I thought I had all of the answers… until I had a child of my own. Then it seemed like I could just flush my 10+ years of youth ministry experience. Everything changed when Caitlyn was born.
I began to truly understand the love a parent has for their child. There is nothing like it on the face of the earth. I finally understood the heartache of a parent whose kids was going the wrong direction in life. I finally empathized with the over-protective parent who only seeks to defend their children.
Now that I have this understanding and an additional son, I want our ministry to be a help to your family. That is why we are committed to the following:
- • To planning events that your children will love and you will love sending them to.
- • To providing a safe and caring environment that your teens want to come to and grow in Christ.
- • To preparing you to parent with confidence and success by providing training and resources.
- • To partnering with you in the spiritual development of you children. Our new environments will have take home elements that you will be able to download here and discuss youth teens experience in depth.
The truth is… our kids will follow in our footsteps. Nearly every survey of youth culture tell us that you are the still the most influential person in the life of your teens. We want to partner with you to help you train up you children and bring them to the throne of The Almighty!
Please remember that you are always welcome at any of our weekly or yearly events… in fact we encourage you to come!
In Christ,
Pastor C
Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.
Written by teens for teens, Do Hard Things is packed with humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action. This rallying cry from the heart of an already-happening teen revolution challenges a generation to lay claim to a brighter future, starting today.
Congratulations: You’re Gifted by Doug Fields
Are you confused about who you are or where you’re headed? Does your life seem cluttered and chaotic? Do you wish you understood God’s plan and purpose for your life? Do you want to uncover your God-given strengths? If you said yes to any of these questions, you’ve come to the right book.
Body. Beauty. Boys. by Sarah Bragg
Body. Beauty. Boys. gets right to the heart of the matter. Sarah introduces you to Someone who offers you a new identity and unconditional love. God made you unique and extraordinary. Truth is – He’s crazy about you!
Every Young Man’s Battle by Stephen Arterburn & Fred Stoeker
Every Young Man’s Battle will show you how to train your eyes and mind, how to clean up your thought life, and how to develop a realistic battle plan for remaining pure in today’s sexually soaked culture. As a result, you’ll experience hope—real hope—for living a strong, pure life God’s way.
Smart Faith by Dr J.P. Moreland Mark Matlock
Become a more well-rounded, intellectual disciple-someone who can clearly elucidate the finer points of the Christian faith. Take back your mind and be smart about your faith.
Generation Change by Zach Hunter
Zach Hunter is not that different from you. He’s a teenager who likes to listen to music and hang out with his friends. But he’s also committed to ending modern-day slavery and helping address other issues facing our world. Zach believes that your generation can be the one to change things —and this book will help you find tangible ways that you can be the generation of change. In the process, Zach hopes you’ll discover God’s love for you and for people who are suffering.
Youth Culture 101 by Walt Mueller
This is a modern day primer on today’s culture: How media is shaping kids; push and pull of peer pressure; understanding our sexualized youth culture; teens and substance abuse. The last chapter is dedicated to helping your teen find their place in God’s story.
A Tribe Apart by Patricia Hersch
For three fascinating, disturbing years, writer Patricia Hersch journeyed inside a world that is as familiar as our own children and yet as alien as some exotic culture–the world of adolescence. As a silent, attentive partner, she followed eight teenagers in the typically American town of Reston, Virginia, listening to their stories, observing their rituals, watching them fulfill their dreams and enact their tragedies. What she found was that America’s teens have fashioned a fully defined culture that adults neither see nor imagine–a culture of unprecedented freedom and baffling complexity, a culture with rules but no structure, values but no clear morality, codes but no consistency.
Adolescence Isn’t Terminal by Kevin Leman
Trusted family relationship expert Kevin Leman helps parents navigate the choppy waters of their children’s teen years with humor and grace. Emotive stories and practical advice give parents hope and encouragement.
After You Drop Them Off by Jerusha and Jeramy Clark
Youth leader and author Jeramy Clark provides trustworthy answers to parents’ questions about what goes on at youth group meetings and offers practical suggestions, biblical support, and “real-life” parents’ comments and stories.
I Want to Talk to My Teen about Addiction by Megan Hutchison
From addictive behaviors including drinking and smoking to gambling, disfigurement, and hard-core drugs, I Want to Talk With My Teen About Addictions offers clear, concise information about the impact of addictive behaviors and how addiction affects teens’ faith-filled lives. Powerful pointers, checklists, charts, discussion starters, colorful diagrams, and practical, interactive suggestions help you and your teen.
< A Parent’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis > by Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock
Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock, both of whom have raised teenagers into adulthood and have spent decades in youth ministry and crisis management, bring together their expertise and insight to help you identify and understand what a crisis is and how you can help your teen live and grow through it. Inside, you’ll find practical responses for issues like:
- • Suicidal thoughts or behavior
- • Accidents
- • Cheating
- • Death (of a friend or loved one)
- • Divorce
- • Eating disorders
- • Hazing
- • Pregnancy
- • Sexual abuse
- • Sexual identity confusion
- • Substance abuse or addiction
- • And more…
REVOLUTION strongly recommends Hedgebuilder for all your internet filtering needs.
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How does HB A+ Premium Filtering Work?
A+ Premium Filtering is a sub-server based system. All filtering takes place on the S4F servers, not on your computer. Every time you type in an Internet address, or click on a link to an Internet address, or type in a word to search for, the address or word you requested is routed past the S4F servers where it is checked against the S4F block list. If your request is not on our list, you proceed as normal to the site you requested. If your request is on our list, you get a message stating that the site you requested has been blocked along with an explanation. Since we have lightning-speed computers and a super fast connection to the Internet, the whole process of checking your request takes less than a second once it reaches the Internet.
That’s how simple it is! No weekly or monthly downloads, no constant monitoring, no need to rate sites or make system adjustments. HEDGEBUILDERS does all of the work for you. You won’t even know it’s there until you stumble into a pornographic site – and that day will come! With A+ Premium Filtering you will receive the block screen instead of the pornography. It really is that simple!
Find out more or sign up at www.HedgeBuilders.com
www.HomeWord.com – HomeWord is a Christian organization designed to be a tool for parents and youth workers, equipping them to train teenagers in wisdom and Christian lifestyle.
www.CPYU.org – The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding – Connects parents with information about current youth culture.
www.FamilyLife.com – Family Life is a family guide to a Christian life – help for today, hope for tomorrow.
www.MediaFamily.org – Media Family is a family guide to media, including a parent guide to MySpace.
www.Family.org – Focus on the Family – Devoted to strengthening, mobilizing, and defending the family. Offers extensive marriage and parenting resources…
www.BibleGateway.com – This is a great resource for passage lookup, key word index, topical index in various Bible versions with audio bibles, commentaries, and study tools.
www.Lyrics.com – Parents can screen music lyrics.
www.PluggedIn.com – Parents can screen music videos.
Heart Connex Family eDevotionals: A Semi-Weekly Family e-Devotional from LifeWay Student Ministry. Each week, parents receive two, twenty-minute Bible study devotionals via email. These studies, authored by Dr. Richard Ross, contain solid Bible teaching presented in a warm, interactive format. In addition, the devotions are set-up so that students & parents alike are involved – each given specific things to say or do.
A meaningful way to pray as a family is also included at the conclusion of each study. Heart Connex devotionals are designed for very busy families. The head of the household can print the studies and make preparations in only about five minutes. In most cases families can complete the studies in twenty minutes.
www.LifeWay.com (search Heart Connex)
HomeWard offers free family devotionals on-line.
www.understandingyourteenager.com/parents/articles/devos/fun89.php
Day by Day with Charles Swindoll : Communicating the truths of Scripture and the person of Jesus Christ in an accurate, clear, and practical manner.
www.christianity.com/devotionals/daybyday
Greg Laurie Daily Devotions: Challenging readings for personal growth
www.christianity.com/devotionals/harvestdaily
