Nintendo DS

a Biblical thought...
Fathers, don't exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master. (Ephesians 6:4)

a Book thought...

Do not expect Bridgers to respond to typical brochures, newsletters, ore sermons. Use art, music, poetry, media, the Internet, drama, video clips, and lots of stories. (p192 McIntosh)

a Dave thought...
The Nintendo DS isn't just fun and games anymore for English students at Tokyo's Joshi Gakuen all-girls junior high school. The portable video game console is now being used as a key teaching tool, breaking with traditional Japanese academic methods.
A giggly class of 32 seventh-graders used plastic pens to spell words like "hamburger" and "cola" on the touch panel screen - the key feature of the hit console - following an electronic voice from the machine.
It's a sort of high-tech spelling bee. When the students got the spelling right, the word "good" popped up on the screen, and the student went on to the next exercise. The first five students to complete the drills were awarded colorful stickers.
"It's fun," said Chigusa Matsumoto, 12, who zipped through the drills to get her sticker. "You can study while you have fun."

My son is also a huge fan of his Nintendo DS, and as he has to sit through quite a few meetings it provides him with something quiet to do. What surprises me though is that his favourite game is scrabble. When we bought it for him we thought that it would only be about the games, but now his spelling has improved heaps and he even has taught his prep teacher incredibly useful woods such as 'qi' and 'xu'.

As schools continue to embrace the Gen Y culture to be a part of learning, we who are leaders in the church must somehow do the same. A few songs and straight sermon is not going to get our youth through the doors anymore, so lets think out of the box and engage these young minds creatively with the gospel.

Just a thought.