Nights of Felons AKA Nights of Joy.

[JugglingFreak]

All I have to say that, irregardless of faith, those kids are naughty. One of the new CPs broke up eight kids behind Stitch starting up an orgy. TTA had an intrusion every hour, until they decided to shut it down, which it was supposed to be down for the private party.

Arrrrgghhh! I'm sorry, it's regardless or irrespective. "Irregardless" is not a word. That's a pet peeve of mine. Apart from that, I totally agree with your point.. :)

[mechurchlady]

Wow, you have never been to a catholic priest's night out, have you?

Fr Corey+

Nope and do not want to see one. Bad enough what I hear on the news, ours golfed, lol and one stole big time.

Clarifying what i said, all religious people are supposed to be morally upright and not gripers, back biters or bitchers. Most of us have our moments.

The problem with youth ministry is that the only kids going to youth ministry usually is the low income kids. Rich kids got nintendo, lawn darts, ponies to ride and trips to France. The poor kids too often grow up in broken homes or with peer pressure to break rules. I do not recall ever seen a well of kid in a youth ministry unless their parents were already members.

Meet at church and listen to religious crap for a while. Get on the bus and more religious crap. More crap about being good. Enter the park and ditch them people from church. PARTY ON AND WOOT. Shush, hello pastor, bye pastor, PARTY ON AND WOOT WOOT is their routine. For a kid raised in a lower income family in an apartment this is a their ticket to freedom and fun.

Yes I have heard horror stories from nonreligious groups as well as Night of Joy. Freedom to have fun.

[hobie16]

AIf you’ve ever used the phrase, “I don't think God is leading me in that direction,” to get out of something you didn’t want to do... you might be an evangelical.

If your mental image of Jesus includes any of the following:
a) blue eyes
b) long, flowing, perfectly-conditioned hair
c) plucked eyebrows
d) any piece of clothing with an American flag on it
... you might be an evangelical.

If you have considered adding puppeteering, pantomiming, balloon-animal-making, and approaching random strangers as skill sets for your resume… you might be an evangelical.

If you think drinking alcohol is a sin, but you have no problem helping yourself to seconds of everything at the church potluck dinner… you might be an evangelical.

If you have ever burned a U2 CD... you might be an evangelical.

If you believe what’s really needed to fix this country is a two ton monument of the Ten Commandments on the courthouse lawn… you might be an evangelical.

[StephM]

My best friends in high school were a group of 4 guys. They used to drag me to the Catholic High School dances all the time because, and I quote, "The Catholic school chicks put out and know where to get the GOOD drugs." :D: I cannot confirm the drugs part, but I do know they hooked up ALOT.

We were supposed to be down there this week...kinda glad we switched to October.

[TalkingHands]

AIf you’ve ever used the phrase, “I don't think God is leading me in that direction,” to get out of something you didn’t want to do... you might be an evangelical.

If your mental image of Jesus includes any of the following:
a) blue eyes
b) long, flowing, perfectly-conditioned hair
c) plucked eyebrows
d) any piece of clothing with an American flag on it
... you might be an evangelical.

If you have considered adding puppeteering, pantomiming, balloon-animal-making, and approaching random strangers as skill sets for your resume… you might be an evangelical.

If you think drinking alcohol is a sin, but you have no problem helping yourself to seconds of everything at the church potluck dinner… you might be an evangelical.

If you have ever burned a U2 CD... you might be an evangelical.

If you believe what’s really needed to fix this country is a two ton monument of the Ten Commandments on the courthouse lawn… you might be an evangelical.

And maybe not. I am a Christian. And except for the clowning, puppetry, pantomime and balloon animals I don't fit with any of that. And I did that as a job not a ministry. My ministry is Deaf ministry.
That said I have to say that the area I was in at the Castle Forecourt was very controlled and enjoyable and the sign language interpreting was incredible and the 2 interpreters were really inspiring. And Steven Curtis Chapman's new song Cinderella made me cry.
And some of those so called bad kids saved my life on the monorail ramp to MK. My poncho became caught under the back wheel of my power wheelchair and started to choke me. several teens realized what had happened and quickly removed the poncho from around my neck before it could do serious damage. I was very scary for me and I am grateful to them.

[Big Wallaby]

I was driving home tonight, thinking about this thread, and one person came to mind: Franklin Graham. You may have heard of him; if not, you may have heard of his father William, a.k.a. Billy.

Franklin was the ultimate bad kid he could manage to be to his father apart from getting himself hauled off to jail. Often, preachers' kids are the worst of the worst, because their community and really everyone in their world expects them to be these perfect angels who will take over where daddy leaves off. And because to the people of their world the caste system is very much alive and well, they often rebel any way they can. Mind you, that's not all of them... I know quite a few personally who came out very well... but I've also known enough that either came out very poorly or took years to find their way back to God that I know the veracity of Franklin Graham's story. He got himself kicked out of school multiple times, did the whole drugs scene, etc., etc., etc. Today, he is poised to be the person who takes over BGEA as his father passes away in the coming months and years (and with Ruth gone now, I'm sure it's a matter of time).

Sometimes, that need to rebel hits all the church kids. I know, it hit me... of course, I was listening to the complete wrong influences, but that, too, is my fault. I know what I did to my father, I am certainly not proud of it. Thankfully, it's in my past.

So when you're dealing with church kids, keep this in mind. Not that it really helps anything, but at least it gives you a bit of background and understanding.

[Randy B]

The "preacher's son" syndrome has been around for a long time. Heck there is even a song about it. "Son of a Preacher Man" details some very un-preacherish behavior. :D:

Randy

[Cranbiz]

And maybe not. I am a Christian. And except for the clowning, puppetry, pantomime and balloon animals I don't fit with any of that. And I did that as a job not a ministry. My ministry is Deaf ministry.
That said I have to say that the area I was in at the Castle Forecourt was very controlled and enjoyable and the sign language interpreting was incredible and the 2 interpreters were really inspiring. And Steven Curtis Chapman's new song Cinderella made me cry.
And some of those so called bad kids saved my life on the monorail ramp to MK. My poncho became caught under the back wheel of my power wheelchair and started to choke me. several teens realized what had happened and quickly removed the poncho from around my neck before it could do serious damage. I was very scary for me and I am grateful to them.

Lisbet,

I am very happy that there were caring teens around you when your poncho got caught and I'm even happier that they jumped in to help. As a person who was very involved with my community thru the volunteer fire service, these is the actions that I tried to instill into my children.

It's not my intent to paint all that attended as bad but unfortunately, in the areas that I was in on Friday and Saturday, the scum rose to the top. Some of the incidents I saw were from the "leaders" of these groups. All of the threats to me about lack of offsite bus service (take it out on your hotel management not the Disney CM who was trying to help you but did not have the answer that YOU wanted to hear) were from adults, most of them has a group of youths with them. Reaching out to the "bad" kids is one thing, showing them by example of their behavior twards another human being is another.

[Big Wallaby]

Reaching out to the "bad" kids is one thing, showing them by example of their behavior twards another human being is another.

Yep. I saw that one happen, too. :(

[bpgstudios]

I knew it was time for this thread!

The biggest thing I noticed this year about the NOJers was a decrease in motivation and preparedness at attractions. It seemed like 90% did not know the number of people in their (mostly massive-but-not-brazillian-big) parties, and didn't seem to want to move when the line in front of them moved. Also, they took so long to load into the boats at small world (coupled with taking more time with the wheelchair boats) we had 2 automatic cycle outs. Sucked because we only had a rear load CM so our queue was fully extended inside (normally would be half the queue with frontload side open). I also made it a point to speil OFTEN and remind them to stay in the boats. Didn't help.

But I did get the most "Please and Thank You"s from the adults (and even some of the teens!) at Pan then I have ever gotten.... :D: