Hey!

I’m Matt. Well, actually I’m Matt’s unspoken self. Matt is not allowed to comment in actuality because he is in middle school –’nuff said.

You may not think much goes on in my brain because I only respond with grunts and groans, but let me tell you what happens when I walk into our youth room when a cool music video is playing before a meeting. The backbeat beat coming out of those big bad speakers in the youth room triggers something inside of me—something electric, something kinda wild.

I don’t want to be mean, but back before you started playing those videos, walking into youth group was a little stale. Kinda like soda without fizz. Now, well – somehow there seems to be a lot more energy now.

If this was your idea, it’s a good one.

You may not notice, but I work hard to seem cool and disconnected (especially if there are girls around), but inside something is telling me that this meeting is gonna be kinda cool. That pulse, those images – even though I am not glued to the screen – are having an effect.

You see, I know that you’re playing Christian music. I mean, what kinda youthworker would you be if you just hooked us up with MTV? Naw, I know the stuff is coming from Christians – and I know that if I sat down and listened to the words there would be some heavy content in them. But for the most part I’m not really focusing on what is being said (except for the hook of a few songs that seem to stick with me for days).

What I like is the atmosphere.

I like my kind of music, with professional-looking videos, done by people who are believers – like me.

Showing these videos makes being part of a youth group not lame or dorky. Things feel alive when I walk in the door. To be honest, these videos even build a bit of excitement and anticipation about what is going to happen tonight.

Yeah, I know – you’ve never heard that before.

But you know that guys my age aren’t real handy at saying how we feel. So, I wanna say “thank you” for throwing those videos on and turning up the sound real loud. I know it isn’t the main part, or most important part, of the meeting. It’s like icing on cake… the cake is the main thing. But what is cake without icing… boring!

Thanks for helping to make youth group not so boring.