Accept The Complementary. Reject What Is Not.

For Mark Artrip, youth pastor at Grace Church, a Grace Brethren church in Powell, Ohio, using cutting edge media techniques is one way of reaching students in their world.

“It’s a gateway to draw them in, but I don’t want it to be the main thrust,” he said Tuesday during the Generations Lunch for youth workers and parents at Momentum, the annual Grace Brethren youth conference now being held near Pittsburgh, Pa.

He regularly sends text messages to student phones reminding them of meetings or asking for volunteers, noting that many of the young people carry them at their parent’s request. “They (the parents) want to know where their kids are.”

His youth meetings are sprinkled with media. Movie clips, text-messaging surveys, or segments that mimic popular game shows are just a few of the techniques. But they all have a purpose – to leverage student interest and all abide by a guiding rule:

“Accept what is complementary to the Bible, reject what is contradictory,” he suggests as guidelines for determining what media is appropriate.