Preteens live in a world that can seem chaotic and confusing at times. As they make the transition from childhood to adolescence, where will your preteens find help to successfully navigate their faith journeys? Collide: Where Faith Meets Life is a curriculum that meets your early adolescent students where they are emotionally, spiritually, and developmentally.
Unit 1: My Family No family is perfect. Your preteens will learn how to deal with parents and siblings, and how to point their family to God.
Unit 2: My Friends Friends are an important part of life. Your preteens will learn how to be a good friend-be selfless, manage conflict, and respect one another.
Unit 3: My Church Your preteens will learn about the early church and what we are called to do as the church today.
Written by practitioners who work with preteens, Collide uses biblical principles to address areas such as social skills, relationships, spiritual disciplines, emotional health, and biblical knowledge. You can t eliminate the pressures your preteen students will encounter in the process of growing up, but Collide will help them connect the dots between faith and real life.
Heather Flies loves students. She has been the junior high pastor at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, for more than twenty years. Outside the walls of Wooddale, Heather spends a great deal of time and energy as a communicator. She speaks at local schools on abstinence, self-esteem, and other issues that are relevant to young teenagers. Heather is also passionate about encouraging women in all seasons of life, training youth workers, and helping parents understand how to love their teenagers well. She authored I Want to Talk to My Teen about Girl Stuff, a book for parents, and That's What She Said/That's What He Said, a book for teenagers. Heather loves sports and listening to Christmas music all year long. She and her husband, Chad, live with their 135-pound St. Bernard named Jingle Belle.
Brooklyn is the Global NYI Justice Advocate and founder of The Justice Movement. She builds bridges that empower churches and youth to do compassionate work together. Her priority is to inspire and resource youth to break cycles of poverty through faith in action. Brooklyn has served in full time youth ministry for the last 17 years, authored numerous books, contributes and communicates for Orange Leaders, and speaks at camps and conferences. She and her husband Coy planted @somoschurch in July 2016. www.brooklynlindsey.com www.justicemovement.com
Elizabeth Bjorling Poest has been a full-time children's and youth pastor for fifteen years. She teaches youth and Christian ministry courses at Trinity International University and is studying to complete her PhD in education at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene and speaks at camps, revivals, and conferences about getting dusty with Jesus. Elizabeth wrote the Wired preteen curriculum and, in 2016, led a three-week theological camp for urban high schoolers. In her spare time she loves to adventure with her husband, Christopher, laugh until her sides hurt with family and friends over flaming peaches, and enjoy a great cup of coffee while catching up with her many former students and interns who are scattered around the globe.