Well at InterHigh Monthly V, we delved into true worldview of Disney with about a hundred students from all over the Bay Area!

Worldview of Disney

We began with presentations from our very own mentors on the worldview of Disney, reliving our past a little bit (watching some among us do their best to sing some Disney songs!), and bringing a critical mind to the fantasy we’ve all seen as children. Most were surprised to find, through revealing videos and insightful discussion, how dangerous these fantasies really are: worlds where a woman must win a man with her body, even if it means giving up her voice (Little Mermaid) or withstanding his abuse (Beauty and the Beast); worlds where a man must be a handsome, hulking muscle-man; worlds where the ugly generally are unimportant or goofy side-kicks. Lastly, we see the consistent theme of romantic love as the “happily ever after,” which combats the truth that we will find no happy ending until we find it in God. We were called to watch even the most innocent looking media with the prudent mind of a Christian, and overturn the values we’ve been exposed to for so long.

Next we had some good food (and I guess some salad too), and followed it up with taboo and charades. But of course at InterHigh, you can never judge a game by it’s cover! What we REALLY played was a game I can only describe as the most ridiculous word-guessing game I’ve ever played, where at first you can describe the words (pretty easy), then you can only act the words out (bearable), and then use only your head and facial expressions! I must say, we have some talented faces…

What is the church?

To cap it all off, we had a thought-provoking message from Pastor Will, turning us to a reexamine one of Christianity’s most fundamental concepts: the Church. What is the church? What is our place in the church? Do we really need the church to be followers of God? As a part of the church, explained Pastor Will, we are part of the body of Christ, a group of people living for God and acting as a unit. How, then, does one part of a body act when it is severed from the rest? Could you imagine a hand sitting on the ground, severed from a body? Yeah, it’s pretty disturbing. Not only do we need the church to serve with the gifts God has given us, but God has given us the people and groups in our lives for a reason! Pastor Will exhorted us to serve our youth groups and the people around us as best we can, because we should never be wishing we had a different youth group; we should always be finding ways to serve to the best of our ability, no matter where God has put us, so that “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

Praise the Lord for another InterHigh full of fellowship and the Word! I can hardly wait a whole month and a half for Rise and William Lane Craig!

What was your favorite part about InterHigh Monthly #5?

We were at RISE and it was AWESOME! Hundreds of Christian youths from all over the bay area came to the UC Berkeley Campus to attend “RISE: Take a Stand for Jesus”. The music was blarin’, youths were singing at the top of their lungs as the praise team led all of us in an incredible time of praise. Soon after, the well-known, veteran apologist Sean McDowell, urged us to critically think about the gospel truth and its relevance to the non-Christian world.

Then four youth students presented a hilarious and poignant skit portraying common difficulties that teenagers face with their Christian identity. With these issues in mind, Pastor William Kang explained that Interhigh Fellowship was launched in order to provide the needed worldview and apologetics training, college mentors, and fellowship with other Christian youth. The purpose is to support the faith of middle and high school students attending churches in the Bay Area, in light of the startling rates at which churched youth fall away from the faith after high school. There was a powerful moment of solidarity for the youth when all the pastors, leaders, and mentors gathered around them and prayed for them. The program ended with some team games and refreshments, during which the mentors and the youth split up into smaller groups and got to know each other better. As people filed out, the energy level was still high and the mentors were all abuzz with the meaningful conversations they had had with the students. We knew that the event had touched many of the youth in some way, and we were excited for their spiritual growth at the upcoming Interhigh events.

Mark the Date. RISE – April 17, 2010

Look you don’t want to miss out on this coming RISE. It will be even more awesome. (As if that could happen!) Not only did we make a lot of new friends since our last event and thus expect a packed house – William Lane Craig is coming! Some of you may not be familiar with him – but he is probably the most famous Christian apologist of our time. What does that mean? It means he takes his two Ph.Ds and his massive brain power and spends all his time speaking about the evidence and claims of Christianity. It’s his job to go to big name universities and debate atheists! And now he is coming to InterHigh, to talk about the incredible evidence and facts of Jesus’ resurrection. It is really, really compelling. It will give you incredible confidence in the validity of the Christian faith, and for those of you who are are just seeking – a compelling case for the claims of Jesus.

SO DON’T MISS OUT. Go to our RISE page and sign up today!
Everyone is welcome! By the way – it’s completely free!

Watch the RISE Trailer

That’s what is commonly associated with Valentine’s Day, but for the Element Youth Group, it’s a day to be countercultural, as for the past five years, the holiday has gone hand in hand with demonstrating acts of compassion. Each year, instead of waiting around for that special someone to come knocking on our door, we mobilize and go out into the community to model God’s love.

This year, our gifts of handmade cards and blankets went to the local convalescent homes as our students split into three groups and visited Bellaken Nursing Center, Lakeshore Residential Care, and South Shore Convalescent Hospital. We sang some praise songs, gave a brief message, and then the students spread amongst the residents to mingle and chat with them.

It was beautiful to see radiant smiles on both the faces of the students and the residents, and everyone had a good time this Valentine’s Day as we experienced love in a different, and dare I say better, sense than the traditional definition. Definitely looking forward to it next year.

Did you spend your Valentine’s Day in a God honoring way? Let us know below in the comments section.

• Date: Feb 27, 2010
• Time: 5-9pm
• Place: 2000 North Loop Rd, Alameda, CA, 94502 (Get Directions)
• Costs: Free!

Join us for InterHigh #5 as we delve deeper into the influence of media.

Exposing the Disney Myth.

How many of you have ever watched Little Mermaid? Or Beauty and the Beast? Or Aladdin? You probably thought it was just a harmless kid’s movie, where its all about a beautiful princess finding the love of her life, about love at first sight, and about living happily ever after. But what is the real worldview presented in these movies? What do these movies have to say about relationships, about self-image, and about gender roles? Beyond the catchy songs and the cute animation is a worldview that is contrary to how God sees the world, and dare we say, even toxic. Join us as we explore some of these themes from many of these Disney movies, and learn how we can think critically about what we watch on the big screen, from a Biblical perspective.

Be sure to sign up for InterHigh Monthly 5 below!

Video Announcement by our Mentors

Worldview of Disney Teaser Trailer

• What was your favorite disney movie growing up?
• Do you think disney shapes the way we view the world and ourselves as children?

Sign up below for InterHigh Monthly 5!

• What was your favorite disney movie growing up?
• Do you think disney shapes the way we view the world and ourselves as children?

Comment Below!

If you’re like me when I was a teen, you have dreams of hang-gliding in the Grand Canyon or becoming a successful lawyer/musician/whatever. You probably have a list of things you really want to accomplish before you “kick the bucket” and die. But when my pastor pointed out how self-focused a lot of these bucket lists are, especially when this dying world needs salvation, I realized that my ultimate wish list was really selfish.  

In the video below, Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church, challenges Christians in America to pray the prayer of Agur in Proverbs 30:7-9:

⁷ “Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:

⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.

⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

This prayer was like an ancient Hebrew bucket list! But instead of self-indulgent entertainment or a successful career, Agur was asking God for truth in his life and only his basic necessities, lest he dishonor God. I committed to making this noble bucket list my own: to desire no deception in my words and actions and to live with “just enough” to get by, for the sake of depending on God.

To “keep falsehood and lies far from me,” I have had to examine how I put up a lot of masks in front of people and pretend to be someone I’m not. This deception includes how I avoid admitting my sin, easily blame and criticize others, and consequently think I’m a pretty good person. Though these were deeply ingrained habits, as I prayed for this earnestly and meditated on the Bible, God has helped me to recognize my falsehood more readily and to turn from it by confessing to other Christians and taking responsibility for my sins. Through this practice, I have been able to experience forgiveness and peace from God.

To receive “neither poverty nor riches, but…only my daily bread,” I have had to take two stances. First, to avoid the poverty that would make me cut corners, steal, and dishonor God, I realized that I would have to work diligently in school and eventually at a job. I began to see the value of paying attention in class, doing my homework, and getting help when needed. I basically began to take my work and myself more seriously.

Second, to avoid the riches that would make me forget God, I realized that I would have to live with “just enough.” Although I still receive more than enough from my parents and friends, this principle means that I try to donate away what I don’t need in my wardrobe and I don’t buy more, unless absolutely necessary. It means that I stop thinking about how to accessorize and entertain myself and instead think about how to help out around the house, encourage my friends, and provide for the poor.

For example, I sold my iPod speaker set, which my dad had bought me before college, and donated the money to World Impact, an urban ministry to the poor in Oakland. It was hard to give up at first, but afterwards I was surprised at how much I didn’t miss it; instead, I was so grateful to be able to help others. Even in small ways, like using cheaper soaps instead of insisting on brand-name face wash, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, my life has become more simple and I have become more content.

Also, I thought about how receiving “only my daily bread” also literally applies to how I should stop gorging on and indulging myself through food and just be content with a moderate amount of healthy food. Moderating my meals taught me self-control and made me less dependent on food for my happiness. In the process of de-luxurizing my life, I have sincerely become a happier person, less attached to material goods, less insecure about how I look, and more willing to stand apart from the norms of the world.

As I look back on my old bucket list, I praise God for sparing me from goals that definitely would not fulfill me and would probably instead bring regrets for pursuing my own desires at the expense of loving this world. At the end of my life, I want to say that I clung to the truth and depended on God for my needs and that, in turn, He provided a joyful and meaningful life beyond imagination! If you find yourself craving some exciting, worldly goal in your lifetime, I challenge you to join me in sincerely praying the prayer above as a biblical bucket list to last our lifetimes.

1. Read the text two times.
2. Write your favorite verse.
3. Write one aspect of what God is like.
4. Write one aspect of how text describes you.
5. What lesson can I learn from this text?
6. Write out a prayer in response to the text.

Does separation from your cell phone bring you great anxiety? Does studying ever end up becoming a time of “see how many things I can look up on Wikipedia”? Or has your hearing been severely impaired because of the amount of music you’re blaring into your ears every spare moment in the day? I can relate.

Reading this article reminded me of the downward spiral we’re all heading in with the advent of newer and faster technology. Our world is more and more becoming a place where silence and free time is uncomfortable. This quote really stood out to me: “The alternative to all this fiddling is being alone with your own thoughts, which terrifies people used to constant stimulation provided by our media-saturated culture.” How true is that! I can recall days growing up, and even nowadays, where instead of having to deal with my onslaught of thoughts I drowned it all out with television, the Internet, and my iPod. And you know what, it’s becoming easier and easier to do this. Being able to actually hear God past all the noise we surround ourselves with is a challenge (I mean, we can’t even hear ourselves at times!)

I think about this passage: 1 King 19:11-13

¹¹ The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

God was a gentle whisper. Yet how can we let that voice in if we fill our ears instead with the constant noise of our iPods?

Something that I did over the summer with my home group at church was to do a week-long Media Fast. It was inspired by this hilarious article in the LA Times about a teacher who did something similar with her middle school students. Essentially, all of her middle school students went crazy: and what was revealed was the severe lack of ability to relate to others. How pathetic that our relationships, our creativity, and our time are so easily stifled by the media we consume.

So what can we, as counter-cultural Christians do to reject the ways of the world and continue to strive for Christlike-ness? Here are some ways:

• PRAYER. Praying for the different ways that people can be negatively affected by media overconsumption (i.e. video game violence, the increase in sexual images onscreen, Internet addiction, escapism… etc.) can help us recognize the great need this world is in to hear God’s voice over all others.
• Reading the Bible. How well do you know God’s word? Well enough to recite amazing chapters like Romans 8 or 1 Corinthians 13? Are we truly placing his law and Word within our hearts? Or are we more concerned with memorizing lyrics of the newest hit songs?
• Meditate over Scripture. “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)
• Hang out with peers. Share your devotionals, pray together, read together.
• Write a letter… by hand! When was the last time we did this?
• Read a book. Some good suggestions: Shadow of the Almighty (Elisabeth Eliot), Loving God (Chuck Colson), Mere Christianity (C. S. Lewis), Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien) — there’s so many good books out there!
• Exercise / play sports! Our physical health is also very important to God (1 Corinthians 6:19)
• Share the gospel with someone. Instead of going to the movies with a friend, try having a conversation with someone about your abstention from media and why you’re doing what you’re doing. Maybe it’ll open up an opportunity to share the gospel!

More encouraging articles:

• Pastor John Piper’s view on TV and Movies:
• Sermon on Silence and Solitude:

Can you unplug yourself? Or will you let yourself be pulled by the masses instead of what God may be calling you to do? I pray that Christ can help us do the former! We definitely need a lot of His help.

At last month’s InterHigh Monthly, we learned facts such as this as we excitedly witnessed once again over 160 students flocking from all over northern California to attend, as well as a group that drove four hours all the way from Fresno!

The night started with a talk on the influence of media, as we watched a video created by Focus on the Family titled “Mind Over Media” discussing the subtle effects of music, movies and the Internet. Although people will often say that media has little impact on the decisions they make in their lives or that blaming media is a cop out, the video showed otherwise, stating that media has a significant role in affecting the mindsets of viewers, such as the example of Ted Bundy. We were called to keep a critical eye on the mediums we take in, and to live out more noble, pure, and admirable lives as Christians as Philippians 4:8 calls us to do.

Afterwards, we had a delicious nutritional supplement of chicken and meatball bakes with carrots and ranch, and then headed into our high-intensity game time with eager anticipation.  What surprise would this week’s game hold?  I’m not sure how to describe it, but let’s just say it included everything from whipped cream bubblegum digging, an event referred to as “Spirit of the Flamingo” and demonstrations of strength including one handed push ups and sitting on imaginary chairs while holding a chair!  Tons of laughter and much expended energy later, we needed a slight break, but of course, an InterHigh session wouldn’t be complete without a time of exhilarating praise and worship.

Lastly, we ended the night with a session from Pastor Will on the age-old question of “What Is True Love?” We discovered that it’s not Troy and Gabriella in “High School Musical”, Aladdin and Jasmine in “Aladdin”, or even Wesley and Buttercup from “The Princess Bride”.  We even saw a video clip from the last example, and the awfully long stares, overly sappy dialogue and a fading shot of the sunset was enough to gross us out from the media’s example of true love, but we were further told that true love isn’t this kind of romance, but God’s love.  With Valentine’s Day coming up, Pastor Will exhorted us not to spend time feeling lonely or hoping for that special someone, but to seek out true love from God and to express that love to others.

We ended the night with a time of sharing and prayer in small groups, reenergized for another month of tackling the pressures of teenage life.

Praise the Lord for InterHigh Monthly #4 as it was a blessed time!  Looking forward to Rise on April 17 with William Lane Craig and eagerly waiting for the next InterHigh Monthly on February 27!

Who is William Lane Craig? Why Should I be Excited?

How can I explain to you how awesome William Lane Craig is? He has been faithfully defending the faith for over 30 years! He uses awesome logical arguments winning debate after debate against the brightest Atheist scholars.

If you wanted to gather a team of the best defenders of the faith, William Lane Craig would be near the number one pick year after year. He is still debating the most popular Atheists of our day, and he is still presenting Christianity as a much more reasonable choice than anything else out there.

He first came to believe in Jesus and became a Christian when he was 16 as a junior in High School! Since then, he has dedicated his life to the study and defense of the faith. He has not one, but two PhD’s! One doctorate of Philosophy (Study of Knowledge), and another Doctorate of Theology (Study of God).

Faith based on Reason and Fact

Should we call him Dr. Dr. Craig? One Dr. for each Ph.D? I don’t think he cares about that, but he is very passionate about training up others and using his knowledge to let people know that Christianity is true and reasonable! It’s not about blind faith, and it’s not about feelings. It’s a faith that is built on unshakable facts, and he is coming to InterHigh to give a presentation on: Evidence for the Resurrection.

In short, William Lane Craig is the man! He’s out there using his gifts and his mind to defend the faith to show the world that Christianity is reasonable. So make sure you don’t miss out on your chance to hear from this amazing speaker on April 17th, 2010!

More Information on William Lane Craig

Here is some more information if your interested in learning more about Dr. Dr. Craig:

He is currently a professor at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California.

He has written or edited over thirty books, including The Kalam Cosmological Argument (Does that sound familiar? Remember K-MART?) Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus; as well as over a hundred articles in professional journals of philosophy and theology.

Check out this clip of William Lane Craig telling us what most scholars think about the resurrection:

Resources on William Lane Craig

For more information you can also check out Reasonable Faith – a great website with debates, articles, podcasts, blogs, all designed to answer those tough questions about faith in God and Christianity. If you haven’t check it out, if you go to the Q&A section he answers a lot of tough questions from Christians just like you!
Reasonable Faith Website

Here’s another place to check out some more articles, and debates from WLC
William Lane Craig Articles and Debates

Here is a link to one of his most recent debates with Christopher Hitchens (a famous Atheist & author of “God is not Great”)
Excerpts from Craig vs Hitchens

• If you could ask William Lane Craig one apologetics question, what would it be?