If you came last your and loved it, this year is going to be even better!  Yo, there is a new URBAN TRACK, that is going to be HOT!!!!!!  You need to check it out!!!!!

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Whitney Houston has made some serious missteps in the past few years, many of which were documented by the media and even her ex-husband’s ill-conceived reality show “Being Bobby Brown.” Understandably, Whitney wants all of us to forget her past drug and marital issues and focus on her music again, which leads us to her new album, “I Look to You.”

On her first album in seven years, Houston makes it clear that she has fought her way back into the musical spotlight, hoping she can win our hearts back, while still accepting that there may be those who doubt her.

Before delving in too deep, it is necessary to address Whitney’s new voice. Once lauded as “The Voice,” Houston has certainly lost a bit of her range due, undoubtedly, to her age and drug use; but that doesn’t mean that she can’t hold a tune. For the most part, Whitney consciously stays within her new range—although the ballads sprinkled throughout tend to draw out notes that are less steady.

This is really this album’s pitfall: The ballads don’t really match the quality of the ones from previous albums or many of her other songs on “I Look to You” itself. The biggest proof of this lies within the album’s first leaked track, “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.” Certainly those who are looking for more of Whitney in her “I Will Always Love You” days will be drawn to this track. But, placed in the middle of the album, the song falls flat. The slow power ballad builds slowly and ends anticlimactically. Other songs, like “Like I Never Left” and the first single, “Million Dollar Bill,” just sound outdated and cheesy.

Interestingly, on “I Look to You,” the up-tempo and mid-tempo songs take center stage. Notably, “A Song for You” shines through in the middle of the album when its slow musical-esque piano tinkling gives way to a faster, synthesized dance beat. The slower Akon-produced “I Got You” really brings Whitney into the present. It’s able to showcase Whitney’s still-powerful vocals without straining them and put her over a modern hip-hop-influenced head-knocking beat without her sounding out of place.

Closing the album, “Salute” is by far one of the standout tracks on “I Look to You,” with Whitney proclaiming that she survived all by herself over a military-like snare. Again, Whitney sings extremely well within her range to great effect, showing that when she has the right song, she can hit it out of the park.

As Whitney says in the final song of “I Look to You,” “Don’t call it a comeback/I did it for years.” Whitney’s “I Look to You” isn’t really a comeback, but more of a reintroduction. As the singer tells her story, we are introduced to her new voice and her new style. Gone are the massive runs and the incredible power ballads. Replacing them is a faster-paced album that shows that, for the most part, Whitney Houston can still believably compete against the younger girls who run today’s R&B music scene.

Many people realize that the church is losing people. What is not realized is that the vast majority of people drop out as students and young adults. In fact, research reveals that seven out of 10 people who drop out of the church will do so between the ages of 18 and 22.

This age group gives a variety of reasons for the departure: They wanted a break from church. They didn’t connect with the people in the church. They perceived existing church members as out of touch with current reality. The results boiled down to one simple reason: Church was not essential to them.

Instead of finding meaning in the church, students and young adults are finding it in the culture around them. Some blame resides with the students who don’t like the answers the church gives, but churches have done a poor job of demonstrating for students how believers are salt and light of culture, the flavor and guide of society.

Ultimately, church and culture don’t have to be mutually exclusive. The church should be the place where students learn how to interact with the culture without being swept into it. What are some practical ways churches and parents can help stem the tide of a young adult exodus?

1. Talk about your faith. The young generation not only wants to see faith in action, they desire for their parents to have a conversation with them about why their faith is important.
2. Give encouragement during life changes. Many dropouts we interviewed stated that a life change prompted their departure. One consistent way to help students through these life changes is to be a source of encouragement and support.
3. Empower students to serve. The more students serve in the church, the higher the likelihood that they’ll stay in the church. Don’t wait until students reach the age of 18 to ask them to serve. Find creative ways to get all ages involved in serving.
4. Surround students with mature adult believers. The greater the number of adults directly involved in a student’s life, the higher the probability that he or she will remain in the church. Conversely, our research also found that if students have few adults involved in their lives, the likelihood they drop out of church is greater. The heart of the church dropout problem exists within a short four-year window. If the dropout problem is solved with students in this age group, then the church dropout problem in general is remedied. I’m confident that parents, family members, friends, and other church members can rally behind students, connect with them, and model Jesus’ way of relating to the world.

Additional Suggestions for Parents of High School Graduates

• Before your student leaves for college, help him research area churches with effective college ministries.
• Encourage your student to visit several churches with collegiate ministries. Ask her about his visit and how the church compares to her home church.
• Discuss the possibilities of your student moving his church membership while away from home for four years. If might help him stay connected instead of constantly feeling like a visitor in someone else’s church.
• Help your student try to find campus ministries to join in an effort to find other believers who will hopefully be connected to and active in a local church while away at college.
• If your church is not currently ministering to collegiates, volunteer to begin a college ministry to not only help your student stay connected to your church during the collegiate years, but to help them find connections in their college town where they go to school.
• A care package ministry from your church can help your student know that your church continues to care even when he is away. If your church doesn’t have this ministry, volunteer to get the names of all the college students and find church members to adopt a collegiate for the year. Those connections with church members will build trust and give your students people to turn to back home regarding prayer requests and needs.

Sam S. Rainer III is pastor, co-author of Essential Church: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts (B&H), and president of Rainer Research. This article was adapted from an article that appeared in the February 2009 issue of Homelife. The research quoted is from the LifeWay Research of 1,023 Protestants, conducted April and May 2007. Margin of error plus or minus 3 percentage points.

There are more than 250,000 college students involved in Southern Baptist churches and campus-based collegiate ministries. Of this total, more than 16,000 have indicated they feel God’s call to a full-time Christian vocation. 

These future national, church, and denominational leaders must be given opportunities to develop basic leadership skills and use their spiritual gifts. Therefore, they must also have opportunities to develop basic leadership skills and use their spiritual gifts.

There are boundless opportunities for collegiates to experience such growth within your church’s student ministry. Many college students feel they live in a world in which there are few ways they can truly make a difference. As a result, many become spectators in an adult world; and we, in turn, criticize them for being lazy and uninvolved. Moreover, churches are guilty of not expecting and not challenging this emerging generation to invest in Kingdom growth. Yet, there are wise churches that have tapped into this incredible spiritual resource.

These churches have stressed the importance of college students being involved in the total life experience of the local church. They encourage students to serve in the church’s worship, children’s ministry, student ministry, outreach, and serving ministries. They urge them to be involved in teaching Sunday School and discipleship groups. This involvement helps college students define and develop their spiritual gifts and leadership abilities. These lessons in church leadership help them see where God may use them in the local church, regardless of their vocational choice.

It’s important to realize that the most likely ministry in which to involve college students is your church’s ministry to teens. There are several very legitimate reasons this is a natural fit.

1. College students are in tune with the cultural norms for communication, fashion, music, art, and so forth. They understand the thinking patterns and social axioms of students. This is critical if we are to reach youth for salvation and ongoing discipleship.
2. Involving college students in youth ministry provides a seamless transition from high school to college. If strong interpersonal relationships can be established between college students and teens during the later stages of the teens’ involvement in the student ministry, it ensures an easier transition into the collegiate or young adult ministry. If the graduate moves away, the chances of him searching for church involvement and relationships similar to those they have experienced the past few years greatly increase.
3. A benefit of involving collegiates in student ministry is the duplication process of transforming discipleship. Because of a college student’s investment, students mature in their faith walks. These former youth can duplicate the discipleship process with students in the church’s current student ministry.
4. College students can establish mentoring relationships with two or three students in your ministry. Mentoring will help collegiates honestly evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses as disciples.

As you involve collegians in the life of your student ministry, be careful in evaluating their level of involvement. They will have an incredible influence on the lives of those students entrusted to them. It would be wise to pursue students exhibiting the following characteristics:

• exhibits a vital, growing, personal relationship with Christ;
• life reflects strong commitment to discipleship;
• attends worship regularly;
• a student of God’s Word;demonstrates the ability to make wise decisions;
• exhibits high ethical and moral standards;
• has strong communication skills;
• relates well to peers;
• has demonstrated an interest in cultivating relationships with youth;
• works well with adults.

Involving college students in your student ministry is not without its risks. Remember, these are young leaders at the beginning of their leadership journeys. They will have a ton of questions and will, like you and me, sometimes make poor decisions. The rewards, however, will last for all eternity as you and they invest in God’s plan for redeeming a fallen world.

Bill Wade has been successful in ministering to collegiates and in involving them in meaningful ministry projects as a way to mentor students. He has guided students to use their gifts in ministry and in serving others.

Images of Manhood and CeremoniesI
If you doubt the power of vision, flip on your television. Look at the images of manhood. Too often you see men who never grew into manhood. They are indecisive, selfish, and altogether shallow. They run around many of the responsibilities of genuine manhood. Here’s the true reality: without an authentic vision for manhood, many adult males will spend their energies in self-serving, misguided ways.

Christian dads know what’s at stake in raising boys, and they try hard to do right. But even Christian fathers need the power of a manhood vision to guide their choices in life and to help them raise their sons to be men.

In every major culture in history, men banded together to pass on a manhood vision and to celebrate manhood ceremonies with their sons. In our era, manhood ceremonies have fallen on hard times. If we went by cultural cues, we’d conclude that today’s manhood ceremonies include activities such as chugging beer and mastering the X-box. For teenage boys, the only “manhood ceremonies” they ever experience are those they create for themselves. There is no man to guide and mentor them to manhood.

A Christian Model of Manhood
My manhood vision is based on the two most significant men in history: Adam and Jesus Christ. We all know what Adam did – or more precisely, what he did not do. When everything was on the line, he didn’t take responsibility. He ducked behind Eve. Adam’s failure was not just a moral failure, it was a manhood failure.

Jesus serves as the polar opposite to Adam. He faced challenges far greater than Adam, yet He held firm. His was a vision of faithfulness and nobility at all costs. Bringing together Adam and Jesus, we see that a good vision for manhood includes rejecting passivity, accepting responsibility, leading courageously, and expecting God’s greater reward.

Sons need to hear this message from their fathers. Sons need words of encouragement, a focus on strengths instead of weaknesses. Sons need to hear how they can use their talents in positive, life-giving ways that match God’s vision for manhood.

The Manhood Model at Home
Sons need to see fathers modeling manhood at home, especially with the son’s mother. How a man interacts with his wife teaches the son how to act at home. The son will copy his father from the earliest years. The son is like a blank template, waiting to be pressed in the proper shape.

If your son is already in the teen years or the relationship has been difficult, it’s never too late for a fresh start. Sons want to connect to their fathers, no matter how old they are and no matter how badly you may have messed things up. If you have missed the mark with your son, now is the time to start anew. Go to a few Christian men for counsel. When the time is right, go to your son and apologize for letting your interests distract you from the relationship he needs with you.

Fathers, it’s up to you to share the power of a Christian vision for manhood with your son. Nature won’t do it for you, and our culture will only deposit a miscast vision that leads to regret. Take responsibility for raising your son. If you do, you’ll someday know the satisfaction of watching your son drive off to college prepared – not just to take his classes seriously, but also to take the call to authentic manhood seriously.

These future national, church, and denominational leaders must be given opportunities to develop basic leadership skills and use their spiritual gifts. Therefore, they must also have opportunities to develop basic leadership skills and use their spiritual gifts.

There are boundless opportunities for collegiates to experience such growth within your church’s student ministry. Many college students feel they live in a world in which there are few ways they can truly make a difference. As a result, many become spectators in an adult world; and we, in turn, criticize them for being lazy and uninvolved. Moreover, churches are guilty of not expecting and not challenging this emerging generation to invest in Kingdom growth. Yet, there are wise churches that have tapped into this incredible spiritual resource.

These churches have stressed the importance of college students being involved in the total life experience of the local church. They encourage students to serve in the church’s worship, children’s ministry, student ministry, outreach, and serving ministries. They urge them to be involved in teaching Sunday School and discipleship groups. This involvement helps college students define and develop their spiritual gifts and leadership abilities. These lessons in church leadership help them see where God may use them in the local church, regardless of their vocational choice.

It’s important to realize that the most likely ministry in which to involve college students is your church’s ministry to teens. There are several very legitimate reasons this is a natural fit.

1.      College students are in tune with the cultural norms for communication, fashion, music, art, and so forth. They understand the thinking patterns and social axioms of students. This is critical if we are to reach youth for salvation and ongoing discipleship.

2.      Involving college students in youth ministry provides a seamless transition from high school to college. If strong interpersonal relationships can be established between college students and teens during the later stages of the teens’ involvement in the student ministry, it ensures an easier transition into the collegiate or young adult ministry. If the graduate moves away, the chances of him searching for church involvement and relationships similar to those they have experienced the past few years greatly increase.

3.      A benefit of involving collegiates in student ministry is the duplication process of transforming discipleship. Because of a college student’s investment, students mature in their faith walks. These former youth can duplicate the discipleship process with students in the church’s current student ministry.

4.      College students can establish mentoring relationships with two or three students in your ministry. Mentoring will help collegiates honestly evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses as disciples.

As you involve collegians in the life of your student ministry, be careful in evaluating their level of involvement. They will have an incredible influence on the lives of those students entrusted to them. It would be wise to pursue students exhibiting the following characteristics:

·         exhibits a vital, growing, personal relationship with Christ;

·         life reflects strong commitment to discipleship;

·         attends worship regularly;

·         a student of God’s Word;demonstrates the ability to make wise decisions;

·         exhibits high ethical and moral standards;

·         has strong communication skills;

·         relates well to peers;

·         has demonstrated an interest in cultivating relationships with youth;

·         works well with adults.

Involving college students in your student ministry is not without its risks. Remember, these are young leaders at the beginning of their leadership journeys. They will have a ton of questions and will, like you and me, sometimes make poor decisions. The rewards, however, will last for all eternity as you and they invest in God’s plan for redeeming a fallen world.

·         Students are seeking a place to belong.

·         Many come from dysfunctional families. They seek a stable environment and people to love them.

·         Students today experience and/or are aware of abuse. They are looking for people who do not take advantage of them physically or sexually.

·         Collegians live with repressed emotions. They are seeking a support group that understands their emotions and accepts them for who they are and who they want to become.

·         They are seeking a sexual identity. Students see more severe consequences of morality. With sexually transmitted diseases on the rise, students are seeking ways to remain sexually pure.

·         Students today demonstrate a lack of commitment – yet they are willing to join most anything that will address the needs in their lives. They have no brand loyalty, including the church.

·         Students today want personal contact. They want to know the people they go to class/church with. They want to know if these people can be friends.

·         Students experience more stress and have a need to learn how to relax and enjoy more of life. Is there more to life than a college dorm on Saturday night?

·         They seek traditional lives in nontraditional ways. They may postpone marriage and children until they establish their careers. Being well-off financially is more important than developing a meaningful faith.

·         Students have a hunger for spiritual truth. They need to internalize their faith. Yet many are giving less energy to developing their own spiritual lives.

·         Collegians are highly skeptical but generally respond to people who are authentic with them.

·         Students have limited time, therefore they make choices more carefully about what they do and don’t do. If a program begins to weaken, your program may not be meeting his needs.

·         Students endeavor to discover their strengths and weaknesses, to see who they are and how they relate to and affect their world. They have a need to discover their own identity – who they are.

·         Students need to understand the importance of Christian fellowship.

·         Students are creating a new family every day.

How Did We Get Here?
Aside from obvious cultural influences of the media and Hollywood, one main contributor to the way teens view sex education is presented in schools and in public health campaigns. With the onset of AIDS came a shift in sex-education. Programs became either “abstinence based” or presented a “safe sex” message. One-in-three high school programs are now abstinence based thus preventing educators from even addressing the risks of oral and anal sex.

It’s widely agreed among health-care professionals that in both cases, teens are interpreting “no sex” as not having vaginal intercourse, and that as long as a condom is worn or penetration is avoided, other types of sexual behaviors are not considered “sex” and thus are “safe.” So, if you ask a teenager if she’s abstaining from sex, she may honestly respond, “yes,” when in fact she is active in sexual behaviors like oral sex, anal sex, and/or mutual stimulation.

Truth and Consequences
Traditionally, oral sex is an extremely intimate act that follows marriage and vaginal intercourse. But the creativity of adolescence has made oral sex a loophole for not crossing the perceived line of virginity. They don’t believe they’ve lost their virginity because they’re not having “sex.” The truth is that “virginal” means pure, clean, and undefiled. To commit adult sexual acts means there will be many immediate and long-term emotional and spiritual consequences to pay. Students need to know the high risk of physical consequences.

More than 3 million American teens (one in four 15-19 year olds) contract an STD each year, according to the Sexuality Information & Education Council of the United States. The CDC currently reports:

·         40% of all chlamydia cases (which leads to infertility) are in 15-19 year olds

·         Teens have the highest gonorrhea rate

·         Teens are at the highest risk for hepatitis B

·         The number of herpes cases in white teens was five times greater in the 1990’s than in the 1970’s.

Teenage girls are particularly susceptible to STD’s because of the immaturity of their reproductive organs makes them less resistant to infection. A 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation survey of 500 male and female teens showed:

·         72% were sexually active

·         93% didn’t think they were at risk for a STD

·         25% didn’t think an STD could be transmitted by oral sex or manual stimulation.

Perceived safety nets such as condoms and dental dams (for use with oral sex) only reduce the risks. These behaviors are sex, and there is no guaranteed safe way to participate in them.

The Parental X-Factor
Encourage parents to talk with their teens about sex. Don’t let parents fall prey to the myth that talking to their teens about sex will somehow lead them to start having sex. Teach parents to use the following to help their teens deal with the mounting sexual pressure in our culture:

1.      Educate yourself about the range of teen sexual behavior, including current slang, and trends in teen relationships.

2.      Accept the reality that whether you’re aware or not, your teen is interested in sex.

3.      Require your teen to spend more one-on-one time with just you.

4.      Keep conversations open and loving, no matter what teens have to share.

5.      Look for natural opportunities to talk to your teen about sex. Don’t be afraid of taboo topics like self or mutual stimulation. Research topics together that are informative on sex, dating, and relationships.

6.      Be vigilant in your parenting. Walk teens through moral decisions instead of telling them how it will be.

7.      Define romantic love and how waiting for marriage is what God intended. Explain why with biblical truths.

8.      Pray daily for your teen’s protection and guidance.

Most people know director Sam Raimi for his blockbuster Spider-Man movies—or perhaps from A Simple Plan, his underappreciated tragic tale of greed. But he first burst onto the scene in the ‘80s with the Evil Dead series—over-the-top campy horror films that were large on both gore and laughs. Well he’s come back to mine that same vein in his latest film, Drag Me to Hell

“At the moment she has to make her choice, I want the audience to make that choice with her. They sin with her.”

Most teenagers won’t be familiar with, or care about, his previous horror films; they’ll only know that this is a horror film that’s only rated PG-13.

Make no mistakes: This is not the torture-porn horror that’s (unfortunately) been so prevalent in recent years, as seen in films such as Hostel and the Saw franchise. Nor is it another American remake of a better-done Japanese horror film. Raimi’s horror makes you cringe and laugh at the same time—it’s quite a feat.

The film opens with a bang, as a couple brings their young son to a medium. He’s stolen a gypsy necklace and been cursed. The poor child is thrown over a balcony, and the ground literally opens up and spectral hands reach out of the depths and drag him down to “hell.”

Fast-forward a few years and the main story revolves around Christine Brown (Alison Lohman), a sweet young loan officer who’s dating college professor Clay Dalton (Justin Long) and trying to move up in the world. Clay’s family is very wealthy, and they don’t approve of him dating a “farm girl” when he could do so much better. So Christine listens to speech CDs on the way into work to get rid of her drawl, and she says no to sweets because she used to be heavy as a teenager. She’s doing everything she can to “better” herself and win the approval of Clay’s parents.

She’s also up for a big promotion at work, but she’s got competition in the form of sleazy Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee), who also wants the job. Trouble begins when Mrs. Ganush comes in looking for an extension on her home payment. She’s one of the most hilariously gruesome old ladies I’ve ever seen in film. Christine is forced to make a choice between the compassionate thing for this woman and the best thing for the bank. She sides with the bank.

This leads to a well-done, disgusting, and funny fight between Christine and Mrs. Ganush in a parking garage. When all is said and done, Mrs. Ganush has managed to curse Christine, using a button from her coat.

What’s interesting is the moral dilemma Raimi (who co-wrote the film with his brother), gives Christine. She’s just doing her job, and it’s neither her nor the bank’s fault that Mrs. Ganush can’t pay. So is it wrong to disallow the extension? In an interview, Raimi said, “This is a young woman who thinks she’s a good person, but she acts out of greed….At the moment she has to make her choice, I want the audience to make that choice with her. They sin with her.”

So now she’s tormented by a Lamia, an evil spirit that will make Christine’s life hell for three days before pulling her down to the real thing. So she decides to visit a shaman to help her get rid of the curse. His suggestions include blood sacrifice (not Christ’s, mind you, but an animal), and attending a séance complete with human and animal possessions.

When none of that works, she finds out she can give the curse to someone else by turning over ownership of that cursed button. [Spoiler alert.] She has an opportunity to give the curse to Stu, the bank rival who did her wrong. But she chooses not to do that, and seeks another way. I won’t ruin the saw-it-coming-from-a-mile-away ending, but it does fit the tone of the film well.

I’m not recommending you or your teenagers see this, despite how well done it is. But we know teenagers will see it, and there’s so much wonky theology here that it would be irresponsible of us to just let it float out there, unanswered and unaddressed. If you’re dragged to this film, at least be prepared.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of horror violence, terror, disturbing images and language.

Discussion Questions:

What would you have done in Christine’s place at the bank? Explain.

Was her decision a sin? Why or why not?

Is it possible to “better ourselves” by changing the way we talk or our appearance? Explain.

Do you believe that hell exists? Explain.

Is it possible for someone to curse you to hell? Why or why not?

Why do people go to hell? Is there any way to escape that fate? Explain.

Would you have given the button to Stu? Why or why not?

Do you think Christine “deserved” what she got? Why or why not?