Youth Workers Love/Hate MySpace
Saturday, August 19, 2006
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Baptist Press has a new article on the love/hate relationship youth workers have regarding MySpace. Some good stuff in there, here's a clip:
MySpace has been both a great asset and a burden to youth minister Ricky Smith.JG
Through MySpace, he has found new ways to connect with youth and promote events not only to students at Piney Grove Baptist Church in Columbus, Ga., as well as those not attending church.
But, in viewing online pages belonging to his youth, he has shed tears seeing how some of them behave differently when not at Piney Grove. At times, he admits that it causes him to question his ability as a minister.
So goes the seemingly schizophrenic world of MySpace, the online phenomenon that is approaching 100 million users, mostly students, and that has youth ministers debating its usefulness and its dangers.
posted by Unknown @ 10:10 PM |
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6 Comments:
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At 8/20/2006,
said...
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While I'm sure it breaks his heart (it would mine) it probably is of benefit in some way in that it 1. could lend some insight into a students world 2. helps a student minister see where a student REALLY is in their life...not just what they show at church.
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At 8/20/2006,
Unknown said...
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Totally agreed. I think MySpace is good ... as long as 1) the rules are followed and 2) there's regular accountability. Even open access of an account to another student/volunteer/parent would be a great solution.
I just don't want a Christian MySpace to show up, that would totally bum me out.
JG -
At 8/20/2006,
Dave Miers said...
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i think myspace is ugly!
but i'm probably just a bit old for it.
i blogged on how our youth ministry uses myspace here just last week -
At 8/20/2006,
E.Money said...
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I'm going to start a Christian myspace just because you said that.
NOT. I can barely post a blog, let alone a website. :)
that's right, i still use "NOT". -
At 8/20/2006,
tonymyles said...
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I agree with the heartbreak of this article.
Now... will you all sign up to be my friend and gimme a shout out?
;) -
At 8/28/2006,
Fitz said...
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I have a MySpace site mainly so I can network with my students...and so I look cool. Sure, it breaks my heart to read and see some of the stuff on their sites, but some of the stuff encourages me, too. And the stuff that is discouraging just lets me know how much work we, as youth ministers, have to do. It's job security...
