Every fall several video games come out that have huge implications in youth ministry; this fall is no exception! The question is: are you aware of the power of video games? Here are a few stats you might not be aware of…

• 65% of all US households play video games
• 2 out of 5 gamers are female
• 18 hours is the average time spent per week by gamers playing video games

So, if the majority of households in the US have video games, and 2 out of 5 gamers are female, and the kids who are playing games are on average spending 18 hours a week playing them, shouldn’t the church be a little more vested in them and tap their redemptive potential? Can video games teach us anything? Everyone does sermon series on movies, what if you did a series on video games?

Here are 4 titles that your kids will be playing and what you need to know about them:

Modern Warfare 3

·     Rating: M (Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language)

·     Premise: This is a first-person shooter in which players assume the role of military operatives tasked with thwarting the plans of a terrorist leader. Players complete mission objectives and engage in battles that take place in modern-day locations across the globe (e.g., United States, Great Britain, Germany).

·     Teaching potential: Brotherhood (Proverbs 17:17), Honor (Ps. 1:1-6, 1 Sam. 2:30), Teamwork (Ecc. 4:9-12, Pr. 27:17), Combat (James 4:17, 1 John 4:1), what it means to fight behind enemy lines (2 Cor. 4).

Gears of War 3

·     Rating: M (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language)

·     Premise: This is a third-person shooter in which players assume the role of Marcus Fenix, a soldier on a mission to save his father and battle an alien threat. Players use machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles, and grenades to kill aliens and human soldiers in frenetic combat. Battles are highlighted by realistic gunfire, screams of pain, explosions, and large splashes of blood; some attacks result in dismemberment or decapitations that leave body parts and bloodstains on the ground.

·     Teaching Potential: What would you do for family (John 15:12-17, Joshua 24:15), Spiritual Warfare (Eph. 6:12, 2 Cor. 10:3-5). 

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

·     Rating: M (Blood and Gore, Violence)

·     Premise: This is an enhanced remake of the 2001 first-person shooter Halo: Combat Evolved. Players assume the role of Master Chief, a super-soldier who engages in futuristic battles against a powerful alien alliance. Players use plasma pistols, sniper rifles, machine guns, and rocket launchers to kill enemy creatures in frenetic combat.

·     Teaching Potential: Brotherhood (Proverbs 17:17), Honor (Ps. 1:1-6, 1 Sam. 2:30), Teamwork (Ecc. 4:9-12, Pr. 27:17), Combat (James 4:17, 1 John 4:1), what it means to fight behind enemy lines (2 Cor. 4) 

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

·     Rating: M (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes)

·     Premise: This is a fantasy role-playing game in which players assume the role of Dovakin, a prophesied figure with the power to combat dragons in the fictional world of Skyrim. As players traverse through mountainous ‘open-world’ environments, they complete missions and quests that impact the eventual fate of their character. Players use swords, bows and arrows, axes, and magic attacks (e.g., fireballs, ice shards) to kill various enemies (e.g., wolves, dragons, human bandits and soldiers).

·     Teaching Potential: Choices (Romans 8:7, Duet. 30:15, Luke 14:28) Mission (Matthew 28:16-20), Fate (Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 1:4-5)

Kyle Reynolds is an avid gamer and the student ministries pastor of The Rift at Harvest Church in Billings, MT. Hit up his Twitter here for his Gamertag or thank him for the article.

Finished up a couple books lately and my favorite of this last batch was The Seed by Jon Gordon. I’ve ready every one of his fables so far and this one is by far his best. Jon tells the story of Josh, a young man hoping to find his purpose in life. It is a great fictional story – by far Jon’s most spiritual story so far. It is a quick read that might help you discover your purpose, too. Good stuff.

JG

Last week I discovered Stephen Colbert’s 2007 book I Am America (And So Can You!) at our local $2 book fair. I’ve been wanting to pick it up for a while now and it didn’t dissapoint. As usual and as you might suspect, the conservative Colbert rips every one and their mother in his book including conservatives and Christians. Colbert leaves no group excluded from his barrage of verbal beatdowns. With chapters like media, race, immigrants, old people and religion you know he’s looking for a fight. Filled with puns, humor, offensiveness, truth, hilarity and opinion. They will make you laugh out loud, cry, or be completely offended. Really varied and clever humor throughout. Laughed most all of the way through. Gasped a couple times. Frowned a few times. Wondered what it would say about me if you knew I read this book. Decided it didn’t matter. Super funny book.

JG

Just finishing up the way-too-long but really incredble life story of Steve Jobs as told by Walter Isaacson in the authorized biography. The book is an incredible tale of one of the great innovators, inventors and marketers of our time. I’m just wrapping up the massive book this week after devouring the 600+ pages since just last Sunday. I think I’ve learned as much what TO do as what NOT to do by reading about Steve’s life and management style. The book holds nothing back and chronicles Jobs’ favored opinion on drugs, his devotion to Buddhism and his ruthless pursuit of perfection at the expense of his employees and family. The book is one of the great explorations of a flawed giant of our generation. His influence is undeniable. In some ways, my greatest emotion as I read the story was respect for what he did … and sadness for how he did it. I think Steve was honorable in allowing his greatest acheivements and his greatest weaknesses be chronicled in what appears to be brutal honesty. Really, really interesting tale. If you’re even slightly into Apple/geek/tech stuff or want to learn how to/not to lead people, this is beyond a must read.

JG

I’m not going to lie to you: I’m not a big Christian fiction reader. But when author John Michael Hileman offered to shoot me his book Messages over to my Kindle app, I thought it might be time to give another one a try. Messages is the story of a guy named David Chance who has the special ability/gift to see messages from God in the words that surround him every day. The words give him cryptic clues about events that are about to unfold, including a massive terrorist plot to kill the president. Woven into the story is his own spiritual journey as well. So not a book I would typically make time for – someone online said it was classified as Christian Suspense – but one I’m glad I did. An enjoyable story that will engage fans of shows like 24 and bring in some solid faith-based elements as well.

JG

Sad, sad night tonight. Was driving home from a dinner out with the family when a guy ran a red light and took out our Michael Scott Limited Edition 2002 Chrysler Sebring LX Convertible. My son (#1) and I are fine … the Sebring not so much. So long old friend.

JG

PS: The Ford Flex really starts at $30,000? Yikes.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Gandalf, Albus Dumbledore.

In just about every good story, the young hero has an older, wiser mentor; one who has traveled a similar journey at an earlier point. At a critical moment in the story, the hero consults the wise old sage for wisdom and encouragement in the journey. Hope is all but loss – the odds are against him – it looks impossible. The wise mentor shares some observations, a bit of wisdom and a few insider secrets only a mentor would know to help the young man on his journey. The hero now fully embraces his true calling and goes up against those odds to defeat the Dark Side, the fire-breathing dragon or The One Who Shall Not Be Named (Only a nerd like Josh would know the above stories well enough to use them in an analogy like this!).

Wikipedia describes this wise character this way:

This type of character is typically represented as a kind and wise, older father-type figure that uses personal knowledge of people and the world to help tell stories and offer guidance that, in a mystical way, may impress upon his audience a sense of who they are and who they might become, thereby acting as a mentor.

You are a youth ministry hero. You are on a journey. And you need the wisdom of a mentor.

In the youth ministry journey there are ups, downs, traps, pitfalls and frustrations. To have access to a ministry Yoda or the wisdom of a former youth pastor is critical to your success. You need a wise old soul in your life. You need someone who is ready with his or her wisdom, counsel and sound judgment. Youth ministry is an adventurous journey that you shouldn’t attempt to navigate on your own.

It has been said that “Mentoring is God’s way to lift another toward their full potential.” The Bible puts it this way, “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.” (Proverbs 12:15)

You may be brand new, and your youth ministry adventure is just beginning. You may be facing some “enemies” that are trying to disrupt your path. You may be feeling lost and in need of guidance. Or you may feel like an unstoppable force who doesn’t need some old fart sharing stuff from the past that you don’t think is of any benefit to you and your future (you would be wrong, of course)!

Wherever you find yourself today, we hope you’ll consider the following:

• Pray that God will bring you a wise mentor
• Seek out someone with youth ministry experience who can coach you
• Listen to what they say
• Live out the adventure of youth ministry and fulfill your calling with them cheering you on!

This post was written by Josh Griffin and Kurt Johnston and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here.

Weekend Teaching Series: Facebook Official (series finale, week 5 of 5)
Sermon in a Sentence: Where to go from here after learning the last 4 weeks about friendship, dating, marriage and sex.
Service Length: 69 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend I spoke on how to find forgiveness and restoration for a fresh start in the areas we had covered during this series. The message this weekend was more of an “outroduction” since we kinda jumped right in up front. Doing a concluding talk like this was new for us – but it was challenging to try it since it felt like it might end the series with a fizzle rather than a bang. But it was great! Hope also spoke this weekend, bringing a great side to these topics from her experience personally in failures and successes. It was her first time to teach on the weekend and she did a great job walking students through a Biblical plan for guarding your heart and helping you find your identity in Christ first.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We had a really creative acoustic opener of a Rihanna song, as well as a new HSM Talks video about relationships that was laugh out loud funny and a little over the top.  Lots of students involved, and thankfully that last homecoming weekend of the year so we’ll finally be all together once again next week!

Music Playlist: We Found Love, Healer, One Thing Remains, Forever Reign

Favorite Moment: This series has been SO great! So excited to think how students can/will/are changing their lives in these key areas with the power of God’s Spirit.

Up next: Do Something (series premiere, week 1 of 2)

Was teaching this week at a denominational gathering of youth workers and it made me think – I wonder how many of our students know what denomination our church is (Southern Baptist, if you didn’t know either)? Some churches are more obvious and have it right in the name, but it seems like many are now a bit more ambiguous. How about your setting? Is it important? Vote in the poll and let me know what you think in the comments!

JG

If you haven’t checked out Simply Youth Ministry Tools’ CONTACT yet, you might want to give it a look. It is a really slick and totally free web-based program that allows you to store all of your contact information for your youth ministry in one place. It also plays nice with the other pay-for tools in their toolkit like COMMUNICATE, a texting service to connect with your students. Check it out!

JG