My Ministry Space
Youth pastors track popular networking website.
Chansin Bird, RNS
1/24/2007

Youth minister Lara Blackwood starts her day the same way most of the young people at her church do—she signs on to MySpace.com.

"Any time they post a new blog, I get a message in my e-mail and cell phone," said Blackwood, the youth minister at First Christian Church of Fayetteville, Arkansas.

"If the title tells me, 'Gosh, prom was fun,' I'll read it within a couple days. If it says, 'I hate my life, I want to die'—and I've read some similar to that—I'm on it immediately."

More youth ministers are using social networking websites such as MySpace to stay connected with their students. MySpace is one of the hottest sites on the Web—hitwise.com rated it No. 1 for November, accounting for nearly 5 percent of all U.S. Web traffic. MySpace has more than 100 million accounts with a demographic that is dominated by teens and 20-somethings. Other social networking sites like Friendster and Facebook also claim millions of young users.

"Social networking is what being a teenager is about," said Kenda Creasy Dean, associate professor of youth, church, and culture and director of the Tennent School of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary. "For people my age (in their 40s), technology is a tool. For kids, technology is the air they breathe. It's social glue." the rest


Christian Youth Challenge Blasphemy on YouTube
By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Jan. 24 2007

More than a month ago, atheists began to blaspheme the existence of God on the popular YouTube network. Today, Christians are turning the tables and taking up the challenge to stand up to their faith in Jesus Christ publicly.

"I'd like to personally praise the Lord for all He does for me," said one young participant in the newly launched "Praise the Lord Challenge" on YouTube. "He's done so much for me and I've only known him a few years."

The Praise the Lord Challenge counters a $25,000 campaign launched before Christmas where atheists, many of whom are young students, videotape their blasphemy, denying the existence of the trinity. "The Blasphemy Challenge" is giving away 1,001 DVDs of the documentary "The God Who Wasn't There" to participants. The only price, the campaign states, is "your soul." the rest