It Is Easier To Build Boys And Girls, Than To Fix Men And Women

Over the next few years, if the Lord tarries, I will periodically be writing about how Youth Leaders can help to lead the next great awakening in America. If you search this site you will see over 20 articles already. For today, let me deal with this quick thought from Frederick Douglass, a civil rights orator and preacher in the mid-1800's:

As necessary as programming is, it is not time to major on programming. It is time to major on relationships with young people and children. Malachi said very strongly in the end of his book of the Old Testament, that "God would restore (turn or shift) the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers." And that God would not curse the land who would experience this.
 
Programming is important to a holistic youth ministry and a healthy society. I know that discipleship systems and programs facilitate spiritual growth. However, vital to the millennial generation, is that the church stress the value of relationship. Listen, I know that form and function and structure is elementary to a lot of organizational success. But, young people need spiritual icons today more than any time in history. Why? Because there has been a vacuum of spiritual role models in the teen world. 

We say often that America needs another shift. That our culture needs a revival of some sorts. Read through these following thoughts. Pray over them. And as a spiritual leader, create a shift in your thinking toward young people. Here are a few thoughts about role models to take this blog and your life to another level:

                                                                          "Role models used to be parents"

                "If you cannot find a role model, then be one"

"A role model is someone who has conquered their pain for you"

"If you are able to follow them in private and public, they are a good role model"

                "A role model is quick to show you and not merely tell you"

                           "All of us need someone in our life that we are afraid of. That is a true role model"

 "Children are not a distraction from the more important work. They are the more important work."

                     "A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty"

"If a teenager has never disliked you, you may not have ever been an influence in their life"

"As much as we are watching children to see what they will do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we will do with ours"

   

If we want to see a shift in culture, we must focus on building boys and girls. Because if we are resigned to fixing men, we have lost another generation. Programming and events are not the central catalyst for shifts. Study business, education, or even government and you will find that significant and lasting awakenings of corporate, university, or even nations, begins and is sustained with a relational impact of unforgettable moments. Upon young people.