| Friday, May 21, 2004 |
| Live the Life |
A few words from Ganns Deen of SuperBlessed:
I recently attended the Asia-Pacific Communication Conference 2004, where the Academy
for Educational Development presented the findings of a study titled "The Social Acceptance Project-Family Planning." The results shocked me: teens today are engaging in premarital sex more often with more partners. They are drinking more alcohol, experimenting with more drugs, & engaging in these vices at an earlier age. Media plays an important role in influencing child and teenage decisions, so much that Oprah Winfrey
labeled the television "the other parent." Meanwhile, parents are separating, leaving trails of emotionally scarred children in their wake, & incestuous rape incidents have gone up. Teen self-esteem is at its lowest, and, if, judging by the diaspora of the youth for greener pastures abroad, many young people are rapidly losing hope and faith in their country.
There is no doubt in my mind that media & the disintegration/ devaluation of the family unit have much to play in the average Filipino teenager's slow descent to moral bankruptcy. These kids are inheriting the nation, & if we don't do something to halt this slide, there's going to be hell to pay, even before Christ returns. These aren't just teens: they're our future leaders. We have got to make moves, as men and women for others, to change the system.
My wife & I have been much in prayer regarding this, & we have decided to take a leap of faith & accept what we believe to be the direction the Lord has laid out for me. I'm leaving my job to put up a Christian magazine for teenagers & young adults.
Live the Life is envisioned as the ultimate interdenomination teen lifestyle magazine for
Filipino-Christians. It seeks to provide uplifting, encouraging content for Philippine
teens and young adults. It will address the issues, & tell it like it is, without the
unnecessary sugarcoating that sometimes pervades other family magazines. Its layout will be radical, its text will be different, it won’t condescend nor underestimate the intelligence of its readers, & it will challenge them to rethink many of the decisions they've made in light of their future & their relationship with God. Most importantly, it will lift up the name of Jesus in ways accessible to teens & young adults.
I've tapped several Fil-Christian teen & young adult bloggers to contribute content to Live the Life, & have received enthusiastic support. We're actively looking for contributors with solid relationships with Jesus Christ to join us
in this ministry. Admittedly, a start-up like this doesn't have a huge amount of financial backing, but we believe in faith that "Live the Life" is guaranteed to succeed - it is God's work.
(If you're interested in helping us market "Live the Life," we'd be more than happy to send you a full magazine profile, including donation & advertising opportunities. Please email livethelifemag@superblessed.net for inquiries; we also own livethelifemag.com, so please expect a companion website up by the launch of the magazine in August 2004.)
Live the Life will spotlight features on, among other things, Spirituality, God in Culture, Teen revolution for Jesus, Career, Relationships, Health, Finance, Choices, Music, Movies, TV, Books & Fashion.
If you know of any way to get us into church youth ministries as supplementary readings,
we'd really appreciate that. We are more than willing to meet up with youth pastors to discuss the content of the magazine. Equally importantly, if you can help set us up meetings with the principals or presidents of parents' associations of high schools & colleges that can subscribe to Live the Life this late in the game, please let
us know. God bless!
|
posted by Jax @ 1:27:00 AM   |
|
|
|
