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This past February, I highlighted some fascinating statistics compiled by a high school technology director named Karl Fisch. Last month, Karl updated his presentation and made it available for you to view on YouTube.

Highlights from the updated presentation include:

• Today’s 21 year olds have spent 20,000 hours watching television, 10,000 hours playing video games, 10,000 hours talking on the phone, and have sent and received 250,000 emails or instant messages.
• More than 70% of U.S. 4 year olds have used a computer.
• 1 out of every 8 couples married in the U.S. in 2005 met online.
• The amount of technical information is doubling every two years. By 2010, it is predicted to double every 72 hours.

The world is changing. Culture is changing. Does your church know how to handle change?

On Creative Pastors, Pastor Ed Young Jr. of Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX) shared what he found to be the most difficult attendance plateau for Fellowship Church to overcome.

As I’ve talked to pastors of other large churches, we’re finding that the 15,000-17,000 mark is somewhat of a glass ceiling.

When you reach those numbers, ongoing challenges like traffic and crowd congestion move to new heights. That’s the point when you need to make critical decisions about satellites, building a bigger worship center and expanding other areas like children’s ministries, parking and more.

There’s not one right answer for every church, and we’re excited that God has led us, at this point in time, to expand through our other campuses. We’re finding that multiple locations allow us to reach diverse groups with the same great end result—a vibrant, healthy local church passionately committed to the Great Commission.

Obviously, not many churches have experienced the glass ceiling of 15,000 attendees, but all churches have experienced a season where growth has slowed. Plateaued attendance usually needs change in order to continue growing. In addition to seeking God’s guidance, studying how other churches have overcome attendance barriers can be a great source of wisdom.

[via Tony Morgan]

USA Today recently shared some disturbing research about life for kids today. According to University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center: 

• 4% (1 in 25) of youths ages 10-17 who surf the Internet are asked at some point during the year to transmit a sexual picture of themselves.
• 10% (1 in 10) are asked to send photos of themselves.

The study also revealed that a rising share of youths were harassed and bullied online, often by peers, and more were exposed to unwanted child porn. One in three youths saw such porn while surfing the Internet in 2005, up from one in four in 2000.

Without question, kids today encounter more predators and perverts than the kids of twenty years ago. The issues that 10 year olds are facing today are the topics that were reserved for youth groups or college ministries in the past. Elementary school children are encountering far greater problems than just being tempted to steal a candy bar at grocery store.

But addressing these problems can be difficult for children’s ministers because the gap between the “sheltered” kids and the “over-exposed” kids seems to be ever-widening. I believe that such topics can be handled tactfully, but children’s ministers must be well aware of what life is like at their students’ ages on a national scale as well as locally.

It may surprise you how often some young children are approached with cyberbullying, drugs, alchohol, or sex, but it is a sad reality for many students. And ignoring or being oblivious to such tough topics will only create a bigger disconnect between students and the church.

On a similar note, have good church security, create guidelines for teacher/student conduct, and background check every volunteer and staff member.

Also, check out these previous statistics we highlighted last August.

Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) has written seven principles of project management that he learned from Nehemiah’s rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. In summary:

1. Simplification
   Nehemiah kept his plan simple. He organized around natural groupings of people already associating together, such as the priests, the men of Jericho, and the sons of Hassenaah. If an organization already naturally exists, try to work through it and with it.
2. Participation
   Work with those who want to work. Nehemiah’s response was to ignore the shirkers.
3. Delegation
   When you’re organizing, you should make specific assignments. Break down goals into smaller tasks. Develop clear job descriptions. Match the right person with the right task. Somebody needs to assume specific responsibility.
4. Motivation
   When you organize any project, help people “own” it.
5. Cooperation
   When we cooperate together, when there is teamwork, there is great growth. Cooperation is a greater motivator than competition, and it lasts because you feel like you’re together on a winning team.
6. Administration
   Even after you delegate, you must supervise the work. Good organizations establish clear lines of authority. People do what you inspect not what you expect.
7. Appreciation
   Do you know who’s doing a good job in your organization? If you do, are you telling them they’re doing a good job?

Read the full article for additional bits of wisdom and to learn more specifics about how Nehemiah put these seven principles into practice.

While teaching five year olds at my church, one of the strongest responsibilities that I felt during my six years of service was knowing that for some, my classroom would be the only place they would get to learn about the Bible.

I have never heard research about how successful parents are in trying to teach their children about the Bible or about how many parents even attempt to do so. However, Learndirect has discovered some interesting statistics about the struggles of parents in the United Kingdom.

• 12% are struggling to understand the books they read to their children
• 23% admit to making words up or skipping parts in a bid to get story-time over with
• 33% encounter difficulties when helping their children with their math studies
• 18% admit to finding fractions and percentages stressful
• 20% have problems with English tasks

If 12% of parents struggle to understand children’s books, I am sure that an even greater percentage struggle to understand Bible stories. And if 23% of parents make up words or skip parts from a children’s book, than some are also likely to do the same when teaching their children about the Bible.

This is why we need Sunday school teachers, ones that can read well. And if you happen to be one of those people who get stressed out by percentages, I am sorry Church Relevance uses so many of them.

[via Guardian Unlimited]

There is a new site offering design inspiration for church graphic designers and web developers. It’s called Faveup.

Instead of highlighting a specific niche like most design galleries, Faveup highlights logos, business cards, Flash websites, and CSS websites. You can also view each gallery by the most recent designs or highest ranked designs.

Enjoy!

Eric Michael Bryant of Mosaic Church (Los Angeles, CA) recently wrote a book called Peppermint-Filled Piñatas that discusses what it takes to be a church that offers sincere love. Highlights from the book include:

• For far too long, the world has been made aware of what we as Christians hate rather than whom we love.
• We tend to judge people who do not know Christ by the same standards we have for ourselves. We should not be surprised when people who have not surrendered their lives to Christ live differently.
• Some of our churches have so consistently become a refuge for Christians from the world that we fail to become communities that go out into the world, or even communities where seekers feel free to come and explore the possibility of a God who loves them.
• Our isolation from the world fails to communicate God’s concern for those around us but instead communicates that we do not want others in our lives who do not know Christ.
• Rather than simply looking for ways to develop new strategies and programs, we must hone the skill of developing relationships.
• Developing friendships takes longer and requires more effort, but the impact is greater and longer lasting.
• Genuine love requires genuine sacrifice.
• Our character and actions should be what set us apart - not our zip code.
• Our love for others proves that God is real.
• Stereotypes exist because we do not form friendships with others who differ from us.
• Tolerance allows us to survive; love allows us to thrive.

Peppermint-Filled Piñatas offers insight into how to minister with love and reach people who are economically, ethnically, religiously, politically, or morally different than you. It is about breaking through tolerance and embracing love, and I found it to be both challenging and refreshing.

A recent eMarketer article shares a fascinating comparison of daily media usage from three different age groups of tweens and teens in 2005.

Average Television Consumption (hrs:mins)
(TV, videos, DVDs)

• 3:17 per 8-10 year old
• 3:16 per 11-14 year old
• 2:36 per 15-18 year old

Average Video Game Consumption (hrs:mins)
(console, handheld)

• 1:05 per 8-10 year olds
• 0:52 per 11-14 year olds
• 0:33 per 15-18 year olds

Average Music Consumption (hrs:mins)
(radio, CDs, tapes, MP3s)

• 0:59 per 8-10 year old
• 1:42 per 11-14 year old
• 2:24 per 15-18 year old

Average Online Consumption (hrs:mins)

• 0:37 per 8-10 year old
• 1:02 per 11-14 year old
• 1:22 per 15-18 year old

This research makes it easy for us to see that older elementary school children watch more television and play more video games than high school students, but high school students listen to more music and use the Internet longer.

By high school, video game usage is cut in half and Internet usage is doubled. And in an even greater contrast, high school students listen to 2.5 times more music than they did at the end of elementary school. Television consumption only slightly dips.

What does this mean to the church?

Children’s ministers can find great insight into kid culture by learning what television programming and video games are most popular with 8-10 year olds. These are the media channels that predominantly influence this age group.

And youth ministers should pay close attention to what music and online activities are popular with their senior high students. Middle school is a bridge between the two with media consumption sharing similarities with both the younger and older consumers.