My first youth groups (at age 18) helped me to prepare to love and understand a little better young people from different backgrounds, in a ministry suited to serve them, as I was healed from autism and kept from a family of drug-dealing pedophiles and raised almost exclusively by my grandparents, who did their very best to protect me and love me to Jesus, raising me the way the Holy Spirit led them to, without all the gimmicks and games, just Christ.
Most of the stuff on this list are great things to do for the youth, ideally so they may bond to, and be given by the church, what they may not find at home or anywhere else, Love and a chance. But all I really saw in these comments were needing, hurting people, kept from seeing the true love and salvation of Christ, in the name of good intentions and “positive”, man-made, religious activities.
It just made them need and hurt even more, and for many, completely turn away from the real Jesus because somebody tried to shove GOD down their throat, or use some kind of trick psychology to indoctrinate them with their rules. Especially for gays and anyone else that was different, they needed to be loved beyond their differences, given unconditional love and support, and know that if their hearts were willing, God could heal their brokenness.
How were any of these things on this list even of Christ, if they aren’t done in love?

It’s good that your youth group helped you out, but a lot of people have had really awful experiences in youth groups, Christian schools, and the like. I have gay friends who went to Christian schools and were taught, essentially, that their very identity was wrong, that they should feel guilty because of who they were. For them, this kind of stuff wasn’t harmless cheesiness; it was traumatizing bs that they’re still dealing with today. I respect your experience, but not all criticism of Christianity is mindless hatred—some is justified.

I think what Nick is saying is that even though some of the stuff we go through may seem cheesy 15 years from now, the fact is that these “cheesy” things helped us develop solid character, and find the True and Loving God, Jesus Christ. ericcv, Nick’s thoughts had nothing to do with your twisted comprehension of it.

So your saying that many things considered cool, acceptable, even TRADITIONAL, have a habit of becoming irrelevant as time goes on?
From the forrest itself my friend.