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It is Not just the Gay Kids

November 4, 2010 By Gavin Richardson

This Post Originally Written for YouthWorker Movement

Much has been made out in the news of late with the suicide deaths of gay teenagers and young adults due to ongoing bullying. I am, in part, am upset by all the media coverage because it is not just the gay teens who are committing suicide due to bullying, we have have straight teens & young adults who are bullied to the point of suicide as well. So let us take a little time amongst this conversation to highlight many of our “least of these” who are persecuted incessantly.

I carry this paraphrased quote with me from Tony Campolo, “democracy isn’t where the majority rules, but where the minority is safe.” This quote might be based around a politics of the country, but walk with me here & you’ll see, it extends deeper.

Bullying can be defined as a habitual badgering and intimidation of smaller or weaker people. And to me that hits on not just a cultural thing, but a spiritual & relational ministry issue. Jesus Christ, as I understand him was not about the high & mighty folks, in fact was (dare I say bullied) crucified by a stronger (earthly) entity. Jesus was about showing compassion and standing up for the “least of” the people in society. Check out that incident with the adulterous woman. So as a Christian man, a follower of the Way of Christ, I cannot help but feel compelled to stand up & be on the look out for the least of these in my community.

What takes us in the wrong direction?

Coming back to the majority/minority quotation. To me that has a profound effect on how we live our lives together in the USA. We have a polarized political climate, wrought with winners/losers and examples of putting people down. It is not hard to imagine that we actually promote a culture where bullying is accepted among our adult communities. We utilize/victims of mob behaviors to excite fear to scare individuals into brutish behaviors. What do our children see, hear, and learn from us? Is it a Christ like strength that stands before the mob on behalf of the beaten down & bullied?

Kasserian Ingera?

The Masai, and African tribe, is noted sociologically for unusual greeting (considering they were a fairly fearsome fighting tribe) of “Kasserian Ingera” or translate “How are the Children?” This question permeated the land and became a marker for the health of that tribe. If the children were living in a peaceful, safe, and provided for environment then they were considered to be a thriving tribe.

How are our children? In regards to bullying in suicides, they are two linked epidemics (along with depression a third player in the epidemic) which threaten the mental health & lives of so many of our teenagers & young people. Suicide can account for around 4,500 deaths a year in teenagers, some 100 attempts for each “success” and 1 in 6 of those suicides are related to bullying directly. So how are our children?

My hope..

My hope is writing this is not to denigrate peoples efforts to raise awareness about the bullying of gay teenagers & young people. In fact, I hope you see a spiritual reasoning to educate and strengthen yourself & your youth community into standing up for those in minority positions, whether that be sexuality, gender, idealism, religion, social standing, race, etc. (the scenarios of a person/s in a position of power over a weaker person/s is vast). I’m concerned that in speaking so vocally about gay teens & young adults we gloss over those others who are bullied.

One group that I’ve worked with the past in educating our teenagers about suicide and the breakdown of their piers that led to suicide as ‘the option’ is the Jason Foundation. Here is a list of resources to educate yourself on & tips as a youth worker. Check out the US Health Service & Resources initiative of “Stop Bullying Now” to help educate on bullying. Facebook is also chipping in to help stop cyber-bullying.

What are your thoughts, suggestions, resources for helping bullied kids

Freaks Geeks Cool Kids & American Consumption

November 4, 2010 By Gavin Richardson

This post originally written on YouthWorker Movement

I will never forget this one day at youth, I pulled out my reasonably new cell phone that was all cool with a horizontal flip technology and enhanced screen, and one of the teens spouted out “Oh My Gosh! How old is that?” Now truth be told it wasn’t more than 6 months old, but it seemed that the day after I bought it the new improved version (way slicker than mine) went onto the market with a ton of advertising. So before I put in my wife’s phone number it seems my phone was outdated.

Up to that point & certainly since I’ve been fascinated with what I call the “ill” of our nation. Consumption.. and specifically how it affects our youth & young adults. Was totally into thinking like Branded & Story of Stuff, so it was not a real stretch to draw towards a title of “Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids: American Teenagers, Schools, and the Culture of Consumption.”

This is not a ministry book in intent, but the lessons drawn from its research are totally applicable into today’s youth ministries. Teenagers behaviors exhibited in how they treat others and place themselves into levels is totally ingrained in them & plays out in our youth communities (not to mention likely in our ‘big’ church environments).

As a sociology research piece it has a lot of dry reading, footnotes & research references are not my favorites to continually read through. The nature of the reading is not captivating as one might find some fictional writings. But, in between these pieces there is a ton of great insight into teens motivations to their behaviors. If you are wanting a break & challenge from the normal ministry book, this is a good choice to make.

If you do think of purchasing, go for a used version, or do like I did, get the Kindle or other electronic format. The price is always the big pain in purchasing research based writings.

Where’s Gavin these days?

October 7, 2010 By Gavin Richardson

I haven’t been asked where i’ve been of late so much as “what I’m doing now?” Which is an acceptable question since my leaving the paid staff church work back in july. The last few months have been a real ride emotionally and spiritually (not sure if those are completely separate but for purposes of this sentence they are). I’ve run the gamet meeting/talking/chatting with people I respect a great deal on what they might see God’s plan in my life. my general idea is that I was so close to myself that I needed help stepping back and looking in through the window. through this process I’ve identified some short term and long term places I’m putting my creative and passionate self into. thought I’d share those with you, so we can skip the “what are you up to now?” question.

All American Pest Control: this might be the most visible of the entities of late because for the past month or so I’ve been pretty chatty about my work with All American Pest Control. This is our family business and Erin has been working there for the last 7-8 years. We will eventually finish a purchase of the company in about 4-5 years from her mom & dad and we’ll be sole owners. So, in the spirit of doing anything for the family, I’ve been crawling houses of late to help tend to our historical customers allowing our other employees to focus on some of our more current and up to date protection services. i am also helping Erin our with promotions, marketing, and social media aspects of the company. you can follow the adventures of my life in pest control by following on twitter or facebook.

Sticky Sheep: this is one has been in the brewing for a year or two now. My buddy John Ellis & I had spent a number or conversations talking up the mixtures of church & business, specifically marketing. we started writing a book on these conversations and we are still putting that together. In the mean time we figured it is time to start sharing these connections. you can engage in our little musings by hitting up the site or checking our twitter or facebook presences.

Proof Branding: this is an exciting project to be a part of. I’m joining in with long time friend sam davidson and a crew of others whom are especially creative in a full service branding company. My part in the team is to help translate and work with the church communities that wish to re-brand themselves. This would cover communications, marketing, design, creative directions, and more. I’ve been working independantly with with first presbyterian church youth in Nashville before the launch of proof this past month and have had some real successes and enjoyable moments. You can follow the tweets of Sam & Matt via proof and the news on facebook.

YouthWorker Movement: is something that I’m really jumping into as my youth ministry passion. i am helping to put together a vibrant and transformational entity to help my beloved, and struggling, United Methodist church & fellow Wesleyan youth ministries. I’ve partnered up with Charles Harrison and a team of others i getting things mapped out and ready to roll next month. If you want in on the brain-trust of a vast community of people you should get plugged in with the Youthworker movement. in the short term we will have a new email list going out next week. a new website will launch in January (a temporary one will be available next week). In the spring we will be putting forth full service curriculum options from a Wesleyan youth ministries perspective. through all this you can keep up on the ‘movements’ via twitter or facebook as well.

Thanks a quick gist of me, if you want to talk further on any of these projects or hire me or my friends give a shout via email gavoweb(at)gmail.com is still my email. I’m pumped to get creative!