The Spit Bucket

Get Your Play On

How are you igniting the imagination of urban youth?
On a recent visit to a favorite uncle, I was treated to a trip down memory lane, otherwise known as a crawl-space attic. Underneath a layer of dust  were boxes holding my favorite childhood games –kinds that were powered by one’s imagination instead of Intel chips, and played by 2-4 people --not merely their thumbs. They contained popomatics, a bit of assembly required, and small pieces that smacked if you stepped on them.
Like everything else, play has changed. In the day of game boys and cell phones,  the average city kid has probably never turned an abandoned refrigerator box into a space ship. He or she has never made telephones out of orange juice cans and string. While high tech games have engaged a new part of our noggin, flat screen play has grounded the imagination power of today’s kids.

Creativity and the courage to use it—can be fuel that propels a youth out of a negative environment. Here are a few tips to ignite that creative fire.
Think differently
Teach kids to think outside of the box, peer group, whatever. In imaginative play and exercises, encourage kids to step outside of the norm regardless of what others may think. For instance, if Shawna is encouraged to write and recite a poem in your youth program, you are teaching her to think independently as well as think creatively. You are helping instill inside of her courage to express her voice, even if it’s not status quo. If her peers snicker on the outside, let her know that they envy her on the inside.
Question Everything
Encourage youth to ask questions. Who made God? What’s a diphthong? Why did my school pass me to the 8th grade if I still can’t read? Keeping their imagination active can help kids ask more questions at school, encourage literacy and get the education they deserve.http://www.artsandliteracy.org/
Dream Bigger
Most important, kids in high-risk neighborhoods need the imagination to dream. What do they want for their future? If they haven’t seen the positive roll model that they aspire to be, help them see it with their eyes closed. The Bible is full of guys who dared to dream, visualizing the unthinkable, from an animal ark (Noah) to a wall built in 52 days (Nehemiah).
Where to you begin?
Unlocking the imagination can be easily incorporated into any outreach program. Here are a few ideas:
The Question Box
Place a box in your youth center with a big question box on it. Ask kids what they think is in it. What do they wish was inside of it? If the box contained their biggest fear, would it  need to be bigger? 
Color their world
Crayons and coloring is an easy way to engage the imagination of kids of all ages.  You can draw random squiggles on blank pieces of paper. Have each youth create a drawing around that squiggle.
Creator for a Day
Challenge youth to take on the job of Adam and naming all of creation. Would they have named a skunk a funk?  A tiger a Striper? What other creatures would they have created? Would they have created rats, roaches and disease?
Try Something Old
Have youth come up with a game using odds and ends they find in your top desk drawer (paper clips, dice, movie stub, etc.). Or even make some phones out of orange juice cans with unlimited pulp-free minutes. Then share with them about life in the olden days before cell phones, cable and well before Al Gore invented the intenet.
Five Years from Now
Constantly challenge your youth to imagine their lives five years from now. Where do they want to be? How will they get there? What steps are they taking every day to insure that their dreams become a reality?
Add Your Imagination Power
Okay. You get the picture. Now share your ideas with others. What ideas and activities have you used in your youth program to spark the imagination of urban youth?

Restless Side Effects

Why is it that the side effects new drugs offer seem to be worse than the thing that they cure?
Take for instance, Epuip®, the drug to cure the dreaded Restless Leg Syndrome aka RLS, or what my husband refers to as “jimmy legs”. Whatever you call this problem, it’s when your legs want to twitch when the rest of you wants to sleep. I have a good friend who has it, and I suspect my in-laws’ dog has it as well. But thanks to Epuip®, night twitchers have a e cure.
Like every drug, Equip has a few side effects including the trilogy of nausea, drowsiness and dizziness.  If those three weren’t bad enough, Equip now has a few new ones, including an uncontrollable urges to gamble and have sex.
Gee, don’t take this drug in Vegas!
Though I shamelessly write advertising, phrases found in pharmaceutical commercials have never crossed my keyboard. I am not responsible for promotional prose such as “anal leakage” or “erections lasting more than four hours”.  But side effect language is showing up everywhere,  including ads for heart  worm medication for dogs.  These side effects don’t include "uncontrollable episodes of licking, a serious but rare condition", just vomiting, diarrhea, and convulsions.
But funny how one category of drug has missed the side effect bullet. It’s a drug that kills and destroys lives like no others. That drug of course is alcohol.
While the phrase “drink responsibly “appears as mouse type on billboards or subtly in ads, it’s doesn’t have the impact of “do no operate farm equipment” or “think twice before wearing white shorts while taking this product”. Young minds think the only side effect that comes with alcoholic beverages is increased sex appeal and a keener sense of humor. Check out how much advertising kids see when they’re not hanging in your youth center at Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth.
Now. If you were ad writer for a day, and an assignment for an amber ale product crossed your desk, what side effects would you want mentioned?

Eight Random Things About Me

Thing 1
Why am I writing this post? Because Chris Forbes, the ministry marketing coach, tagged me.

Thing 2
If I were born a boy, my name would have been Homer. Yeah, as in Simpson. And if you haven’t checked it out, get ready to view yourself as a Simpson character at  Simpsonsizeme.com
Thing 3
A good friend of mine, Farmer Paul Friday, is in the Guinness Book of World Records for growing the World’s largest peach. It weighed in around two pounds and was roughly the size of a softball. Actually, Farmer Friday has grown the 11 largest peaches on record. And the tastiest. Read all about his patented peaches at FlamingFury.com
Thing 4
I’ve met two Miss Americas,  the lady who catered the inaugural ball and one porn star. No, not at the same time. While I can't find help for those making meals for dignitaries,  xxxchurch.com offers help to those in the pews struggling with porn.
Thing 5
If I have any spare change, I give it to Mission Possible.  This Christian organization deals with street and gypsy kids in Eastern European countries. In 1996, I visited the Mission Impossible in Bulgaria. My interpreter, a teen named Dare, lugged her violin everywhere. She ended up being a world famous violinist.
Thing 6
I hate Lima beans.
Thing 7
The first time I accepted Christ as "my personal Lord and Savior", I did so for a free Snickers Candy Bar. A ventriloquist's dummy popped the question at a local Daily Vacation Bible School. Though I answered "yes" for a quick sugar fix, I didn't understand the full meaning of that Christianese term for another twenty years.
Thing 8
I just picked up from the printer TastyFaith’s newest resource, Another Boy from the Hood, Bible studies for Urban Youth. It contains real stories from guys who were each just another boy from the hood until they met Christ, including a boy named Chris Brooks. While the resource will tell you who designed the cover (Haman Cross), who key-lined and designed the pages (Crystal Tam), the name of the author remains a mystery. That’s because a Christian publisher told me that men in ministry don’t buy resources written by women.  Gee, maybe I’d be better off if my moniker was Homer.

Porn Again vs. Born Again

Where’s the one place you’ll find porn lovers rubbing shoulders with born again Christians?
The great Porn Debate.  This controversial tour, features the world’s most famous porn star, Ron Jeremy and Porn Pastor Craig Gross, who is the founder of   xxxchurch.com
I had to go. First off it was being held in my neighborhood, right next to the Chicken Hut.
Secondly, it would be livelier than a Monday night prayer meeting.
There were all sorts of folks at the debate, from news reporters to fanatical Christians to females with the same moral fiber as those in a Girls Gone Wild video.
The Porn Debate was interesting even though I wasn’t sure what they were debating about. Ron Jeremy stated how porn of today is not the same stuff that was hidden at the bottom of his Dad’s closet. It’s not meant for kids but for consenting adults.  He went onto say that Hollywood porn isn’t the bad stuff—they have standards.  The weird stuff is from overseas.
Craig Gross handled a few tough questions including, “What has done more harm—porn or religion?” He had respect for Ron and genuinely cared for his opponent.
Ron Jeremy is a good actor when his clothes are on. He was wearing an I LOVE PETA T-shirt and enough aftershave to wake the dead in Des Moines.
Ron got the audience to believe everything he said, whether it was true or not. They cheered him on when he said “anal-to-mouth sex” isn't a health hazard. That porn isn't addicting. That porn enhances vs. hinders a healthy relationship. That carrot sticks and celery stalks taste as good as Haagan Daz.
Ron Jeremy got a doozy of a question as well.  “If you had a daughter, would you encourage her to get into the porn industry?”
For a brief second, Ron wasn’t an actor.
Both parties agreed on the freedom of speech, from porn to prayer.
Afterwards, I talked with both Ron the Porn Star and Craig the Porn Pastor. Craig gave me a copy of his documentary DVD, Missionary Positions.  It's about the birth of xxxchurch and the porn industry. There is a PG version of this documentary available and I highly recommend it to every youth leader out there. But before showing it to your youth group, you might want to give parents a heads up.
Ron Jeremy was selling T-shirts that you wouldn’t see at a Youth Specialties convention.
While this event wasn’t for teens, it definitely is well worth the time of a youth pastor. Kids struggle with porn, including the youth that I deal with in Chicago. For more information on porn and the Internet, including a boatload of sickening statistics, visit familysafemedia.com