This is a great example of how the priority of the Church has been turned upside down.
The article states:
“We have all kinds of plans with what will happen with the kids over the next couple of months [after the New Year’s Eve party],” said Sutherland. “We are getting ready to re-shift and go towards another goal so we can keep our kids constantly targeted towards Christ’s mission of reaching the poor.”

While I don’t go as far as some in shunning the social gospel, it is none the less true that many forces are trying to invert the priorities of the church and the direct commands of Christ. The priorities should be:

1. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 2. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22:37-39 What is the greatest need of every person on this earth including every neighbor? It is to hear the gospel and have the opportunity to accept the free gift of eternal life that God has provided through His son Jesus Christ. This is the “Gospel”, this is the “Good News”, this is the primary job of the church. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. " I John 5:11-12 This is why proclaiming the Gospel must be the primary call of the Church. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Rom. 1:16 Yes, it (the Gospel) is the power of God unto salvation. Again, the primary job of the Church is to proclaim this Gospel.

3. After seeing sins forgiven, the next priority is make disciples. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:19-20 4. Now if you have been diligently pushing forward with 1, 2 and 3 above, I can’t find anything in scripture that says you need to abandon all effort to encourage social justice on the earth. There are many great injustices to fight against such as: Abortion, genocide, religious persecution, helping those who have been hit by natural disasters, oppression by governments, hunger in the world, inadequate housing, terrorism, healthcare, raising money for AIDS research and relief for those afflicted. etc., etc., etc.

However, it is in the reverse priorities that the greatest danger to the church and mankind lies. When “rethink” predominates and #4 becomes #1 then it is time for true Bible believers to not cower back but take a stand and proclaim truth to all who will listen.

This was a great Idea, I applaud all who organized this effort.

I applaud this church for stepping out and giving teens a safe place to celebrate the New Year and to reach out to others as Christ would do.
Why is it that even when something good is being done, people need to criticize even that. Jesus can and does use many means to reach others. Instead of criticizing here, why not see where the Lord is working and go join Him yourselves!

We live in a very dark and dangerous world, and having raised teens myself, it's not always easy to find a safe environment for them to be in and nothing in this world is perfect, but at least these folks are trying!

Our church is also an outreach center for anyone who is in need of Jesus, and we have jam sessions and not every session is sacred music, the LORD taught me something last night as I sat in that room and listen to some of the young folks playing with such talent, HE is working in these peoples lives, and as HE draws them to Himself through us (if we're allowing Him to do this)....we lead off the night with accoustic gospel and let me tell you, at first I was against this but I prayed and the LORD showed me that HE will indeed use what it takes to get our attention.

The "Church" is not a place many feel safe in going to and many are hurting so badly and are in need of Jesus love, HE takes us as we are and then HE goes to work by The power of THe Holy Spirit and cleanses us, and this is a lifelong re-creating of each of us, if we allow Him to.

So, who are we to say how God will work or not, becareful that what you may think is wrong, may actually be something God is right in the middle orchestrating!

Our GOD is all powerful, beyong figuring out, so if HE wants to use any venue HE wants, who are we to tell Him that HE can't...oh by the way, many are coming to Christ here and seeing they have a friend in Jesus as well as a Father whom they can trust and depend on, and isn't that what it's all about? As Jesus is lifted up HE will draw all unto Himself!

Why am I not surprised that "presentation of the Gospel message" was last.

Junior to senior high students were treated to a wide range of entertainment including illusionist and escape artist Brock Gill, The Price is Right Game Show, inflatable boxing & jousting, snow board simulator, sumo wrestling, SOAR Dunk Team, an ESPN Zone, movies, and the presentation of the Gospel message.

So what if the numbers are inaccurate? If one African died every day, instead of every 10 seconds, from AIDS would we not help? What if it were only one a week - could we ignore it then?

But we don't know that the numbers aren't accurate.

Becky,

My point was... these statistics are usually skewed to give a 'shock' value to a story and they are generally unable to stand to any sort of scrutiny when the math is applied.

Zenodaddy, according to Unaids, the number has dropped slightly to 2.1 million [1.9-2.4 million] in 2007. Your 'theory" about all African's dead would mean there were no births but there are TONS of orphans even with this tremendous death toll. Actually Africa has the highest birthrate in the world.

'In Africa, every 10 seconds a person dies of AIDS and another two are infected'

Wow... 6 people die every minute... so in a single day... 8640 people die... which means in a single year there are 3,153,600 deaths due to aids... which means that in 267 years, all African's will be dead due to sex.

Either this '10 seconds with aids' is bunk, or someone is trying to say something. I would go with the bunk theory.

I would question some of the entertainment choices, but at least it was a good overall alternative environment.