Whether you have a teenager in your home or just see them in the malls, it’s clear that the likes and dislikes of this age group are making an impact on America’s cultural identity. But where do role models come into play? That’s the subject of a new Barna study.

Barna reports that the role models are important because they influence the shape and substance of the next generation of churchgoers, consumers and citizens. The research group set out to determine who 13- to 17-year-olds admire most, other than their parents.

Despite excluding parents, Barna reveals that 37 percent of teens named other family members. Meanwhile, 11 percent mentioned teachers and coaches, 9 percent named friends, and a mere 6 percent named pastors or other religious leaders they know personally.

Moving beyond personal connections, Barna found that entertainers (including musicians and actors) were named by 6% of teens, followed by sports heroes (5%), political leaders (4%), faith leaders (4%), business leaders (1%), authors (1%), science and medical professionals (1%), other artists (1%), and members of the military (1%).

The high-profile leaders most commonly named were President Obama (3%) and Jesus Christ (3%). Tyra Banks, Rob Dyrdrek, Lady Gaga, Demi Lovato, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey were among the celebrities named. The only athletes who earned multiple mentions were LeBron James, Peyton Manning, Michael Phelps, Mike Tyson and David Wright. Others mentioned were Mahatma Gandhi, the Pope, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The reasons for admiring these folks? It boiled down to personality and inspiration. Barna reports that the most common reasons teens admired President Obama were his hard work and self-confidence. Jesus connects with teens because of his concern for others and being an example to follow.

“For better and worse, teens are emulating the people they know best. More than two out of three teens identify people they know personally as their primary role model. Many parents and youth workers fret about the role models of the next generation,” says David  Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group.

“Yet, one reason to remain hopeful about the development of young people is their reliance upon the people they know best: friends, relatives, teachers, pastors, and coaches. At the same time, that reality underscores the insistence of many parents that they influence the people with whom their child associates, in order to be sure that their kids are surrounded by people modeling positive values and life choices.”

Who is your role model?

A 24-hour worship and prayer movement in Jerusalem is making an urgent request for intercession.

In light of the Egyptian revolt, Rick Ridings, founder of Succat Hallel, says we are seeing a “very strategic” moment for not only Egypt, but also Lebanon and Israel. Ridings has prepared a 12-minute video sharing visions he’s had, along with pertinent Scriptures that aim to help intercessors pray for the region.

“As you are probably aware, today there are large-scale demonstrations scheduled against the government in Egypt. In addition, the past few days saw the announcement of a new Prime Minister for Lebanon, Najib Mikati, who is widely seen as a ‘puppet’ under the control of Hizballah and Iran,” Ridings says.

“Another ominous sign was Iran’s declaration of Jan. 23 of it’s intent to send warships into the Mediterranean. We have felt the Lord for over a year instructing us to pray protection over the coast of Israel from attacks coming from the Mediterranean.”

First it was Twitter. Then Facebook. Next BlackBerry Internet service. Now, Egypt officials have reportedly cut off Internet access within its borders.

This follows Egypt’s decision to ban demonstrations and arrest protesters who are angry with the government. Egyptians want President Hosni Mubarak to step down. The Egyptian people are demanding political, economic and social reforms. Egypt has responded to the protests with tear gas, rubber bullets, beatings and arrests.

And now by cutting off Internet  access so the rest of the world can’t see what’s going on there-an action unprecedented in Internet history.

“Critical European-Asian fiber-optic routes through Egypt appear to be unaffected for now. But every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, web site, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world,” said James Cowie, chief technology officer at Internet monitoring firm Renesys. “Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr, and all their customers and partners are, for the moment, off the air.”

Renesys reports that virtually all of Egypt’s Internet addresses are now unreachable, worldwide. This is a completely different situation from the modest Internet manipulation that took place in Tunisia, where specific routes were blocked, or Iran, where the Internet stayed up in a rate-limited form designed to make Internet connectivity painfully slow. The Egyptian government’s actions tonight have essentially wiped their country from the global map, Cowie said.

“What happens when you disconnect a modern economy and 80,000,000 people from the Internet? What will happen tomorrow, on the streets and in the credit markets?” Cowie asked.  This has never happened before, and the unknowns are piling up.” Renesys reports one exception: the Egyptian Stock Exchange.

Fraternities. Sororities. Loud music. Dancing. All in a big hotel. Sounds like a recipe for police activity right?

More like worship.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Greek Conferences will include hundreds of fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, some strong in their faith, others investigating for the first time. The annual conferences will both take place in February, one to Indianapolis – February 11-13, and one in Charlotte – February 18-20.

Members of the Greek world are not generally known for their commitment to Christ, though. Despite their mostly Christian roots, most frat houses are known for beer over Bibles. So how does Greek IV get all of those students to worship? InterVarsity’s Eric Holmer says the students take care of that themselves.

“It’s focused on the idea of fraternity members and sorority members within their house, reaching out to those people in their house that nobody else can reach out to the way that [they can]. Somebody just knocking on their door wouldn’t have the same impact as one of their brothers or sisters inviting them to something. So using that same principle, and also using the principle of the bid card…we invited everyone to Greek Conference this year. We passed out bids, so the people in the Greek system could give out bids to their brothers and sisters to this weekend experience.”

A bid is essentially an invitation to a person after the Greek Rush period to enter into a sorority or fraternity. Getting a bid to the house you were hoping to get into is an exciting honor. Basically, Greek IV used the idea of hand-written, personalized bids to get people excited for Greek Conference.

And a hand-written invitation from a person they trust can go a long way to get even nonbelievers to the conference.

“A lot of them are not even Christians coming to these conferences, but they take a chance because they trust their brother, they trust their sister,” says Holmer. “They know that it’s something at least worthwhile to investigate because they’ve already got an existing relationship that’s a deep one and a good one, and this conference only takes it deeper.”

When the students finally make their way to Indianapolis or Charlotte for Greek Conference, they will get to choose a concentration: from leadership workshops for seasoned Christians, to exploratory sessions for seekers. They will also listen to large group speakers–former fraternity brothers themselves–engage in worship, and dance, dance, dance.

At Greek IV’s last Greek Conference in October, 17 college students came to Christ, and that was a small conference. The Indianapolis conference will boast at least 375 students. Who knows what the Lord will do?
Your prayers are needed. Pray that the Lord would use this conference to ignite a fire in the hearts of Greek Christians; it wouldn’t be the first time.

“It can start with just one person in a house that can change the whole Greek system. We’ve had a lot of stories of students coming to Greek Conference with this same experience of bringing it back to their house, and then from their house it goes to another house, and then all of a sudden there’s an all Greek Bible study going.”

Pray of course for the students who do not know Christ but are attending Greek Conference to grasp for the first time who Jesus is, and cling to Him. Pray not only for the invited: pray too for the inviters.

“So often they don’t even think to ask [people to come], because they assume the answer is already ‘no.’ And we’ve found that sometimes the last minute invitation can go a long way, and people that come on a whim end up having their lives change that weekend, and they meet God for the first time.”

World Relief announced that its Board of Directors has elected Stephan Bauman as the organization’s Chief Executive Officer and president.

Bauman has served as the World Relief senior vice president of Programs since 2007. He first joined World Relief in 2005 as country director for World Relief Rwanda.

Scott Arbeiter, World Relief’s Chairman of the Board, says that the Board unanimously and enthusiastically selected Bauman based on his track record as an exceptional leader.

“Our search for a new CEO to take World Relief into its next stage of vital, sustainable and high impact ministry has been highly focused,” says Arbeiter. “The board search committee established a specific CEO profile in keeping with our mission, vision and values.

“Stephan stood out because of his unique set of experiences and gifts, and his ability to lead effective teams and drive change. He understands how to seize opportunity and tackle the challenges of running a global organization. His reputation as a person of unquestioned integrity combined with his organizational experience made him an outstanding candidate.”

Prior to World Relief, Bauman served as director of International Programs for World Hope International. Before that he worked for Mercy Ships International directing programs on the Anastasis, a hospital ship based in Africa, and as a business consultant in the private sector.

“I am honored to serve the world’s most vulnerable with an exceptional staff. World Relief reaches around the world through a vast network of churches, volunteers, donors, and partners,” Bauman says. ‘It is a privilege to lead such a compelling organization.”

Bauman will assume his new role on May 12. He will succeed Sam Wolgemuth, Interim CEO since September 2010 and a member of the Board of Directors since 1999.

U.S. and Mexican authorities are investigating the killing of a U.S. missionary in Mexico, even as mission groups in Texas are re-evaluating the risks of working in the country.

Fifty-nine-year-old Nancy Davis had ministered in Mexico for 40 years. Her husband said they were about 70 miles south of the border when gunmen in a pick-up truck tried to stop them. When Mr. Davis sped up, they opened fire, wounding Nancy in the head.

“The gunshot wound would have happened in the interior of Mexico as they traveled from Mexico towards the United States,” Pharr, Texas Police Chief Ruben Villescas said.

Authorities said the shooting happened in one of the most dangerous areas of the country. The area is controlled by the Zetas drug cartel, a fact the Davises probably knew already.

Friends said they spent a lifetime in Mexico helping start new churches.
Mission groups in south Texas said her death is yet another wake-up call to the dangers of ministry in Mexico, and they are re-assessing their travel policies.

“Right now we haven’t officially sat down to say what is our policy but our informal policy is, ‘Don’t just abandon these people, they need help, maybe now more than ever,'” said Mark Rotramel, moderator for the Rio Grande Valley Baptists Association.

“But it is dangerous, so if they go, they must be very careful,” he continued. “And yet we’re not really encouraging wholesale going across like we have in the past.”

After the shooting, Mr. Davis said he drove to the border at top speed to outrun the gunmen. His wife died of her wounds about an hour later in a south Texas hospital.

UPDATE:

CBN News Senior Producer Stan Jeter tells Charisma News that Christian persecution is on the rise in Mexico. Jeter interviewed Mexican human rights lawyer Oscar Moha on CBNNewsChannel.com’s noon broadcast. Moha says three pastors were killed in Mexico last month.

“Some churches have been forced to close. Others have cancelled afternoon or evening meetings. And there are more attempts of extortion against churches,” Jeter tells Charisma. “So far, however, we’ve heard no evidence that the murder of this missionary was anything more than attempted robbery or kidnapping.”

In line with Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, the search engine giant has partnered with Yad Vashem to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a new project that aims to preserve the world’s largest historical collection on the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem, a Jerusalem-based archive, is devoted to the documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust. With the Google partnership, its photo collection will be easier to search and encourage visitors to share personal stories and thoughts. Sharing is a key word in the Google partnership. By making the photos more accessible, Yad Vashem expects people around the world to contribute more stories behind the photos and add their knowledge to the site.

“We’re focused on finding new and innovative ways to make the enormous amount of data in our archives, accessible and searchable to a global audience,” says Avner Shalev, Chairman, Yad Vashem. “Google is an integral partner in our mission, as they help us to reach new audiences, including young people around the world, enabling them to be active in the discussion about the Holocaust.”

Currently, 130,000 photos from Yad Vashem’s archive are viewable in full resolution online. This is a first step towards bringing the vast Yad Vashem archive online over time.
Google has implemented experimental optical character recognition technology to carry out this project, making previously difficult to locate documents searchable and discoverable online.

“For some time, Google has been working to bring the world’s historical and cultural heritage online. The Internet offers a great opportunity to preserve and share important materials stored in archives,” says Yossi Matias, Director of Google’s R&D center in Israel. “We’re privileged to be able to work with the world’s foremost Holocaust archive on this project.”

The collections are visible at http://collections.yadvashem.org/photo.

In line with Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, the search engine giant has partnered with Yad Vashem to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a new project that aims to preserve the world’s largest historical collection on the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem, a Jerusalem-based archive, is devoted to the documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust. With the Google partnership, its photo collection will be easier to search and encourage visitors to share personal stories and thoughts. Sharing is a key word in the Google partnership. By making the photos more accessible, Yad Vashem expects people around the world to contribute more stories behind the photos and add their knowledge to the site.

“We’re focused on finding new and innovative ways to make the enormous amount of data in our archives, accessible and searchable to a global audience,” says Avner Shalev, Chairman, Yad Vashem. “Google is an integral partner in our mission, as they help us to reach new audiences, including young people around the world, enabling them to be active in the discussion about the Holocaust.”

Currently, 130,000 photos from Yad Vashem’s archive are viewable in full resolution online. This is a first step towards bringing the vast Yad Vashem archive online over time.
Google has implemented experimental optical character recognition technology to carry out this project, making previously difficult to locate documents searchable and discoverable online.

“For some time, Google has been working to bring the world’s historical and cultural heritage online. The Internet offers a great opportunity to preserve and share important materials stored in archives,” says Yossi Matias, Director of Google’s R&D center in Israel. “We’re privileged to be able to work with the world’s foremost Holocaust archive on this project.”

The collections are visible at http://collections.yadvashem.org/photo.

Following the smashing success of its NIV e-book version, Zondervan is rolling out an “enhanced e-book” version of its all-time bestselling “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren.

Originally published in 2002, The Purpose Driven Life is the bestselling non-fiction book in history with more than 30 million copies sold worldwide. In the book, Warren takes readers on a 40-day spiritual journey to help them understand why they’re alive and God’s amazing plan for them both now and for eternity.  

The Purpose Driven Life enhanced e-book features the book’s entire text, along with 42 brand new, three-minute embedded videos by Warren. Each of the 40 chapters of the book opens with a video offering insight into the chapter, as well as a video introduction and conclusion. The enhanced e-book also allows readers to take notes on their iPad or e-book reader.

“In the eight years since I wrote The Purpose Driven Life, I’ve received countless questions and feedback from readers worldwide. As a result, God has provided me with new insights and perspectives on the book that I wanted to share with those who have already read it as well as first time readers,” Warren says. “My hope is that readers will benefit from and find value in the new video content and that it will bring new understanding and awareness of God’s greater purpose for their lives.”

Zondervan is also introducing The Purpose Driven Life app, which includes the video content as well as providing users the ability to share content or personal thoughts and reflections on the book with others through social media networks.

Egypt is banning demonstrations and detaining protesters, seeking to draw a line under unprecedented anger over President Hosni Mubarak’s rule.

Wednesday was a “Day of Wrath” in which thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in anti-government protests.

News reports indicated thousands of  demonstrators, inspired by the events of Tunisia, demanded that Mubarak step down. David Harder with SAT-7 says, “Tunisia has really put the sparks to a fire that has already not just piled up, but had been covered with fuel and all of a sudden a spark came to ignite. No one knows what the result will be.”

The tension has been building, and the church bombing in Alexandria galvanized people into action. “There has been a growing sense of anger and resentment amongst the disenfranchised politically, amongst the Christians, and other religious minority groups who are feeling oppressed, neglected, mistreated.”

Harder says their staff lives and works in the area where one of the largest demonstrations took place this week. “Pray that our team would have peace, that deep inner peace that only Christ can give no matter what occurs around them. And secondly, pray that they would be strong witnesses for the Lord Jesus.”

As it was with the church bombing, the staff provides a forum for people to talk about the issues. SAT-7 is a Christian satellite television ministry to the Middle East and North Africa. Their programming includes live shows where viewers can interact with the hosts in real time through texting or call-ins.

“They can talk about those things, but also they can do it in a way that helps to disperse some of the anger and help people think about these issues in a rational way,” Harder notes, adding, “That is the kind of thing that we are doing in our live programs…allowing people to respond to these events.” The interaction provides opportunity for the team to share the peace of Christ with those around them.

The response of SAT-7 is even more important given recent reports that the government has temporarily shut down access to Twitter and Facebook, a claim the officials deny. With the uncertainties continuing to brew, Harder says it’s important to keep praying.