Recently, for a youth ministry course I am taking this semester at Campbell University Divinity School, I was asked to give my opinion on how I felt culture was being presented today by society at large, and then the way churches present it today. Below are my thoughts on the matter. In looking at the way culture is presented by society in comparison to the way it is presented by churches and ministries today, you will see that there are both stark contrasts, as well as shocking similarities. First, there are considerable differences in the way the two parties go about viewing youth culture today. Recently, I watched a movie called “Project X,” in which a group of unpopular teenage boys decide to throw the “party of all parties” when one of the group members’ parents are away for a weekend. The majority of the movie is just that, one big party, that continues to grow and escalate to the point that there are so many people attending, that police SWAT and riots tea
Whether I am officiating a wedding, or a college football game, in my jobs as a ordained Baptist minister, an adjunct college professor & a certified sports official, I am familiar with the "lines" that establish the boundaries that govern activity. In my years, I have found that it is what happens between the lines that so often leads to deeper knowledge and greater insight into who we are in the world around us. Thanks for journeying with me "between the lines."