Brand names verses the Brand marks of Christ It's funny who God calls to ministry in the city. Former gang-bangers, junkies, murders, all made straight and narrow by Christ. Then, there's the real outcast to society, me. I'm the one who came from the world of advertising. But fifteen years of writing TV commercials for super athletes like Michael Jordan as well as sesame buns has given me quite the fodder to work with media hooked urban teens. Though many consider TV to be the most dangerous force in the hood, I argue that what one learns from Sprite, FUBU and Nike can be as valuable in urban ministry as what one learns in theology school.

Let me rewind a moment. One of the things that motivated me to urban youth ministry was the trend I witnessed in advertising. With friends working on mega-brands like Gatorade, Nike, and McDonald's, I had hardcore research that the inner-city kid was the coolest creature on the planet. Successful teen marketers know that if want to sell two all-beef patties to an all-American kid, or an athletic shoes to the non-athletic, all you had to do was place that product in the hands of a hip-hoppin' urban teen. If you don't believe me, just tune into MTV for a moment. You don't see Charlie Tuna doing his song and dance there. It's a fifteen year old rapper named Lil Bow Wow.

Now if you think the media doesn't has a grip on your teens, tune into these stats. Today's teen...

Is exposed to 3000 advertising messages every day, 5 victims of violence every hour of prime time TV, and 17 minutes of commercials every hour on television,

Spends about 1500 hours in front of the TV and 900 hours in the classroom

Can recognize less than ten houseplants but more than a thousand corporate logos

Is the driving force in our country's economy--the teen market--spending 150 billion dollars annually,

Looks to the urban youth market to set trends for clothing, soft drinks and music and electronics, which is why 70% of all rap music is purchased by white kids

Enough freaking out over statistics I'm too lazy to footnote. It's time to learn a lesson from them. If you're an urban youth pastor or leader, your mission should be to replace those brand names urban teens hold close to their heart with the brand marks of Christ. Think about it. If we reach the urban teen with the one message that really matters, that teen will reach the teens everywhere.

So how do we do it? Can the average urban youth pastor, whose annual budget usually consists of the change he finds in the church van, really compete with the multi-million- dollar media machine for the hearts of these teens? Well, sort of. You won't be competing with the media so much as using its impact to give your message more zip. Start by thinking like an advertiser.

Create a Craving for Christ. In the spring of 2002, Nike launched its newest Air Jordan XVII. Now this shoe didn't come with a decoder ring but a CD ROM. And it wasn't packaged in a box that you would use to bury dead parakeets in, either. The Air Jordans come in a stainless steel case, with a price tag of two hundred dollars. But Nike never told teens they needed to spend the equivalent of a small car payment on Jordan's newest shoe--they simply made teens want it. And to think that, only 20% of all Nike's athletic shoes are used for athletic activity.What Nike did and successful advertisers do well is create a craving for the product. And if work with urban youth, you want to create a craving for Christ.

What do I mean by craving? Well, Chester Cheetah doesn't have to force feed teens all of those Cheetos you find scattered on your youth group floor. Ronald McDonald never tells them that they need Big Macs, either. You learn quick in the ad biz that telling a teen he needs a product is death to that brand. All of a sudden, it's something that's good for them. These things will be filed in their brains somewhere between lima beans and orthopedic shoes. Case in point, the classic commercial with Mike for Life Cereal. You tell the kid the cereal is good for him, and he won't touch it with a six foot pole. The same holds true when you tell Tamika that she needs God, or Cisco to stop gang banging. But getting them to crave these things for themselves is another story. Enjoying your relationship with Christ will make a teen crave the lifestyle you have, even if he or she never admits it. And that will be the ultimate anti-media message. Continue

Want more insights to the media and urban youth? Well, wake up and smell the salsa!