Get Ready for Spring (reinforcing purity for the season)

With the weather trippin’ in the south (snowing in GA?) and raging up north (blizzards up in MN), spring seems like it’s running super late on the schedule. But rest assured, the season is changing and before you know it the birds will be singing, the flowers blooming and that playful romantic air of new life will burst out of every nook and crack that it can. Spring just can’t be denied, and especially with the rough fall and winter that we’ve all faced, spring is definitely welcome. 

As a youth minister, I always made a point to begin encouraging my students in keeping their vows of abstinence around this time of year.  You ever notice how so many of your students began focusing on relationships around this time of the year? Spring always seems to spread like a crazy love spell; even those who you never thought would bloom into that next level are now trying to get hooked up.

Although statistics will show that more sexual activity occurs during the summer season for teens than any other time of the year (because they don’t have anything to do; an idle mind/body…), spring seems to be the critical time where so many seeds of passion are planted in the mind and bodies of our adolescents. 

What I’d like to do is help you point your students and student leaders in the right direction.  Our goal is to help teens plant the seeds of passion into the fertile ground of a vibrant love for God and watch it bloom into a summer of service and celebration. 

One site in particular that has helped me find the latest research and resources on abstinence is called The Abstinence Clearinghouse.  This is the place to find the latest news, facts, media and resources to help you help students make the right decisions even though their hormones may be swinging (or ‘springing’) to a different beat.

Another great site that helps empower teens and adults alike against all of the garbage online is Triple X Church.  This is a seriously needed site that helps people from every walk of life deal with and get free of porn addiction.  If you don’t think that porn could be an issue in your youth group, then check out the latest nationwide survey that shows over 20% of teens admit to participating in ‘sexting’, which is the act of sending nude pictures via text messaging.  Sexting is one of the newest issues that has hit us in the last 18 months and is now at an all time high, and has many parents and school administrators worried.  Some prosecutors have begun charging teens that send and receive such messages with child pornography and other serious felonies.

Leaders, we’re living in some perilous times and I’m concerned that it’s going to get crazier as our teens become more tech savvy. Jim Burns says that by 2011, the cell phone will be the largest internet pornography provider! That’s why we need resources to help reinforce good decisions among our youth.  Here are some other great sites on helping kids make a commitment to sexual purity:

Homeword (check out Jim’s new book: Teaching your Children Healthy Sexuality)

http://www.zyworld.com/PURENHART2/purity.htm

Aim For Success

For a full web page of links go to: http://www.goodmorals.org/puritylinks.html

Sharing the gospel from ‘Street to Street’

Fred D. Lynch III
GodStyle Productions

Fred Lynch is the founder of GodStyle Productions. A ministry committed to changing youth culture. For more information on Fred, go to www.godstyle.com or check out his latest project The Script (the gospel of John translated into rap) at: www.gettheepic.com