Youth Specialties Blog
Connecting Homosexual Students to God’s Love
By Adam McLane on September 08 2008 | 16 Comments
Homosexuality. Do you ever get scared by that word? Be honest … it can be a very scary word for a youth pastor. Not so much in theory because it’s easy to sit around and boisterously talk about homosexuality and how to handle it with other youth pastors. But no, the crippling fear rushes in like a tsunami crushing an unsuspecting village as you stare at someone you have loved and shepherded, their eyes swollen and bloodshot, and they’ve just poured out their deepest and darkest secret to you; they’re gay. And all you can do is try to quickly scrounge up something, anything, that won’t have this beloved youth running out the door for good.
The pull between the secular world and its school system vs. Christian living and its beliefs are a powerful thing, especially when it comes to homosexuality. When the world is ready and willing to accept and affirm gay youth as they are, regardless of where they are, what a difficult theologically relevant challenge for the Christian community who thinks gay people are broken and need to be fixed. When you were in high school, which route did you take – easy and accepted or difficult and broken? And we wonder why so many youth’s run away from the Church?
Over the years I have had a lot of youth pastors tell me their biggest fear is to have one of their kids admit to a same sex attraction. An even bigger fear: one of their kids is actively involved in a same sex relationship without anyone knowing. And the biggest fear of them all: two of your youths are in a same sex relationship together, and everyone in the community knows!
Has it happened to you? Have you ever had one, or more of your youths tell you they’re having some ‘different’ attractions? Do you fearfully picture them kissing another youth of the same sex? Or how about ‘coming out’ to everyone they know as you watch them first hand, immerse themselves into the broader gay community as they continue to grow older. And no matter what you do it never seems to have an impact. You’re left helpless in a confusing set of circumstances that many churches and youth programs aren’t equipped to handle; not because they don’t care, but because they don’t want to put the painstaking effort into being intentionally committed no matter what the outcome.
Where does that leave you? You try to talk to them about the Bible’s intent for sexuality; you try to tell them they can change their behaviors and attractions; you pray for them and you wish you could just do something more. But even after all of your love and support, heart and tears, you helplessly watch them drift away because you can’t give them a definitive answer that reconciles anything that is happening inside their mind, body and soul; as well as with their faith and sexuality.
But the time is now, as too many youths have been lost to a secular understanding of the Father and turned their backs on Christianity because they weren’t able to find any Believer who was never going to give up on them; regardless if they were ‘fixed’ in your timeframe or not. The difficult discussion has just begun…
Andrew Marin, general session speaker at all three NYWC‘s in 2008, is president and founder of The Marin Foundation, a organization created to build bridges between the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) and religious communities through scientific research, Biblical and social education. He has been published in academic research journals, been featured in national media publications, and appeared on various TV and national radio programs. Andrew is newly married to his wife Brenda, and they reside in the ‘Boystown’ neighborhood of Chicago.
By Adam McLane on September 08 2008 | 16 Comments
What’s New at NYWC? Open Source
By Adam McLane on September 05 2008 | 0 Comments
Ready to contribute? Follow the instructions at these websites.
Sacramento
Pittsburgh
Nashville
By Adam McLane on September 05 2008 | 0 Comments
What’s new at NYWC? Cohorts
By Adam McLane on August 30 2008 | 2 Comments
Check out this video. Tic explains a new wrinkle for our Veterans and First Two Years in Youth Ministry cohorts. Not only do we want you to join a track at the convention, we want you to let us know you’d like to be in that cohort and we’ll assign your cohort a curator.
To join a cohort, drop an email to adam@youthspecialties.com. Make sure to tell us what city you’re attending and what cohort you’re interested in.
By Adam McLane on August 30 2008 | 2 Comments
What’s New at NYWC? Carpools
By Adam McLane on August 29 2008 | 0 Comments
Tic talks about our new social networks that we’ve created for NYWC.
Want to take a look under the hood and see what Carpool looks like?
Sacramento Carpool
Pittsburgh Carpool
Nashville Carpool
By Adam McLane on August 29 2008 | 0 Comments
Children for Sale
By Adam McLane on July 08 2008 | 0 Comments
At the 2002 National Youth Workers Convention Gary Haugen from International Justice Mission introduced many of us to the horrors of child trafficking. We sat in stunned silence the challenge was issued, “What will you do?“
So here we are 6 years later. Child trafficking, the slave trade, and a multitude of other forms of human exploitation are coming to the forefront of American media. Today there was a story on Good Morning America entitled, “How to Buy a Child in 10 Hours.“ And what is the response of the church? Where are the multitudes living out the words of Isaiah?
Learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17
Many of us sat in awe of Zach Hunter when he spoke at NYWC last fall. Unfortunately, I think many people walked away saying, “look what he is doing at his age“ as opposed to what Zach is actually trying to do.
Discussion: What place does social justice play in your youth group?
By Adam McLane on July 08 2008 | 0 Comments
