(no subject)
I'm trying really, really hard not to rant about this, but I'm pretty sure if I don't let out a little steam, I will rant in a very explosive way in a very public place.
Has everyone read the article in the stranger about my church?
about how the youth interns go onto campuses and recruit kids into our cult by handing out bibles and offering them alone time with us?
about how we're sketchy and weird and we don't let kids ask their parents for permission before we whisk them away to a cult meeting?
about how we have free reign to impose ourselves on unresponsive eleven year olds?
Well, I really, really hope none of you was actually retarded enough to take it seriously. I am ENRAGED. (plus heartbroken, plus offended, plus confused, plus many emotions.)
I hope you said to yourself "my good friend Christina is a youth intern at turing point, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be involved in something like that."
Because then you would be able to call me and ask "hey what do you do in your internship anyway?" or "what exactly do you do when you go on campuses, because I don't want to be friends with someone who acts like a chimo."
Then I would have been able to tell you that before we are allowed to set foot on any campus, before we are told which campus we will be going to, we have to fill out a background check form. Then we have to wait two weeks to let the background check clear. (Which like, seven comments on the article said that there should be a background check... well, good thing there is.)
We have to go sign in at the office where we get visitors badges. (I go to Mountainview, the alternative high school)
Then, we walk around and talk to
1.)kids we know from church. We're there to encourage them. We're there to hug our weird girls who get picked on and give them thirty minutes with someone who loves them.
2.)kids that are by themselves.
3.)groups of kids at lunchtables.
to the kids we know, we tell them we love them and ask about their day. we make them laugh and tell them we're excited to see them later that night.
to the kids by themselves, we tell them our names and ask for theirs. We talk about the weather or food they're eating and how their day is going. We talk about which classes they're in.
to the kids at lunchtables, we ask if we can sit down and we introduce ourselves. these kids usually ask where we're from, and we tell them we're from one eighty youth ministries, from turning point church. They usually nod and then ask why we're there. We say, we're here to get to know you guys and just hang out. Then we talk about the weather, or food, or classes. Once, we told hilarious stories about places we've worked. I gave interview advice for a girl who wanted a job at Subway.
A couple times, a student we know will come join at the lunch table and hand out litle one eighty cards, and invite people to church. They say "is this your church?" to me and Megan, and we say yes. Then they say cool, maybe I'll go sometime. And we say dude you should.
And then we continue to talk about food, or weather or classes.
We're not allowed to pass out flyers , and we don't. We're not allowed to preach, and we don't. We're allowed to answer questions, so we do.
It's so harmless, it's not even funny.
And the girl in the article did not try to give the girl a ride without parental consent. In fact, Katie told the girl to ask her mom for permission. Its on their myspaces, you can look! And what Katie said on the girl's myspace is exactly what our little cards say that the students pass out every single week.
And when the girl's mom says that she tried to speak to Katie... what she must have meant is she spent twenty minutes screaming in Katie's face, threatening to kill her, threatening to have her beaten up. And in her comment, the "creepy alley" she describes between the church and the other building is a well-lit alley and parking spaces. By the way, Katie didn't even respond. She just quietly took all the yelling and didn't retaliate. (So let's thank God that it wasn't me that got yelled at, because I guarantee I would have responded.)
And if we want to talk about a violation of rights, let's talk about how Katie was threatened. Let's talk about how Pastor Mike's son was followed around his neighborhood with a video camera. Let's talk about how Pastor Mike's daughter was inside while two people in a car sat outside her house for a half hour, just watching. And then let's talk about how it happened again.
And then, just to add, isn't it strange to anyone that only two of six schools are quoted in the article? Maybe because the secretaries and administrators of the other schools spent THEIR phone interviews defending the interns. And the article also fails to mention that Ms. Suchan Toothaker ASKED Pastor Jeff four years ago to come on campus with some volunteers. That WE were SOUGHT OUT, not peddling around trying to poke our way into the government.
Ugh. It's just heartbreaking that people can only assume ill motives when adults want to be friends with kids. Maybe their childhoods were perfect, but I'm friends with a lot of little weirdo six, seventh, and eight graders who are told all day long that they are brats, that they can't be taught, that they can't pay attention, that these They NEED friends. They need friends to listen to their stuttering stories, to encourage them and tell them they're beautiful and smart and awesome, to tell them that God loves them and has amazing things planned for them. And when I say friends with, I mean, we have group meetings. We don't go places alone with young people. OBVIOUSLY. We have group discipleships meetings at Starbucks and Haggen, not in our bedrooms. We hang out with them at Sunday School or at church... where there a lots of adults, and lots of their peers.
But I guess all that information would make the article unbiased and fair, which, we all know no one wants.
If you have questions, please prove to me why we are friends and actually ask.
Has everyone read the article in the stranger about my church?
about how the youth interns go onto campuses and recruit kids into our cult by handing out bibles and offering them alone time with us?
about how we're sketchy and weird and we don't let kids ask their parents for permission before we whisk them away to a cult meeting?
about how we have free reign to impose ourselves on unresponsive eleven year olds?
Well, I really, really hope none of you was actually retarded enough to take it seriously. I am ENRAGED. (plus heartbroken, plus offended, plus confused, plus many emotions.)
I hope you said to yourself "my good friend Christina is a youth intern at turing point, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be involved in something like that."
Because then you would be able to call me and ask "hey what do you do in your internship anyway?" or "what exactly do you do when you go on campuses, because I don't want to be friends with someone who acts like a chimo."
Then I would have been able to tell you that before we are allowed to set foot on any campus, before we are told which campus we will be going to, we have to fill out a background check form. Then we have to wait two weeks to let the background check clear. (Which like, seven comments on the article said that there should be a background check... well, good thing there is.)
We have to go sign in at the office where we get visitors badges. (I go to Mountainview, the alternative high school)
Then, we walk around and talk to
1.)kids we know from church. We're there to encourage them. We're there to hug our weird girls who get picked on and give them thirty minutes with someone who loves them.
2.)kids that are by themselves.
3.)groups of kids at lunchtables.
to the kids we know, we tell them we love them and ask about their day. we make them laugh and tell them we're excited to see them later that night.
to the kids by themselves, we tell them our names and ask for theirs. We talk about the weather or food they're eating and how their day is going. We talk about which classes they're in.
to the kids at lunchtables, we ask if we can sit down and we introduce ourselves. these kids usually ask where we're from, and we tell them we're from one eighty youth ministries, from turning point church. They usually nod and then ask why we're there. We say, we're here to get to know you guys and just hang out. Then we talk about the weather, or food, or classes. Once, we told hilarious stories about places we've worked. I gave interview advice for a girl who wanted a job at Subway.
A couple times, a student we know will come join at the lunch table and hand out litle one eighty cards, and invite people to church. They say "is this your church?" to me and Megan, and we say yes. Then they say cool, maybe I'll go sometime. And we say dude you should.
And then we continue to talk about food, or weather or classes.
We're not allowed to pass out flyers , and we don't. We're not allowed to preach, and we don't. We're allowed to answer questions, so we do.
It's so harmless, it's not even funny.
And the girl in the article did not try to give the girl a ride without parental consent. In fact, Katie told the girl to ask her mom for permission. Its on their myspaces, you can look! And what Katie said on the girl's myspace is exactly what our little cards say that the students pass out every single week.
And when the girl's mom says that she tried to speak to Katie... what she must have meant is she spent twenty minutes screaming in Katie's face, threatening to kill her, threatening to have her beaten up. And in her comment, the "creepy alley" she describes between the church and the other building is a well-lit alley and parking spaces. By the way, Katie didn't even respond. She just quietly took all the yelling and didn't retaliate. (So let's thank God that it wasn't me that got yelled at, because I guarantee I would have responded.)
And if we want to talk about a violation of rights, let's talk about how Katie was threatened. Let's talk about how Pastor Mike's son was followed around his neighborhood with a video camera. Let's talk about how Pastor Mike's daughter was inside while two people in a car sat outside her house for a half hour, just watching. And then let's talk about how it happened again.
And then, just to add, isn't it strange to anyone that only two of six schools are quoted in the article? Maybe because the secretaries and administrators of the other schools spent THEIR phone interviews defending the interns. And the article also fails to mention that Ms. Suchan Toothaker ASKED Pastor Jeff four years ago to come on campus with some volunteers. That WE were SOUGHT OUT, not peddling around trying to poke our way into the government.
Ugh. It's just heartbreaking that people can only assume ill motives when adults want to be friends with kids. Maybe their childhoods were perfect, but I'm friends with a lot of little weirdo six, seventh, and eight graders who are told all day long that they are brats, that they can't be taught, that they can't pay attention, that these They NEED friends. They need friends to listen to their stuttering stories, to encourage them and tell them they're beautiful and smart and awesome, to tell them that God loves them and has amazing things planned for them. And when I say friends with, I mean, we have group meetings. We don't go places alone with young people. OBVIOUSLY. We have group discipleships meetings at Starbucks and Haggen, not in our bedrooms. We hang out with them at Sunday School or at church... where there a lots of adults, and lots of their peers.
But I guess all that information would make the article unbiased and fair, which, we all know no one wants.
If you have questions, please prove to me why we are friends and actually ask.