Today’s youth workers must be aware of an important cultural world to today’s students. Much of kids’ interaction and relationships are taking place here. I am talking about the Internet and primarily the use of “myspace” for middle and high school students and “facebook” for college and university students. This is where students are meeting, interacting, and expressing feelings. This is also where we need to be if we are going to effectively discern the needs of kids.

My daughter is a freshman at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. We became aware of this world when the university recommended she sign on to get acquainted with other first year students. As her friends began to log on to facebook, she realized they would still be in touch even as they went to different schools. She encouraged me to get an account so she could keep in touch with me too. Since I teach at Crossroads Bible College in Indianapolis, I was able to use my crossroads.edu email to sign on, (a *.edu email address is necessary to acquire a “facebook” account). It is intimidating for such an old guy to be involved in a community with thousands of college and university students, but here I am! I am convinced that access to students through these Internet doorways is the best way for us to “meet kids on their turf” as we seek to effectively minister in 2006.

Here are a few reasons why I think this is so important.

1. THIS IS WHERE THE KIDS ARE.
On my daughter’s page she is registering friends from 68 universities and colleges around the country. She also has 210 friends from Baylor alone. Why, I even have 8 friends, unless you don’t count relatives and acquaintances who feel sorry for me! The student in this day and age is showing up on these boards. God has given us the burden for kids. We have always made it a priority to be in their world - whether it was at school, games, activities, or work. At this moment in the history of youth ministry, the Internet is where the kids’ world is centered. If we are going to be involved in the world of the students, we will be on the Internet, too. That is where students are.

2. THIS IS WHERE KIDS ARE COMMUNICATING THEIR CULTURE.
On every home page, we will find more information about students than we might have gleaned over a long period of time only a couple of years ago. I have a friend who is a freshman at the university in the city where I live. My friend is a follower of Christ. Here is what I know after a quick glance at the home page. Among other things, I notice his politics (conservative), interests (God, Blue PowerAde, & misquoting movie dialogue), church (Christian Student Center), favorite music (Rascal Flatts, Marc Broussard, Jeremy Camp), favorite TV shows (Oprah, Desperate Housewives, SNL), favorite movies (Batman Begins, the Notebook), books (the Bible), and there is even a tribute to my friend’s grandfather who passed away during this school year. While this will never take the place of personal contact, it does help me to leap into the student’s life and begin to minister more intelligently and effectively. I am also going to watch Batman tonight. I will know what is important to my friend. Perhaps our next conversation will begin with the question, “What was it about “Batman Begins” that drew you to it?” This is where they are communicating their culture.

3. THIS IS WHERE THE KIDS ARE COMMUNICATING WITH EACH OTHER.
Along with Instant Messaging, this is where kids are most communicating with each other. Once the cultural aspects of the student are revealed, they are regularly communicating with each other on these sights. Today is my daughter’s birthday. It is tough being so far away on special days but I just looked at her “wall” (a place for personal graffiti) and old dad is comforted. At least 25 kids from 9 different colleges and universities have already wished her “happy birthday”. It is not even yet noon! Today, I have sent a note to four students attending 4 different colleges and universities in 3 different states. This ability to effectively communicate with students is astonishing! Students are communicating with each other and they are communicating on “facebook” and “myspace”. We are living in an information age. Being involved with students who are communicating with each other (and with us) is an opportunity we should not let past us!

4. THIS IS WHERE KIDS ARE COMMUNICATING THEIR FEELINGS
As I write, my “facebook” homepage contains messages that express love, pride, friendship, and other emotions. These are common ways for friends to communicate with each other and we are familiar with the expressions. We are beginning to see a new phenomenon, however, that so far has escaped an in-depth explanation. As youth workers, we need to be interested this new phenomenon. At the point of tragedy or other monumental events in their lives, kids are expressing their deepest feelings through their computers. Until now, schools and churches generally have provided counselors and support when tragedy came close to kids. Their usual response to emotional trauma was that kids would meet with adults and other kids and talk through their distress. Near the end of last year a new response was noticed. The pastor of the University Baptist Church in Waco was electrocuted while officiating a baptism with hundreds of Baylor students in attendance. The community and university immediately went into ministry mode. Area churches prayed and the university brought in counselors with the intention of allowing students to make appointments and talk through the tragedy. After a couple of days with very little response from students, the university realized the kids were expressing themselves on “facebook”. They were communicating, but not physically and verbally with other people. There were two levels that I noticed. The first was the usual expression of feelings. Kids wrote about how they felt and how they would go on with their lives. On the second level was a memorial of sorts for the pastor. The students wrote how he had influenced their lives for Christ. They also wrote personal notes to the pastor thanking him posthumously for that influence and they promised to pray for his family. This was surprising to the counselors. To my knowledge, the counselors were not successful in coaxing the students off of “facebook” and into their offices. Kids have found a new way to express their deepest feelings. They sit physically alone, but emotionally and intellectually they are with hundreds of friends. Maybe the local church youth worker will be the one to analyze this new way of communication and creatively develop new ways to minister to students on their “turf”.

Youth workers ought to be on the forefront of cyber ministry. Maybe we should take a college class in order to qualify your presence on “facebook.” I want to remind you to be wise in “myspace.” The ability to determine student needs and the awareness of student culture has taken a dramatic turn. This is where kids are and this is where they communicate. We should be there too!

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