“We are instructed to pray honestly, openly and continually.”

That got me thinking.  Then my thinking was interrupted by a beep.  It was a text from my husband James. I quickly typed out a reply and hit send. Then I got back to thinking. How can I communicate openly, honestly, and continually with God.

Then I got another text from a friend. So of I course I answer her immediately. I resolved to really ponder and think about prayer.  How can I stay attentive to God’s voice throughout my day? Another text breaks into my reverie!

Then it hit me. I DO know how to communicate continually and honestly.  I text!

The average teenager sends over 3,000 texts per month, according to this article by CNN.  http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/10/15/teen.texting.mashable/index.html. This works out to an average of over 100 texts per day.  Since I am a bit older than a teen, I can’t keep up that pace, but I probably send 10-20 texts a day.  If I’m frustrated with the kids, I’ll text my husband. If I need prayer, I’ll text my mom. If I want to get in touch with a co-worker, I’ll text them.  If I see a funny sign, I will snap a photo and send it to a friend. Most of us are in a constant stream of communication throughout our day.

Yet, only 40% of American teens pray at least once a day, according to this study by the National Study of Youth and Religion.http://www.youthandreligion.org/node/62  Even adults struggle to pray, and those who do pray often report that it feels scripted and forced. I am learning how to be in conversation with God throughout my day.

So what if we texted God?

I don’t know God’s cell number, but I do know that through the Holy Spirit we have a way to instant message with the Almighty.  What I mean by texting is sending up short, 140 character prayers throughout our day.

- Don’t worry about the spelling or grammar.

- Don’t make it long and fake sounding.

- It’s just a quick text from a Friend.

And be ready for His reply.

What a Difference!

Unfortunately, that’s not the common practice of the world. The young are silenced. Teens’ voices and opinions don’t matter to anyone, except the advertisers.  This practice is why youth culture has evolved—a need to have an arena where youth can express themselves in their own ways and be heard.  This is how youth often feel:

And the silencing of youth is even worse in church.

In many churches, children and teenagers are nuisances. Keep them quiet and out of sight is the mantra. Resources are not spent on youth, but on building programs. Children’s and youth ministries are not designed to grow youth, but to keep them occupied while the adults “have church.” Evidence:

- Adults do all (or most) of the speaking, teaching, and planning of events, even events for kids and youth.

- Youth and adults are kept segregated for most of church programming.

- Those who work with children or youth are paid less and seen as less important than those who work with adults.

- The groups who make decisions for the church do not include youth.

The Bible shows us that God loves and values the Voice of Youth

“…And a little child will lead them.”     Isaiah 11:6

“Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.”  1 Timothy 4:12

“‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.”      Acts 2:17

What can we do to listen to and encourage the Voice of the Youth?

- Rachel

So far only 1 broken bone @ #UrbanLeadership . Megan’s pinky didn’t make it through the basketball game.

We all have a natural bent to being STARTERS  or to be FINISHERS.

STARTERS are: innovative, creative, strategic, and visionary. They take joy in blazing new trails and discovering new paths. Starters often love to bring people together around a stated vision. They get off the blocks quickly.

FINISHERS are: self-motivated, faithful, resourceful, priority-focused, and achievers. They take joy in completing the task and seeing the results. Finishers are those who fight to see the dream reach reality. Finishers look toward the end.

Both personality styles have their flaws, of course. Starters often get engaged by starting the next great thing and leave a project half-done. Finishers often get so focused on completing the task they fail to innovate or change when conditions change mid-stream.

Where do you fall? Do you love to Start or do you get joy from Finishing?

What’s more important as a leader: Starting Strong or Finishing Well?

In leadership, we must be able to recognize our own strengths and weaknesses. I believe the answer to the Starter/Finisher dilemma is to create a TEAM where the leaders share opposite strengths. Then each leader must be EMPOWERED to lead in their area of strength.

And if you don’t know me….I am a finisher.

- Rachel

Then to pile it on- I can’t access Gmail! All of my work emails and contacts are unavailable to me.

This is how I feel:

No phone. No email. I am cut off from the world. Voiceless.

This situation has me thinking about the importance of communication. As a leader, I need to be able to communicate with others to:

• Hear and understand their concerns
• Ask for their opinions and support
• Share my vision and plan
• Talk through issues as they arise
• Celebrate successes along the way
• Identify challenges and failures
• Implement alternative strategies
• Reach our goals together

Without communication, nothing is possible. Leaders who can’t communicate simply have no way to connect to others and cannot create a team.

• How do you communicate with others?
• What happens when a leader stops communicating?

Use this week to develop your communication skills.

By the way, if you want to connect with me today, try Facebook.

- Rachel

I do not have 20/20 vision. I am near sighted with astigmatism. Since I was a young child, I had glasses. The best glasses Minnesota Care welfare can buy: Pink, plastic, thick glasses. Fashion statement of the decade. My 3rd grade photo is hilarious. Then I got contacts. Not the nice, breathable, comfortable, wear for 21-day contacts I have now, but rigid gas permeable contacts. Otherwise known as hard, scratchy, UNCOMFORTABLE pieces of plastic in your eye.

Having hard contacts as a 9 yr old was awful. It was a half an hour struggle daily to get them in. I was constantly losing my contact and spending hours crawling on my hands and knees with a flashlight half blind looking for my contact. My brother became the master of helping me find my contact. I lost contacts in the pool, on a motorcycle ride, in the car.  My eyes grew red and swollen after countless pokes trying to insert the dreaded contact. But I was told I needed to wear the hard contacts every day to maintain my vision. [Good] vision is so important that I went through the hard contact rigmarole for 15 years.

At Urban Leadership, we stress the importance of vision. We define it like this:

Vision is a CLEAR mental picture of what COULD BE, fueled by the CONVICTION that it SHOULD BE.

We emphasize to our young leaders that vision is crucial. If you don’t have a clear mental picture of your desired destination, how will you get there? If you don’t have the conviction that your vision should come to pass, what will motivate you to work for it?  We share God’s vision for restoration and challenge young people to develop their own leadership vision for their year of Community Transformation Projects.

What’s your vision?

What are you willing to go through to bring your vision to reality?

- Rachel

• The first ring in the ripple represents the impact our experiential leadership-training can have on the individual students who are trained to take a stand and to be transformed from citizens to community leaders.

• The second ring represents the impact of leadership the student brings back to their local church or organization.

• The third ring represents the impact of the students’ commitment to a one-year service project in their community.

• The fourth ring represents the impact ULA alumni have on incoming through mentoring and training.

• The fifth ring represents the impact alumni are having on the world through lifelong commitment to vocational and volunteer service.

Student Story: Arsheki Berry

Ripple #1: Initial Impact

Arsheki (Banks) Berry left with her brother from North Carolina due to the fact that her mother was confined to a drug rehabilitation center. She had no contact with her father. Arsheki moved to Minnesota her junior year of high school and her grandmother recommended that she do something productive and someone from her church recommended she participate in Urban Leadership Academy. Arsheki came to ULA timid and afraid of engaging people but left with a fundamental belief that despite her difficult past she could make a difference in the lives of other teens.

Ripple #2: Impact on Congregations

The church Arsheki attended mainly works with recovering drug addicts. After attending Urban Leadership Academy, Arsheki became a key leader in their youth ministry.  She encouraged and helped the other students, as well as working with the adult youth leaders to plan events.  Her ministry team danced regularly at their church services. Arsheki eventually was hired on by the church as a successful indigenous leader.

Ripple #3: Service Projects impact

Arsheki was challenged and felt empowered by ULA to start a dance team with the children from the church.  She worked with a group of junior high and high school to improve their self-esteem, create relationships, and provide a way for the team to minister.  Arsheki’s dance team performed in many church across several states, and even danced in front of a crowd of 2,000 at MN Youth Convention.

Ripple #4: Reintegration as Volunteer

Arsheki came back to Urban Leadership in her college years, while she was serving as the youth director at her home church.  She initially started out as a mentor for young girls, guiding them through their service projects and encouraging their faith and leadership. Arsheki also came to work with Urban Leadership as a teacher, sharing her testimony and experience with whole new classes of ULA students.

Ripple #5: Long Term Impact of Program

Following her experience in Urban Leadership, Arsheki grew in leadership and attended North Central University and majored in Urban Studies. She was a youth minister for two years in Minneapolis and then moved with her husband to Chicago to work with youth in on of the most dangerous areas of the city. She now resides Washington D.C. working with a church.  Arsheki has dedicated her life to fulfilling the call of God in the city.

Here’s a look at one of our graduates, Aleisha.

Even more amazing is that they come back and serve ULA!

We’ve had over 50 graduates come and teach, lead, mentor and serve the next generation of upcoming leaders.  This is truly grassroots, community based leadership.