MiHi Youth April 2023 Newsletter
Happy April!!!
Greetings to all MiHi Youth parents. I pray that you are all well in the Lord Jesus!
Here’s the April’s MiHi newsletter.
JAM (Junior High Adventure in Ministry) is set for May 12-14 (Friday-Sunday) at the Cairn University in Langhorne, PA. For those who are interested, please sign up at https://northshorecommunitychurch.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/157/responses/new ASAP!!!! Jam will be $160 per person. For more information please contact Pastor Tae at tae@nscc.live.
Friday Night Live
Friday Night Live in the month of April 2023
We are back to our normal schedule starting at 7pm with dinner!
4/7 - Good Friday Service at 7:30pm
4/14 - Regular Meeting
4/21 - Activity Night
4/28 - Regular Meeting
Communicants Class
For those who are interested in getting baptized or confirmed on Sunday, June 4th, there will be communicants class on Saturday morning on 3/25, 4/23, and 4/29 at 9-11am. For those who are interested please RSVP to Pastor Tae at taenscc@gmail.com.
Gospel Project - From Heaven to Earth
Sunday school continues…
Sunday school will be in person at the youth attic located in the church office. Sunday school hour will be from 9:45-10:45am.
Unit 19 - Here is the Lamb of God Union Unit 20 - God’s Love Was Revealed Among Us in This Way
4/2 - The Savior is Followed
4/9 - The Savior is Our Sacrifice
4/16 - The Son Brings Eternal Life
4/23 - The Son Offers Living Water
4.30 - The Song Embodies Divine Love
Protect Teens from Sextortion
By: JOHN PERRITT
A few months ago, a sophomore in high school had dinner with his family, prayed with his mother before bed, and went to his room. There, he saw a message on Instagram from someone posing as a female. The messenger—who was in Nigeria—convinced him to participate in a sexual episode, filmed it, and then threatened to send the images to friends and family if he didn’t pay $1,000.
The 16-year-old football player didn’t have $1,000. He begged for mercy, then, under intense pressure, said he was going to kill himself.
“Go ahead,” the person wrote, “because you’re already dead.”
Sometime after 2:00 a.m., while his family slept, Walker took his own life. Since then, his father has been sharing his story (including on the Local Youth Worker podcast), warning other teens and parents to be alert to traps, not to talk to strangers online, and to keep phone use in shared spaces.
Last month, international law enforcement agencies released a warning: “In 2022, the FBI received thousands of reports related to the financial sextortion of minors, primarily boys, representing an exponential increase from previous years. Unfortunately, the FBI is also aware of more than a dozen suicides following these incidents.”
I wasn’t surprised. A year prior, a friend of mine shared how this exact trend occurred in his family.
What’s going on? And what can Christian parents do?
Sextortion
Although variations of this occur on numerous social media platforms, Instagram seems to be the primary platform for this trend. Here’s how it works: a user of Instagram receives a flirtatious direct message from a random person, often claiming to be a friend of a friend.
The predator increases the nature of the messages from implicit text to explicit dialogue and images. From there, the predator suggests or pressures the victim into a pornographic video chat, recording it all through a secondary device. At some point, the predator decides they have enough footage. They threaten to send the images or video to their victim’s Instagram followers unless money is sent to the predators.
I shudder to think of how I would have fared if that same technology was around when I was a teen.
As Christians, we should continue to trumpet the good ways technology can be used, but we must also be vigilant to sound the alarm for the satanic evils manifested on these devices. I’m convinced technology is a gift from God, but I’m equally convinced the Devil is real.
How to Protect and Parent Well
As I reflected on this new evil with another father, he remarked, “As more attention is given to this trend, these people will simply take evil in a new direction.” As we get wise to their schemes, extortionists will become more cunning and employ new tactics to come after our children.
We can’t warn our children against every scam and trap in the world. So how can we teach them to be wise enough to spot trouble on their own?
1. Lean on the community God has given you.
God created us to be in community with other believers. In his grace, God gives us fellow church members to walk alongside us as we live faithfully in a fallen world.
As parents, we should find like-minded friends who are diligent in their countercultural practices in relation to smartphones and social media. Having friends with similar convictions helps us resist the strong temptation to relax our boundaries when we hear that some parents are more permissive. Don’t fight this alone.
I’m convinced technology is a gift from God, but I’m equally convinced the Devil is real.
In addition, providing our children with a community of pastors, Sunday school teachers, and youth group leaders gives them a strong network of people who can love them, care for them, notice when something seems wrong, and tell them the truth. Our kids need other faithful adults in their lives.
2. Be consistent in your pursuit of your children.
Since the Devil is constantly pursuing our children, we must remain diligent. While we aren’t omnipresent and need to raise our children toward independence, we also must aim to be in the lives of our children.
Conversation doesn’t always flow naturally and easily with them, but it’s worth fighting for. Start this early and often with young children. Plan weekly meetings with older teens over coffee or a meal. Let them know you’re a safe person they can share anything with and prove that by not being shocked by what they share. We want our kids to know that we hope they’ll resist sin, but if they fall, we’ll help them figure out what to do next.
3. Remember technology can be a real danger.
Even kids with good church communities and loving parents can fall prey to online temptations. We cannot let our guard down when it comes to the horrific evils that are easily accessible to our children. In a recent conversation, a father shared with me how his friend’s child was trafficked through social media. Additionally, rampant teen pornography use is destroying future marriages and leading young minds toward total enslavement.
Smartphones must be handled in the same manner as keys to a vehicle. Lives are at stake when we place a smartphone in the hands of a child. Establish boundaries, as you would around car use. Set a reasonable limit on daily screen time, eliminate isolated screen time as much as possible, and implement a curfew for the device. Statistics show these boundaries matter.
4. Do everything in love.
Don’t set your rules out of fear but out of love. Communicate to your children how much you value them and set an example by practicing some of these boundaries in your own life.
Remember our children belong to the Lord. This means they’re to be protected and guided in a way that honors God. In the most basic sense, it means parents must pray, asking God to give them wisdom for the children he’s given to them.
While God uses parents as the primary caregivers for children, we need to remember he’s steadfast in his care of them and in his fight against the evils of this world. He loves our children more than we do, and his protection of them is perfect. His mercies—for them and for us—are new every morning.
Worship Song for the month of April 2023!!
Welove - Christ Our All
LYRICS:
Christ Our All
Verse 1
We were weary, we were cold,
Straining under heavy loads.
We had built our towers high,
Thinking we could reach the sky.
But our wealth was poverty
Never filling up our need,
Never freeing us within
From the shackles of our sin.
Verse 2
God the infinite, above,
Looked upon us with His love;
Jesus died the death we owed
And His mercy overflowed.
No achievement and no wealth,
No success or strength or health,
Can compare with knowing Christ.
He's our everlasting life.
Chorus
Sing His praise. Shout His Name.
Christ our treasure we proclaim.
Earthly gain we count as loss,
For the riches of His cross.
Seek the light of His face,
And give Him the Highest Place.
All the honor He deserves,
Christ in us, Christ our King, (Christ our God.)
Verse 3
There is nothing that exists
That is greater now than this:
Christ the true and holy Word,
Slain as Savior, raised as Lord.
Mighty power humbly shown
As He bought us for His own.
O rejoice and follow Him,
Christ our wealth in earth and heav'n.
Bridge
King of Majesty,
God of mystery,
Eternal Word become flesh.
Holy risen One,
Chosen, mighty Son.
Giver of true righteousness.
CCLI Song # 7209158
Encouraging Worship Music
Hope you find this months MiHi Youth Newsletter Helpful!