About Me
- Joe Garrison
- Fishers, IN, United States
Director of Contemporary Worship and Assistant Director of Student Ministries at Castleton United Methodist Church in Indianapols, IN. Husband,Guitarist,and Drummer
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Monday, December 20, 2010
Do "M" rated video games like Halo and Call of Duty have a place in a Youth Ministry?
Every Wednesday I have a group of students that come over to the church after school to hang out and play video games. Most of the time they play Madden 2010 or Halo.I am not your typical youth pastor. I almost never play video games. Seems that most youth ministries have a huge focus on video games; having multiple game consoles and TVs to play them on. I'm just not that interested.
Over the last four months or so I have been watching these students play Halo on Wednesday afternoons. At first it didn't bother me that much (I'm not sure it does even now), but as I watch them I wonder if M rated video games that rely heavily on violence as entertainment have a place in a youth ministry.
I can't really say I'm leaning one way or the other right now. It's just something that I have been thinking about and praying about lately as well as discussing with our other youth pastor. I'm sure I will get a few students pleading their case for why it is absolutely vital to our youth ministry to have these games once I post this...and who's to say they are wrong.
I have always been someone that holds the belief that we should use whatever we have to use to get people of all ages into the Church. Video games seem to be an easy way to get, specifically teen guys, into the Church.
What do you think? Should M rated video games like Halo and Black Ops have a place in a youth ministry? Why or why not? What positive and/or negative effects do you think they have on a youth ministry?
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Taking Time Out
How do we know we are following God's call for our lives? How do we know we are not just following popular trends or culture?
I was thinking about this after a conversation with some friends the other night. A lot of times we get an exciting idea in our head and believe that it is God calling us into something. The trend these days seems to be to go off to Africa, or some third world country to serve the poor and starving. It seems that a LOT of people have been given that call. I've even run into some people that think because I don't specifically hear that call, that I am not following the Holy Spirit.
My question/concern is, do we need to do something drastic like move to Africa, quit our job, or sell all of our possessions to follow Christ? Is it possible that some of us are called to serve in our local communities, or our local church, or even serve as a local accountant or grocery bagger?
I'm not saying that God is not calling you into some type of drastic lifestyle change. All I'm saying is maybe we need to take some time to just sit and listen to the Holy Spirit, not talk, just listen. It might take a few minutes, it might take a year. Try to take the time to understand where God is calling us before jumping at something. Just because something is a trend doesn't mean that we are called to it.
I was thinking about this after a conversation with some friends the other night. A lot of times we get an exciting idea in our head and believe that it is God calling us into something. The trend these days seems to be to go off to Africa, or some third world country to serve the poor and starving. It seems that a LOT of people have been given that call. I've even run into some people that think because I don't specifically hear that call, that I am not following the Holy Spirit.
My question/concern is, do we need to do something drastic like move to Africa, quit our job, or sell all of our possessions to follow Christ? Is it possible that some of us are called to serve in our local communities, or our local church, or even serve as a local accountant or grocery bagger?
I'm not saying that God is not calling you into some type of drastic lifestyle change. All I'm saying is maybe we need to take some time to just sit and listen to the Holy Spirit, not talk, just listen. It might take a few minutes, it might take a year. Try to take the time to understand where God is calling us before jumping at something. Just because something is a trend doesn't mean that we are called to it.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Cliques or Christian Community?
I have been thinking about this since our meeting on Tuesday. We discussed what Christian community looks like and refferred to Acts 2:42-47. Verse 44 says, "All believers were together and had everything in common."
If you look at this with a quick glance it kind of sounds like a clique you would experience in high school. Just a bunch of people exactly alike huddling around each other talking about how cool their "sameness" is.
So is it ok for Christians to have "cliques," or groups of people gathered with "everything in common"? I think it is unavoidable and designed that way by God. God designed each of us with different interests, passions, talents and abilities. He did this so we would each be able to accomplish something different for his kingdom. We, as humans, naturally gravitate towards those people that are similar to ourselves.
Here is the difference...
In high school we gravitated to those that were similar to ourselves, but we purposely excluded those that were different and chose not to accept them. As Christians this should look different. While we naturally gravitate to those people with similar interests and passions as us, we have learned to LOVE and accept those that are different than us. We do not turn away "outsiders" and we learn to accept each person for who they are in Christ.
We will always naturally gravitate to people like us, that isn't going to change. I'm not sure we are made to be "best friends" with every single person on earth. Where we become the Body of Christ is when my community unites with your different community and becomes one big community. It is ok to have a smaller group of friends that are like you. Where being a Christian come in is when we take our little community and engage with someone elses little community to form the Body of Christ.
Think about the United States of America for example. As Indiana we do our thing, Florida does theirs, Nebraska theirs and California theres. We are all cool and unique in our own state communities. However, we are stronger and become a "super power" when we combine ourselves to be the UNITED States of America. Christianity is no different.
What we have to remember is; even though we may have nothing of this world in common with that other person's community, we all have Christ in common. As strong as we may feel in our tight knit small communities, we have the strength of the Body of Christ when we unite all of our communities together and nothing can beat that.
If you look at this with a quick glance it kind of sounds like a clique you would experience in high school. Just a bunch of people exactly alike huddling around each other talking about how cool their "sameness" is.
So is it ok for Christians to have "cliques," or groups of people gathered with "everything in common"? I think it is unavoidable and designed that way by God. God designed each of us with different interests, passions, talents and abilities. He did this so we would each be able to accomplish something different for his kingdom. We, as humans, naturally gravitate towards those people that are similar to ourselves.
Here is the difference...
In high school we gravitated to those that were similar to ourselves, but we purposely excluded those that were different and chose not to accept them. As Christians this should look different. While we naturally gravitate to those people with similar interests and passions as us, we have learned to LOVE and accept those that are different than us. We do not turn away "outsiders" and we learn to accept each person for who they are in Christ.
We will always naturally gravitate to people like us, that isn't going to change. I'm not sure we are made to be "best friends" with every single person on earth. Where we become the Body of Christ is when my community unites with your different community and becomes one big community. It is ok to have a smaller group of friends that are like you. Where being a Christian come in is when we take our little community and engage with someone elses little community to form the Body of Christ.
Think about the United States of America for example. As Indiana we do our thing, Florida does theirs, Nebraska theirs and California theres. We are all cool and unique in our own state communities. However, we are stronger and become a "super power" when we combine ourselves to be the UNITED States of America. Christianity is no different.
What we have to remember is; even though we may have nothing of this world in common with that other person's community, we all have Christ in common. As strong as we may feel in our tight knit small communities, we have the strength of the Body of Christ when we unite all of our communities together and nothing can beat that.
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