Junior High and Middle School Talksheets-Updated! - 50 Creative Discussions for Junior High Youth Groups

Nearly 100 years after the most famous maritime disaster in history, we are assured that we know everything there is to know about the White Star Liner Titanic and that there is little more to add to the story. While the basic story is undeniable, the details of what happened during the evacuation are still debated, plagued by disinformation, personal politics and our simple lack of knowledge. This book details the elements that combined to transform one of humanity's triumphant achievements of engineering into a devastating encapsulation of overconfidence and other human failings.

Impenetrable questions still remain: Why was the iceberg was not seen until a collision was inevitable? Were the 3rd class really held below? Why were the boats not launched till a full hour after the collision? Was the ship really hailed as unsinkable or is this an invention of the press? Did the Captain or 1st Officer really shoot themselves? Why did the ship leave port with lifeboat room for only half of those on board, and why were 400 seats in the boats left unused?

Finally, the book considers whether a hypothetical Titanic with a full lifeboat complement could have evacuated everyone in the 2 hours and 40 minutes from collision to sinking, and also ponders the possibility that an inquiry into another ship's loss in 1909 could have energised public opinion to provide "boats for all"...an inquiry that never ultimately happened.

"Wherever the willingness to rethink has been squelched, wherever that sense of quest has been buried under convention and complacency, the Christian faith in all its forms is in trouble. But even there, something is trying to be born. Even now, right here, among us, inside you, inside me. You may feel it as a curiosity, a desire for better answers than you inherited so far. You may experience it as frustration, knowing that there must be more to faith than you currently know. You may know it as hope, hope that God is seeking humble people whose hearts and lives can be the womb of a better future. . . . In you, your family, your faith community, and circles of friends, among people of peace and faith everywhere, something is trying to be born."
-from A New Kind of Christianity

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church. Not since the Reformation five centuries ago have so many Christians come together to ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who best represents them is author and pastor Brian McLaren.

In this much anticipated book, McLaren examines ten questions facing today's church-questions about how to articulate the faith itself, the nature of its authority, who God is, whether we have to understand Jesus through only an ancient Greco-Roman lens, what exactly the good news is that the gospel proclaims, how we understand the church and all its varieties, why we are so preoccupied with sex, how we should think of the future and people from other faiths, and the most intimidating question of all: what do we do next? Here you will find a provocative and enticing introduction to the Christian faith of tomorrow.

Just as readers have been transfixed by the stories, characters, and deeper meanings of Lewis's timeless tales in The Chronicles of Narnia, most find this same allure in his classic Space Trilogy. In these fantasy stories for adults, we encounter, once again, magical creatures, a world of wonders, epic battles, and revelations of transcendent truths.

That Hideous Strength is the third novel in Lewis's science fiction trilogy. Set on Earth, it tells of a terrifying conspiracy against humanity. The story surrounds Mark and Jane Studdock, a newly married couple. Mark is a sociologist who is enticed to join an organization called N.I.C.E., which aims to control all human life. Jane, meanwhile, has bizarre prophetic dreams about a decapitated scientist, Alcasan. As Mark is drawn inextricably into the sinister organization, he discovers the truth of his wife's dreams when he meets the literal head of Alcasan, which is being kept alive by infusions of blood. Jane seeks help concerning her dreams at a community called St. Anne's, where she meets their leader—Dr. Ransom. The story ends in a final spectacular scene at the N.I.C.E. headquarters where Merlin appears to confront the powers of Hell.