1. Summer Preview

2. Top 5 // Need to Know

3. Deep Dive: World Changers & Discovery Camp Impact

4. Calendar of Events

It is the middle of May and as the Texas heat descend upon us, the academic school year matches its intensity. Your students, if they are not indulging in Fortnite (see below for more understanding), they are busy cramming for APs, STAAR, finals, papers, prom, year-end banquets, and looking for jobs/internships.

I know most of you are just trying to get through this month and summer seems like a long ways off I wanted to give you resources in order to maintain the spiritual health of your students. Here are 3 things to protect your student from becoming a summer sloth

1. SET A SUMMER SCHEDULE: Before summer hits sit down as a family and discuss the calendar for the summer. Make sure to highlight big events such as family vacations, camps, retreats, trips, etc. This should give you a big overview of the summer so you can all be aware of each other's schedule and increase communication. Then look for breaks in the calendar where you can add in smaller events such as a mother/son date night, joint family outing, family service project, etc.

2. SET LIMITS: I remembered summers for me meant sleeping in until 3pm and binge watching Saved By the Bell episodes till 1am. Parents, be sure to set healthy, reasonable limits for your students this summer. I say reasonable because it is still summer after all and so don't expect them to wake up at 5am every morning and cut the grass with scissors (pain point for me). But set healthy limits on:

• wake up // bed time
• amount of time spent on video games/internet/television
• time with friends/family
• time outside/inside the house

3. SET GOALS: Not saying that you need to have a list of 198410 goals for your students this summer but a good handful of goals would be not only beneficial but healthy and productive. Set these goals with your students. Here are a few suggestions:

• Meet up with your DG at least 3 times this summer
• Study 1 book of the Bible; Read 1 fiction book
• Watch mom & dad's favorite movie
• Mulch the yard
• Befriend 3 people at Camp
• Volunteer in Houston 3 times

Fortnite Battle Royale is a free-to-play battle royale game developed and published by Epic Games. It was released as an early access title for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One in September 2017, and for iOS in April 2018, with plans for an Android version at a later date. It is a spin-off from Epic's Fortnite, a cooperative survival game with construction elements.

As a battle royale game, Fortnite Battle Royale features up to 100 players, alone, in duos, or in squads of up to four players, attempting to be the last player alive by killing other players or evading them, while staying within a constantly shrinking safe zone to prevent taking lethal damage from being outside it. Players must scavenge for weapons and armor to gain the upper hand on their opponents. The game adds the construction element from Fortnite; players can break down most objects in the game world to gain resources they can use to build fortifications as part of their strategy. The game features limited cross-platform play between PlayStation 4, Xbox One, computer versions, and mobile versions.

The idea for Fortnite Battle Royale came near the release of Fortnite in mid-2017. Following the early access release of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in March 2017 and its rapid growth, Epic Games saw the opportunity to create a battle royale mode out of Fortnite. Epic Games launched this as a mode within the game but later made it a free-to-play standalone game, supported by microtransactions that did not require the base Fortnite game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortnite

The Weekly Standard recently ran an article by Devorah Goldman entitled The Politicization of the MCAT, that's the Medical College Admissions Test. As Goldman writes in 2015, "The Association of American Medical Colleges revised the MCAT for the first time in nearly 25 years, stretching," she says, "the full exam day experience from around five hours to eight or more. The test drew attention at the time for its sheer length. Less widely noted," she points out, "was the explicitly ideological bent of the new exam."

As Goldman points out, the American Psychological Association that accredits a variety of graduate programs in psychology in American institutions, in her words, "has taken strong positions on topics such as pay equality and gun control". She goes on to say the Council on Social Work Education, which accredits college-level and graduate social work programs, has also been outspoken on a range of issues, particularly regarding social and economic justice.

I especially appreciate the language Goldman uses in concluding that paragraph. She says, "One would expect the leaders of a scientific discipline to carefully distinguish between verifiable fact and opinion. The new MCAT blurs that line." What we see here, of course, is ideological conformity coming at the beginning of the process of who will and will not become a physician.

Now remember what we've discussed already on The Briefing, and that is that in Canada, there is an open proposal that students who will not perform abortions should not be accepted to medical school because they represent physicians who will not practice the full range of the physician's task.

Article Link: https://www.weeklystandard.com/devorah-goldman/the-politicization-of-the-mcat

Blurb Link: https://albertmohler.com/2018/05/04/briefing-5-4-18/

The Boy Scouts of America announced last year that it would welcome girls for the first time in its century-long history. Now the organization’s flagship program — long known as the Boy Scouts — has a new name to promote the message. And it’s missing the word “boy.”

Beginning in February 2019, it will be known as Scouts BSA. “Scouts BSA perfectly represents the new, inclusive program for older Scouts that the Boy Scouts of America is proud to offer,” said Effie Delimarkos, a spokeswoman.

Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh told the Associated Press that many names were considered and that the ultimate goal was “to land on something that evokes the past but also conveys the inclusive nature of the program going forward.” Surbaugh said he expects that kids enrolled in Scouts BSA would refer to themselves just as “scouts,” without “girl” or “boy” identifiers.

In October, Boy Scouts of America announced it would allow girls into the Cub Scouts program, a step in allowing them to earn the coveted Eagle Scout ranking. So far, 3,000 girls have joined roughly 170 Cub Scout packs in the first rollout of the new policy. Scouts BSA will begin admitting female members next year.

LINK: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/05/02/boy-scouts-drop-the-boy-as-they-welcome-girls-to-scouts-bsa/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4e33d70eaacf

The Houston Independent School District Board of Education on Thursday unanimously approved a recommendation from the Audit Committee calling for an external performance audit.

The Audit Committee recommended an external performance audit be conducted in order to ensure HISD is utilizing scarce resources as efficiently and effectively as possible to inform decision-making and budgeting by the board and administration for the 2019-2020 school year and beyond, and to build public trust by exhibiting good stewardship of public dollars.

“We look forward to having fresh eyes examine how we do business so we can best serve our students even with limited dollars. Every efficiency we can identify will help mitigate the impact of our growing recapture payment. Thanks for the public’s patience while we go through this process,” HISD Board of Education president Rhonda Skillern-Jones said.

The firm selected to perform the audit will be required to present a full draft to the board no later than April 2019. Trustees will have until June 2019 to approve a budget based on recommendations from the audit. The cost of the audit is not to exceed $2.5 million.

Link: http://blogs.houstonisd.org/news/2018/05/11/hisd-board-of-education-approves-recommendation-for-external-performance-audit/

A year of remembering the Protestant Reformation in 2017 provided an ideal opportunity to reflect on how this theological revolution 500 years ago informs our modern vision for youth ministry.

In the past decade, youth ministry scholars and leaders have exposed a theological crisis in the spiritual lives of young people. Various studies, particularly the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) and the College Transition Project, found that what American churched kids believe about Christianity is hardly Christian.

Christian Smith described the religious beliefs of teenagers as “moralistic therapeutic deism.” Kids basically understand Christianity to be rules-based behavior modification intended to enhance self-esteem and personal happiness. They view God more as a cosmic ambulance service who keeps to himself, not a living and sovereign Lord.

The diagnosis of the problem was expansive, thorough, and invaluable. Yet clear, developed theological direction was largely absent in response. To be sure, some general encouragements to be more Christ-centered followed; through the Sticky Faith project, for example, Chap Clark and Kara Powell offered one of the best contributions in their writing on a “sticky gospel,” which encouraged grace-based messages to kids.

LINK: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-youth-ministry-needs-reformation/

6/3 Senior Banquet (purchase tix from Kamie Choi)

6/18-23 World Changers (Houston, Texas)

7/1 Middle School Family Picnic (RSVP to come)

7/9-13 VBS

722-25 DCamp

7/25-29 Camp Impact

8/10 Java Jam XII

We exist to glorify God by making disciples of all people through Gospel truths and Gospel living. Our hope is to equip parents to serve as the primary disciplers of their youth.

Email: justinhwong@gmail.com
Website: http://cbchouston.org/youth.html
Location: Chinese Baptist Church, Brogden Road, Houston, TX, United States
Phone: 281-300-2345