The Bright Side of Technology

Last week Heritage Christian Academy hosted Brad Huddleston of Dark Side of Technology for a parent/student seminar addressing some of the dangers/challenges presented by technology.  Brad, noting recent research on the addictive nature of technology, challenged the those in attendance to develop a balanced approach toward technology for their families.  He reminded us of Paul's exhortation in I Corinthians 6:12 - "All thing as lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything."

The challenges Brad addressed are real, and the message he brings is one that is needed in our day. But I can't help but think of another side of technology, a "bright side of technology", that I recently had reason to be thankful for.  One of the most powerful tools available in the technology toolbox is something I am taking advantage of right now - the blog.  Blogs give a voice to people who might otherwise not have a voice.  No longer are publishing companies (newspapers, book publishers) or broadcast companies (radio or television) the gatekeepers of information and ideas.  Now anyone with a computer and internet connection has a potential voice.  Of course, that in itself, gives rise to a host of problems - misinformation, hateful or wicked content, etc- but it also provides Christians the opportunity to express truth to a vast audience.  Let me highlight the blog contribution of three former students I recently came across; I love hearing their heart for Jesus.

Jordan (Huston) Carlsen, currently mother to three and wife of a youth pastor, actually introduced me to social media during the early of days of MySpace, before the days of Facebook.  Jordan began a site for fellow students where she would often post discussion topics of a Biblical nature and encourage here fellow students to respond.  I would "lurk" on that site, many times encouraged and challenged by the depth of insight expressed by Jordan and others.  Jordan has shared posts from her personal blog on Facebook from time to time; her blog is currently on hiatus as her family is transitioning to a new ministry.  Here is a sample of her voice from a couple of years ago.

Ruthie Burrell is a recent graduate of Taylor University and is currently working as a free lance writer in a variety of roles.  One of those roles is her own personal blog.  Here is a sample from her blog I shared on Facebook when she posted it, a transparent reminder that we can't earn God's love.

Most recently I came across this post by Kaleigh Adkins. Kaleigh is currently studying Elementary Education at Pensacola Christian College and is one of the contributors to a blog creatively entitled BeYOUtiful In Christ. They express the purpose of their blog this way: "God has placed a passion in our hearts for young women to help them see the beauty within themselves; the beauty that comes from Christ. Serving our Creator, our purpose is to help young ladies see that in their Father's eyes, they are flawless."  We have used this post from Kaleigh with our own students at HCA.

This is truly the "bright side of technology", God giving these lovely ladies a voice to share His truth.

Kids Who Don't Leave the Church

I recently came across an article on FaithIt.com entitled 3 Common Traits of Youth Who Don't Leave the Church.  (This seemed a fitting follow up to my most recent blog post, Where Are the Future Leaders?)  In this article, written primarily to an audience of youth leaders, the author identifies three characteristics of youth who remain engaged in their faith into adulthood.  Those traits are:

Converted - The author uses the term "unconverted evangelicals" to describe youth who have grown up in the church, learned the church culture and language, and are actively doing all kinds of church stuff.  And this no less true of youth in Christian schools; it is just another part of Christian culture to acclimate to.  I have often likened this to an inoculation, the process of giving a weakened form of a disease in order to prevent infection by the disease.  Youth are exposed to the culture which can "inoculate" them to their need of a Savior.  Toward that end, the author exhorts us to be
"praying fervently for the miraculous work of regeneration to occur in the hearts and souls of our students by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Equipped - Ephesians 4:11-12: "[Christ] gave teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry." Here the author issues a call to be "growing churchmen and churchwomen who are equipped to teach, lead, and serve."  I would add to that a call to train youth with a Biblical worldview, to be able understand and articulate how their faith in Christ informs their walk in every arena of life.

Modeled - Here the author addresses the critical role of the home in all this, saying that "the common thread that binds together almost every ministry-minded 20-something that I know is abundantly clear: a home where the gospel was not peripheral but absolutely central ... In general, children who are led in their faith during their growing-up years by parents who love Jesus vibrantly, serve their church actively, and saturate their home with the gospel completely, grow up to love Jesus and the church."

As I read this, I was struck that much like the old three-legged milking stool, all three elements are required:  God's role in conversion, the church's and school's role in equipping, and the parents' role in modeling. Of course, their is some overlap in the last two roles, but it simply reinforces the conclusion of that passage in Ephesians 4 - "We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Where Are the Future Leaders?

In his 2006 book, provocatively titled The Last Christian Generation, Josh McDowell addresses a crisis facing churches today.  He quotes surveys from Barna and others that indicate that 70% or more of "churched youth" will find that the church will play a part in their lives when they leave home ... some put that number as high as 90%! (page 13).  McDowell believes the solution lies in "revealing to this generation who Christ really is and then leading them to properly respond to him." (page 69) To do that, he believes we need to change our educational model.  Note what he says as he relates the Hebrew model of education found in Deuteronomy 6:

The goal of the Hebrew model is not mere memorization of repeatable facts; the goal (as Moses made clear) is to live out the truth.  In this approach, truth is designed to lead to transformation.  Truth in this educational approach is to be learned by practicing it in real life.  According to the Hebrew model, the student has not "learned" a thing when he or she can repeat it to the teacher; it is learned when it is reflected in the student's life.  In this approach the testing is in the living.  The question becomes not whether the student has the information correctly stuffed into his or her head, but rather "how has the truth transformed the student (emphasis added) attitudinally and behaviorally?"

Without using the phrase, McDowell is essentially describing the mission/vision of the Christian school.  In the HCA Student Outcomes document, we say that "a Christian education is, therefore, one that not only teaches students the truths of each academic discipline, but also shows students how and why each truth is part of a larger holistic Truth that encompasses all of reality and reflects God's nature.  A Christian education must also equip students to live in the light of that reality so that Truth is not something they simply know intellectually but actually informs the choices they make.  This involves more than information--it involves instilling wisdom so that a student's whole being is engaged and influenced by God's Truth."

Where are the future leaders coming from?  The Cardus Education Survey (2011) studied students in public, private, Catholic, Protestant, and home schools on a variety of measure.  Most interesting was their conclusion concerning church leadership.  After looking at measures like attendance, giving, volunteerism, commitment to an infallible Bible, participation in missions trips, they singled out Protestant Christian schools, reaching the following conclusion: "It is clear that the graduates of Protestant Christian school are ideal church members in many ways ... the Protestant Christian school is having an impact on how its graduates participate in church life." (page 20).

The future leaders of our churches are sitting in classrooms of our Christian schools today ... truth that transforms.

True Leadership

"True greatness, true leadership, is achieved not by reducing men to one's service but in giving onself in selfless service to them."

J Oswald Sanders in Spiritual Leadership

When HCA was established four years ago, one of our first priorities was to develop opportunities for students at HCA to be actively involved in service outside the school itself.  Toward that end, I met regularly with several moms who were passionate about this topic, and it quickly became evident we wanted to find a way for the students to develop long-term discipleship relationships through this service, not just a series of one-shot projects.

In God's providence, a new ministry was starting in Johnson County seeking to reach out to the unreached ... a ministry with a "neighbor's heart - taking Jesus to people in need by extending help and hope."  As we talked with the leadership of this new ministry, Mission Southside, it became clear that a partnership would be mutually beneficial.  In the spring of 2011, we began a student-led discipleship ministry to a group of elementary students in a local community.  Every Wednesday afternoon for the past four years, HCA students travel through this community on one of the HCA buses and pick up kids as they arrive home from school.  After arriving at a local church which has generously provided their facility, these students lead a Bible study and activity time for these elementary students.

This is truly a student-led ministry.  They prepare the weekly Bible studies, plan the activities, promote special events, and basically "love on" these kids each week.  They recruit students from HCA to participate and even disciple their own leaders to take their place when they graduate.  The current leaders have all "come up through the ranks" ... Listen to them as they share a little of their passion for this ministry.

"More than anything else, I love seeing the smiling faces on the students as they see our bus arrive; they are so excited to see us.  It is so gratifying when we can see them grasping the Bible story, asking questions, being involved ... It makes it worth going every week." Senior Emily Hocker

"I go because of the kids; I feel like I'm making a difference in their lives.  It's exciting to see growth in the kids that have been coming for four years.  I recently heard of one of "our kids" who was sharing from the Bible at lunch in her own school!  That's why we are doing this."  Senior Jared Finley

"My passion is to see the kids respond to the message of Jesus for the first time.  It's powerful to think that we can be a part of that.  It has also really helped me look outside of my self.  There is so much brokenness in the families in this community; the one-on-one time with the kids helps me put myself in their shoes." Junior Adam Asselta

This is "true leadership" in action!

Just Say "NO" to Negativity

Shhhhh .... Listen carefully!! What is that sound?  It is the sound of silence; for the first time in weeks I enjoyed an evening at home without a flood of "robocalls" on behalf of candidates running for office.  Here in Kansas, we had competitive races with national implications, and we got a taste of what swing states like Ohio must experience every election cycle.  The big money rolls in, and our voice mail and mailboxes are filled with messages and postcards.  And most of those are messages are negative, warning us of the dangers of the opposition candidate, attempting to "drive up the negatives" for the opponent.  And every candidate expresses their distaste for these ads, and yet they do it anyway.  Why?  Because it works!

I recently came across a blog post by Square2Square marketing where they talked about the power of negative marketing.  Among their conclusions were that "negative emotions are always the strongest ones" and that "we can't ignore the fact that negative emotions are the strongest drivers of
behavior."  They pointed to a study in the Harvard Business Review that noted that the top three "viral emotions" in marketing strategy are anger, disgust, and surprise.  It works!

So the negativity works in campaigns.  But we also have learned that negativity doesn't work for governing.  That reminds me of a change in approach I took many years ago when talking to people about the value of Christian school education.  People often give their reasons for considering Christian education in terms of what they don't want ... "I don't want <fill in the blank> that I will find at the public school."  At the point, I gently turn the discussion to talking about what is positive about Christian education ... what we do want.   At a Christian school, students are taught to view every discipline from a Biblical worldview, a "real world" education.  Students are taught and mentored by godly Christian teachers, passionate about discipling the next generation of Christian leaders.  The Cardus Education Survey found that Christian school students are uniquely prepared to be productive members of their local churches.  Every child is seen as a unique creation, formed in the image of God to be respected and nurtured.  This whole positive approach is well articulated in this post by James K.A. Smith, professor of philosophy at Calvin College.

Consider what Christian school education has to offer ... I'm "positive" you will be impressed!

Unquestioned Answers

Goodbye grey sky, hello blue

Nothing can hold me when I hold you

Feels so right, can't be wrong

Rockin' and rollin' all week long

This song introduced America to the coolest guy on TV in the late 70's ... leather jacket, cycle, the hair, babe magnet ... The Fonz.  Happy Days was a nostalgic look at adolescent life in the 1950's and featured the antics of Richie, Joanie, Chachi, Potsie, and Ralph.  I'll never forget Richie's line upon returning from a conversation with his father: "Grounded for life! I don't even know what that means!"

But embedded within the lyrics of the theme song is a worldview statement ... an unquestioned answer.  "Feels so right, can't be wrong" ... Is that really the standard for morality? It certainly accurately expressed the hedonistic philosophy of the day, consistent with occultist Aleister Crowley who famously proclaimed "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law."  The only reason sin is tempting is because it "feels so right".  If it didn't, we wouldn't be tempted!

This message was recently repackaged by Pharrell Williams in his hit Happy:

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

At first glance, these lyrics seem harmless enough, but is happiness really the truth?  If it makes me happy, it must be truth!  How does this square with Christ's claim - "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life"?

Unfortunately, our entertainment culture is filled with "answers" to life's biggest questions, and often those answers are left unquestioned.  Recently our students in grades 9-12 watched a presentation by AXIS (www.axis.org) where they were challenged to view their culture with a critical eye.  AXIS likes to say, "The problem we have is not unanswered questions; the problem is unquestioned answers."  At HCA we are working to help our students and families question the "answers" provided by our culture.

Created For Relationship

The focus at our recent S.T.A.R.T. (Student Teamwork and Readiness Training) event for incoming 7th grade students was TEAMWORK.  We spent a great deal of that time talking about the foundation of teamwork, relationships.  Early in Genesis we find God saying "It is not good for man to be alone"; although the immediate context is Adam's need of a helpmate, the larger application is that man is created for relationship.  This is confirm by the nearly sixty references to "one another" in the New Testament.  John Donne repeats this them in classic literature, observing that "no man is an island, entire of itself..." And popular culture recognizes this truth, poignantly illustrated by the movie Castaway where the Tom Hanks character, in the absence of human interaction, famously established a "relationship" with a volleyball he names Wilson.

In many ways, a Christian school is an ideal place to develop the "one anothers" of the Christian faith in the student's formative years.  Just like the "real world", a Christian school is filled with imperfect people living out their faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Encourage one another, bear with one another, forgive one another, love one another, serve another, spur one another on to love and good works, clothe yourself in humility toward one another .... what better place to practice the exercise of these traits than in a Christian school.  There, under the care of godly teachers, students are able to be "iron sharpening iron" as they learn how to be cooperative members of the Body of Christ as described by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 12, the team to which God has called all believers.

At the end of the S.T.A.R.T. program, we gave the student teams thirty minutes to create a video illustrated some of the teamwork ideas we talked about.  I thought you might enjoy a couple of those videos.