Looking for the typical Aussie Footprints reader!

• January
• 1

2010 will see the release of the 50th issue of Footprints in May, and we are looking for a FOOTPRINTS COVER GIRL to mark this exciting occasion!

This is not your typical “model” comp – because at Footprints we feature REAL women on our covers – all ages, sizes, shapes and nationalities! What we are looking for is a photo of a woman enjoying life to the full (John 10:10), someone who shines with the love of Jesus (Phil 2:15).

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY

• Submit your colour photo as a high resolution jpeg (preferred), or good quality print 10×15cm or larger.
• Send to us with the following details: model AND photographer’s name and address, email and phone numbers, along with a brief explanation (50 words or less) of why you think your photo would make a great Footprints cover.
• Models and photographers must be over 18 as at 28 February 2010.
• By entering, you grant Footprints permission to use your image in the magazine and for promotional purposes.
• Contest open to Australian residents only.
• Footprints Team, immediate family & previous covergirls may not enter.
• Judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• Enter as many times as you like!
• Competition closes midnight 28 February 2010. 

PRIZES

• $80 gift voucher from Light the Dark the Australian Christian party plan—visit their website  at www.lightthedark.com.au to see their great range!
• Pamper Pack including goodies from Mary Kay
• Canvas of your photo from Purdie Photography www.purdiephotography.com
• 3 year subscription to Footprints for you AND a friend!

If you are a budding photographer, this is a FANTASTIC opportunity – your pic on the cover of a national magazine!!!! Or maybe you just have a favourite photo of yourself hanging around – that you think sums up exactly what Footprints is all about. If so, we’d LOVE to see it!

So far we’ve only received ONE entry … so come on Australia, don’t be shy, show us your Footprints smiles!

Radical Thoughts about Youth Groups!

• December
• 18

DISCLAIMER: apologies to any youth leaders out there, I do not mean to offend or criticise with this post. I am sure you are following God and His will for your youth group to the best of your ability. These are just some thoughts I have been having lately, and wanted to express ….

I have often pondered what church youth groups should be like. Should they be a mini-church service with kid-friendly songs and messages? Should they be about serving the community? Or should they just be about giving young people the chance to have some good clean fun?

The youth group I went to was like the first. It worked for me, but could not be further from the mark for my own 15 year old.

I believe all youth groups should have an element of serving the community, to open kids’ eyes to the world around them and the many needs that exist – and how we can all make a difference!

But lately I have been thinking that there is a lot to be said for church youth groups just offering good, clean, fun activities. At work we have been surveying youth about their wants, hopes and needs for our city, and I came across this comment:

“fun youth nights where we do not have to hear about God!”

Can I hear an “Amen”?! It almost feels sacrilegious, but I think I agree! If church youth groups are meeting a need in the community … drug and alcohol free activities for young people … could that be a start instead of the be-all-and-end-all of our evangelistic efforts?

I’ve often heard it said that in third world countries, we need to take care of the people and their material needs before we can offer them the hope we have in Jesus.

So why shouldn’t church youth groups be about meeting this community need? Do we have to bring the “G” word into every youth meeting? Couldn’t it just be about building relationships with young people and their families? Showing them the abundant life we have in Jesus without saying a word (unless they ask)?

And when they see that we are loving and caring people, who have a God who gives us hope and joy, isn’t THAT what should be attracting them to Christ?

Is an outreach really an outreach when we are hitting people over the head with a Bible?

Jesus said that by our LOVE people would know that we are His disciples. There is a time and a place for preaching and evangelism. But is the weekly youth meeting the time to do it? Could it instead be about loving the young people in our community … stirring up a hunger in them, to want what we’ve got?

Bah Humbug!

• December
• 14

So much for the ghosts of Christmas past …

I have mixed feelings about Christmas these days. My main problem, and I know I’m not alone, is the blatant commercialism and excessive pressure to “spend, spend, spend”. The temptation to prove my love with gifts is overwhelming!

Does anybody else feel like it is just spending for the sake of spending?! Let’s face it, we live in the Lucky Country (even with a global financial crisis), and many of us are blessed to be able to buy whatever we need or even want. It seems such a waste to give and receive presents that will only end up collecting dust, or in a landfill …

My children have never had to go without, unlike my own childhood. But many is the time I have caved into that Christmas pressure and bought them toys and gifts which I *know* they don’t need, and which will be forgotten within days or even hours!

There are so many people in the world who don’t even have access to clean water or food, that it seems greedy and wasteful!

I can’t help feeling that I would rather buy a gift for my loved ones and friends for no particular reason, except that I have seen something that I know they will really enjoy. That to me seems a much better idea than struggling to come up with the “perfect” present on 25 December.

But would I?!

Ghosts of Christmas Past …

• December
• 6

I have a confession to make. I am not particularly fond of Christmas.

I feel like a traitor saying this. After all, I am a follower of Christ, and Christmas is when we recognise and celebrate the birth of our Saviour!

Perhaps my ambivalence is due to the ghosts of Christmas pasts … what Christmas was like for me as a youngster.

Growing up in a sole parent family meant that money was tight, and presents scarce. While my friends were receiving bikes, stereos, roller skates, and other big ticket items that we could only dream of, we were usually given $20 on Christmas Day – mainly because my mother hated Christmas shopping and avoided it at all costs.

In a way, receiving cash was a good idea - we then spent it on what we really wanted at the post-Christmas sales, and definitely got more for our money this way.

But somehow our Christmas Day always seemed lacking with no presents to open.

My mother had a severe mental illness, and the stresses of Christmas, financial worries, unrealistic expectations (a roast dinner in the middle of a summer heatwave!) and pressure from all corners to be joyful, brought out the very worst in my mother. In fact, psychologists will tell you that the holiday season is when suicides, and other mental health crises, reach epidemic proportions. Seems many others find that all the festivity only served to emphasise the fact that we WEREN’T a happy family, but at the time it felt like we were all alone.

My childhood memories of Christmas are anything but festive, in fact downright traumatic.

Thankfully that is all in the past!

Today I am blessed to have a husband who spoils me rotten each Christmas (regardless of the amount, it’s the thought that counts and he always puts lots of thought into it!), and two wonderful children. And yes, I probably do compensate somewhat for my own lack of pressies, and go a bit overboard with gifts for them …

Do you battle with any ghosts of Christmas past? How do you dispel them?!

Offline

• November
• 27

Just a quick post to let you all know that we have moved, and I don’t yet have internet connection at the new place.

Hope to be posting again here real soon!

Love Janet xxx
Footprints Editor