Helpful Hints:  Do you remember those family trips to grandpa's house as a kid?  Can you picture grandpa watching his favorite sporting event as the family meal was ready?  Grandma would call for everyone to sit down to the table after long preparations and then what would grandpa do?  "WHAT???? or JUST A MINUTE!".  Ten minutes later grandpa would still be watching the game and the family would still be trying to get him to the table.  One of the things that teens need is not only a good ear, but a responsive ear.  In today's terms we call this an active listener.  Many good parents get in the habit of doing the grandpa response when their teen comes to talk about something.  From the example above, grandpa probably hears the words, but his attention and response say something completely different.  When we don't stop and give teens the attention needed (even for the small things), it sends a message.  Unfortunately, it is the wrong type of message.  Yes, we as parents are not perfect and to top it off, we normally have too much to do and not enough time to do it.  However, when your teen comes to you, this is not the time to be multi-tasking.  What happens is after several encounters of the parent being more focused on their job or chores, the teen gets the impression that there is a lack of concern for them or what they are asking.  The teen then says to themselves, "Well, mom/dad is not listening, I will just go to someone who does".  That is where it gets a little dangerous.  It is usually a noteworthy moment to get them to speak sometimes, but if one of those times it is a very serious matter, it matters where the advice or direction comes from.  Teens need attention and their voices do matter, but, more importantly, they need the right guidance from the right ear.  
 
Trends:  I remember an old song with the line "What the world needs now is love, sweet love..." and it brings home the point of the trend topic very well.  I have witnessed a variety of teen behavior in my time on this earth and having been a teen myself (although hard to believe for some), I have noticed a general degradation of the heart in the teen population.  This is not to say that teens don't have feelings, but instead, a numbing in their daily interaction during school, church or even free time.  For example, ask a teen what they feel about our government and see their reaction.  One online survey taken said that most teens would not even be interested in the job of president or in politics.  If most of the teens don't want to get involved in politics, what choices will we have for candidates will we have in the future.  Teen numbness is not in just politics.  Take a look at the family, social relationships and, yes, church.  What is causing this lack of feeling?  Well, look at the moral degradation in society today.  The family unit is not the mom & dad foundation that should exist.  Teens have been in the middle of angry households so long that it drains them of their hopes and feelings.  Teens watch corruption on the television.  They see gays being a "normal" part of society and even their schools.  They see sex as just another casual activity done at their leisure.  They have been abused, uncared & unloved.  The sins of the world wear on them.  As a result, unhappiness becomes common and passions are extinguished.  Which leaves the church in a very difficult situation.  With an increasingly immoral and emotionless teen society, the church is seeing less repentant and teachable teens.   I believe that there is a huge link between family & morality of society as it relates to teen numbness.  As a Christian body it is time to make a stand in society with moral issues (publically) & to put more of a priority on keeping healthy families together.  Teens claim that they have seen/heard it all, but maybe what they are lacking a lot of is genuine concern & love for them as played out in an example.  It says in Titus 2:6-8, "Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.  In everything set them an example by doing what is good.  In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."
 
A Look Back:   If it seemed like the summer flew by, I would have to agree with you.  And, if you thought I was constantly going, attending or doing, you were right again.  If you got to talk with me this past month in any length apart from events, you found a rare spot.  With school starting back, the game room finishing for the summer, whitewater rafting, the last mystery destination for the summer and the yard sale, I was trying to not come apart at the seems.  The whitewater rafting trip, I believe, was one of our better trips this year.  If your family ever gets the opportunity, I would encourage you to get out to Noah's Ark.  Noah's Ark Rafting was a great experience for our group with good Christian values to boot.  And, as a bonus, we did not lose anyone!  Our last mystery destination for the year was out at the park off of Deerwood.  There were many twists and turns in this last mystery night and we had a great group time together,  message and all (Oh YEAH!).  Our theme for that evening focused around lying.  The game room ended for the summer that same day of the mystery destination and we did well with this outreach for this year.  There were several visitors that passed through our doors, which received our group information.  It was a great time for fellowship and talk.  We look forward to next year!  For those that are worried,  I have put some game room days on the calendar during some of the holiday or "non-student" contact days.  Hopefully with school in session, we will have some new friends for this ministry during the school year.  Oh, and did I mention a game room tournament?  (more to come on that)  The last thing in August was our Yard Sale to raise some needed funds for youth events.  God really blessed us both times this year and again, many thanks go to the volunteers and donors for this event.  We were able to get over $500 just from this last sale.  This will go a long way to helping the youth department out and I believe you may just see this come back next year!    
 
Approaching Academics: Sunday Munch: HS - Line of Sight  (also new Fuel 2 & action days)
      (Romans/Daniel/Proverbs)                  MS - A World Apart                        
                                                Tuesday Acting Up -  "How do you spell belief"
                                                                                                                    "The Pewgitive" 
                                                                             "The Big Picture"
      September            Wednesday Aftershock - Dig In (continued)- from Cook Communications 
 
 
What’s coming up:       RANDOM -             Saturday, Sept 8 Meet at 7 pm @ church      
                        Theme: Beach Party             Cost: FREE      Location: Random  
                                                                 (will disclose locations to parents if asked)
                                   Youth Council Mtg - Saturday, Sept 22 at 10 am/ church
     September                                            NO COST/Newbies welcome
                                   Lgmt Rec. Center - Saturday, Sept 22 Meet at 6 pm @ church 
                                                                (6 - 10 pm) Cost: $3.50 Students/$4.00 Adults
                                   Game Room  - None scheduled for September
 
 
Recognition/Honors:     Hazel Myers & Bethany Haggerott led the visitor challenge for July/Aug.
                                                    Great job ladies!!
                        
Something New:   We have ordered some materials for Wednesdays and we will be trying some  
                            new materials out for some Sundays as well.  The Wednesday material is 
                            called Revolution.  Revolution is a series from BluefishTV that is funny, but                             also very engaging.  This will be a topical study.  On some Sundays we will be                             in a series called Fuel.  Fuel is a DVD curriculum we will do on some random                             Sundays to see interest.  This is a newer series from Lifeway.  
 
                            The last new item is the Fall-in-Line Plan for this season.  I wrote about this 
                            in the church newsletter, but it will focus on discipleship, weekly contacts, new
                            faces, disciple/pupil teams, encouragement, success celebrations, welcoming 
                            visitors (buddy for the day) & respecting teaching times for the benefit of
                            everyone.  If you would like to know more or have any questions, please see
                            me.
                                           
Reminder:  Snack & Drink sales have been a blessing to our Game Room, I would like the adults to know that this is open to them as well.  (Please be aware though until we have the means to obtain a lockable refridgerator, the drinks will be warm on non-Game Room days)  
 
As always, contact me if you have any questions, comments or concerns.  It is a pleasure to serve you and your teens!
 
 
Mark Garland
Youth Minister, Longs Peak Church
1601 Collyer St
Longmont, CO  80501
303-776-8521  Church
970-443-5170  Cell
303-776-0407  Fax