THEPARENTLINK

a parenting resource from the Youth Ministry @ Winfree

CHALLENGE YOUR TEENAGERS

TO SHARE THEIR FAITH

Many adult and teenage Christians view spiritual conversations as intrusive and in-

appropriate. They think it’s none of their business to meddle in their friends’ spiri-

tual beliefs. But evangelism, or faith-sharing, is actually a desperate search-and-

rescue mission. It’s about reaching into other people’s lives with Jesus’ grace, truth,

and salvation.

Help your teenagers see that a life without Jesus is like a car without an engine or a

cell phone without a service provider. Kids need to know that even if their friends

don’t realize it, they’re hungering and thirsting for Jesus. At the core of every hu-

man is a gaping hole—a hole that can be temporarily filled with material things,

sports, or sin. But the only thing that can truly, fully, and permanently fill the gaping

hole is a relationship with Jesus.

Evangelism isn’t about standing on a street corner with a bullhorn yelling, “Repent!”

It’s about helping people fill their invisible, unquenchable need for God by sharing

the gospel with them. A great place for teenagers to start is with their friends, shar-

ing stories of their own experiences with Jesus. So-called “friendship evangelism”

allows kids to develop relationships with peers while helping them build a relation-

ship with their Savior. It also makes it easy to conduct discipleship and follow-up

with these new young Christians.

Rusty’s Ramblings

This month’s article comes prior to the Holiday season in which spiritual conversations seem a tad bit easier. So take advantage of the season to point people towards our “reason for the season”

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends. We certainly have much to be thank-ful for. Maybe you would consider sharing those blessings with someone else this holiday season?

The Youth ministry will be doing so on Election Day by serving with Friends of the Homeless More details on page 4, calendar.

God Bless ~ Rusty

TIPS >>> PONDER THIS

In Dare 2 Share: A Field Guide to Shar-

ing Your Faith (Focus on the Family),

Greg Stier offers these evangelism in-

sights:

Share your own story. A compelling

story has 1.) a “before-and-after” fac-

tor about how your life is different

with Jesus, 2.) a turning point that

convinced you Jesus was your only

hope for eternal life, and 3.) authentic

honesty about how you still struggle

but are forgiven.

Discover your own faith-sharing style. Four types of sharers include talkers

(articulate and persuasive), stalkers

(blunt and courageous), brains

(intellectually stimulating and logi-

cal), and buddies (loving and rela-

tional). Maximize your

strengths but try out different styles in

different situations.

Use the seven secret spiritual “weapons” at

your disposal. These include 1.) people’s

inner knowledge of God, 2.) their per-

sonal conscience, 3.) the power of the

word of God, 4.) the power of the gospel,

5.) the power of prayer, 6.) a life of doing

good, and 7.) your love for other Chris-

tians.

Have L3 conversations. Use this formula to

talk about Jesus: Loving3 x Listening3 x

Learning3 = Reaching3. When you truly

love people, deeply listen to them, and

learn from them and God’s word, you can

reach them on a deep level—with God’s

help.

What does evangelism mean to

you? Do you consider yourself to

be an effective faith-sharer? Why

or why not?

How easy or difficult is it for you

to discuss Jesus with other people?

What is your personal faith-

sharing style?

How can your family work to-

gether to tell people about Jesus?

November 2011

GOING DEEPER Expert Insights for Parents of Teenagers

By Greg Stier

RESOURCE

At SimplyYouthMinistry.com,

Dare 2 Share president Greg Stier

discusses the urgency of sharing

Jesus with others: Christians, especially adults, have lost

their faith in the simple gospel message

to truly transform lives. Most sing

about its power on Sunday but don’t

carry that confidence to work on Mon-

day. What’s the result of our failure to pro-

claim Jesus with our lives and lips?

America is falling apart morally. We’re

keeping the cure to the cultural cancer

of sin locked in our hearts. If we dis-

covered the cure to the real disease of

cancer, we’d share it with everyone,

wouldn’t we? We’d “force our

beliefs” on cancer victims out of love.

We’d do our darndest to get them to

accept the cure. We wouldn’t say, “I’ll

just live out the cure and hope cancer vic-

tims see the cure in me.” Well, guess what? Those around us who

don’t know Jesus are headed somewhere

infinitely worse than death. And we have

the cure. Yet the average Christian has

never shared it with their closest friends,

coworkers, and neighbors. But I refuse to be discouraged. I have the

privilege of training tens of thousands of

Christian teenagers to share the cure, the

ultimate antidote to the poison and can-

cer of sin. What I see in the eyes of

teenagers is a hunger. They believe in

the power of the gospel.

At conferences, it’s awesome to watch

thousands of teenagers call up their

friends and share the good news of Je-

sus. What’s amazing is that they do it

without blinking. So I’ve got to ask: Are you sharing

your faith? Think of one person you

know who doesn’t know Jesus. Pray for

them and then give them a call. Let

them know you have something impor-

tant to talk about and set up a time to

chat. Evangelism still works—but we must be willing to take the initia-

tive.

In the 30-day devotional Reach Out…Don’t Freak Out (Simply Youth Ministry), Greg Stier offers mo-tivation, tips, stories, and strategies that will help young people tell their friends about Jesus.

BIBLE FOCUS For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who be-lieves.

Romans 1:16

MEDIA SPOTLIGHT

MAINSTREAM MUSIC

THRICE

Background: This Orange County

band has never been labeled a Chris-

tian band, despite the fact that lead

singer Dustin Kensrue is a staunch

Christian and his lyrics are often

straight from the Bible. Their songs

deal with topics such as Peter’s dark

night of betrayal, Christ’s invitation

for us to take rest in him, and how

earth isn’t our real home. The music

is as deep and thoughtful as the lyr-

ics. Kensrue recently became wor-

ship leader at the O.C. branch of

Mars Hill Church.

Albums: Major/Minor (2011), The

Alchemy Index (2007), Vheissu

(2005)

What Thrice Says: Regarding

where he gets inspiration, singer

Dustin Kensrue says, “Definitely the

Bible; I draw from that a lot. Usually

not as the starting point for things,

but it is very much where I am

rooted. I feel like it speaks to a lot of

things.… I’m constantly inspired

and challenged by reading it.”

Explore: Check out Thrice on Spo-

tify or on their mySpace page at

www.myspace.com/thrice.

.

CHRISTIAN MUSIC

FAMILY FORCE 5

Background: This crunk band

incorporates punk, hardcore,

R&B, dance, electronica, funk,

and rap metal into party songs.

It’s as crazy as it sounds, but the

songs are hits. Three band mem-

bers are brothers. They’ve been

criticized for using almost no

overt references to God or their

faith, though they do maintain

positive lyrics.

Albums: III (2011), Dance or

Die (2008), Business Up Front/

Party In the Back (2006)

What Family Force 5 Says: Regarding the band’s Christian

image, singer Solomon Olds

says, “They want Sandi Patty all

over again. They want Amy

Grant.… We want to make music

that is for God, but at the same

time, we want to make music

that people enjoy and that they’re

not turned off by.”

Explore: Check out their videos

at www.youtube.com/watch?

v=zSkzHFUheXA.

MOVIE

Movie: The Three Musketeers

Genre: Action, Adventure, Ro-

mance

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis: A spirited young man

named d’Artagnan joins forces

with three Musketeers who have

rebelled against their order and

try to take down the evil forces

threatening their land.

Our Take: Despite director Paul

W.S. Anderson’s history of the

Resident Evil movies, the action

here will likely be closer to the

recent Pirates of the Caribbean

films—epic action with a few

laughs, but nothing too offensive.

Movie: Real Steel

Genre: Action, Drama

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis: In this futuristic boxing

movie, Hugh Jackman is a

washed-up ex-fighter. He makes a

comeback as a trainer for a huge

battling robot—and draws close

to his estranged young son in the

process.

Our Take: The premise sounds

ridiculous, but this movie looks

like it has heart to accompany the

special effects.

For more media discussions and

ideas, go to

www.MinistryandMedia.com.

VIDEO GAME

Batman: Arkham City—This is a sequel to one of the best games to come out in recent years. The first game was a

blast, with a wide-open world and gameplay that was a super-fun mixture of stealth and fighting. The female villains

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy wore skimpy outfits, so if they make a reappearance, that would be the biggest red flag

in an otherwise teenage-friendly game.

Dark Souls—This sequel to the cult hit Demon’s Souls will likely be very similar to that dark, violent action game.

The gimmick here is that the game is incredibly hard, and there are no places to save within levels; players die and go

all the way back to the beginning. This one isn’t for the kiddos.

“Building Wise Habits”

Continues till Advent

NOVEMBER 2011 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 4

Supper @ 5:45 Sign up in the office

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

“LIVE” Small Groups @ 11

Friends of the homeless @ 11

Supper @ 5:45 Sign up in the office

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

“LIVE” Small Groups @ 11 The Gathering starts at NOON “Secret Hike” following till 6.

Supper @ 5:45 Sign up in the office

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

“LIVE” Small Groups @ 11 Business Meeting and Chilli Cook Off @ NOON The Gathering @ 5:30 PM

Friends of the homeless 11-1

No Wednesday Activities

27 28 29 30

First Sunday of Advent

NO Gathering @ 5:30 PM

Supper @ 5:45 Sign up in the office

SAVE THE DATE

12/29-12/31

MAKEMIE WOODS

Spiritual Retreat 2011

Come out and serve food with us! Meet at Winfree at 10:30,

travel downtown and then be back by 1.

Coming in January...

< SAVE THE DATE > December 10