Power. Glory. Music... God?

So today I received an email entitled "A NIGHT YOUR YOUTH WON'T FORGET!" as a part of a Youth Ministry promotion, so I opened up the email and saw this:

Is it just me or is there something missing here? Shouldn't there be some mention of encountering God? Some mention of our Lord, Jesus Christ? How about a filling of the Spirit?  This just looks like a rock concert promo, ala Pink Floyd.

"It must be in the fine print," I thought to myself, and scrolled down.

"...high-energy, interactive movie theater event..." That's not it.

"...a fuse of music, comedy, and inspirational messages..." Eh, maybe.

"...a moment where young people and those who believe in them fill theaters..." Huh? Believe in young people? I thought this was about believing in God?

"...Empower young people to overcome their fears they face regarding peer pressure..." Um... a high school assembly speaker?

"...Platinum-selling recording artists, encouraging  message, brand new song, TV personality, and hilarious speaker..." Am I missing something?

I knew I had come to the end of the email when I saw this:

I may be old-fashioned, but I truly believe that Youth Ministry (and all-ages Worship for that matter) needs to point to and focus on God, not a dramatic show of lights, sound, comedy, and motivation. These things are fun, and I'm sure will pack in a few thousand folk, but what are we offering; a product or a person? a show or a savior? glamour or God? a rock star or the Rock?

Years ago I stopped subscribing to a "Youth Ministry Tool" that provided free CDs of the newest Christian bands (which I had a hard time understanding why they were called "Christian" much of the time) and merchandising ads to hand out at youth group so that kids could buy the newest t-shirt or poster of their favorite intensely angry-looking band (seriously, no wonder folk outside the church think we're angry. what would happen if a Christian recording artist actually smiled? the 2nd coming? I could live with that).

This comic came across my computer screen today as well:

 and it made me think that this sort of Arena Event is kinda like this:

and just why would I encourage teens - young people who are looking for substance, for truth, for meaning, for acceptance, for a foundation to set their lives on, for love - to replace the Way, Truth, and Life found in Jesus for Power, Glory, and Music?

So I won't. and I hope that other youth workers, parents, and teens will instead grow in their local communities; maybe listening to a couple of learning middle schoolers play guitar in a living room as they sing a song of worship together, maybe standing in a field during a thunderstorm and witnessing the awesome grandeur of God in the sky, maybe just sitting in the car talking about how their day kinda sucked and listening to one another...
...and maybe, just maybe, a relationship with Jesus built in the everyday hustle, struggle, and boredom of their lives, the relying on His Spirit when things are hard, offering up a prayer to Him, and trying to figure it all out as they reconcile their faith with everything else that is thrown at them in 30-foot-tall technicolor, widescreen HD, surround sound, fog machines, and laser lights.
A relationship that my youth won't forget...

Yeah, I think I like that better. I think God will too.