Beyond the Trend Teens
Make heroic virtue a developmental lifestyle: TEENS.
Beyond the Trend Teens (BTT) connects youth with modern role models of authentic faith and virtue.
Teens, like younger children, are deeply influenced by the content they consume in what they read, watch and listen to. The Tiny Virtue Heroes stories and characters lead children to admire role models of heroic virtue.
As children mature as teens, they have an interest and appetite to connect with more than the fun characters, or the engaging stories of the reading and media they consume. They want to know the people who are behind it all…the content creators, directors, actors, artists and more. Often these people, known as “influencers,” are adopted by teens as powerful role models.
Beyond the Trend Teens (BTT) offers a pro-active approach to help teens be more intentional about who and what they allow to captivate their admiration. This club gives them the structure and resources to look beyond the often morally disastrous lifestyles of the icons of popular culture, to find and follow talented creatives who are also role models of faith and virtue. The first pilot program has been successfully completed, and now opportunities for new pilot programs are available. The focus of the current program is Catholic. Adaptation to other Christian denominations is possible. Program description below.
Empowering Teens to Live Beyond theTrends.
Below describes the basic structure for running a BTT group. Get in touch with us for guidance on how to effectively implement it. Toxic culture poisons the education and catechesis we give our youth. BTT is a fun and powerful antidote.
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Beyond the Trend Teens is a challenge...for every Catholic teen to go beyond being a passive consumer of media and entertainment. BTT Teens look beyond the trends, and enjoy content from Catholic creatives that is great for both mind and soul - fun to enjoy, for today - and for eternity.
COMMUNITY: Culture is shaped and changed through community experiences. BTT groups act as a vital support system to help Catholic teens experience a social community that empowers them to live beyond cultural trends. A BTT group brings teens together to discover the Catholic creators of great virtue-powered content. Discovering these authors and artists, as well as consuming the content itself, strengthens the teens own habits of virtue and cultural discernment. BTT teens experience a safe space for fun and friendship, among other Catholic teens, appreciating enjoyable books, videos and music that strengthens character and conscience.
CONTENT: It’s excruciatingly difficult for teens to sift through the advertising noise and media maelstrom that normalizes every sort of spiritually toxic content and behavior. Too much heavily promoted content, that is commonly “familiar” and “popular” in our modern social consciousness, is morally self-destructive. BTT Teens develop the skill to recognize media toxins, and traps that assault their souls daily. Every Catholic teen is invited to stand with us... transforming culture with the power of virtue experienced in stories, videos, and songs.
CATALYST: This initiative for teens is a partnership with the virtue outreach of the Virtue Literacy Project: working to provide information and motivation for everyone to DESIRE the knowledge and practice of virtue in their lives, through the simplest means: the POWER of STORY. The newly emerging www.VirtueSearch.com platform will empower Catholic teens by making it simple to find great virtue-rich things to read, watch and listen to. BTT gatherings focus on content created by Creative Catholics...who create content that affirms faith, and strengthens teens in habits of virtue. As our youth embrace culture that has a moral compass - this is how we make the world a BeTTer place!
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How Beyond the Trend Teens Works:
LEADERSHIP:
A BTT Group is called a “Tribe” and has a basic team of 6 Leaders.
TRIBE Leaders: (2) One GUY and one GAL who, together, manage the structured chaos of a BTT Teen meeting.
SCRIBE Leader: (1) One who manages team information and communications
VIBE Leaders: (3) One for each category: Read, Watch, Listen, to facilitate “BIG 3” conversations
JIBE Leader/s: Adult coordinator/s who guides the group, and facilitates virtuous behavior among and between the teens. (For each meeting the JIBE Leader should be accompanied by one additional TRIBE Parent, so there are always 2 responsible adults assisting the teens. It is best, if possible, for these adults be certified in Catholic Diocese Child Protection Programs.)
BTT Members: Tribe leaders invite other teens to be part of the group. Tribe size limits are determined by the leaders and parents. In smaller groups, a TRIBE leader can also be a VIBE Leader if necessary.
MEET: BTT Groups officially meet 4x during the school year, along with one planning meeting during the summer. The group can meet more often if that is the preference of all involved. The group also seeks out virtuous “beyond the trend” movies to see and concerts to attend together (created by Catholics or not)... just for fun. Meeting dates and locations are determined through a consensus of TRIBE Parents. Meetings most often happen on a weekend evening, or sometimes on a Sunday morning. Meeting are typically about 3 hours long. (This 4x per school year program structure can also be integrated into a regular church, or school youth group schedule.)
THE BIG 3: When BTT Teens meet, they are each to come with one interesting snippet of information to discuss with the group about the Catholic Creative from each category on the BTT BIG 3 Catholic Creatives List that is highlighted for that month. (See Creatives list below.) Members research and find about the Creatives on their own. Often the teens are finding their interesting info. snippets moments before the meeting begins. That is fine. Each VIBE Leader starts and facilitates the discussion within their category about the work/life of the Catholic Creative who is being discussed. One third of the BTT Meeting is spent on THE BIG 3 discussion.
ROUTINE: The first third of the meeting is spent hanging out and having fun together. This typically also involves some kind of simple snacks/drinks. Then the VIBE Leaders facilitate discussion of each BIG 3 Category topics. JIBE Leader will offer media discernment advice and encouragement as part of the conversation also. TRIBE Leaders guide the final third of the meeting: that includes 1) A gospel reading for the coming Sunday, with some random observations about the Gospel from the Teens, and 2) a single teen-initiated prayer and 3) any BTT News or Planning ...followed by more fun and social time.
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BTT connects teens with Catholic creatives who are role models, for whom an authentic Catholic faith is the foundation of the work they do. These are Catholic authors, film makers and music artists who work diligently to make the world a BeTTer place through the power of goodness, truth, and beauty communicated within culture. This emphasis has a three-fold effect. First, the teens experience fun and wholesome content that affirms faith and virtue. Second, the teens connect with Catholic role models who courageously work to impact culture. Third, the teens are inspired to use their own talents to be a Catholic creative, to shape culture in positive and virtuous ways.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are names of creatives who appear to be trying to live an authentic Catholic faith while also doing high-quality work in their field.
WATCH:
Jason Jones
Chuck Konzelman & Carey Solomon
Kevin James
Sam Sorich - 8 Beats
Chris Stefanick
Catholic Central
Frank Capra
David Henrie
Patricia Heaton
Johnathan Rhumie
Jessica Rey
Jim Caveziel
Roma Downey
Eric Groth
Lizzie Estella Reezay
Nick De LaTorre
READ:
Gene Luen Yang
Corrina Turner
Leslea Wahl
Anthony Kolnec
Theresa Linden
Karen Ullo
T. M. Gauette
Katy Huth Jones
Louis DeWohl
Susan Peek
GK Chesterton
Regina Doman
Shaunti Guy
Philip Kosloski
LISTEN:
Lee Roessler
Jackie Minton
Dana Catherine
Matt Maher
Jimmy Mitchell
Audery Assad
The Thirsting
Ike Ndolo
Emily Wilson
Conor Flanagan
Nick Fabian
Joe Zambon
Taylor Tripodi
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Watch.
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Read.
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Listen.