2011 - Page 6 of 18 - Jonathan's Blog From The Source

16 and NOT Pregnant

Posted on: 09/12/11 12:18 PM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s funny. In all my years hearing powerful testimonies of young people at camps and conferences, I have frequently heard solid Christian kids actually say something like, “I’ve never done drugs or had sex… sometime I think I should, just so I can have a good testimony like that!”

How many youth workers out there have heard a kid say that? (Probably a lot)

We always try to respond with encouraging words about avoiding natural consequences, etc. Of course, we always need to walk delicately here because we don’t want to make those with checkered pasts feel worse, but at the same time we don’t want to make the kids who’ve avoided some of those pitfalls feel like they’re missing out!

Add to that the fact that the most popular TV shows and movies that young people watch are loaded with lies that make committed believers feel like they might just be missing out on some serious fun.

Last week my buddy David R. Smith forwarded me a video that made me literally fall out of my chair in hysterics. It’s a takeoff of MTV’s hit show 16 and Pregnant, but with the roles reversed. It’s called, 16 and Well Adjusted.

Some of you saw me Tweet about it last week. Phenomenal clip for discussion with our kids. Rather than ranting and raving about it… just check it out here.

I told David, let’s write something up about this NOW! So we did and it’s featured on the front page of our website as our SPIRITUAL GROWTH RESOURCE OF THE WEEK. This fun little Spiritual Growth discussion includes small group discussion questions, scripture and a wrap up. A great tool to talk not only about sex before marriage, but when the world tries to convince us that living Holy lives is boring.

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Pleading Ignorant

Posted on: 09/9/11 12:12 PM | by Jonathan McKee

“I don’t know why they watch this stuff! It’s terrible!”

That’s what the sweet little ol’ lady next to me on the plane just told me, referring to her grandkids’ movie choices. Funny, she answered her own question in the next minute. Why do they “watch this stuff?” They watched it because she let them.

Today’s media is growing increasingly raunchy, and many parents (and grandparents) are simply giving up and pleading ignorant.

“Ignorant” is an interesting word if you think about it. It conveys “uninformed,” but the word more accurately suggests the fact that we are actually “ignoring” the painful truth.

The conversation with this lady started with her complaining about the movies her grandkids had just seen. I asked her, “Oh. Did you go and see a movie with your grandkids?”

“Yes. I took my grandkids to our local theatre. My grandson wanted to see that Transformers film. I didn’t want to see that movie, it looked terrible! So I went into another theater to see something else with my grand daughter… she’s 13. It was terrible too. I can’t remember what is was called. It was about some teachers that weren’t good?”

I tried to not spit out my drink all over the seat in front of me. “Y.. you took your grand daughter to see Bad Teachers?” I managed to ask without sounding insulting.

“Yes.” She wagged her head disapprovingly. “I didn’t know it would be so bad.

I couldn’t help myself from prodding a little deeper. “Did you look at the rating? It was Rated R for sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use.” (yeah… I really said that)

“Well, yes,” she said, dismissing my question. “But I don’t know what all those ratings mean. And by the time I realized it, my granddaughter had already seen most of it.”

Hmmmmmm.

It’s amazing how a woman who has lived on this planet for 60+ years doesn’t know what “sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use” means. And was the poster really that misleading, with the “EAT ME” sign and that slogan, She doesn’t give an ‘F’?

We talked a while longer and I showed her how to look up movies on www.IMDB.com and click on the “parents guide.”

So why do young people keep watching “this stuff?” Because adults keep making it, marketing it to kids, and then allowing them to watch it. The raunchy stuff is among their favorites (Check out the Teen Choice Awards winners this year—movies like No Strings Attached, Hangover II, Bad Teacher, etc.)

Adults are the gatekeepers here… and these gates are open wide.

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Rambo in Disguise as Little Orphan Annie

Posted on: 09/7/11 11:44 PM | by Jonathan McKee

After a summer offering several fun movie choices… the theaters have run a little dry of late. So my attention has turned to the DVD/Blu Ray rental scene.

This week a intriguing little film was released, something very creative and original. The film is Hanna. I think I’d put this in the same category as Bourne Identity or, dare I say, The Transporter (the first one, not the lame sequels). It’s a creative story with a lot of fun action, admittedly more for male audiences than female audiences.

Here’s a snippet from my official review of the film on our MOVIE REVIEWS & QUICK Q’s page:

No one can accuse this film of being unoriginal.

The film begins literally in the middle of nowhere, where father and daughter live together in an isolated cabin, hunting, reading, working out and practicing martial arts.

Within minutes, we discover that 16 year-old Hanna is training for something big. She’s smart, she’s fast, she’s tough… she’s Rambo in disguise as Little Orphan Annie.

Hanna engages on a mission to assassinate someone, a mission that results in her being tracked and hunted by a ruthless intelligence agent (Blanchett) and her operatives.

I haven’t seen a film of this genre so fresh and original since Luc Besson’s The Professional. Although, unlike Natalie Portman’s child character in that film, Hanna is fully competent to survive on her own.

This film has it all: action that keeps you on the edge of your seat, likeable characters, despicable villains, and creative camerawork that subtly makes the film more interesting than most.

Click here for that review along with the discussion questions I provided, a dialogue about revenge and how God wants to free us from the self-inflicted torture chamber of bitterness.

As I mention in my review, this film probably isn’t for young kids. A little violent at times. But I wouldn’t hesitate to bring my teenagers to the film and discuss it afterwards.

This will have to hold me off until November 23rd… when the new The Muppets movie is released. (Seriously… it’s gonna rock! Trust me!)

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Mixed Messages from Lil Wayne

Posted on: 09/6/11 12:24 PM | by Jonathan McKee

One minute his foul lyrics treat women like objects, and on the same album he cuts a heartfelt song providing an accurate glimpse into the world of a girl who struggles to find love because of her abusive past.

Which is it Lil Wayne? Do you care for them or are they just toys to you?

Lil Wayne has 2 songs on the iTunes Top 10 right now, a total of 14 songs in the top 200 (more by far than any other artist… Adele has 7, Gaga and Perry each have 4). His soft and sentimental song, How to Love rides at #9 right now on iTunes, and #7 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The music video is actually really touching.

But then we see the other side of Wayne… a side he doesn’t seem to hide. Look at his song She Will, a song so popular that it appeared on Billboard’s Hot 100 at the number 3 spot (currently #17), his 5^th song to debut on the top 10 of the Hot 100 chart, breaking records along the way. The song opens with the line: “I tell her ‘now go on, pop that p**sy for a real nigga.”

Of the 14 songs on iTunes right now, only one isn’t explicit. Want a taste? Just pop onto iTunes yourself and try their free sample of his songs like Two Shots, or How to Hate, or Blunt Blowin.

Are teenagers listening? Literally millions of teenagers watched as Lil Wayne performed the highly publicized and eagerly anticipated closing number at the MTV VMA’s last week (the most watched TV program by viewers age 12-34 this year). The song was so censored, the performance was literally laughable at times, with more censor bleeps than audible lyrics. This isn’t the first time we’ve asked, “How will Lil Wayne affect today’s teenagers?”

So I ask you: What messages are young people really hearing from Lil Wayne?

Which is the real Wayne… the sensitive guy… or the foul mouthed, blunt smoking, gun yielding playa?

Can you be both?

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This is the Way; Walk In It

Posted on: 09/1/11 1:33 PM | by Jonathan McKee

When’s the last time you saw a secular feature film, Rated G, that opened with a Bible verse? When the lights go down in the theatre this Friday, and the previews finish… these words appear on the screen:

“Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” – Isaiah 30:21

The film I’m talking about is the new Robert Duvall and Lucas Black film titled, Seven Days in Utopia, the story of a young pro golfer who finds himself unexpectedly stranded in Utopia, TX and welcomed by an eccentric rancher (Duvall). I happened to catch Duvall on the Today Show earlier this week talking about the film. It looks amazing. Apparently actor Lukas Black is actually a scratch golfer- the first of this caliber to play a golfer in a film like this. (A great little featurette on IMDB here.)

A month ago we had the opportunity to send one of our reviewers to screen this film, and Todd and I knew that we needed to give this review to David R. Smith (co-author of my book MINISTRY BY TEENAGERS, and author of so many of our Youth Culture Window articles), so he attended an early screening near his home in Tampa, FL. You see, David loves golf in every way. He has come to Sacramento several years and helped us raise money for our ministry at our golf tournament… and let me just say that David can hit a ball! Last time I played, David was an 11 handicap. That means while I was hitting balls in the woods, in the sand and in the water, David was hitting long and straight.

David chimes in on our Movie Reviews & Quick Q’s page today about this amazing film hitting theatres tomorrow. Here’s just a snippet:

This isn’t the typical movie you see coming out of Hollywood. First, it’s rated G. (I didn’t think they made those anymore.) Second, it contains a fairly strong Christian message within the story. Finally, it’s absolutely loaded with tons of healthy themes like “having conviction,” “restoring relationships,” “overcoming addictions” and “pursuing a godly romance.”

The plot revolves around a golfer named Luke Chisolm (Lucas Black) who suffers through a horrendous meltdown during his professional debut on the pro circuit. He hastily exits the scene and drives through Texas until he accidentally crashes his car in a little town called Utopia, TX, population 375. There he meets golfer-turned-rancher, Johnny (Robert Duvall) who teaches him that life is far more than a golf score. Through Texas’ version of “wax on, wax off” style instruction, Johnny helps Luke regain his game…and much, much more.

In this movie, Matthew Dean Russell, the renowned visual effects guru behind such films as Live Free or Die Hard, Night at the Museum, and Blade: Trinity, makes his directorial debut. For the most part, he provides great coaching for the relatively unknown actors/actresses as they navigate several compelling scenes; only once or twice do simple lines get delivered in a slightly unconvincing manner.

One really cool feature the film employed was its use of actual golf icons (who aren’t actors). From the PGA Tour, we see appearances by some really big names like Ricky Fowler, Stewart Cink, K. J. Choi, and others; outside the ropes we see and hear from actual analysts on the Golf Channel like Kelly Tilghman, Brandel Chamblee, and Frank Nobilo. These features help add realistic elements to the movie.

Of course, the biggest name on this movie is Robert Duvall, who needed no leading by Russell. He plays the perfectly eccentric rancher, who was formerly a professional golfer, himself, who helps Chisolm regain his confidence and find faith…

CLICK HERE FOR DAVID’S ENTIRE REVIEW

I look forward to seeing this one!

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Four Inescapable Realities about Youth Culture

Posted on: 08/29/11 3:54 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Yesterday I quickly chimed in with my late night thoughts after watching MTV’s 2011 VMAs and the new show that premiered after. (Wow! And I thought Jersey Shore was racy.) Today I wanted to give you even more about what the VMAs teach us about pop youth culture, along with a couple nice little resources to springboard discussion with your teenagers.

After David and I watched the show and discussed it, we both landed on four inescapable realities about youth culture spewing from this influential network. I posted our article, 4 Observations from the 2011 MTV VMA’s, about two hours ago now.

We tried to make it easy for you as a youth worker or a parent who wants to keep your thumb on the pulse of youth culture: you can read the 5 minute version of our article, or, if you have a few more minutes you can dive into as much research as you like, probably spending more than an hour, because we provided you with over 20 links in this article alone with research and resources. Click on any of the links and you can dive into more of the research (such as Pew Internet’s research about the religious makeup of our country, or the report from the American Academy of Pediatrics about the sexualization of our young girls).

You’ll also find some links that might help you kick off some discussion with your kids. For example, in our 3rd point about MTV’s promotion of “Coming Attractions,” we link a bunch of shows and commercials. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to jump on our article and click on our link for the Pac Sun commercial, “Dress Irresponsibly.” Personally, I’m going to show that video to my own teenaged daughters and ask them, “What do you think the message of this commercial is?” I might even ask a couple follow up questions. (“Do you think commercials like this subtly influence our culture?” “What does the Bible have to say about the topic?)

Or try clicking on our link for the Plan B “Here’s Emergency Contraception” commercial. Ask your kids, “How does the unexpected happen?” “Do we sometimes put ourselves in situations that set us up for failure?”

Enjoy the article: 4 Observations from the 2011 MTV VMA’s and What They Teach Us About Pop Culture

You can find a couple hundred articles just like this on our Youth Culture Window page.

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MTV Sinks New Lows

Posted on: 08/28/11 11:05 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I just finished watching the MTV Video Music Awards (the VMAs) and collaborating with my buddy David about our annual Youth Culture Window article (now posted) we’re co-writing about the show. (Funny side note: I emailed him my portion of the article and it went straight to his junk box. An omen perhaps?)

Although the VMAs were indeed disappointing again this year (on so many levels), I think I was most disturbed by MTV’s brand new series immediately following the VMAs, a show aptly titled, I Just Want My Pants Back. More on that in a minute.

As I mentioned in my VMA blog last year, the VMAs show is typically the #1 watched cable event of the year, watched by well over 10 million people (not including downloads in the days to follow). Why watch it? This show sadly provides parents and youth workers an accurate glimpse of what our kids are absorbing daily from pop culture.

This year’s show began with Lady Gaga literally dressed up as her alter ego, a man named Joe. The foulmouthed Gaga (bleeped for the f-word four times in the first two minutes) started the show singing her hit song You and I, a song currently in the top 10 iTunes song and video charts. The show digressed, not only with racy performances and more foul language (including an over-the-top swear-fest from Lil Wayne that was truly ridiculous), but also commercials for new MTV shows that will be sure to lure in millions more teenage viewers, shows like the new I Want My Pants Back. I watched the first 5 minutes of the show and I can honestly say that this show is probably the lowest that MTV has ever stooped. Yes… even lower than the most watched cable show, Jersey Shore.

In the first two minutes of I Want My Pants Back, a college student picks up on a girl in a bar. He mentions the fact that he hasn’t had sex in a while. She asks him, “How long has it been?”

He says, “Six weeks.”

She makes a comment like, “Wow. Six weeks! You’re practically a virgin,” to which he responds something like, “Yeah, I’m kind of going through a dry spell right now.”

The couple then hooks up at his place, with scenes way too graphic for TV, but somehow now acceptable.

It would be nice if there weren’t a lot of young people exposed to this strong sexual content combined with blatant lies, but unfortunately, not only is MTV the most recognized network among young adults age 12 to 34, it’s also just a click away for the overwhelming majority of young people. According to Nielson’s recent Quarter 1, 2011 “Cross Platform Report,” 91 percent of US households have paid for TV subscriptions (like cable or Satellite) which includes MTV.

It’s only been a week since I said it, but I’ll say it again: if only parents knew what their kids were watching.

Check out our Youth Culture Window page and we’ll have our VMA article up today! (Now posted)

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Shooting “Real Conversations”

Posted on: 08/26/11 3:30 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Wednesday I flew to Grand Rapids to film my new DVD sharing-your-faith curriculum with Zondervan, the one that I’ve been telling you about now titled, “Real Conversations.” We shot all day yesterday and all day today… just finished. I’m wiped out!

To be honest… it was a blast! The crew that shot it was made up with some of the same guys that have shot some of Rob Bell’s videos and Max Lucado’s material. They really knew their stuff and had a “collaborative” attitude. If you read behind the lines there, that means that they put up with my constant, “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if we tried this!!!”

Let me paint you a picture. For this one shot we were in this amazing old warehouse near downtown Grand Rapids. This place was so cool looking… it had all these broken windows and the paint was peeling off the columns. We shot on the 4th floor up these precarious stairs. It had this open abandoned feel. Well… I saw a wheelchair and thought, “What if shoot a shot that comes in through the broken window from the outside (first floor), then cheat a dissolve to a jimmy-rig dolly shot (the wheelchair) of the camera approaching me when I deliver my first line?” The guys just looked at me like, “Are you kidding me?”

10 minutes later one guy is pushing another guy in the wheelchair towards me! These guys were real troopers!

Another fun moment was filming a little scene I wrote between two girls where one girl was attempting to verbalize her faith to her friend. The young actresses we got were amazing. As you can imagine, it was a interesting challenge trying to accurately represent what two girls actually talk like. First, I had to use realistic language, but not bad language. That itself was a challenge. Then I had to balance what we wanted to teach, with what a teenager would really be able to articulate. We gave the girls some freedom to say the lines they way they would say them, tweaking a word or two at times. We shot it from three different angles with a bunch of cutaways… I was really pleased with what we got “in the can.” These girls had their lines memorized and were ready, so it gave us freedom to say, “try this” or “say it like this.” They were awesome. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.

All that to say, I think I’m going to try to fall into a coma now until the alarm goes off and I have to fly to my next location tomorrow (Mississippi where I’m teaching a parenting workshop on Sunday.)

I can’t wait until this curriculum is released. (Still don’t know the date. Probably quite a while.)

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Top Ten 70’s Slang Words That We Need to Bring Back!

Posted on: 08/23/11 7:59 PM | by Jonathan McKee

The other day after making record time on one of my road bike rides, I let out a celebratory, “Shazaam!”

People stared. (Those jive turkeys!)

Come on! Am I alone, or do we need to bring some of that smooth 70’s slang back. After all, last month I already suggested a list of current words/phrases that we should not use anymore! Perhaps we should fill that gap with 70’s terms. (Note my random picture of Abba! Are you feeling it?)

Maybe I’m just being nostalgic. I was born in 1970, so some would argue that I’m more privy to 80’s terms. But come on! Who wants to say “Grody to the max!” Or “Gag me!” The 80’s will always be a decade of really good music, but really bad slang and clothing. (White Crocket and Tubbs jacket with scrunched up sleeves, anyone?) If you want really good slang and music (I can’t really vouch for the clothing—I don’t want my brother to post a picture of me wearing a green leisure suit!) then 70’s is the place to look. Can you dig it?

TOP TEN 70’s TERMS WE NEED TO BRING BACK:

Creep—The noun, not the verb. As in, “Hey you creep, get away from my Trans Am!”

Out of sight—if something is better than good, but not quite dy-no-mite, it might just be “out of sight!.” “Those new threads are out of site!”

Heavy—When something is so powerful or amazing that you just need to contemplate it for a moment, it’s “Heavy man!”

Sit on it—a great insult when someone is messing with you. “Sit on it, creep!”

Shucks—a term that any spaas might use when something goes wrong! “Awe shucks. Where is my Shaun Cassidy album?”

Crib—This term is deserving of a special nod because of its longevity. Even MTV (the creator and sustainer of pop-culture) had the show MTV Cribs running some 40-plus years after the term’s introduction to mainstream popularity!

Far out—much like it’s cousin, “heavy,” “far out “is a term that people say when something is really amazing. But “far out” implies more good. Basically, replace “cool” with “far out” and you’ll be fine.

Right on—we need more term like this to express agreement. “Right on, man!”

Bananas—if something is bewildering or perplexing, it’s bananas. In the same way, if someone is acting a little odd, they might be bananas. “Woah man, that jive turkey was acting bananas! Let’s book!”

Split—speaking of speedy exits, you gotta love the term “split.” “Hey man, mellow out or I’m going to split!”

70’s TERMS TO AVOID:

Let’s blow this joint—yeah, junior high kids would just start laughing and nudging each other if you said this.

Ding Dong—maybe this word was just used in Christian circles by people who didn’t want to cuss. But this insult probably won’t carry any weight today, any more than other Hostess products (All though many rappers have been having some luck with the Ho-Ho)

Boob Tube—this term might just be more accurate now than in the 70’s.

Give me some skin—nope… just too weird now.

If you were alive during the 70’s, feel free to chime in with your favorites! (Sorry Gen Y, you cats just don’t know the difference between 70’s and 80’s.)

Posted in Humor, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

They Don’t Know or Don’t Want to Know

Posted on: 08/22/11 10:56 AM | by Jonathan McKee

After dropping Alec off at college, Lori and I rolled into a hotel late Saturday night exhausted. We turned on the TV to see what was on and landed on MTV’s Jersey Shore.

Wow! It’s hard to believe that this is one of the most popular shows watched by young people today (as I’ve mentioned before).

I had only seen about 20 minutes of Jersey Shore, just to see what this reality show was that teens and tweens were so excited about. Lori had never seen any of it. We sat and watched about 7 minutes of it and were literally amazed that so many young people are actually allowed to watch it. I turned to Lori and said, “Either their parents don’t know what is actually on this show, or they don’t want to know.”

I see this phenomena in every parent workshop I teach, without exception. At the beginning of the workshop I simply ask parents if they feel like they are pretty aware of what their kids are watching. Most parents raise their hands. Then I spend about 45 minutes showing them snippets of the top shows, playing them excerpts of the top videos and songs… and parents’ jaws hit the floor. It happens every time. Parents walk up to me after the workshop and say, “I had no idea it was this bad!!!” (and that’s why I show it to parents)

If you’re a parent or youth worker and you’ve never taken a peek at Jersey Shore, I encourage you to watch just a couple minutes. You can watch entire episodes online– try a couple minutes right now. Here’s Season 4’s Episode #3, titled “Twinning.” (Take one guess what that’s about.) This show stoops so low even Abercrombie doesn’t approve.

In the 7 minutes that Lori and I watched of the episode, the Shore cast members went to a club where everyone was dancing like… well… how to put it into words… hmmmm… the way people dance today! (sex with clothes on). Then one of the guys picked up on a girl, brought her home, had sex with her (MTV actually shows part of the sex scene, but it was under a sheet, so it was “clean” by today’s standards- we’ve heard that before) and then Snookie started bad talking this girl in a jealous rant.

Lori and I were thinking about the morals we learned in that little 7 minute snippet. Basically, if you read any of those passages in the Bible that starts with the words “have nothing to do with” and then lists things like jealousy, gossip, adultery, sensuality… that pretty well describes it.

I just have one question: Why have parents given up?

When a show like Jersey Shore is one of the most popular shows in America watched by young people… there’s only one reason for that. Parents are allowing it.

We need to do two things:

1. Raise awareness about the kind of media content our kids are taking in. That is something I do at every parenting workshop, something I talk about in my videos to parents on our YouTube page and something I’ve written about in detail in my parenting book. Parents need to understand what kids are saturating in daily. Most parents “don’t know” or “don’t want to know.”

2. We need to equip parents to teach their kids lasting values. This weekend I’m teaching a parent workshop at a church in Mississippi; I’ll be spending this first half of the workshop “raising awareness,” and the second half equipping parents to build relationships with their kids and “teach them lasting values.” Parents need to be encouraged not to give up and just let their kids have free reign on all media. Even secular doctors are pleading with parents to set guidelines.

Are you aware what kind of content today’s young people watch? Watch the MTV VMA’s this Sunday night for one of the most eye-opening glimpses into youth culture each year (We’ll be chiming in with our article about the show Monday morning like we do every year).

Are you teaching lasting values to young people today? Feel free to use many of the resources I’ve linked in this blog (my parent workshops, my parenting book, our YouTube videos to parents).

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