Pittsburgh and who?

Those are probably fighting words in my house. My wife grew up in Phoenix, AZ. She's not a football fan, but her dad is. And she's a pretty big fan of her daddy!  :)  

I'm looking forward to the game on Sunday. I have to admit, I don't watch much football. Okay... I'll be honest. I don't watch any football, unless you're using the word like they use it across the pond. Because I watch soccer, better known as "football" to much of the world (Shout out to my Manchester United!) But football fan or not, I always watch the Super Bowl. I think I enjoy it because of the social occasion. I love an opportunity to hang with family and friends, eating a lot of food! I'm especially looking forward to the hot wings we'll be making (and consuming) on Sunday. (I'm salivating as I type this!)

Those of you who have used our ministry's free resources for a couple years probably have seen our Super Bowl Party ideas we provide every year, including our annual quiz, a fun little element we add to the party. Take a peek at that if you haven't seen it. It's a great little addition to a Super Bowl Party.

It started with a school project. 15-year-old McKay Hatch noticed how much his friends would cuss and use dirty language constantly.  "They did it so much, they didn't even realize they were doing it. It bothered me so much that one day I challenged them to stop."

That was the beginning of the No Cussing Club, and the www.NoCussing.com web site. It wasn’t long before the site received a massive online attack.

ABC News reports:

But then, on the Sunday after New Year's, his father checked the group's e-mail after church and found 7,500 unread messages -- some of them threatening, almost all of them filled with obscenities.

McKay, a 15-year-old high school student from South Pasadena, Calif., has found himself the victim of a massive online attack, with people sending offensive e-mails and trying to crash the group's Web site. Strangers ordered pizzas sent anonymously to the family home in the middle of the night. The Hatches found their mail box clogged with porn magazines.

All, says McKay, because he was trying to make the world a better place.

Click here for the entire article. It’s amazing some of the threats that this young man has received.

It gets worse.

Now some "hate" web sites are up who are celebrating that the NoCussing.com web site got hacked. Apparently these hacking/hate sites exposed some emails from McKay's parents talking about the money they can make on books, assemblies, etc.

Very sad.

Many of us have read articles about the increase of cussing among today's young people. It's sad to see these kinds of results from an effort that seemed positive.

What is the future of TV entertainment? Traditional TV as it is now, with the help of DVR's (you know... like TIVO)? Or online TV?

The experts can't seem to agree on this one.

Here are the facts offered from Solutions Research Group:

• 50% watch at least some TV online, more than double the figure from two years ago.
• 70 percent of adults 18-34 have watched TV on the internet as compared to only 36 who said they've watched programs recorded on DVRs (that seems low... doesn't it?)
• There are 71 million broadband households, but only 28 million DVR households.

Some people look at these facts and obviously conclude that online TV has more potential. But, according to this article, "top media researchers are calling that simply hogwash."

Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst at Leichtman Research Group in Durham, N.H., is one of those who thinks that these conclusions are ridiculous.

Leichtman disputes the data that conclusion was based on. He says his research findings are in line with Nielsen data that the average person spent 142 hours per month watching TV in third-quarter 2008 and that the average person spent six and a half hours watching programs recorded on a DVR, compared to only two and a half hours of TV online.

“And by the way, only a small percentage of online video is television [programming],” says Leichtman. He estimates that nearly half the viewing is of viewer-created videos on sites like YouTube. “You have to put this in perspective.”

Solutions research group still argues that a growing number of people find the internet more entertaining, and even more expect that every TV show will be available online.

So it sounds like TV isn't dying. People are just trying to figure out where to watch it from.

As for young people? The articles concludes:

“For the younger generation, in particular, we’re finding that the broadband platform is being used more and more as the primary vehicle for television,”

Hmmmmm.

David's brand new Youth Culture Window article jabbed me twice this week.

David's YCW article is always good. But this week's article about the declining self esteem in young girls had me squirming in my seat twice (for two totally different reasons).

I first questioned the stats about drinking. Do you ever do that? Do you ever read something and think to yourself, "No. That's gotta be wrong!"

David reports...

More and more teenage girls are trying to drink their self-esteem problems away. We know that roughly 11% of all the alcohol that is drank in America is consumed by a teenager, but recent studies by Columbia University debunk the myth that teenage guys drink more than teenage girls. At the heart of the increase is, you guessed it, low self-esteem. So now it’s the girls who are drinking the guys under the table.

I literally thought, "Yeah, right." But then I read the report he linked (Don't you love how we link the studies we quote in the YCW articles?) and looked it up myself. I even jumped back to another Youth Culture Window article he wrote back in October, "The Blame Game on Drinking Games," an article that I remembered had quoted (and linked) the most recent Center for Disease Control youth risk survey results. Sure enough, more girls were "lifetime alcohol users" than males. Males and females were almost exactly tied for "current alcohol users" (had at least on drink of alcohol on at least 1 day during the 30 days before the survey).

This surprised me. I thought I had remembered guys drinking a lot more. More guys are found to do "episodic heavy drinking" or "buying alcohol." But girls not only were keeping up in most these drinking stats, they surpassed guys in a few of them. That was surprising to me. And that Columbia University report said that much of this drinking is tied to self esteem issues.

The other part of David's article that hit me was our response or application. What can we do to battle low self esteem in young girls?

Think about this for a second. How do we build the self esteem of our young girls? Do we just assure them that they are God's creation? Do we just tell them to simply turn off MTV and stop looking at Vogue? Do we assure them that they're pretty?

These all sound good in theory... but are young girls actually going to listen to this? Is our voice louder than the media images they are taking in telling them that they just don't measure up?

That's where David and I went back and forth a little with the draft of this article. We realized that this issue doesn't have easy answers. But here's a little piece of what we finally came up with:

One of the most effective strategies I’ve found to boost self-esteem is providing opportunities to serve. When we put young people in situations where they help others who are worse off than themselves, it is not only a great opportunity to show love and compassion to the needy, it provides these young people with a larger world view than the “plastic” exterior they see in the media and the shallow world around them. When students spend a weekend feeding the homeless or spending time with the elderly in a convalescent home, all of a sudden, their own perceived inadequacies are minimized. This is nothing to do with works. We are saved by grace, through faith. But as God begins to renew our mind and change us, we no longer looks to temporary fulfillment from this world (including looks, status, stuff) ... instead we look to God for fulfillment

Seize opportunities to help kids be used by God..

Create these opportunities.

Whadaya think?

IMVU.com is back in the news again, with $10 million of financing from Best Buy’s corporate venture-capital group. IMVU is the 3D virtual community (picture a virtual pickup bar, but filled with teenagers and adults all anonymously guised as perfect looking people) that has grown to more than 30 million users. It's literally one of the largest of its kind.

Many of you remember an article that David and I wrote last June after diving into this virtual world and experiencing it firsthand. After two hours of navigating our newly created avatar through this world of cybersmut… we had seen enough. The site is nothing more than a virtual pick up place. Nobody is who they say they are, and morals are nowhere to be found. That’s probably why we titled our article:

The Hottest Virtual Teenage Hangout… A Little Too “Hot”
A Virtual Pick Up Joint Where Authenticity is Scarce

Check out that article, not only to see our research about the site, but for a detailed description of what we encountered personally.

Here it is six months later and the site has grown by another 10 million users and with 10 million more dollars to spend on development. I shudder at the possibilities.

Sigh.

(ht to Anastasia at YPulse for the new article)

If you haven't been following the new FOUR MINUTE videos that we've been putting up on our front page, we've been featuring a new one every three weeks or so.

I love the one we just put up there. Dare to Share's Greg Stier talks about the need for youth workers to embrace real conversations about theology that matters. In this quick little video, he challenges us to be ready for questions that might even be uncomfortable. He also talks about a tool that will help us initiate these conversations, a brand new reality TV DVD series they offer called The Gospel Journey Maui. We have an exclusive free download of one of the episodes of this cool little show for you on their web site here.

Here's the FOUR MINUTE video. 

(Click here to see the video if you receive this blog as a feed or email.)

Good stuff!

I’m so used to today’s music being blatantly raunchy and sexual, I’m almost surprised when musicians use sneaky tactics to slip messages under the radar of parents. But that’s exactly what Britney has done with this new song on her popular new album Circus… she’s dropping the “F bomb” without actually saying it.

The song is If You Seek Amy. It looks innocent enough when you read it… but go ahead and say it like she does in the album. Read this outloud: "But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek amy."

Whoops!

David does an incredible job unveiling this in this week’s Youth Culture Window article.

Update: According to this Aussie newspaper, Britney might be changing the name of the song for some radioplay.

A fat bottom might actually be "a sign of good health."

Husbands. Try that one on your wives. "Honey, you look extremely... HEALTHY!"

Don't believe me. New research from the journal Cell Metabolism suggests that "the fat responsible for producing the pear shape flaunted by celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce may be active in protecting women from diseases by releasing certain hormones."

Click here for the entire article.

LOL.

We all know that kids love texting, with repercussions good and bad. And many of us have heard stories of kids who text literally thousands of text messages per month. After all, the average number of monthly texts for a 13- to 17-year-old teen is 1,742, according to a recent Nielsen study.

But 14,528 text messages in one month?

California dad Greg Hardesty almost fell out of his chair when he discovered his AT&T statement was 440 pages long (thank goodness it was an online statement). His daughter Reina had texted 14,528 text messages that month.

Grab your calculator….

    -That’s 484 texts a day.

    -That’s 34 texts every waking hour.

    -That’s more than one text message every two minutes that Reina is awake!

This girl’s cereal definitely gets soggy every morning.

Can  you say, “out of control?”

Click here for the entire article.

(ht to Youth Culture Window guru David)

Last September I blogged about a young graduate from my local California State University in Sacramento who decided to auction off her virginity to pay for graduate studies.

Now she'll be able to pay for a little more than school. Bids for a night with Natalie have just grown up to 3.7 million dollars. So far, 10,000 men have bid to have sex with her.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at her little venture. Isn't that what our society is teaching our kids? Take your clothes off, and get paid! We encouraged Jennifer Anniston (and I quote, "I applaud her") when she did it. Britney's video goes number one when she does it. The message is clear. Skin pays!

I think the ironic part of this whole matter is the intent behind this whole endeavor. 22 year old Natalie wants to become a marriage and family counselor.

Maybe this will get men to become more interested in seeing a counselor.

"Sorry honey, I'm going to be late for dinner. I'm going to be seeing my therapist again."

"Why are those bills so expensive dear?"

Natalie, with a degree in Women's Studies (I'm not even going to make a comment about that one), insists that she's not demeaning herself.

The last line of this particular article is classic. I gotta give Natalie points for getting this one thing right. Natalie concludes:

"It's shocking that men will pay so much for someone's virginity, which isn't even prized so highly anymore."

Video games just hit the news again... no... this isn't about sales.

An Ohio teenager just murdered his mom and wounded his father after they took away his Halo 3 game. Wow. I'm gonna think twice about taking my 15-year-old's games away next time!

AP reports:

Although a teenager's obsession with a violent video game may have warped his sense of reality, the boy is guilty of murdering his mother and wounding his father after they took "Halo 3" away from him, a judge ruled Monday.

"I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever," Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge said.

Nonetheless, Burge rejected the defense attorneys' argument that Petric, 17, was not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense didn't contest that Petric shot his parents in October 2007 after they took the game away from him, but insisted that the teen's youth and addiction made him less responsible.

Petric may have been addicted, but the evidence also showed he planned the crime for weeks, said Burge, who found the teenager guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and other charges.

Yikes!

The entire article here.

(ht to KJ)

Remember all the hype in the last few years about whether the Super Bowl was allowed on the big screen at church?

This year, apparently things are different!

Two years ago NFL cracked down on a few churches and said, "No showing it on the big screens!" Last year we read reports that it was okay if you showed it on a 55" screen (some of you remember my blog about it). This year... the NFL finally released their grip. The official word is... it's okay to show the big game on the big screen at church Super Bowl parties.

Whew.

Here’s a snippet from an ESPN article on the subject.

The NFL will allow church groups to show the Super Bowl on large-screen televisions, reversing a policy that drew criticism from elected officials.

In a letter to U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will no longer object to "live showings -- regardless of screen size -- of the Super Bowl" by religious organizations, The Washington Post reported.

Click here for the entire article.

Stay tuned for this week's EZINE article where we'll post this good news and start the beginnings of the "ready-made" Super Bowl party and quiz we provide every year (Click here to peek at last year's)

(ht to Andrew)

MySpace hasn't exactly been growing by leaps and bounds anymore. Facebook seems to have stolen most of its thunder. But that hasn't kept MySpace out of the news... and that's not always "good news."

Last week CNN reported on a new study that unveils what most of the conversation on MySpace is about.

A snippet from the article:

(CNN) -- A new study finds that 54 percent of teens talk about behaviors such as sex, alcohol use, and violence on the social networking giant MySpace -- presenting potential risks even if all they're doing is talking, researchers said Monday.

I flew back from the midwest Monday, I fly out again tomorrow morning for another speaking weekend… this has been a crazy three days. Add to that… “Jack.” That’s what the kids have named the stray that wandered into our life yesterday.

Lori and Alyssa  went on a run yesterday and happened upon “Jack.” He’s a medium sized dog, probably six months old, a little too skinny, unrecognizable as any breed… a mutt by all standards. He ran up to them with no collar, no tags and no worries- tongue out and ready to play. Unfortunately that meant dodging in and out of traffic along the roads.

Lori tried to get him to stop running in the street… but he didn’t always respond when she called to him. Enjoying the freedom, he would run a block ahead, stop, turn, then dart out across the road again, oblivious to the fast moving cars.

“Jack” followed Lori and Alyssa for a mile. Finally Lori burst in our front door and brought me into the loop. “Jonathan, a stray has been following us for a mile. He’s totally stupid. He’s gonna get killed.” (No time for tact.)

My first thought was, “A stray? Today? Isn’t that someone else’s problem?”
 
Apparently not, because even as I had that thought, we heard tires screech to a halt and a horn blare. Lori said, “See. That’s probably him again. He keeps running into traffic.”

We ran a block, following the sounds of horns and cars slamming on their brakes. As we rounded a corner we saw him- standing in the middle of the street like, ‘anyone want to play?’

He apparently liked Lori, so I told her to call him. She got down in a squat, “Here pup. Here boy.” He cocked his head to the side, paused, then ran full sprint to Lori and enjoyed a good scratching behind the ears. I ran and got a leash from the house and we brought him to our side yard.

Immediately the kids started in with, “How cute.” And “We’ll call him Jack.” And “What if he doesn’t have a home?” All loaded statements!!!

I quickly told them. “Kids. We have two dogs. We can’t keep Jack.” (Dang… I called him Jack!)

The kids were silent. I looked at his stupid little happy face and his brown little eyes. I couldn’t just let him run free in the street. I knew it was a matter of moments before he was gonna be hit.

“We will do our best to find ‘Jack’ his home... or a home.” I added.

So ‘Jack’ is now in our yard. He’s a digger, so we had to moves some rocks around and reinforce some fences. He spent the night in a kennel in our garage, with regular visits from my three kids and Jethro, one of our dogs.

Today now entails taking him to a nearby vet to have him scanned for a chip (Now most dogs have chips implanted in their coat in case they are lost. We’ll check to see if he has one since he has no collar and no tags). My wife called county animal care this morning and left a description of the dog in case someone calls missing him. The next step, if there is no chip… DOG FOUND signs with our phone number and his picture.

Compassion is very inconvenient. We’re hours into this dog already. Why? He was in danger. And no one else cared.

Such is ministry for many of us. Plenty of kids roam our community that would be very inconvenient to reach out to. They don’t have a faith, they don’t have a church home, and in all honesty, they seem content with their freedom.

Some people just ignore them and drive by them. After all… we don’t have much time.

Others might stop and try to make contact. But these strays aren’t always easy to connect with. It takes time and effort.

Dang!

Compassion is so inconvenient.

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UPDATE: Lori just took "Jack" to the vet to get him scanned. He is chipped. (Whew!) His name is Trooper and he lives about a mile from us. They've been looking for him. Heading there now.

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UPDATE: We just dropped him off. His owners were really greatful. They have a collar and tag for him, but had it off. He slipped out yesterday while the owner was working in the yard. It was good to see he had a home.

I just arrived home from a 5 day trip where I was the keynote speaker at a youth conference in Wisconsin. Great trip. Not only was it a rewarding ministry weekend, I also was able to bring my 13- year-old daughter Alyssa with me.

We flew into Chicago, ate some Giordano's Pizza, drove up to Wisconsin, spoke for the weekend, then hung out in the Chicago downtown for one night before returning home. A fantastic time with my Lyssa. I'll blog more about it later... I'm dead tired at the moment (got up WAY too early this morning to catch the flight home).

So for now... I'll just leave you with this low res pic that Alyssa and I took with my cheap little camera phone from the top of the John Hancock building in downtown Chicago. We went up to the 96th floor (top floor) and had a virgin strawberry daiquiri in the "Signature Lounge." Great view sitting in one of the tallest buildings in the world.

Good times.

(you can see the Sears tower in the upper right, Michigan Avenue the lit street below up the center of the pic)