Teen Trends
Television News Daily recently released an article about the success of the newly released movie, Uncharted. Since its release last week, the action movie has raised over 51 million at box offices. The movie is based on a series of video games where players must work as treasure hunters to retrieve long-lost historical artifacts around the world. Uncharted features popular young actor Tom Hiddleson, who has become largely famous for his part in playing Spiderman. Spikes in the box office may reflect a return of people to the movie theater, as well as how video games influence media because it was based on a video game franchise. This may be a good time to reflect on just how much video games influence our student's media and lives beyond their computer or TV screen.
Song of the Week
Rend Collective dropped their new single "As For Me" this past week. The song is based on the Scripture Joshua 24:15, where Joshua speaks about how his household and family will serve the Lord. The song features Rend Collectives signature sound, featuring bagpipes and plenty of the keyboard. Their lead singer has many short solos where the band drops out, leaving room for reflection on the lyrics and what is being said. Overall, the song has a hopeful feeling that reminds listeners to stand strong in their faith and serve the Lord no matter what is happening around them culturally, in the world, or in their personal lives. This is a great reminder for students as they feel influenced by friends, in school, or even their families to stray from Christ.
Game of the Week
Doctor Dodgeball is a great twist on the classic game with a few alterations (including the addition of a pool noodle). The setup is the same as classic dodgeball with teams split on either side and however many dodgeballs in the middle. The twist is that there is a special player called the Doctor. When players get hit, instead of going to jail they must sit down where they are. The doctor has to run around and hit them with a pool noodle in order to "heal" them and let them rejoin the game. If you have a full gym available and a floor scooter, you can even have the doctor on an "ambulance" (the scooter) to make it a little harder. However, once the doctor gets hit they cannot get revived. From here, you play off of normal dodgeball rules where if you get hit you leave the play area. If you want an additional twist to make the game a little longer, add a hula hoop that can't move. This is the Doctor's base where they are safe inside, once they leave however they are fair game. They can go in and out as much as they want, but the hula hoop cannot move. This game allows for a way to balance out a very athletic youth group and get younger students involved as the doctor. Many students may have played this in PE in school, and my own friend Isaac recommended it for youth groups
Sermon Illustration
Our very own Taylor Bumgarner got to speak at a small event on Southern Wesleyan University's campus, and she used an excellent illustration in her message. Her sermon was about love, and this particular illustration references loving yourself. Most people struggle with negative self-talk, but they would never say those sorts of words to anyone else. If you wouldn't say the words that you think about yourself to another person, why would you say them to yourself? When these self-deprecating thoughts arise, we need to evaluate the validity of those thoughts and dismiss the ones that are not grounded in truth, which is the case most of the time. I know this is much easier said than done, but this illustration helps to emphasize how poorly we can treat ourselves sometimes.
2 Corinthians 10:5 - We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Encouraging Thought
As we've talked to some of the students on Southern Wesleyan's campus, many of them are hitting the metaphorical wall already. Chances are that most students across the nation are in the same boat. Assignments, tests, and papers are piling up, and the end seems like an eternity away still. If you are one of the ones in this situation, just keep doing your best. No one expects you to be perfect, they just expect your best. If those you know are already dragging at this point in the semester, keep encouraging them to keep grinding knowing that their hard work will pay off at the end of the semester.
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The vision of the Student Leader Weekly is to empower high schoolers (alongside adult leadership) with practical ministry ideas.