Life Teen and WMD's (Weapons of Mosquito Destruction)

Hi everyone, Tonight in Life Teen we talked about ideas for future changes/improvements to Life Teen. I opened by explaining the idea of a "Third Alternative" (from the book by Stephen Covey). In Africa, there has been a long controversy over the use of DDT (a pesticide) to kill Malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Malaria kills about 1 million Africans every year. DDT is controversial because it is harmful to the environment, and can cause cancer. To further complicate the issue, some mosquitoes are developing resistance to DDT. This is a good example of a long, unresolved, two-alternative problem. Should DDT be used or not? Now for the Third Alternative. A diverse team of people came together to take a fresh look at the problem, and came up with a mosquito laser to shoot them out of the sky. A prototype has been built from parts ordered on Ebay, that electronically senses insects that pass through a perimeter fence, identifies the female mosquitoes by their wing frequency (only the females bite people), then zaps them with a laser (similar to the type used in Blu-Ray players) to kill them. You can find out more here. http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/backyard-star-wars/0
What do mosquito lasers have to do with youth ministry? The third alternative is an option that sounds far-fetched and crazy at first, but can solve old problems with new creativity. For the last few decades, Catholic youth ministry has tried to engage teens with the Truth of Jesus Christ and the Church. The statistics are sobering, 85% of Confirmed Catholic Youth leave the Catholic Church by age 30. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing, and expecting different results. We must always strive to improve and change, and do our best to reach those 85%. So tonight with the group I explained that the current two alternatives for teens are to attend Life Teen on Wednesday night, or not attend. To look for a third alternative, we listed what God wants, what Teens want, and a list of ideas that might help accomplish some goals from the previous two lists. I am including what we came up with below. I am hoping we can talk through some of these new ideas in the future, so we can come up with something new and exciting, to solve an old problem. Please feel free to contribute whatever you like to any of the three lists.


What God wants

Faithful Teens
Teens who can defend their Faith
Teens attending Mass and Confession
Teens serving/lectoring/singing at Mass
Teens who evangelize
Attend a good Catholic college, or join a good Catholic college student
group, or become part of a local Catholic group after high school. (for a
list of Catholic Colleges faithful to Church teaching, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Newman_Guide_to_Choosing_a_Catholic_College
Teens with a healthy self image
Teens who consider/pray about all vocation options

What Teens/Parents want (unedited brainstorming)

Entertainment
Food
Football
Independence from parents
Homework time (study hall)
Peace
Money
Connection to Church/Community
Pets
Community/Friends
Clothes
Understand God's Will
Acceptance from Peers
Better social status
Dances
Cars
College credits
Girlfriend/Boyfriend
Traveling
Learning new languages
Fitness classes
Learning guitar
Competitions/awards

THIRD ALTERNATIVE IDEAS

Community service
Life Teen banner on bridge on Peach street, advertise because many
students don't know about Life Teen
Retreats
Using Skype
College credit for Church History Class or Debate/logic
Increase email list, send out short video clips featuring Matthew Kelly
Online forums
Instant messaging
TV show
Famous Catholic visitor/speaker
Catholic singer/entertainer
Ice cream social
Scholarship offerings
Fitness class
Guitar class
Tutoring
Pass out book @ school, like another Church/group passed out "the Life
Book" (bible/devotion book)
Venture Club
Create our own You Tube clips and post them (like Ben + Barbara?)
Competition (brains/bible tournament)
Catholic Drivers Ed.

Reminder, Life Teen Wednesday night @6:15

Hello!
Just a reminder that we will have Life Teen Wednesday night at 6:15pm,
see you then.
God Bless,
Dave


--
David Alcott
Youth Minister/Life Teen Youth Ministry
Sacred Heart and Corpus Christi, Marshfield, WI
Phone: 715-387-1317
Blog: http://shcclifeteen.blogspot.com/



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Reminder, Life Teen Wednesday night @6:15

Hi everyone,
Hope you've been able to enjoy this beautiful weather, we will meet this
Wednesday night at 6:15pm, see you then!

God Bless,
David Alcott

--
David Alcott
Youth Minister/Life Teen Youth Ministry
Sacred Heart and Corpus Christi, Marshfield, WI
Phone: 715-387-1317
Blog: http://shcclifeteen.blogspot.com/



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Use Catholic Online Webmail to proclaim your faith to the world.
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Reminder, Life Teen tomorrow night

Hi everyone,
Just a quick reminder we will meet tomorrow night at 6:15pm Hope to
see you there. By the way, if you would like to be removed from this
list, please just send me an email to let me know. Thanks!
God Bless,

--
David Alcott
Youth Minister/Life Teen Youth Ministry
Sacred Heart and Corpus Christi, Marshfield, WI
Phone: 715-387-1317
Blog: http://shcclifeteen.blogspot.com/



-----------------------------------------
Sent via Catholic Online Webmail!
Use Catholic Online Webmail to proclaim your faith to the world.
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Reminder, Life Teen tonight @ 6:15pm

Hi everyone,
Just a quick reminder that we will have Life Teen tonight, Happy
Wednesday!
God Bless,
Dave


--
David Alcott
Youth Minister/Life Teen Youth Ministry
Sacred Heart and Corpus Christi, Marshfield, WI
Phone: 715-387-1317
Blog: http://shcclifeteen.blogspot.com/



-----------------------------------------
Sent via Catholic Online Webmail!
Use Catholic Online Webmail to proclaim your faith to the world.
http://webmail.catholic.org/