Writing Team- Learning to Give Godly Advice

Update on the Writing Team

I had not yet had the opportunity to visit the writing team and so I made it a point to get in on their time on Sunday at ILA. Time and time again I am just blown away by the impact City Impact is having on these young men and women who attend the Impact Leadership Academy.

The writing team is working on practicing what to do when situations arise where they will have to give other teens advice. The time began with Mr. Mark (who is the writing team leader/teacher) giving the girls a little rundown of what they were going to be doing with their time that night. He began by asking if they remembered the article they had read the last time they had met and then went on to say they would be reading another article this week and then writing a letter to the author of the article, all in practice for their advice blog which these girls have created to help other teens.

The article is titled “Desperate to Fit In” and It is written by a young teenage girl named Colleen. After the article was passed out to everyone they took turns reading out loud. I want to give you a little taste as to what this article entails

Colleen is a young freshman girl who finds herself desperate to fit in, she begins the article by telling us how she does not know when everything started and then takes us back to a memory of sitting in a police car. Colleen becomes accustomed to drinking and she is a bulimic binger. When high school comes she really wants to fit in and meets a very popular girl Kathy who leads Colleen into a crowd she should not be in. The drinking and binging worsens and Colleen is caught by her parents when they find a wine bottle in her closet. A friend calls Colleen’s mother to tell her about Colleen throwing up all the time and then at her lowest point she is caught shop lifting. Colleen states that secretly she wanted to get caught, but she desperately wanted to fit in. She later states that the friend who called her mom did one of the best things she could have done for Colleen. When she hits her lowest point she makes some decisions for herself and finds that getting a new group of friends is a good idea. She finds a great group of Christian friends and finds they love her for who she is not who she tries to be. After recovering she is tempted again and falls into sin again. The article is ended by Colleen telling us that a few years have gone by and she is not interested in the party scene anymore.

At one point while reading the article Mr. Mark stopped the girls and asked them to think about cause and effect of the article, asked them to think about why she ends up the way she does. Mr. Mark also asked the girls to go back to a place in the article where Colleen talks about secretly wanting to get caught. The girls responded by saying that Colleen wanted to stop what she was doing but she knew she could not do it herself. When they were all finished reading Mr. Mark set a little scenario telling the girls that Colleen had written their blog asking for advice about her situation. He asked that the girls turn to a fresh page in their journals and begin writing a letter to Colleen.

After the girls were done writing the letters to Colleen they read them aloud. I was so touched by what each girl wrote that I want to share what all of them said.

Dear Colleen,

If these people you were hanging out with were really your friends they wouldn’t care how you act or they wouldn’t care if you choose not to drink or shop lift they would do their best to support your decision. I’ve been in your situation were some of my friends shop lift and my best friend moved away and I was desperate for new friends, I really wanted everyone to like me again so I began hanging out with the wrong people getting into fights and getting in trouble so I know how you feel when you need to make a decision that is best for you. Just stay with the right people or friends and keep your head high and don’t let those kids get to you.

CC

Dear Colleen,

I understand how you feel, fitting in is very important to some people, I have always wanted to fit in with the popular, cool, pretty girls. But really it gets tiring to do that cause people only need at least one person close who they can be their self around because that is their real friend. Drinking isn’t the answer it just makes things worse and having a eating disorder is common for people that think they are not thin enough. You just have to learn that not everyone can look the same. I just want you to understand that trying to fit in is normal just try and be yourself because if people cant accept you for who you are then they really wont be a good friend. Good Luck.

Ashlee

Dear Colleen,

If you don’t love yourself you really should and don’t let anyone take advantage of you because obviously you are hanging out with the wrong crowd and that’s okay because everybody does at one point in their life. You should be trusting God and believing that he can change your life because he has a plan for you.

TT

Mr. Mark encouraged the girls by telling them what they had done well and what they could improve. He encouraged them to remember to think of God while they are writing their advice.

I walked away from being with the writing team that night and was just so happy in my heart that these girls get to learn how to give other teens advice, and not only that they are learning what God thinks about them and by writing to others they are teaching themselves how to think of who they are. I began to think of how much I would have enjoyed something like this when I was a teenager. It is wonderful that these girls have the potential to impact lots of other teens. --Evian Schindler, youth Program Communications Coordinator

The Holy Ghost Dance!

Sometimes it’s good to just have a little fun, and so that’s what we did on Sunday before ILA started.

This Sunday there were quite a few students (Tyree included) who arrived for ILA earlier than usual and because most everything has been packed up for the move to the new building there was not a whole lot to do. Mrs. Ashley suggested that the students go into the sanctuary and she would put on some music to listen to, and that’s what they did.

You see as I have told you all before Tyree is very passionate about rapping and he has had the privileged of recording a few of his songs, one of them being the “Holy Ghost Dance”.

It is very exciting to see how passionate Tyree is for writing songs about the word. Mrs. Ashley actually spoke with him about teaching all the students at ILA the “Holy Ghost Dance” and making that the ILA theme song! Mrs. Ashley wanted to learn this dance and Tyree agreed to teach her the “Holy Ghost” dance and before I knew it we were all joining in and learning the dance. This was a great opportunity for the students to come together and share Tyree’s passion for dancing and rapping. It was time to laugh and just have a bit of fun.

ILA Worship- Faith Obstacles

As the theme of the study for the night was "Stepping out in Faith" Mrs. Ashley decided to do a demonstration of this and so an obstacle course was put together. Mrs. Ashley asked for a volunteer and all the boys eagerly raised their hands. Mrs. Ashley called on Zach and he came forward. She then told him to choose a partner, someone he trusts and he chose Ale. A blind fold was given to Ale and he was told to blindfold Zach, then he was given an egg on a spoon and told that Ale was to guide him through the obstacle course! Ale guided Zach very well because his egg never fell nor did it break!

Mrs. Ashley gave the girls a chance to participate and Emelia was chosen. Emelia was given the opportunity to choose a partner to guide her through and she chose Zach. Emelia was really thinking when she picked Zach, because he had just gone through the obstacle and would have a good idea as to what she would be facing. Emeila made it through the obstacle without any problems. Mrs. Ashley went on to ask Emelia if she thought it was easier to go trough the obstacle since she had watched Zach go through it and she said it was easier. This was a good illustration showing that if we allow God to he will guide us through the obstacles we face in our own lives.--Evian Schindler, Youth Program Communications Coordinator

ILA Impact Journal Entries

"What is one thing God helped me do lately, that I didn’t have to do, which showed kindness or sacrificial love to others?"

"Yesterday when I went to Omaha we went to a restaurant and I ordered a cheeseburger and my sister ordered chicken but she thought she ordered what I got. So when the food came she was kinda mad so I let her have mine and I could have hers."--Cameron, 6-8th Boys Class

"Be kind to my sister and show her how much I love her (everyday this week) I let her watch the brat dolls in my room when I was watching a tv show already."--TT, 6-8th Girls Class

"My mamma had no one to help her move because we were moving into our new house. So I helped her and it made her happy because the outcome we got moved in and settled in quickly."--Ashlee, 6-8th Girls

"Friday I babysat all day then when I got home I babysat my little brother so my parents could go on a date."--Addy, 6-8th Girls

Check it Out!!

“Spray for Play”
A Car Wash to benefit children at The Friendship Home
sponsored by City Impact’s Leadership Academy for teens

The Impact Leadership Academy’s Philanthropy Team is a group of urban teens making a positive impact in the Lincoln community. They generated an idea to raise money to create a playground for the children at The Friendship Home.

Come and support their efforts to help young children have a safe place to play!

For more information about City Impact or The Friendship Home,
visit www.cityimpact.org / www.friendshiphome.org


Date: Saturday, July 11th
Time: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: MiddleCross Church, 29th & O

Date: Sunday, July 19th
Time: 12:00pm-4:00pm
Location: Middle Cross Church, 29th & 'O' St.

Prayer Time- Jr. High Girls

As the 6-8th grade girls were wrapping up their study time on Sunday, Mrs. Ashley asked that Miss Molly and Mrs. Julie lead the girls in a time of prayer. Unfortunately, the girls were not in the least bit happy to participate. I began to hear grumbling coming from the girls about how they did not want to do this. I then realized, that they were only grumbling because they were nervous and a little timid to pray outloud. Then, Miss Molly had the idea to use the prayer cards and what a HIT it was! The prayer cards can be held by each person during prayer and it gives small cues on what to say. They go through a round of praising God, repenting, and then asking for God’s help with something going on in life.

With little hesitation the cards were passed out and they began to pray prayers of praise. Radious praised god for listening when she talks, Emeilia praised God for creating the earth and all the wonderful people in it, Jaszmine praised God for loving her, and Jessica praised God for being strong, loving her and being king.

Next the girls asked for forgiveness through prayer, and most of their prayers consisted of asking for forgiveness for not obeying their parents and being unkind to others.

The last round of prayer was so sweet to me. When Jazmine prayed for her grandmother who is ill in the hospital, Jessica followed by praying for a problem in her life and then she prayed again for Jazmine’s grandmother! It was so beautiful to see Jessica pick up on the fact that it was important to Jazmine to pray for her grandmother and Jessica showed she cared by also praying for her.

By the end of prayer time all the girls were so excited and could not stop talking about how much better prayer time was using the prayer cards. I found that the girls are more than happy to pray they just need a little help sometimes.--Evian Schindler, Program Communications Coordinator

Stepping out in Faith

We had a smaller group at ILA last night, so some of the classes joined forces. I am continually amazed at the level of participation each student shows, and in this case I am speaking of the 6th-8th grade and High School boys.

The bible lesson was about stepping out in faith, and the scripture referenced was in Matthew chapter 14 starting with verses 22. This part of the chapter is where Jesus walks on water towards the boat of disciples during a storm and asks Peter to join him on the water.

The High School boys joined Mr. Todd and the 6-8th graders to discuss and go through the lesson. Mr. Todd stated that he would like to go around the circle and read aloud the verses from Matthew; with no hesitation Zach started them off. It may seem like such a small thing that the boys read aloud the verses, but you see there was no complaining and no rolling of the eyes and no shrugging of the shoulders they just did what they were asked. The kids who remain faithful to coming to ILA are learning very important life skills, like doing something the first time you are asked and not complaining.

After the verses were read Mr. Todd did some explaining as to what the story meant and then invited everyone to join in a discussion. Mr. Todd asked the boys to say what they would have done if they had been Peter and were asked to walk on the water. VaDoll was pretty confident and said he would have stepped out of the boat, Zach asked if they knew how to swim and then he said he maybe would, and Cameron said he would have stayed in the boat. When it cam time for TJ to answer he hesitated a few minutes and then asked “would it be bad to think about it?” What a great question! What I gathered from TJ asking this question was that he wanted to know if Jesus thought it was bad to think about what decision to make. TJ was expressing his thoughts and I was tickled to see the wheels in his mind turning.

To me it was a step of faith for TJ to ask a question like he did. It also gave Mr. Todd an opportunity to do further teaching on the subject. Mr. Todd gave the other boys in the group a chance to say what they thought of TJ’s question. Then, Mr. Todd ended by sharing some words of wisdom. He said that the best way to answer what we would do then is to look at our lives now. How wonderful it was to see the boys taking a story from back then and using it to relate to life for them today. --Evian Schindler, Program Communications Coordinator