Graduation Songs 2008

Here is a list of songs that we have played at for our Graduation Videos. Love to see you comment on ones you have used.

Anyway (Martina McBride)

Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson)

Dare You to Move (Switchfoot)

Dream Big (Ryan Shupe)

Extraordinary (Mandy Moore)

Good Riddance (Green Day)

Graduation (Vitamin C)

I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack)

I’m Not Gonna Cry (Corey Smith)

In This Diary (Atari’s)

It’s My Life (Bon Jovi)

It’s the End of the World as We Know It (REM)

Meant to Live (Switchfoot)

My Wish (Rascal Flats)

Photograph (Nickleback)

These Are Special Times (Christina Aguleria)

These Are the Days (10,000 Maniacs)

Unwritten (Natasha Bedingfield)

Wherever You Are (Bon Jovi)

Whenever You Remember (Carrie Underwood)

Yesterday (Boys II Men)

Religion Influences Self Esteem

And who is the most important influence when it comes to how teens feel about themselves? Not mom or dad, not even their friends....it's their boyfriend or girlfriend (if they have one). Interestingly, religion comes second:

- Your girlfriend/boyfriend (84%)

- Your religion (82%)

- Your friends (79%)

- Your parents (74%)

- Your teacher(s) (72%)

- TV shows you watch (51%)

- Celebrities (e.g. actors, athletes, musicians) (49%)

- Magazines you read (38%)

- Advertising you see (on TV or elsewhere) (33%)

- Other kids in school (31%)

You can go to YPulse to read all the results from the survey.

Changing the World

I am currently reading The New Christians (Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier). On page 17, Tony Jones writes, “The church that doesn’t challenge its members to face the core ethical issues that confront them every day at work is the church that has abdicated its responsibility.”

This statement has been playing a match of ping pong in my head as I have been having a constant back in forth. There are many ethical issues and I don’t know that I have addressed them with my students and the church. Prejudice is very real and exists in our world. We are prejudice based on race, education, finances, schools, religion, and the list could keep going. What is our responsibility to help the poor, the homeless, those with addictions, and who are abused and hurting?

I have always felt guilty about doing mission trips that help us confront many of these issues only to return home and return to the status quo. We may go to the inner city only to return home and not talk to another person of color and every stereotype that was broke down is quickly rebuilt. We may go to Latin America only to return and never ask the question, what is our responsibility to help Latinos in our own community? I love mission trips so don’t get me wrong, but how do we merge the lessons we learned on these trips with our everyday life and make the church confront these issues.

Jesus constantly confronted the ethical issues of the day. He made his disciples work through them. I think about the lesson of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. He challenged his disciples to see beyond race, gender, and morality and to see a child of God. Later on Peter would be challenged by God to accept Gentiles and then he would challenge the church to do the same.

So how do we challenge our students and churches to face the core ethical issues that confront us everyday in our county, city, schools, and circle of friends? What do we do when our students, parents, leadership, etc push back and reject it? Looking forward to reading your comments.

Leadership

In 1 Samuel 8:5 the nation of Israel comes to Samuel and ask for a king to rule them so they can be like all the other nations. In the past when I have read this I have always seen this as a passage that warns of the dangers of wanting to be accepted and trying to fit in to the point of compromising and dismissing God. This is true because God does see this action the nation rejecting him. But have you ever looked and saw why the nation of Israel rejected God and wanted a king?

If you go back to 1 Samuel 2 you find that the priest Eli was ruling Israel. Eli son were terrible. They had no respect for the Lord (2:12-13). They treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt (2:17). They seduced the young women who worked at the tabernacle (2:22). Eli, the spiritual leader of the people, did not discipline his sons (3:13). Because of this God has them all die on the same day.

Samuel becomes the ruler and is a great man of God. The people respected him and knew that God was working in and through him. As Samuel was getting older and knew that he could no longer serve as the ruler of the people he appointed his sons to be the next leaders of the nation. The problem is that his sons were not godly men. They were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice (8:3). The people of Israel knew this and they come to Samuel and tell him they do not want to be lead by his sons because they are ungodly and terrible leaders. It was at this point that they asked for a king to be like all the other nations. Samuel is upset over this and he goes to seek God’s counsel and God tells him the rebellion is against God not Samuel.

I think there are three lessons we can learn from this story. First is that when we want to be like everyone else and not trust in the system that God has put in place we have rejected God and not a failed system. When we rebel against elders, doctrine, the church we are rebelling against God. The people, doctrine, and church may be flawed, even corrupt, but there is a way to correct this and not rebel and want to be like everyone else around us.

The second thing is that bad leaders cause people to rebel. The people didn’t rebel against Samuel they rebelled when his sons were going to take over the leadership. They probably remembered the days of Eli and his sons and didn’t want that type of leadership. Why not be like the other nations when your only alternative is corrupt leaders. Samuel made a terrible choice of placing his sons as the next leaders. He basically helped the people choose to rebel against God.

The third lesson is when do we go to God for counsel? The Bible doesn’t say that Samuel asked God who should be the next leader of Israel instead he put his corrupt sons in power and when it backfired he went to God. Could the outcome have been different id Samuel went to God first and asked who should follow him as the leader of Israel?

If you are in a position of leadership this is a passage that should speak volumes to you. Who are you placing in leadership positions (Bible class teachers, leadership roles, camp staff, etc)? Are these people drawing people closer to God or do they push people away from God? When the people see the leaders do they see a contrast between them and the people of the world? We need to be careful who we place in positions of leadership. We also need to evaluate our own life. Are we causing people to want to follow God or are we pushing them away from God? When people see me do they see love, grace, mercy, acceptance, truth, integrity, and have a deep passion for God, or do they see someone who is judgmental, cliquish, and likes God? Finally when do you pray to God? When you need to make a decision or after you made one? Do we ask God to show us they way and give us guidance or do we ask God to bless the decisions we already made and to correct the bad ones? What if Samuel went to God first? I doubt God would have told him to put his sons in power. The nation wanted to be like everyone else but there was no difference between corrupt priest and corrupt kings. What choices are giving the people we lead?