A Conversation...

Yesterday evening right before our "Wired Game Night" event, I had a parent call. I answered the call thinking it was a parent asking about when the event was over. But to my surprise it was a parent concerned about the nature of the "games" we would be playing, or more specifically the game HALO.

This father was extremely gracious to me and rather brought to my attention that HALO is rated mature. I was unknowingly aware of this, but the father seemed to be concerned about the influence this would have on students. So I told him that I would look into it, and make the proper decision.

After researching why HALO is rated "mature" I found that it is so because of bad language and some blood.

What validates my decision for using HALO in the youth ministry is this:

1. The bad language is only in the Legendary setting and or campaign setting. Our students use the split-screen mode.
2. The blood factor is rather pathetic, in which would see more blood from a simple paper cut than on HALO.
3. Students like and it's a fun way to connect students who wouldn't usually hang out together.
4. It's easy to set up.

With this said, 5 years ago after having a conversation like this, I would have been angry and discouraged. But I look at like this:

1. I wish more parent's would be as forth coming as this father was.
2. This parent is concerned about me as much as he is concerned about his student.
3. Parent's can tender some form of encouragement.