I just ran across this blog today and thought I would share...I think it's amazing the amount of influence parents really do have on their teenagers...

Parenting Teenagers...Part 3 (http://triangularchristianity.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/parenting-teenagers-part-3/)

I’ve said previously that the purpose of parenting is to create biblically wise adults. I’ve also said that even though God is ultimately in control of creating a biblically wise adult, we have a role to play. This begs another question, how much influence do parents really have?

To put it another way that parents of teenagers will appreciate: do teenagers even listen to their parents? Do parents have any influence over their teen? I know that many parents think their teenagers have tuned them out completely, but that just isn’t true!

The Bible thinks that the parents have a lot of influence. This is evident in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and the famous Provers 22:6 – “Train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it.” Proverbs are not guaranteed promises from God, but they are generally true. Thererfore, it is generally true that if a parent attempts to create a biblically wise adult, the child will become a biblically wise adult.

The world of psychology agrees. The University of Minnesota completed a very important study on parenting styles. One of the findings (though I don’t think it is in the previous link), is that parents have about 75% of the influence in their child’s life.

Finally, teenagers agree. Barna’s research published in Real Teens shows that 78% of teens say that parents have “a lot” of influence in their lives. Only 3% said that they have “none.” Compare this to peers (51% say they have a lot of influence) and pastors (30% say they have a lot of influence). By a significant amount, even teenagers say that parents are the number one influence in their lives.

On a side note, notice what this says about youth ministry. Only 30% of teens think pastors have “a lot” of influence. I work with students and I pray that I’m having an impact, but the reality is, parents are number 1. Some parents “farm out” their children’s spiritual development to the church or the youth pastor. I am a firm believer that pastors play a role and that students should be connected to other Christian adults and other Christian teens, but parents maintain primary responsibility and primary influence. Don’t expect someone else do to your job!

So the point of today is this: You have the greatest influence in the life of your teenager. It may not feel like it all the time, but you do. Don’t give up. You have the privilege and the responsibility of molding them into biblically wise adults!

Thinking Orange

Last week our ministry team took a trip down to Atlanta for the Orange Conference. You might be thinking to yourself, what is "orange"? Well, in all reality, it's a color mix between red and yellow! Yes, your 5 year old probably could have told you that. But why is "orange" relevant to children's and youth ministry? That's a little bit trickier to explain...but I'll try.

An interesting fact that is difficult for me to get my mind around is that as a youth minister I get about 40 hours with your kids...PER YEAR!! With some kids I might get a little bit more, and with some a little bit less, but on average, that is the small amount of time I have to influence your kids. You, on the other hand, get about a gazillion hours with your kids each year. Now if we each did our own thing in trying to help your kids become all that God wanted them to be...we would make some impact. But if we could partner together (yellow and red come together) in this thing, the impact would be multiplied. This is what thinking orange is all about.

It's about sharing our time and our resources so that in the end each of our students is well aware of how much God loves them and desires to be in relationship with them. It's about helping them understand that they are able to make a huge impact on this world and in God's kingdom. And it's about caring for our kids in a community of people...because as well all know, it takes a village to raise a child.

The question becomes...what can we accomplish together as we try to influence this next generation to stand up and make a difference in this world for Christ? I am open to suggestions...I am open to your thoughts...I am excited about the possibility...