Last month an interesting conversation spread online over this question: iPad vs. TV: which is better for your kids?

A Cult of Mac article spawned the debate while Tecca fueled the fire.  I’d definitely recommend reading the Cult of Mac article because it has a ton of stats on children and media.  But let’s get to the basic premise of the question introduced by both articles:

If kids spend 1500 hours every year watching TV and only 900 hours a year in a classroom, wouldn’t it be better to swap the TV for an iPad?  The iPad is portable, interactive, educational, features less harmful advertising, and can be finely tuned by a parent.

What do you think?

I’ve been reading Clay Shirky’s new book Cognitive Surplus.  The book is challenging my thinking on the impact of social networking and all things digital on society.  In the book, Shirky notes that people in the United States spend 200 billion hours a year watching TV and it took only 100 million hours to create Wikipedia.  What does that really look like?

The point Shirky makes is that all of these hours – billions and billions of them – represent a lot of time that could be harnessed, organized, and put to use.  I think this relates to children’s ministry in a powerful way.  Kids are incessantly interacting with digital tools and we could harness that time and energy into something extraordinary.  We could create the tools for them to make an impact on other nations, to interact with one another for the purposes of faith formation, or to put Scripture in words they can understand.

I love the game of soccer.  While many people find soccer boring to watch or play, I find it fascinating.  On June 10th, the World Cup begins and 32 countries will vie for the championship.  The World Cup is a great way to talk with kids about other countries.  In my ministry context, we are always looking for ways we can ratchet up global awareness and give kids opportunities to locate other countries on a map and pray for those countries.  This summer, we’ll be using the World Cup to integrate international impact into our K-5th summer programming.  What about you?

Great places to start:

•    FIFA World Cup

•    Joshua Project - find countless stats on countries and unreached people groups

•    Nation Master – another site dedicated to world statistics

•    Explore the World through Soccer- South Africa (Book)

•    Explore the World through Soccer- Mexico (Book)

If you’re in children’s ministry, you know the Wiggles: the  part education, part Boy Band, all fun group from Australia.  Their meteoric rise to popularity has several lessons for children’s ministry.  Check out the article!

Why did our Cory Center team decide to go digital?  There are many reasons…

1. Our kids are becoming more and more digital and the learn digitally
2. We have a responsibility to respond to the digital age with change
3. The statistics about the amount of time kids spend interacting with media is incredible and we need to know how kids spend their time
4. Knowing about how kids spend their time helps us create tools and resources to better facilitate spiritual development
5. The amount of information on kids and technology is overwhelming and we want to provide some easy and ministry specific updates
6. Getting the updates on technology will help us better inform parents about how to interact with the kids and how to protect them as well

This blog will serve these purposes in days to come and I hope you join us on the journey!

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I saw Hannah Montana.  I’m not ashamed of it.  In fact, I learned a few things and there were several things I liked about the film.

1)      It brings the duality many children face (due to pervasive digital media and online communication) to bear.  The issue of negotiating identity is an issue that social networking has challenged for children and teens.  Digital Youth Research has done a great deal of research in this area and you can look at their findings at http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/

2)      It has a great message about finding out who you really are and throwing aside the façade. In fact, Hannah says in the movie, “I can’t do this anymore.”  I will probably attack this issue in subsequent posts since I’m reading a great book right now on developing character.

3)      It’s a pretty wholesome movie.  It’s funny and endearing.  Yes, it is cheesy and girlie and far-fetched.  But there are some real ties to bigger ideas and issues.

4)      One of the big issues it raises (outside of identity) is the whole idea of “the climb.” Because I’m a sucker for music, I try to read into songs that can capture theological concepts.  “The Climb” is a song that I think captures the Wesleyan idea of provenient grace.  Provenient grace is a way of describing salvation and sanctification in terms of a climb or journey.  In light of provenient grace, the issue of “when” a child or adults gets “saved” becomes irrelevant.  When I thought about the song in this light, I’m sorry to admit – but God kind of did something right there in the theater and I actually cried a few tears.  I told you – I’m a sucker for music (and the Holy Spirit).

You really should go see the movie just to get a taste of what kids are facing.  There’s plenty to mine in the movie and I welcome any comments!