One of the many things I love about Dan Kimball’s book, The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for new generations is the margin notes, written by other Christian thinkers that he asked to interact with his text. In a section about Dan’s metamorphosis from a modernist youth minister to a pastor for emerging generations, Mark Osteicher wrote, “Contrary to much of our current thinking about the importance of powerful youth ministries to the lifelong spiritual development of future adults, research proves otherwise: a teenager who attends a church’s worship service on a regular basis and does not attend youth group is more likely to continue to attend church worship services as an adult than a teen who is active in youth group but doesn’t attend worship services with other age groups.”

For more information on The Emerging Church, go to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310245648/fm082-20

In his book, "The Radical Reformission" Mark Driscoll writes, "In our kingdom culture, young people are identified not as adolescents but rather as Christians of whom Christian living is expected. We believe that because some of the greatest prophets and kings in the Bible were in their teens and early twenties, Christian maturity and leadership should be expected at a young age."

1 Tim. 4:12 (NLT) "Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."

Surveys have discovered that three in four young people brought up in the church walk away from that environment after high school. When asked about their reasons for walking away, 20 percent of young adults claim they want to take a break from church after graduation. Frank Turek believes the problem and the solution are in the local church.

Turek, founder of Crossexamined.org, has called on churches to ground young people in the truth, otherwise they will search for it somewhere else. Turek says many times the church over emphasizes emotion and ignores the biblical mandate to develop the mind. Speaking on a recent webcast, Turek said, “I think that if more churches actually taught people the truth and challenged them with truth they would stay engaged, But they're not staying engaged because we're feeding them cotton candy." Turek is developing a plan to equip churches and people to help reverse the dropout trend among young people. He added,” We're supposed to know what we believe and why we believe it, and for good reason – emotion alone is not enough to protect Christian students at college or make them bold witnesses for those they meet. If they arrive at college with nothing more than good sentimental feelings about Christ, they are easy prey for anti-Christian professors and a campus environment intent on undermining their faith."

--Apologist: Youths Need Truth, Not 'Easy Believism'; http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100120/apologist-youths-need-truth-not-easy-believism/index.html; January 20, 2010, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Colossians 1:23 (CEV) “But you must stay deeply rooted and firm in your faith. You must not give up the hope you received when you heard the good news. It was preached to everyone on earth, and I myself have become a servant of this message.”

When research is published, it often is the result of carefully planned studies conducted by credentialed and respected scientists. A report published by the journal Biology Letters was written by a group of 8 to 10 year old students from an English elementary school represents a “genuine advance” in the field of insect color and pattern vision. Working with a neuroscientist from University College in London, the students carefully laid out a research plan and then thoroughly discussing the data they collected.

The group trained bees to go to different colors and patterns by rewarding them with sugar. The bees where able to learn and remember cues based on color and pattern. The presentation was slightly unconventional because it was contained amusing phrasing and diagrams drawn with colored pencil. Though a bit unconventional, scientists who reviewed the research said though it was modest and lacked statistical analysis, the study was correctly and cleverly designed. One scientist said she hoped the project could inspire people to approach science in a way that that was creative and fun. The students apparently enjoyed the work. Their final comment read, "We like bees. Science is cool and fun because you get to do stuff that no one has ever done before."

Science Journal Publishes Study By 8-Year olds,

--http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132257566; December 22, 2010, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

1 Timothy 4:12 (HCSB) “Let no one despise your youth; instead, you should be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

A study at UC Irvine shows that adult levels of physical and cognitive abilities are reached by the age of 16. However, emotional maturity is not achieved till around 22. Laura Rico claims that college students often engage in the most dangerous behavior because they are given the freedom to do as they please but often don’t have the maturity to make decisions for long term gain.

Thus certain informational decisions like finding a job or ending pregnancy can be researched and studied upon; however impulse control like alcohol and violence are often made on the spur of the moment. These students look the part and have the cognitive ability to make decisions but often don’t have the emotional control to make the best decisions long term. —Jim L. Wilson and Ryan Wong

Brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking.