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Dennis

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Ask Alex The Atheist

This week my atheist friend is coming to the high school small group I teach. He’s not coming as a participant, but as the focus of the evening. Alex has agreed to come in to allow me to interview him about what he believes and why he believes it.

My goals for this week’s Bible study is to:
1. Expose students to the worldview of a non-Christian who’s not much older than they are
2. Help students understand the perspective of a person who doesn’t believe in God
3. Challenge the thinking of how students interact with the world of non-believers
4. Create a need for them to give a presentation of why they are Christians, complete with biblical references
5. Give Alex another dose of how good it is to be in a community of believers

I’m super excited for Wednesday. It can’t come quickly enough. Today I sent this e-mail to my students to help them prepare:

What Would You Ask An Atheist?

Ever wondered what an atheist is thinking? Kind of curious how a non-believer sees Christians? Do you think knowing how a non-Christian sees life might make you a more effective witness to friends who don’t know Christ?

Great news! This Wednesday at Ladera Ranch small groups you’ll be able to ask Alex the Atheist whatever you want. This will be an incredibly eye-opening week for your Christian faith. You’ll possibly rethink the way you look at and interact with the non-believing world.

Alex is a 21-year-old normal run-of-the-mill guy. He went to Tesoro High School just like many of you, just without knowing Christ. I’ve talked with Alex several times about his stance on spiritual matters. He’s open to your questions and is looking forward to having a great discussion.

DON’T MISS THIS SMALL GROUP THIS WEEK!!!! IT’S GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!!

See you there,

Dennis

This is going to be a great night… or a night when the high school staff starts looking for my replacement.

TweetGrid: A Great Research Tool

An easy way to keep a finger on the pulse of society is looking at TweetGrid. If you go there, you can type in a term such as Facebook. Immediately, you’ll see any messages people are posting on Twitter on that topic. At the time of this writing, Facebook has just released their latest upgrades. The opinions are flying on TweetGrid. It’s kind of fun to see what people think.

As a youth worker, this is a great source of real time information on what people are thinking and feeling about any given topic.

Staying Up-To-Date with Youth Culture

Fortunately, we don’t have to spend hours listening to mind-numbing music, read every youth-related website or subscribe to dozens of magazines to get a handle on today’s youth culture. The Center For Youth/Parent Understanding has everything you could want to know about today’s youth culture. They track youth trends and have information about all of the latest movies, TV shows, bands and beliefs bombarding our students.

I recommend bookmarking CPYU’s web page and skimming through it at least once a month and whenever big news happens in relation to students. They not only have information, they also offer direction and free resources for how to interact with students in relation to their culture.

Click here to visit their website