Stereotypes and Why They Stink

   In my inner-city Youth Group, we've been discussing stereotypes, bigotry and racism.  We've been going through a series called Ethnic Mosaic where we've been trying to break down some of these walls.  Below is some insight I found in my reading on the subject of stereotypes;  Enjoy. One of the causes of stereotypes is called automatic processing. “Even further below awareness is something that psychologists call automatic...

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Uncommon Games and Icebreakers- Review

  As a Youth Pastor, one of the most annoying things for me to do is make up games week after week.  I love to be creative, I love to push the boundaries, but some weeks I lack motivation and quite frankly come to hate making up games.   I used to be a "Lone Ranger" and try to develop all my curriculum and make up all my games...I've come to grips that although that is fun and can really challenge me, I don't always have the...

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Fist Fights and Ripped Jackets

  On Tuesday night at Youth Group, we had an issue with some of our teens.   Youth Group was over and outside a couple of teens were messing around slap boxing, when it got serious.  One of the kids hauled off and punched the other kid, which spurred some angry words and more serious fighting.  Three others jumped in on the one (much smaller kid) and began to punch him and drag him across the pavement by his jacket.  This...

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The Christian Life- Uncommon Jr. High

 Recently, I was asked to review some curriculum from Gospel Light and the first one up for review is The Christian Life.  This book is put together in a 12 week series, with 6 of the sessions being on the basics of Christianity: God the Father; God the Son; God the Holy Spirit; Our sinful nature; Our need due to this nature; and Our response to God.     The second half is 6 weeks on the fruits of the Spirit: Self-control;...

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That Ain't Your Daddy!

I work in an inner-city church with inner-city youth.  Over my time here, I've seen some intriguing things happen in the lives of the teens, and not all of them are good.   One such time, there was a young man I'll call 'D' and D for the whole year was getting kicked out youth group left and right.  The teens were sick of him, my leaders were sick of him and I was starting to lose my cool with this young man.  He literally...

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