DAILY B2 HERALD Teen religion Continued from B1 church.” “Teens are looking for mean- ing,” said Matthew Grossman, executive director of BBYO, a national Jewish youth organization based in Washington, D.C. “With the Internet, they have the whole world at their fingertips. They have access to more information thanever before, and they're trying to make senseofit. That search leads to acuriosity aboutreligion.” A survey commissioned by BBYOlast year and released in January found that many youths are trying to forgereli- gious connections. Of1,153 students ages 10 to 18 who weresurveyed,68 per- centsaid religion andfaith are important. Amongthosestudents: 92 percent said they want a better connection. 52 percent arelooking for less conventional ways to con- nect withtheir religion. 43 percent are not sure how to connect 40 percentsayit is difficult to connectwith their religion. Grossmansaid the next step is recognizing that many stu- dents wantto be reached, and using unconventional methods todo so. “Teens today, whether they're Jewish ornot, they have commonthoughts and perspectives,” Grossmansaid. “While many people think teens are turning away from religion, in fact, they're not.” Terry Ann Kelly founded Students Standing Strongin spring 2004 as her youngest children approached middle school. She wanted them to have“like- minded”friends to help combat peer pressure. The groupstarted with aparty forfifth-grade PAUL MOSELEY/KRT Singing along with the band “Gravity,” teens attend the StudentsSitanding Strong gathering at Grapevine High School. Teensare openly professing their Christianity students to makefriends with in organizationslike Students Standing Strong. other Christian students. They would encourage one another sex. dle schools in the area. Students hold prayer meetings before school. Ona recent Mondaynight, about 800 students from two high schools gathered at an eveningrally in the Grapevine High School gymnasium. The here. You maybe with kids that you're not sure where they they livein.” “Ourjobis te push back the darkness of the world,” Jones said. “Public schools are great places for that.” About 350 students from schools in Fort Worth, Keller and the Birdville district attended a recent Wednesday meeting of The Way at NorthWood. “It’s amazing,”said Wilson of Keller High School. “I love the fact that we are breaking down the barriers of denominations: andcliques. We'reall goingafter the samegoal.” stand morally,” Kelly said. “You can feel very isolated in your beliefs.” In Grapevine-Colleyville, parents have monitored the actions of Christian groups in the schools. Theintroduction of Students Standing Strong promptedtrustees in August students prayed, sang along with a Christian rock band and heard Dallas Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson speak aboutresisting peer pressure, which hecalled “fear pres- sure.” “It’s hard being a Christian at school, because not everyoneis,” said Byonka Pastrana, a Colleyville Heritage High School freshman who attended to approve a morerestrictive policy allowing only student-led nonschoolgroups to meetat school. Trusteesalsolimited the times studentscandistribute advertisements about such groups at school Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger “Jewish kids, and probably nonevangelical kids, feel somewhatput off by this because Mecklenburgersaid. “Butit's Students Standing Shrovein Northeast Tarrant CountyColleyville schoolsii Colleyville, Texas. Fort Worth, Texas,said the new Christian groups, as well as long-standing groups such as Fellowship of Christian Athletes and YoungLife, can make the event. “People think that other students feel'excluded in their ownschools. for believing in what we do. We'renotreallylike that.” Thestudents spent about an hoursocializing and digging into the dozensofpizzasthat it’s not their styleof religion,” parents broughtin. As they filed into the gym, music from blared through the speakers, The students sang together, held hands, huggedandprayed. Grossmanagreed that the _ goal is the same,regardless of religion. Groups like Students Standing Strong, and Grossman’s own www.b-linked.org Website, whichis a national online community for Jewish teens,all provide an outlet for teens seeking moreinformation, direction and connection to their religion. PAUL MOSELEY/KRT “Technologyis the language Colleyville High Schoolseniors Jacob Actkinson,left, and Kevin come leada beak! senITe ‘they speak, where they form of Congregation Beth-E]in we're,like, uncool and weird Christian hip-hopartist Lecrae and goinginto their schools, their families and the world that “The schools are very large notto.drink, use drugs or have Nowthere are SSS youth groupsat several high and mid- a free country, and they’re entitled.” Kelly said SSSis not intended to make nonmembersfeelinfe- group of middle-school boys. Teensare openly p rior or uncomfortable. Invitations to events are mailed to SRIIINDIIIODIOINTITSTDTISIIII ME the homeofevery high school studentin the district, regard- less of religious affiliation, and students hand out moreinvitations at their schools. “This is a good groupofkids just trying to survive a tough ECECRCREeE culture,” Kellysaid. Dustin Jones has been a student pastor at NorthWood Churchin Keller for five years. He works with seventh- When was THE LAST TIME through 12th-graders who attend the Baptist church. “Students start seeing their friends fall off the Christianity bandwagon,” Jones said. “They are faced with that choice of ‘Do I stay off, or do I stay on?” Beinga Christian means taking a stand.That’s hardto do. There's fear that you are going to be by yourself.” Jones founded The Way, a collaboration of youth groups from 15 churches in the Metroplex. The studentsall have the sameBible study each week. Thenthey go to schoolthe hext day wearing T-shirts that read, “Follow me... | know the way.” Jonessaid the goal is fo “mobilize an army of students with onefocus, being Jesus Christ ‘ies, and we can pro- vide them with opportunities to create with other Jewish teens,” Grossmansaid. “They'rejust looking for new waysto connect.” Grossmansaid that while someparents and educators have expressed concern about the groups meetingat school, it’s importantto find teens wheretheylive. “The notion of going to where theteens are — in the public schools, at the movies - is: avery important strat- egy,” Grossman said.“If wesit back and wait for them to come to theclassicinstitutions of eo that simply isn’t work- You faced DRAGONS, BEASTS, MISSIONARY REUNIONS EVIL QUEENS, TATTOOED BULLIES, AND TRIALS BY FIRE AND WATER? Send information about LDS Missionary Reunions scheduled near General Conference weekend to dhnews@heraldextra.com by March 16 to be pub- : lished in the March 26 issue of LDS Week. Include nameof mission, mission NOT INCLUDING VIDEO GAMES. president, day, time and address, contactinfo and any otherinfo. Lenten traditions focus on thejourneyoflife The MagicFlute By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart March 11-19 \ OPENING NIGHTIS SELLING OUT, Best SEATS AVAILABLE MonpAy. ORDER NOW. Tickets $1010 $70. CaL355-ARTS. > UTAH OPERA Ths dominwce ‘uATUsinG THE UTANOTMPRONY Tom Schaefer KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS haps someoftheir ideas will spur you to think of Lent — or your own faith tradition’s spiri- Lent begins a journey for many Christians. Its message: Slow downandrefocus on who you are, what you're doing and where you're heading. * messagehas taken on | new meaning for me. My motherdied late last month. She was 93. She was a woman offaith “A lot offolks give things up for Lent. We decided rather than deletion or subtraction, we'd emphasize addition.” Eighty students at Friends Universityiin Wichita, Kan., we cared about her family and are participating in a program hers. one death, on the day before tual practices — in a new way as you movefromlife to death. ber you are dust and to dust you shall return.” There is no shortcut to resur- called the Pocket Lent Experiment. The students are divided into teams of four. Each team reads the entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:27), and then one of each team memorizes one-fourth of the sermon. In addition, 30 students are one To us on tl the journey, asked readersto share fet Lenten spiritual practices, Per- “As Christians, Jesus should be the smartest guy you know. And the Sermon on the Mount is his main teaching.” — Patrick Sehl, director of campusministries, Friends | University “Myfriends, Dottie and writings bring deep awareness of who weare and invite us to experience and trust:the com: passion and grace of God.” : — Marilyn Norman, Hol- : land, Mich. “I consider myself a Christian Buddhist sangha practices’ ing the tradition of Zen Mastér Thich Nhat Hanh.’ , .: — Bill Papineau, Wichita,‘ Kan. ‘