Just B.Kos Youth Ministries

I knew Jesus loved Soccer

Breanna Kosmynka — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 05:14:52 +0000

Christians take Heat on American Idol review

Breanna Kosmynka — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:35:55 +0000

MTV has been writing recently about the high amount of christian contestents on Idol and some how it has got twisted and turned into some bad thing.
Read this and let me know what you think.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1607134/20090317/story.jhtml#more

Advice worth passing on…

Breanna Kosmynka — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:33:07 +0000

Yesterday in church, Pastor Jeremy said something that I liked. He said…
” Just because you sit in a garage, that does not make you a car…Just because you go to church, that does not make you a Christian.”
Touche?

Where is Jesus?

Breanna Kosmynka — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:24:47 +0000

I just had a brilliant idea! Being pregnant and sitting in many waiting rooms, I was reminiscing about the good old days of “Where’s Waldo” books. It seemed like they were everywhere, especially dr.’s offices or anywhere that kids might get very very bored.
As I often like to do, I started thinking about how this idea could penetrate into the Christian Market place. And then there it was. My very clever idea.
Where is Jesus? A search book of different scenarios and demographics with a random Jesus hiding somewhere. GENIUS!!!!
Oh, but the moral dilemma’s that would arise. Where would Jesus really be found? Would he always be in or around the church? Would he be feeding the hungry in Africa? Maybe he would only be found in Israel. Or the bible belt of the southern USA. Where would the Zionists want Jesus placed? What about the over-the-top southern baptist movement? Would Jesus be protesting outside of Heath Ledgers funeral? Or what about the adamant religious character who will not waiver from the idea that Jesus is everywhere?
Hmmmm, maybe this fun little idea is a bit to complicated.

What do 11′s and 12′s need?

Breanna Kosmynka — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:35:36 +0000

I remember youth group in grades 9-10. It was a riot! Everything we did we did at 125% and every devotion struck tears in the over emotional teen girls. We brought friends by the carloads and reminisced about the events for weeks after.

But something happened in grades 11-12. Im not sure what exactly it was. Some would say we were “to cool” for youth group, others would call it rebellion, But Im not convinced that its either of these. As I look at this same age group today I have come up with a theory:

As we grow and begin to question absolutely everything that happens in our involving world, we look for things more stimulating than repetitive games and temporary emotional decisions. We want things that are real and make us feel like we have a role in our maturing futures. We get involved in relationships that trigger curiosity and constant awareness to moral dilemmas. Most of us start taking part in activities that challange us to think beyond our comfort zone. Sure, we make bad decisions and sometimes our curiosity leads up into dangerous situations, but in the end we are just trying to figure out who we are and where we stand. The reason that we drift away from the youth group setting is not because they have done anything wrong, but because it just doesn’t have that spark anymore.

Many youth groups are so focused on the outreach opportunities ( I admit, I was that youth leader) that we forget about the constant growth and challenges that our maturing students need. There comes a point when beaning each other over the heads with rotten pumpkins might be fun, but there are far more pressing issues taking place in our lives and there is no one there to help us work through those. No one is demanding us to use out god given gifts to inspire others, or encouraging us to push ourselves to the limits regarding our faith.

More frequently than not I build a theory and refuse to find a solution, but this time it was different. I think God is with me on this one, so here it goes….

I no longer believe in one youth group. I no longer believe that grade 9-12 students have the same needs (besides salvation). I no longer believe the bigger the better. And I no longer believe that entertainment based activities challenge christian youth.

I believe that there are many different needs within youth aged kids, and meeting these needs is what tweaks their curiosity and brings them back. I believe that grade 9 kids may benefit greatly from a fear factor night, but I also believe that grade 12 kids would benefit immensely from a diploma exam study party. And I believe the moment we try to entertain both of these age groups we lose people.

I am not tabooing events that bring these ages together, because I do think there is a certain mentorship that naturally develops between early teens and mature teens, but I do think we need to consider separate focus groups that target the needs of each demographic.

Phewfff. Glad I got that off my chest.

Ping.fm….ingenious!

Breanna Kosmynka — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:57:30 +0000

After months of updating 3-5 different status’ I have finally found something that may be useful. Im trying to use Ping.fm to update my status’s. What a time saver!

Pray for Haiti

Breanna Kosmynka — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:24:37 +0000

I know everyone has probably heard about the massive earthquake that happened in Haiti this morning, but if you havnt already…pray for these people.

A Church Video Game

Breanna Kosmynka — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:50:15 +0000

As I sit down to update my blogs, my husband sits down to play a glorious game of Killzone on the PS3. Im not a gamer, the only part I actually enjoy is building characters and doing things like playing the guitar or singing bad karaoke. But I do not think video games are bad, I think they are amazing actually. Which brought me to this epiphany…

What if there was a “Church” Video game.

Think about it.

There are so many veins for this to run through. You could have the diligent, yet highly attractive secretary which the pastor must resist temptation. Or you could have challenges and tasks to raise money for a serving opportunity. Or…wait for it…Sword drills.

The Numbers

Breanna Kosmynka — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:45:42 +0000

The Numbers

Unless your kid is really dumb I don’t see them staying in junior high and high school all the way to retirement.

Coffey Anderson

Breanna Kosmynka — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:12:44 +0000

Just incase you havnt heard of this guy, he is amazing! Great voice, wicked remix’s, and he is totally using technonlogy to help young musicians.

Check it out!