Category Archives: Research

Teen Texting Habitat

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We did a guest post over at Churchm.ag you should check out. Here is a link to the full post and below is a snippet:

Teens love to text. If fact, they have lived in a world that never knew a time before cell phones. So the fact that there is a whole language that has spawned from this device’s impact on the world as well as the fact that it has completely changed the way that we communicate may say something about this powerful tool.

The infographic below shows a great deal of information about how teenagers use texting and cell phones in their lives. It’s kind of amazing to see what their preference of the form of communication is as well as how frequently and where they text from. We must also remember that we are in the age of the smart phone, which includes apps, internet, and social media.

[Contest] Qualities in Hiring An Associate Staff

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[UPDATE] Facebook decided today was the day to enforce HTTPS, of course when we go live with our app. So ignore going to Facebook and just leave your answer to the question in the contest rules below in the comments!

CONTEST RULES

You have two ways to enter to win, each with their own prize.

  1. The first is giving an answer our question below. Afterwards, we will pick what we believe is the best answer out of the bunch and they will receive our top prize.
    What is a vital quality to look for in hiring an associate staff to your ministry?

  2. The second way to win is by posting this Tweet:
    “I just entered to win 2 prizes from @seventy8prod at http://wp.me/p1tL3d-vh and you can too. Contest closes at 5PM MST on 10/28/11.”.

We are hoping to gain some great insight into what churches, non-profits, and people look for if they were to want to hire an associate staff to assist in their mission.

PRIZES

  1. Top Prize: For the one we choose to be the best response, we will give away one (1) $10 Amazon giftcard.
  2. Tweeting Prize: One random person who tweet’s the contest (see rules) will get their choice from a selection of books.

The contest ends on Friday, October 28, 2011 at 5PM. We will post the names of the two winners at seventy8productions.com Saturday, October 29, 2011.

All rights reserved. We encourage multiple entries as for the Facebook portion of our contest, but remember we are looking for quality, not quantity. All information provided to us is covered under our privacy policy and terms of use. The winners of the contest will be contacted by seventy8productions for a mailing address and contact information. All contestants are allowed to win one prize per year. Amazon and Facebook are not affiliated with seventy8Productions in any way. Contest ends at 5PM MST on Friday, October 20, 2011. Any forms of cheating, lying, or stealing will result in withdrawing from the contest and banning from all further contests at seventy8Productions.

Interview with Engaging the Shadows Blogger, Matt Murphy

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My friend, Matt Murphy, over at Engaging The Shadows of Youth Ministry has added a wonderful Resource page to his website that I think everyone should check out. I was able to interview Matt about why he put this together and hopes to come out of it. Here is our conversation:

1. What inspired you to start a resource page with such a wide variety of topics for youth workers to use?

In helping people “engage the shadows of youth ministry”  I realize that there are many areas that youth workers face that are “above their pay grade” yet expected to be useful in.  In providing this resource I hope to equip youth workers with the tools so that they may engage youth and family ministry to be helpful to youth and their families.   My inspiration comes from my “Dark Places” story, which I recognize all the times in my life where i was engaging the shadows of youth ministry.  I want to help others in their times of need.

2.What is the end goal that you hope results from this page?

My goal is to provide ministry and secular resources that are congruent with christ-centered youth ministry [as well as] equipping youth workers with tools to help them cope and be effective in dark places of youth ministry and to give them the confidence to stretch themselves to be useful to those in ministry.

3. How can people help with this resource page?

If anyone has a resource that they feel could help in one of the areas of this resource, feel free to contact me with the idea and webpage for me to review.  Generally I desire to make this a nationwide resource so everyone can benefit from everything.  Maybe in the future I can add region specific pages, but for now, I’d rather make a resource to help all youth workers to fill in the gaps. If any website appears that doesn’t mesh with this, let me know.  If you have one that I can add, please send it to me and I’ll review it, see where I can put it.  If there is a subheading that you think is missing, please let me know.  I hope to add to this as time goes on to keep all these pages relevant to youth workers.

Study: More U.S. girls starting puberty early

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A new study by CNN.com reveals that more American girls are starting puberty early.  Here is a snippet:

Girls in the United States are entering puberty at earlier ages than they have in the past, a new study reports. More than 10 percent of white 7-year-old girls in the study, which was conducted in the mid-2000s, had reached a stage of breast development marking the start of puberty, compared to just 5 percent in a similar study conducted in the early 1990s.

Experts aren”t sure what”s behind the increase in earlier puberty, but it”s likely due to a combination of factors, including the childhood obesity epidemic and substances in the environment.

Early puberty in girls is a growing public health concern because studies have shown that girls who start puberty earlier are more likely to develop breast and uterine cancer later in life. The National Institutes of Health funded the study as part of a larger investigation into the environmental factors that contribute to breast cancer risk.