Blog Archives

Mia goes to Africa

7/31/2014

Mia Yoder, along with her parents Andrew and Claire, will be spending the next year living in Kigali, Rwanda. We will miss her and her family.

Mia has agreed to send us pictures and stories about her life from time to time so that we can stay connected and go on this adventure with her. These pictures and stories will be posted on the MIA GOES TO AFRICA BLOG and we hope many of her friends (OF ALL AGES) will follow her adventure and will fill up the comment section with questions and comments.

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Author & Historian, Felipe Hinojosa is coming to Portland!

7/30/2014

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Questions? Contact Brenda Zook Friesen

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So how bad are violent games?

7/30/2014

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As a parent and Pastor of children and youth I find the issue of gaming has become a central issue in many of our homes and in the lives of of our children. I'm not one to go on a crusade over issues that are "ruining our kids" but I do think having solid information about effects of gaming is helpful during times we have these discussions with our children. This series of articles on the subject from Fuller Youth Institute has been very informative and that is why I share them here.

~ Curt Weaver

An article by Art Bamford reposted here from Fuller Youth Institute

There is still a lot of disagreement among scholars as to just how much of an effect violent games have on players, partly because faster processors have made these games much more realistic in recent years. While ongoing research needs to be conducted, there is now enough evidence to comfortably say that playing first-person shooters can be a hindrance to the formation and wellbeing of today’s young people.

Researchers Lavinia McLean and Mark Griffiths published an article in 2013 titled “The psychological effects of videogames on young people: A review” in which the authors catalog and review all the existing data on the subject up to that point. Here is how they conclude their analysis:

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Peace School 2014

7/27/2014

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PEACE SCHOOL this year used the four relationships present in the concept of Shalom to inform our activity areas. Adults and children visited activity area throughout the afternoon where they were prompted to work together and have conversations related to peacemaking.

A BIG thank you goes out to everyone who helped make the day happen.