Student of the Culture

One thing I've learned in youth ministry is that you have to be a student of the culture. Some times you might even have to do things that you don't want to. For example, tonight after what I hope to be my final mow at our house and helping get the girls ready for dinner I met up with my bud, DP, and we went to see "Twilight: New Moon". We'd have rather gone to see the new movie "The Blindside" but with all the buzz amongst tween and teen girls over "New Moon" we knew this would be a good opportunity for us to be fully informed on what our students are watching and the message that is getting acrossed to them.

Although the acting was sub par for me, it was funny to listen and watch the reaction of the 80-90% of the audience when Jacob took his shirt off and the amazing pick up/romantic lines. At one point it was really quiet in the theater and you heard one girl go "aww" after a line from Jacob. You see very mixed emotions as Bella tries to find balance between her feelings for Jacob and Edward. No wonder we have so many girls that ride the emotional rollercoaster when they are in and out of relationships. I'm sure there will continue to be much talk and discussion with our students who have seen this over the next few weeks.

Currently "New Moon" has topped the box office claiming the record for the biggest one-day gross, The Twilight Saga: New Moon raked in an estimated $72.7 million on approximately 8,500 screens at 4,024 sites. The Dark Knight was the previous title holder with $67.2 million on around 9,300 screens at 4,366 sites.

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