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douchey youth group leaders

r.a

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is it just me or do christian youth group leaders always come off as super douchey? its kinda like club owners. it takes a special breed of douchebag to be a club owner, just as it takes a special breed to be a youth group leader.

im at a cafe and outside there's this christian youth group teen summit going on outside and the leader is some young dude with an ed hardy t-shirt and a douchey fucking haircut. i can't hear what he's enthusiastically saying but im sure its suuuuuper douche.

i was in catholic youth group as a teen and our leader was d-baggy as well.

but at least he didnt wear an ed hardy t-shirt. im sure if jesus was around (or existed for that matter) he would hate those tacky fucking ed hardy shirts as well.
 

poppy

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I've hung around with Christian Youth Groups before, and I found most of the leaders to be pretty bland. I didn't feel that much better about the kids in those groups, but I didn't really like the sort of self righteous club-mentality I saw there. I assume they're not all like that.

Also Ed Hardy merch is vile.
 

Nonsensical

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They are trying too hard to make a dying effect on youths. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

They are doing it wrong. Kids look up to leaders who speak their language. Being all prissy and douchy when trying hard to influence a child is the wrong route. If you want a child to listen, speak their tongue.

I was in Youth Group for numerous years, but have since dropped out. I am a dropper.
 

r.a

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the thing is that alot of these leaders are only a little bit older than the kids, so they speak the language to an extent. they market on this ability to pull these malleable, soul/acceptance searching youngsters into their lame little club.
 

phthalocyanine

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i sometimes volunteer to work with children at a local church and i'm nothing like the youth group leaders you describe

...for the few that can grit their(/our) teeth and bear the bad associations some people have, the misnomers, et cetera, it can be a good thing.
i don't have to push religion on anyone and i get to encourage kids to be exploratory, questioning, and open-minded. it's not as scary as it could be, for the kids or for us.

if no 'normal' people step up to do that stuff, half of those kids will just end up growing up to be the douchey ed hardy wearing youth group leaders. i certainly don't want to doom the little buggers! i know the other option is for the kids to become so disenchanted with the douchebags that they skip over spirituality/religion/philo-whatever altogether until they are much older, if at all, and that's just sad to me, almost worse than becoming the ed hardy d-bag (but not really)

i guess what i'm saying is these types shouldnt ruin everything for the rest of us. they're generally more afraid of us than we them, anyway! (we can take em! no more davey & goliath!)
 

Nonsensical

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the thing is that alot of these leaders are only a little bit older than the kids, so they speak the language to an extent. they market on this ability to pull these malleable, soul/acceptance searching youngsters into their lame little club.

But it doesn't always work, does it?
 

r.a

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i sometimes volunteer to work with children at a local church and i'm nothing like the youth group leaders you describe

...for the few that can grit their(/our) teeth and bear the bad associations some people have, the misnomers, et cetera, it can be a good thing.
i don't have to push religion on anyone and i get to encourage kids to be exploratory, questioning, and open-minded. it's not as scary as it could be, for the kids or for us.

if no 'normal' people step up to do that stuff, half of those kids will just end up growing up to be the douchey ed hardy wearing youth group leaders. i certainly don't want to doom the little buggers! i know the other option is for the kids to become so disenchanted with the douchebags that they skip over spirituality/religion/philo-whatever altogether until they are much older, if at all, and that's just sad to me, almost worse than becoming the ed hardy d-bag (but not really)

i guess what i'm saying is these types shouldnt ruin everything for the rest of us. they're generally more afraid of us than we them, anyway! (we can take em! no more davey & goliath!)

i hope i am not conveying all are like that!

bless you for not being a douche ;)
 

r.a

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ok i did kinda convey all are like that. just swap the word 'always' with 'often' in the first sentence.

my bad, yo
 

phthalocyanine

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ah, it's cool. i catch your drift, and i'm in agreement with the general sentiment of your OP. i hope my post made that clear. if not, let this post serve to clarify.

nice lincoln.
 
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When I was a kid I hated when adults tried to "speak my language". I thought it was condescending. I would rather they be themselves, at least they would be authentic. This is why when I was little I hated the show "The Electric Company" and the "Schoolhouse Rock" shorts. To me, they were just doing an act. "Hey, young people! We are hip too!" When I was a Boy Scout leader I never tried that. I find kids respect you more for being straight with them, even if that means you're kinda square.
 

cafe

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I've known great ones and I've known lame ones. My husband and I interned as youth pastors and we totally sucked. We might do better now that geekiness is cooler than it used to be. Or we might not.

My brother is currently a youth pastor and a pretty great guy. The kids in the group seem to really like him. He is kind of fascinating combination of ruthless fun and earnest uptightness. He works his tail off for the church for realz.
 

phthalocyanine

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My brother is currently a youth pastor and a pretty great guy. The kids in the group seem to really like him. He is kind of fascinating combination of ruthless fun and earnest uptightness. He works his tail off for the church for realz.

this sounds like it could be a description of my ENFP pastor friend.
some of the most unlikely (unruly?) types seem to have the best results with the kids.
 

cafe

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this sounds like it could be a description of my ENFP pastor friend.
some of the most unlikely (unruly?) types seem to have the best results with the kids.
LOL, yeah. Tender-hearted, conscientious hellions.
 

Alwar

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This reminds me of that cartoon Daria back in ancient times (90's) where that 35 year old police officer went undercover in a high-school and stuck out like a sore thumb. Kept trying to use youth slang and what not.
 

phthalocyanine

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This reminds me of that cartoon Daria back in ancient times (90's) where that 35 year old police officer went undercover in a high-school and stuck out like a sore thumb. Kept trying to use youth slang and what not.

[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GLjjIMhRkY&feature=related"]The Lost Girls[/YOUTUBE]
 
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