Technology has made society efficient and has boosted work capacity and expectations. What are the youth in the United States doing with technology?

They use computers and the Internet. The computer generation communicates with friends of different races and countries.

This digital generation lost out on running in wide-open green spaces, walking through safe neighborhoods and playing outdoors unsupervised that previous generations took for granted. They use the Internet as the next-best substitute.

How do they do this? E-mail and chat rooms are just a few ways.

Do you know where today's youth are? On-line.

Kids need influencing. So how are we doing with reaching the youth of today? Students reach out through invites to youth groups and para-church organizations such as Campus Life, but many kids reject the Christian stigma of that genre of outreach.

We need a new approach to reach youth where they are. According to The Voice poll about technology and the Internet, most Multnomah students had never been in a chat room or in Internet game rooms. Such places are ideal settings for getting to know youth and evangelizing.

Try and reach the Internet generations through their medium: Internet chat rooms. Many teens and pre-teens struggle with tough situations in their lives. Knowing some nice "safe" people on the Net to share with would be productive for the kingdom.

Will that happen overnight? No, but does any other real ministry?

A good friend of mine logs on as Aunt Joy and ministers and evangelizes the kids she meets. She writes down the names and details of all the kids she meets and asks them questions when she encounters them later. She encourages kids and adults to get in a youth group or church.

I stopped by the Student Ministries department and found out that 142 people work in a youth ministry of some sort. More than 200 students are majoring in youth ministry or educational ministries.

The student ministries department personnel said they are open to giving student ministry credit if students present a good online ministry. They usually require face-to-face interaction, but if students journal and keep track of the names of people they minister to and fill out progress reports, the department will give on-line proposals a fair hearing.

Today's kids have too many identities. They are looking for an identity that will last. We have one that will change their lives for the better -- an identity in Christ.