My first idea is an LCD board that is programable that can be bought at Quasar Electronics.  Put this near the youth room, or whever the parents and students will see it and it will catch their attention as well as inform them of what needs to be known.

Informing people is one of the hardest things to do in my opinion, why not let media make it easier.  Between movies, texting, emailing and many other forms of modern day technology it can be much easier.

There are great ways to find videos such as BluefishTV which creates awesome church video’s.  Another great place to find them is youtube which there is almost anything and everything on.

Through incorperating media into worship and lessons, the congregation can experience Christ in a new manor.  If we really want people to know Christ, why just talk about him when we can help them experience him?  We as mere humans cannot do anything extrordinary, we can do nothing.  However, God can use many different ways to reveal himself to us so lets use as many ways as possible for us to learn from.

I was looking today on itunes  for some podcasts, and first off I did not find anything useful.  If a youth ministry were to use a podcast, what would they use?

A podcast must be useful and either extremely thought provoking or entertaining.  How would this be possible to make these useful to the youth and accessible to them as well?  I think a podcast is a good idea without a good purpose.

Permission slips can be as easy as uploading and printing for the youth and parents, much easier than depending on the child to remember them, keep up with them and get them home.  Forms are very important yet so easy to lose.

Also, such small things such as Bible stories or encouragement can be written on the site.  There are plenty of easy and free (or cheap) servers out there to create a website on.  I need to learn more on this, and I would encourage any youth ministry to do the same!

This week we had to ship the projector off for repair, well there goes a major part of what we do.  This time we had to set up a portable projector that is not as powerful.

If we are not relient on technology, this problem does not occur.  But technology must be used to keep up with the times.  Technology in church is a necessary evil.

Why waste your breath speaking announcements in church, or wasteing mail sending out flyers for events when the email is free!

Even youth or children’s programs can have their own email address.  Yahoo or hotmail are easy places to get good free email accounts.  Mass emails for different sub-groups are so easy and effecient to use.

So what does this matter?  If a church wants to reach out to the youth culture, its important to know what that culture is.  If this means changing something within the church , so be it.  If that means creating new events, so be it.

Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church is going to have a coffee house tonight with free latte’s, steamers, cappuccino’s and much more for the community.  All that is needed is a Mr. Coffee or Hamilton Beach espresso machine and some word of mouth by the youth.

Tonight during my lesson we divided up into different rooms and simply spent time praying to God.  The lights were off and there was nothing but darkness, students sitting and praying to God.  It was great and I have already discussed it with one youth who felt God telling them to do something in their school. 

Taking time to weigh the options is a good thing.  Did Jesus need technology, did God need technology to create the universe?  God can come into a room that does not even have electricity, and I might dare say students could experience God better without it.  Technology is a great thing, unless it hinders the work God wants to do.

Sometimes the flash and glam of technology can get in the way of sharing God.  This does not mean between God and the students, but God and the leader; me.  I can care too much about the production of a worship serivice and forget what is important.

It is important to not get caught up in events and technology and forget about what is important, loving students and sharing God with them.  One book I will read one day on this is simple church.

Texting and using twitter from the cell phones is the newest thing for youth, even reaching down to children in elementary school.  When will it end, or should it?  Having text is a great way for quick conversation, or simply saying what you cant face to face.  However, where are the social skills?  Facebook is not personal, even though the joke is you’re not offically friends until you’ve been accepted on facebook.

Can Jesus be shared though social networking?  Sure, why not!  Can a computer explain the love of Jesus or the importance of the relationship with him?  Nope, but neither can we face to face. Social networking is a great way to share one’s faith or for me to keep an open relationship with a student in my youth group where they can contact me anytime anyday.  They are more comfortable talking that way and quite frankly its easier to answer back sometimes.  The church should embrace social networking, possibly encourage it!