We had a warm welcome by the Church of the Open Door Youth Group yesterday. I almost felt like I was at home as words like python, iMovie and Ubuntu were used. :-) The fashionable MacBook Pro also drew some attention. The FIM Idiom Skit went over quite well. Pastor Brett jumped trustingly into the role of an American Pastor in a foreign country. The translator (me) had to figure out what these strange phrases like "tickled pink" meant in order to translate them. We eventually determined that Brett had a rash all over his body.
It was also fun to share our new video, "A Day in the Life of Josiah". The students graciously laughed at our gags and gimmicks and hopefully gathered a basic understanding of the mechanics of my job. I then shared a short devotional called A Recipe for Respect. Following this we challenged the kids to write an email to one of the missionaries supported by COD. Some came back that night saying they had. You know our vision, "We desire to inspire the next generation of missionaries by facilitating personal relationships with current missionaries"; This activity hopefully stepped in that direction.
Our evening session was a fun discussion. We opened it up for questions on anything to start and then geared toward a discussion on the intersection of technology, culture and faith. I was blessed to hear the perspective of these young people. My wife even explained why she likes the idea of "Open Source" technology. They challenged me in some areas and gave us new information about how this "tethered generation" thinks. I hope God allowed Rachel and I to challenge them also.
The main point of the evening session was to help them think about how technology can distract us and our culture from the call God has placed on our hearts. It didn't take much discussion for them to totally get the idea. As an example of how the students affected my thinking, the topic of pride came through as one student shared that TXT messaging becomes a battle to always have the last word. This was a major 180 for me. I hadn't ever thought about that potential, but it made so much sense. Jon Barnes gave permission to show his great video "Resolution for Surviving the Future". I think it was a great way to extend this conversation and hopefully helped to cement the ideas in their heads. My prayer now is that God would continue to use the message He gave us in their lives.
