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Technorati"In an age where they're bombarded with data from every aspect, we don't have a biblically-rooted generation. And when you don't have a clear context and clear beliefs, it's hard to have clear convictions,” he said.
Third, the increased mobility and the increased divorce rate have created a generation wounded from conflicts and broken relationships, Fleischmann continued.
"Fourthly it's a media-wired generation. We call the teenagers today the iPOD generation," he said. "They want noise in their ears all the time. It seems to be almost a compulsion they have to stay connected."
"It's a spiritually hungry, lost, and confused generation,” Fleischmann added. He pointed to MySpace.com, a Web network of personal sites, as an example of the "shocking" thirst that's being unfulfilled and undefined.
The fifth problem is that students are raised on a "religion of secular humanism" and "when they get to the campus, they're just not ready to face it."
They cannot defend their beliefs, Fleischmann said.
Lastly, it's a tribal generation.
"In many ways, it's a tribe because kids connect with one another," he said, pointing out that they like things like tattoos (marks of identity) and travel in packs.
The first day of the two-day forum raised seven potential responses to the problems, such as building a coalition of ministries to work together, heightening awareness of the issue nationally, helping parents adopt a greater role in their youth's spiritual development, making a change in youth ministry philosophy and strategies, developing hard research, connecting high school and college ministries to transition students safely into college, and using the Internet more.
A leadership team is currently working on creating a website where high school students can search for a campus ministry and connect with a godly roommate before even setting foot on their new campus.
