My desire is to bring a message of hope to the hearts and minds of troubled youth who have found themselves at the “bottom” of life’s circumstances. Having spent the past 24 months in weekly Bible studies, counseling with parents and doing one on one mentoring of troubled youth in the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center, I hope to put in writing a message that will help teens understand how their circumstances and choices have led them down a certain path.

But there is hope! A troubled teenager can experience the same opportunity to “bounce back” that God offers to everyone! Whatever the circumstances of life there is a path to victory by taking a close look at where we are, how we got here and formulate a new plan that follows a new path.

Pray for this very important project! I hope to see it completed by the end of the summer 2010.

Here is the link to the local news story…

http://www.indysportsnation.com/videobeta/?watchId=b9496a27-2d7a-4676-abea-3ccab35d8002

Special workshops were held addressing topics such as:

How To Really Love Your Teen

Keeping Your Teens Cybersafe

Embracing The Wisdom Of Your Parents

The Presence of the Holy Spirit In Our Home and Family

Communication, Dating, Preparing Our Teens to Live Out Their Faith In The World

Don is a member of our Mentor Outreach Team to troubled youth.

Click here to see a video of his story.

“You will be the same person ten years from now that you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” Charles Jones, from his book, Life Is Tremendous.

Have you stopped to think about the friends in your life? Is there someone dragging you down?

Life is full of relationships. Our relationships with God, parents, family and friends play a huge role in forming us in to the person we are becoming.

Proverbs 1:10-14 shines the spotlight of truth on how to spot a bad friend. It’s that person in your life that is pushing you away from being the person God wants you to be and being that person your parents desire you to be.

Here are the three strategies a bad friend uses to bring you down to their level.

1. Invite – My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Proverbs 1:10

• It starts with an “invitation.” Everyone wants to be included and this friend will come to you often and entice you to come join us and be accepted by us.
• Remember, no one ever got into trouble unless they first agreed to accept an invitation that led them down a destructive path.

2. Involve – This friend will try to convince you that you can just “come” but you don’t have to “participate.”

• We just want you to be with the rest of us.
• Proverbs 1:11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause. (notice the phrase “let us”).
• Proverbs 1:12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
• The “catch” comes when you are in the “wrong place” with the “wrong people” you will be greatly tempted to do the “wrong thing.”

3. Entangle – Now that you are “with us” you need to become “one of us.”

• Proverbs 1:13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
• Proverbs 1:14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
• The sliding progression taking place here is a person who wanted to fit in and the person who wanted to be accepted is now in a very bad situation because he or she yielded to the influence of a bad friend.

• So what is the answer to overcoming the influence of a bad friend?

• Never accept an invitation from a friend that will compromise what you truly believe. Be strong in the Lord. Let God’s approval of you override the approval of your friends.

Proverbs 1:15-16 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

Ken Turner

High Impact Teens

www.kenturnerministries.org

After praying with a few teen guys I asked the youth manager if I could help *Anthony. She said I could have permission to go speak to him in his room. There he sat on his bed with a toilet and sink and small window to see outside. It was just before Christmas and he was crying so hard. It was the kind of cry that made me think, “His muscles are going to be so sore when he wakes up tomorrow.” He was so tense. I put my hand on his shoulder and it was as hard as the steel holding up the bed.

I waited for Anthony to catch enough breath top talk. He began to say in very broken phrases he was so scared because he was all alone. He had no dad and his mom lost custody of him when he was two years old. What can I say to that? I couldn’t think of anything. Nothing was coming to my mind that sounded in the least bit hopeful.

Then it hit me! You need a father. You need to know someone will be there for you. I couldn’t promise to be his father but I could promise to teach him about God as his Heavenly Father. We talked about that for a while. I prayed with him. His hard shoulder became soft and he started breathing without effort. He smiled and said he felt so much better.

That was December 2008 and I have been on a mission this past year. A mission to help give hope and answers to hundreds of fatherless and troubled youth.

I have had a few people ask recently if I could send them a document they could share with others explaining the ministry I have to troubled youth. People who have had a part in this ministry during 2009 are wanting to know what they can do to spread the word.

At the beginning of 2009 I could never have imagined the year God would have given us. It has been pretty incredible seeing over 160 teens come to Christ and watching God open new doors in so many ways.

I thought I would attach this 3 page PDF file for you to save to your computer. Feel free as you are talking to friends or associates to share this ministry with others you feel may be interested in partnering with us.

God bless all those who have faithfully prayed, supported and encouraged our ministry to troubled youth this year!

Sincerely,

Ken Turner

*(For the sake of confidentiality I must use alternate names when sharing about the youth I serve)

My vehicle had a computer that tells you miles per gallon, length of trip and DTE. My gas gauge was pretty low but I thought, “I can beat the system.” I switched the computer to the DTE setting, which of course tells me my Distance to Empty. I watched the numbers as they dropped to 7 miles to empty, 6, 5 and on down to 2 miles to empty as I whipped into the parking lot! Once again… a victory was won! I was at the church on time for the activity and did not have to waste precious time to stop for gas.

I thought later, “Wouldn’t it be interesting if we had a DTE gauge which was installed to monitor our walk with God?” So many times I have found myself running to do the next thing for God that I was convinced I could not take time for God. It would be so foolish to start out a trip to summer camp with all church vehicles on empty because you just don’t have time for a fuel stop!

I am afraid many of us start too many days with God running on empty because we convince ourselves we do not have time to spiritually fuel up. Sound familiar?

What about your devotional life, prayer life, your outside reading or even exercise? Are you taking care of yourself? I have recommitted myself as we enter the New Year to spend more time taking care of the things that produce the energy I need to do the work of God. How about you?

Ken Turner
High Impact Teens

The bottom line is if we live out our Christian life with our eyes focused on the actions and opinions of others, seeking the approval of others, and miss the point of developing an authentic, personal, growing relationship with Jesus Christ… we will face serious spiritual setbacks at some point.

Take a minute today and do a little self evaluation. How much of your focus is on developing a growing relationship with Jesus and trusting Him for your every need?

Why Christian Kids Leave the Faith

People Leave Because they Have Troubling Unanswered Questions About Their Faith

People Leave Because their Faith Isn’t Working For Them

People Leave Because Other Things in Life Become more Important than Their Faith

People Leave because they Never Personally Owned Their Faith

Personal Tragedies (death, divorce, illness)

Dysfunctional Family Life

Personality problems

A Poor Relationship with Their Youth Pastor

The Ultimate reason Christians Leave the Faith is Because of a Failied or Failing relationship with Jesus Christ

Ken Turner
High Impact Teens
www.kenturnerministries.org

Imagine being the child who lost a parent while protecting our country’s freedom in the military. It sure would be encouraging to have people step up and support you and your family especially at Christmas time.

American Airlines here in Indianapolis asked me to partner with them through High Impact Teens in this event.

I had the opportunity to meet and offer support to some of the families. One mom was asking me about High Impact Teens and what this ministry does for families with teens. After talking for a few minutes she asked how she might get a High Impact Teen devotional journal for her teenager. For some reason I put one journal in a small box of other materials I brought to the event. It was obvious to me that God had in mind to give this journal to the one person that needed it.

Since 2001 there are over 8000 children who have lost a parent serving in our military and the average age of these children is 9 years old.  If you want to know more about the event I have included a couple links to the Kansas City News story and ABC News. Our plane landed in Kansas City and then went on to Dallas. Charlie Gibson named the Snowball Express volunteers his choice for “Persons of the Week” on Friday evening, December14.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9316579

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATqylzwH9DE

I’d like to thank my friends who supported High Impact Teens in this event last week. They are Jeff Leffew of Servant HR, Sandy Van Vlymen of Widow’s Jar Ministries, Andy Chapman of Indianapolis Signworks, Joshua Goodling of Inspirit News, Brenda Appleton of Appleton Services, Inc., Roger and Dolly Norman and Dave and Bev Achenbach.

Ken Turner
High Impact Teens

Freddie played football at Penn State as a wide receiver and continued his career in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts. Freddie and I had connected via Twitter a while back and it was great to meet and talk face to face.

We are developing a plan to get his new book “The Dad I Wish I Had” in to the hands of the guys I minister to in the detention center. If you would like to help me and Freddie with this project, please contact me to find out how to help.

Communicate unconditional love! I was speaking to a group of men who were all youth leaders in their local churches. During my session I mentioned the relationship we each have with our fathers. I said, “Wouldn’t it be priceless to get a letter from your own father telling you that all you have accomplished with your life is ENOUGH? It’s enough to make him proud and enough to earn his utmost respect. It’s just enough, period, and he loves you.” There was an unusual moment of stunned silence. It was as if every man in the session thought the same thing in unison. We all thought of the deep impact such a letter would have on us even though we were all well in to our adult life.

The point I was trying to make was simple. As parents we need to communicate to our teenage children that we love them unconditionally. The power of our love and acceptance is immeasurable.

It’s not so hard to communicate love to our teenagers when they are obedient… the big challenge comes during moments of discipline. It’s those things that hit us out of nowhere that the kids say or do and we react out of total frustration. It’s that explosive moment when we go into what my junior high son calls “spider monkey mode.”

Don’t Go “Spider Monkey” On Us! Teenagers can push a parent’s button at the wrong time! Jennifer and I have three teenagers. We have two high school girls and a junior high son. He says to me, “Dad, I need to ask you something but before I do I need you to promise not to go all spider monkey on me.” I guess that tells you that I have gone berserk once or twice since the kids hit the teen years.

Remember, when it’s time to enforce discipline on your teenager, it’s very important to discipline out of love.

I caught myself a few years ago disciplining my kids out of these wrong motives…

    * Inconvenience – It’s when we say, “Do you realize the hassle you are causing me right now? I don’t need this inconvenience.”

    * Irritation – We say, “You are really getting on my nerves. I am so irritated with you.”

    * Embarrassment – “What would the Jones family think if they saw or heard what you just did? You are really embarrassing me.”

But… here is the problem. If these are the messages I am sending to my kids, then the real message is all about ME. It’s clear that my message is not that I care about my kids but that I care about my own peace and quietness. A life without the hassle of rearing a teenager!

    * Unconditional Love – The true motive for disciplining my teenager should be rooted in an unconditional love for him or her. Our message should be clear, “I love you so much I cannot sit idle and watch you make this mistake. I don’t indict you for messing up, because we all mess up sometimes, but I must step in and discipline because I love you so much.”

 The next time your teenager needs correction, please do correct him or her but do it from a heart of unconditional love!

By Ken Turner

Seriously… it is possible because I almost succeeded at both! I graduated college in 1987 with a degree in youth ministry. I married the woman of my dreams on August 29 and started my first youth ministry on September 13, 1987. Of course like most first time youth guys I had a few other responsibilities beyond just  being a youth pastor, like teaching about five hours per day in our Christian school. I decided that I wanted to be a good husband and I wanted to be a great youth pastor. One of my first goals was to visit in the home of every teenager on the Sunday school roster. We had around thirty teens attending and around seventy on the roster. I began to set appointments for every night of the week (except Wednesday) to get in to these homes. Each day my final class would end at 3:30 PM and if I could get away from the office by 4:00 PM my wife and I could inhale our dinner at home and be at the first appointment by 6:00 PM which often was followed by other appointments at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM. If we could not fit in to a families schedule on a weeknight, no problem, we would come on Saturday! Usually I spent Saturday’s visiting 5-7 hours targeting new prospects for our youth group but I could squeeze in a “church family” if I had to. I was on the fast track to becoming a great youth pastor! Our attendance started growing. My wife and I spent the first six months of our marriage out almost every night of the week visiting teens. By the time we hit the first year anniversary our youth group had grown from around 30 to almost 60 on a good night in youth meeting. Ah yes, the joy of success in the ministry! I could easily see 100 teenagers in our youth meeting within the next six to twelve months! But wait, something was wrong. You see Jennifer and I were struggling. We were tired, we were even kind of empty. That sinking feeling you get when you know something is not quite right was becoming all too common. I began to do some serious soul-searching. The real question at hand was, “What is a successful youth ministry?” I began to realize that we could be big. Isn’t it possible to be big but not Godly? Our youth group could be strong in outreach but weak in unity. Our youth group could be strong in unity but very weak in outreach. We could have high standards but also be very judgmental and critical. I had to come up with an answer to this dilemma. How can I justify my methods as being pleasing to God? Here’s how I did it…

God wants me to be a good Christian more than He wants me to be a good youth pastor.

Are you more concerned with gaining respect and recognition for your ministry accomplishments or are you mostly concerned with cultivating a relationship with God? I realized God wanted my heart first. This was very freeing for me.

God wants me to be a good husband and father more than He wants me to be a good youth pastor.

The Bible says of Jesus that in Him was found no guile. This means that in Christ was found no hypocrisy, no inconsistency  or nothing fake. If the whole world thinks I am the greatest Christian leader but my wife and children do not then the applause of the world means nothing to me. If my wife and children think I am the greatest Christian leader but the world does not agree it really does not matter because the opinions that count most are from those who know me best and those I love the most.

God wants me to evangelize and disciple and He wants me to make it my way of life.

God does not want me to attempt to reach my entire city in twelve months or less! He wants me to reach my city, period. He has given me the ability to do all He wants me to do in a 24 hour period and He wants me to do it gracefully. He does not intend for me to live life at the speed of light but to know that His call for me is to be fulfilled over a lifetime, not just within the next few months.

God wants me to be a principled leader.

If I develop principles to guide me in leadership decisions then I will be a consistent man and God will not have to be ashamed of me for having huge blind spots in my life and ministry.

So remember that you have a life and a ministry. Speaking of having a life… why don’t you stay home tonight and enjoy your wife without feeling guilty about it. Better yet, she might want to go out on a date! It wouldn’t be a waste of your time. Besides, it’s what God really wants!

By Ken Turner

In the summer of 1985 I was introduced to the concept of keeping a spiritual journal. I was studying for youth ministry at the time and was often curious as to why my devotional time with God seemed to lack something. I was reading the Bible and spending time in prayer but five minutes with God often seemed more like thirty minutes and I was confused about the reasons for this.

I began keeping a spiritual journal. My first spiritual journals were simply steno pads I purchased at the local drug store for less than $1.00 each. I approached the journal with a simple concept in mind.

Starting A Spiritual Journal

My first goal was to write in my journal as if I was writing a letter to God. I often began my entry with “Dear Father” and continued from there. I also have at times kept a prayer list in the back of my spiritual journal. Now that I have kept spiritual journals for over two decades I can say it has been one of the most meaningful practices of my Christian life. Now, when I buy a new journal I purchase a nice leather or bonded leather blank journal from a local bookstore.

What To Include In Your Spiritual Journal

Approach your spiritual journal with openness. I found this to be an adjustment. In the Christian life it is sometimes hard to be completely open with other Christians. There is a fear of “what will they think of me?” But remember this is a journal written to God. So be transparent.

Include your thoughts from your Bible reading.

You might even write out a few verses word for word or a summary of them.

Talk to God on paper. Write your thoughts to God as if it were a letter to Him.

Write a summary or even details of the circumstances of your life today.

Write down the key event, worry or concern in your life right now.

Write down the great things that are happening as well.

There is no right or wrong approach to keeping a personal spiritual journal. The thing to keep in mind is the fact that this is your personal journey with God. It is very personal and private.

Protecting Your Journal

I feel it is important to keep your journal as private as you choose. I am careful about these journals. There are things I have experienced with God that I have never shared with others. There are also moments I have had with God that I have found impossible to keep to myself… I must tell those close to me of the great things God is doing.

The Result of Spiritual Journaling

In the past I may have spent five minutes with God and found it seemed like 30 minutes. After beginning the practice of keeping a spiritual journal, I find I can spend 30-45 minutes with God and it seems like ten minutes. The journals have also become a great source of encouragement to me as I look back and read of the ways God has led in my life!

Ken Turner Ministries * PO Box 460 * Zionsville, IN 46077
www.kenturnerministries.org

You might consider learning more about my High Impact Teen Spiritual Journal for teens at…

www.highimpactteens.com