-  Receives more text messages then the number of times you breathe in a day.

-  Follows Ashton Kutcher on twitter.com

-  You can no longer see your numbers on your cell phone’s pad because they have worn off.

-  Cannot go more than 10 minutes without checking your facebook page.

- You have gotten your cell phone taken away more than 10 times since you first got it.

-  You have a Farmville or Mafia Wars account.

This epidemic is what I call: Instant Connectivity – “The desire to use technology to instantaneously be in touch with other people at ALL times.  To have technology be an extension of oneself, to be a part of one’s identity.”

A youth’s highest priority is finding one’s identity.  And they believe the best way to find their identity is through acceptance.  “I know who I am because so and so accepted me that way.”  So the use of cell phones and text messaging is directly tied to this acceptance and finding one’s identity.  Cell phones can instantly connect you to another person with minimal risk of rejection.  Especially text messaging because it has become a substitute for face-to-face communication (the greatest risk of rejection a youth can have).

What do you think?  Leave a comment I would love to hear your feedback.

After several months of prayerful consideration a curriculum has been chosen and you can learn about it here first!  The reason this curriculum was chosen really seeing the need in our youth ministry to get some training in the hands of our youth on how to share their faith and evangelize.  It is one of the biggest missing element in our youth ministry.  So our “Love One Another” theme for Sept. and Oct. will work great with this evangelism training.

Here is what it’s all about:

3story is “a way of life that guides followers of Christ to BE good news while telling stories of THE good news.”  This curriculum realizes that all the “bells and whistles” we can muster in a training curriculum can’t come close to the influence of one authentic, Christ-following life.  In other words, 3story is caught more than taught.

It consists of 3 connecting stories “My story”, “God’s story” and “Their Story”.  It’s all about sharing your testimony in a healthy and purposeful way to be the most effective for the kingdom of God.

I personally can say I am super excited for this curriculum and I think the overall Cluster ministry will grow our youth ministry deeper and wider than any other changes we are making.  Don’t forget to sign up today!

Voting will take place from July 14^th- August 1^st.  With the winning name being announced on August 2^nd at Infusion!

In alphabetical order: (also feel free to add your own suggestions by leaving a comment):

Hello, everyone!  It’s been a while since my last post but I have been really busy getting ready for the biggest event of the summer our High School Camp Out!

For those of you who are going below is the directions on how to get there.  We are meeting this Friday, July 10th at 5pm. 

1212 E Fairmont Blvd Rapid City, SD 57701

1.	Head east on E Fairmont Blvd toward Craig St		0.2 mi
2.	Turn right at Cambell St/SD-79 Continue to follow SD-79		48.8 mi
3.	Slight left at US-18/US-385		226 ft

Angostura Recreation Area 13157 N Angostura Rd Hot Springs, SD 57747-7258

Take the NORTH entrance because we are in the “cascade campground” It’s under my name so if someone ask you can tell them that you are going to plot 67E (Costumer ID is 23609602).

ALL PEOPLE WHO ARE DRIVING THEMSELVES: they must make arrangements with me before this weekend…

See you this weekend!  It truly will be amazing!

The Unseen Gift

Bible Reading: 1 Samuel 15:22 (NLT)

“But Samuel replied, ‘What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice?  Listen!  Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.’” 

            A man scheduled for surgery was talking with his father in the hospital.  “Dad,” he said, “I sure hope I can be home for Father’s Day.  I still remember how awful I felt the year I was 10, because I didn’t have a gift for you.”  His father responded, “Mark, I remember that year.  The Saturday before Father’s Day I saw you in the store and watched as you picked up a pair of sunglasses and stuffed them in your pocket.  I knew you had no money, and I thought you were going to run out the store without paying.  But as soon as you hid the glasses, you pulled them out again and put them back.  When you stayed out playing all the next day because you had no present, you probably thought I was hurt.  You were wrong.  Mark, you gave me the best present I ever received when you put back those sunglasses!”

            Obedience is a basic ingredient in the life of the believer.  It doesn’t matter how much you pray or sing to the Lord if you resist doing what He tells you to do.  In fact, how you obey indicates a great deal about your love for God.  Ask Him to help you take an inventory of your heart.  As you’ve read His Word, has He revealed an area where you need to choose to be obedient?  Whatever it is that holds you back, it doesn’t compare to the joy of loving and obeying God.  Spend some time praying that He will increase your love for Him.  Then choose the road to obedience – you will never regret it!

Pray.  Then…

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT ON: Today is the last day of the 7-day challenge.  The last comment I will ask is, “What did you learn this past week about yourself or your relationship with God?”

 See you tomorrow for Ignite and Infusion!

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 31:33 (NIV)

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD.  “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 

            One of my favorite games is Monopoly.  I love buying property, charging rent, and wiping out my opponents.  This game is played by a strict and complicated set of rules.  Throughout several hours of play, I frequently have to check the lid of the box for minor details of the rules, mostly to make sure my opponents are not cheating as they systematically empty my money pile.

                During Old Testament times, God required the Jews to relate to him by keeping a very complicated set of rules.  The Ten Commandments summarized how they were to love and worship God and how they were to treat each other.  However, the precise details of how they were to keep those laws make up the whole book of Leviticus and much of Numbers and Exodus as well.  Talk about rules!  Maybe that’s one of the reasons the Israelites repeatedly failed to obey God.

                They broke God’s Law so often and so blatantly that he finally caused the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar to conquer them and force them to live in his land for seventy years.  God’s judgment was so intense that He even allowed the Babylonians to destroy the Temple, the building that had been center of Jewish worship for over 400 years.

                During the years when Nebuchadnezzar was attacking Judah, Jeremiah explained that their failure to keep God’s laws was the reason they were being beaten and taken captive.  But, Jeremiah also emphasized God’s promise that he would eventually make it possible for them to keep his laws.  He would write his standards of worship and behavior on their hearts so that they would be able to obey them.

                That’s exactly what he has done for every person who places his trust in Christ for salvation.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  That means that we Christians actually have a new, redeemed and holy nature because of Christ’s work in our hearts.  We can keep God’s laws because we have been given a godly heart.

                As we spend time reading God’s word and talking to him in prayer every day, we will understand more clearly what actions and attitudes please him.  We will discover the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside us to help us obey God.  We will obey God’s laws because we want to.  All of this happens because God writes his laws upon our hearts.

ACTION:  Go on a prayer walk.  A prayer walk is an activity that consists of walking and praying at the same time.  So go to a park or grab your dog and take him for a walk around the block.  But spend some time outside talking with God.  Bring your bookmark with you if you need help on what to pray (A.C.T.S.).  Or just pray to allow God to change your heart and mind; to continue to change you into a new creation.  Then come back and leave a comment on what God showed you.

Pray.  Then…

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT ON: What did God show you/speak to you on your prayer walk?

Bible Reading: Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

“Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right.”

                BORIS, a big black horsefly, was starving.  He buzzed around the outside of the house, banging up against the windows, looking for a hole to get in.  He wanted to get inside so he could feast on scraps and crumbs lying around in the kitchen.  But the house was locked up tight, and the famished horsefly was getting desperate.

                As Boris circled the house again, he spied the garbage can in the backyard.  Flying closer, his eyes bugged out with delight.  On the grass next to the garbage can was a big hunk of moldy lunch meat that had been thrown away earlier in the day.  Boris swooped down and started eating.  It was delicious, so he stuffed himself.  Even when he thought he couldn’t eat any more, he still kept munching away.

                When Boris tried to fly away, he was too bloated to get off the ground.  He cranked his wings up to full speed, but he was still too heavy to get airborne.  He needed some kind of a head start to launch him into the air.  Looking around the yard, he spotted a lawn mower sitting on the sidewalk.  He dragged himself heavily to the lawn mower and started climbing up the wheel to the engine.  He trudged heavily up the long arm of the mower to the handle.  He thought, “Now I can jump off and my wings can take over and fly me home.”

                Boris got his wings buzzing as fast as he could and then stepped off into space.  But he was still too heavy, and the chubby horsefly plummeted to the cement and exploded with a splat.  Boris’s final thought before impact was I should never fly off the handle when I’m full of baloney.

                Whoops!  As Boris proved, nothing good ever comes from filling up on garbage. 

                That’s especially true of some of the garbage you might be tempted to put into your head.  It’s not wrong to watch television or video games, or listen to hit music.  But God wants you to be wise about just what you put into your mind through the media.  There’s a lot of garbage served up by TV programs, video games, and music that are popular in our culture.  And what you put into your head can cause you to crash and burn just like Boris did.

                You wouldn’t dine on a plate of garbage; be just as discriminating about what you watch and listen to.  You don’t want to cram your mind full of suggestive lyrics and sinful activities any more than you want to put rotten meat or moldy bread into your mouth.  The bad stuff you let in through your eyes and ears can make you sick just as certainly as eating garbage can.

ACTION: To be sold out for God you need throw away all distractions, temptation producing items, and anything else that hinders your relationship with God.  Scripture says there should not even be a hint of sin left.  If you want to really continue to grow in your faith go into your room, house, or car and collect all movies, cds, or anything else that God would not approve and throw them into the garbage (make sure it’s your items, otherwise get your parent’s permission).  And don’t forget to delete those songs off your ipod and computer! 

PERSONALLY THINK ON: What garbage have you put in your mind that you wish you never had?

PRAY.  Then…

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT ON: What has God shown to you that you should get rid of, and why?

Bible Reading: John 15:1-8.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

 ”I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

A young boy walking through a forest with his father noticed that branches he stepped on crumbled under his foot.  “Why do these break when I step on them but I can’t break the ones on the tree?” he asked his father.  “You see, son, it all depends on how much life is inside.  The only way a limb can have life is to be attached to the source of life, which is the tree.  And because it is attached, the branch is able to grow leaves, produce fruit and seeds, and provide shade.  But once it becomes detached, the only use for it is to be someone’s firewood.”

Jesus used branches as symbols of our spiritual lives.  To be strong, growing, and healthy, we must abide in Him – or be “attached” to Jesus.  That means that you choose to walk with God and obey His commands.  Spending time alone with Him as you are doing now is one sign that you are abiding in Him.  People who are attached in Jesus may “bend”, but they don’t “break”.  God will use them, bless them, and guide them.  So which describes you?  Are you easily broken, or are you allowing Jesus to nourish you with His life and strength?  Wouldn’t now be a good time to make sure you are connected with the One Who is the source of life?

PERSONALLY THINK ON: Are you easily broken?  Do you fly off the handle easily?  Do you get super depressed at the littlest thing?  What can you do to get back in allowing Jesus to nourish you with His life and strength?

PRAY.  Then…

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT ON: What time in your life has God allowed you to be “bent” but not to break?

Look In Your Bible

Bible Reading: Psalm 119:97-104. (NLT)

“Oh, how I love your instructions!
      I think about them all day long.
 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies,
      for they are my constant guide.
 Yes, I have more insight than my teachers,
      for I am always thinking of your laws.
 I am even wiser than my elders,
      for I have kept your commandments.
 I have refused to walk on any evil path,
      so that I may remain obedient to your word.
 I haven’t turned away from your regulations,
      for you have taught me well.
 How sweet your words taste to me;
      they are sweeter than honey.
 Your commandments give me understanding;
      no wonder I hate every false way of life.”

A letter in a newspaper advice column read:

“Dear Abby,

            A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from high school.  Most parents in their neighborhood gave their graduate a car.  Bill and his father had spent months looking, and the week before graduation they found the perfect car.  Bill was certain that it would be his on graduation night.  Imagine his disappointment when, on the eve of his graduation, Bill’s father only gave him a gift-wrapped Bible!  Bill was so angry that he threw the Bible down and stormed out of the house.  He and his father never saw each other again.  Years later, the unexpected news of his father’s death brought Bill back home.  Going through his father’s things that he had inherited, he came across that Bible.  As he brushed away the dust and opened it, he found a cashier’s check, dated the day before his graduation, in the exact amount of the car they had chosen together.” 

            Can you imagine the shock and sorrow Bill must have felt when he found that check?  As it is with all of us, his priorities set the course of his life.  His failure to value the Bible brought consequences that he would regret for the rest of his days.  What does your heart seek after?  Do you look to the things found in commercials and on billboards to bring you satisfaction?  Or do you search the Word of God for meaning and purpose? 

ACTION: Take a few moments to make an honest list of the things you desire today (present and future goals, items you’re saving up for, or people you want to see, etc.).  Then ask God what He thinks about your list.  Do the things you yearn for honor Him and line up with what the Bible says is important?  Are there things that you value more than your relationship with God?  Pray for a heart that pursues Him above everything else- and cooperate with Him as He works in you to answer your prayer.  Warning: Experience shows that anything you put above God (boy/girlfriend, video games, school, etc.) eventually it will be taken away from you.  So what’s the point of put that above God anyways…

Pray.  Then…

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT ON: What are the top 3 items on your list (be honest)?  Do you think they are Godly?