or daughter from Genesis to Revelation? How about simply Genesis - Exodus?

A few gifts I'd love to have for Christmas

tis the season to be ill

Apparently I've been "bad" this year because Santa has joyously given me a cold. Or the flue, maybe allergies. Whatever it is its knocked me out for about a week. In light of that, THE CHRISTMAS PARTY WILL BE CANCELED ON THURSDAY NIGHT!

I do apologize and wish everyone a wonderful Thursday night off. Spend some quality time with your family, finish your last minute shopping or have your own Christmas party. Either way PULSE will not be meeting this Thursday. I will see everyone on Sunday as we conclude ADVENT CONSPIRACY.

Advent Conspiracy

This Sunday the theme for Advent Conspiracy is "Give More." In PULSE we will be focusing primarily on the gift of relationship. Giving has never been about the dollar amount or how shiny the item is. Giving has always been about the sacrifice and furthering the relationship with someone else. Our Three points this Sunday are...
1. Give to the least of these (Matt 25:31-40)
2. Give to the church (Eph. 4:11-12)
3. Give to the relationship (Matt. 22:37-40)

Below are a couple ideas of what it means to give relationally.

1. Give a bag of coffee with the rule that only you and the person you give it to can drink it. And when you drink it each of you tell stories of your past and how you became the person you are today.
2. Meal of the month. Pick one evening every month for a year and make dinner for another family.
3. The gift of a hug and a shoulder to cry on.
4. Write a loved one a song or poem.
5. Restaurant Trump Cards! Every person in the family gets two Trump Cards and can use them anytime throughout the year. When the family decides to go out to eat and someone doesn't like the restaurant they can simply play their trump card and go to whatever restaurant they like. Simple, but very fun! Especially when others trump the trump card.

I hope these items give you some ideas of ways you can give the gift of relationship to the ones you love.