Last Night I Found Out What High School Students Are Scared Of...

Silence.

Last night we started a new teaching series to our high school students
at Calvary called, "Stop the Noise."

Here is how we started the night:
We called all of the students into our chapel
and as they came in...
sirens were flashing all around the room,
annoying commercials were playing on the screens,
a Angels and Airwaves video was playing on the main screen,
an alarm clock was going off over the sound system,
hardcore music was blasting thru the speakers,

We usually start our Wednesday program within
a couple of minutes of inviting all the students inside.
Last night, we wanted the students to experience
all of the noise in the room and to become frustrated with it
so we intentionally didn't do a welcome or have any leader
go up front. We simply let the noise go on for about 10 minutes.
It was serious sensory overload.

And you know what?

The students were not fazed at all by it.
They actually seemed to be mellowed by the sensory overload
not annoyed or frustrated by it.

After 10 minutes of noise, we had a signal and everything
all at once was shut off. Sound, lights, music, everything.
It became completely silent.
We went into this video that we created
that instructed the kids to be silent.

And you know what?

The students could not handle it.
It absolutely drove them crazy to have it silent.
They started yelling and shouting out,
making fun of each other, the video,
they were completely uncomfortable!

It was awesome and proved our point exactly.
Students in this generation do not know how to be quiet.
They are addicted to noise.

The big idea of our night was to get the students to understand
that God speaks loudly when we discipline ourselves to be silent.

I am so proud of Melissa, Matt G, Katy, Blake, Tom, Cathy, Ryan and Tammy
for putting together such a powerful night.

SHHHH....