Truth

I have failed up until now to mention the biggest, most important thing that is going on in Jesse’s life & mine! And that involves all of the things God is teaching us and the ministry opportunities He has opened up for us.

In July, our pastor presented us with a flyer and a letter describing a seminar that would take place 2 months later. As I read through the letter, I knew immediately that this was something I wanted to be a part of. Even greater than that, though, our pastor gave it to us requesting that Jesse and I go on behalf of our church, and the church would pay our way. Jesse was home nursing his pulled hamstring that day, but as soon as I saw him, I told him all about the seminar and he was in quick agreement that he wanted to go as well.

There was a mini presentation, free of cost, that same week, of what the seminar in the following months would entail. My mom and aunt joined Jesse and I in attending this presentation. By the time it was over, we were so excited about what the seminar contained that we weren’t sure if we could wait the 2 months to attend it!

So, what was this seminar that had us all so excited about anyways? In short, the idea is looking at the world with a Biblical perspective. George Barna leads a group of researchers who conduct studies in various topics of Christianity. He defined a Biblical worldview as: believing that absolute moral truths exist; that such truth is defined by the Bible; and firm belief in six specific religious views. Those views were that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He stills rules it today; salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned; Satan is real; a Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with other people; and the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings.

In his inquiries, he discovered that only 4% of the United States held this thinking. And when he surveyed just born again Christians, this number only rose to 9% who held a Biblical worldview. By the way, “born again” is defined by Barna as saying yes to the question, “Have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?” and then choosing “When I die, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior,” out of the 7 given choices.

You may not think that having a Biblical worldview makes much of a difference in our culture, but his research then went on to show that a person’s worldview deeply impacts their views on morally acceptable behavior. When compared to those without a Biblical worldview, those who did have one were 31 times less likely to accept living together without being married (2% versus 62%), 18 times less likely to endorse drunkenness (2% versus 36%), 15 times less likely to condone gay sex (2% versus 31%), 12 times less likely to accept profanity (3% versus 37%), and 11 times less likely to describe adultery as morally acceptable (4% versus 44%). In addition, less than one-half of one percent of those with a biblical worldview said voluntary exposure to pornography was morally acceptable (compared to 39% of other adults) and a similarly miniscule proportion endorsed abortion (compared to 46% of adults who lack a biblical worldview).

Among the more intriguing lifestyle differences were the lesser propensity for those with a biblical worldview to gamble (they were eight times less likely to buy lottery tickets and 17 times less likely to place bets); to get drunk (three times less likely); and to view pornography (two times less common). They were also twice as likely to have discussed spiritual matters with other people in the past month and twice as likely to have fasted for religious reasons during the preceding month. While one out of every eight adults who lack a biblical worldview had sexual relations with someone other than their spouse during the prior month, less than one out of every 100 individuals who have such a worldview had done so. Adults who have a biblical worldview possessed a somewhat different demographic profile than those who did not. For instance, individuals who attended college were much more likely than those who did not to have this perspective (6% versus 2%, respectively). Married adults were more than twice as likely as adults who had never been wed to hold such a worldview (5% versus 2%). Whites (5%) were slightly more likely than either blacks (3%) or Hispanics (3%) to hold this ideology. One of the largest gaps was between Republicans (10% of whom had a biblical worldview), Independents (2%) and Democrats (1%).

No wonder our country is suffering so much! So, the seminar itself was a quick overview of this whole teaching of getting back to the truth of the Bible- everything smashed into a 6 hour lesson. As part of the seminar, each attendee (or couple) received a 13 hour DVD set which contained the lessons in full to take back and lead small groups with. The idea is that those who attend the small groups will become small group leaders of their own and the number of people who go through the teachings will multiply exponentially- allowing the truth to spread, impacting people by the thousands. Really! By the thousands! There were 30,000 people all across the United States who attended the first seminar. Imagine how many people are receiving these lessons if even only half of those people led groups of 10-12 people!!!

Since attending this seminar, Jesse has begun to go through a daily devotional based on the same teachings. He is learning so much from it. And, as a family, we are watching each video lesson, preparing for the groups that we hope to lead by November. There is already talk of Jesse and I teaching a Sunday School class for teenagers at our church in the next few months. Our lessons would be based on these principals, but without using the full videos because it would probably be too much for them to handle. We would invite any of them to dig deeper into it, though, by coming to our small group at our house where we would go extensively through the videos.

Jesse and I have felt for the past year that God is calling us towards a ministry with teenagers, specifically. About 3 years ago, I heard a statistic (also by George Barna’s research) that predicted that only 4% of the teenagers of this generation would be Christians in their adulthood. The numbers have been declining for decades, and it is very clear how much our country has changed morally in these years. These current teenagers are literally the future of our country. They will be our doctors, our lawyers, our police officers, our politicians, and our teachers. If only 4% call God their Lord and Savior, can you imagine the way it would turn our country upside down?! The mass majority of people have made up their mind about God by their 21st birthday. That isn’t to say there is no chance of God intervening in their lives at ANY age, but statistics show that the numbers drop dramatically after that. This means that we have 5 years to reach those who are in the midst of this bracket- the 15 to 16 year olds. 5 years isn’t a lot of time to reach a generation… At the time I heard this, I was working with middle schoolers in an after-school program. I witnessed everyday how few believed in God and how the biggest impression they had of church was that it was boring. Even those who professed God’s name, struggled with peer pressure to cuss, to lie, or to do drugs or sleep around. I realized the intense need to reach these kids. Sadly, the truth is that church usually is boring and that the Christians around them are often failing to show them how awesome a faith in God really is- to show them how to stand firm in their faith despite the pressure all around. So, it is my heart’s desire to design creative ways to engage teenagers in God’s word- through art, through movies, through skits, through music, through testimonies, all together. When they recognize that there is not a direction you can travel in which God has not spoken, the effects will be profound!

In the meanwhile, I believe that God uses the difficult situations you have been through to guide others who are currently going through them. And, because of Jesse’s struggle as a Christian and football player- the jock mentality of partying, profanity, and messing around with girls- I believe he has a GREAT opportunity to coach other young men as they try to live out their faith on the field. He could lead groups of Christian athletes mentoring them through high school and/or college.

As we begin the Truth Project, we are excited because we believe God is paving the way to take us through an amazing ministry. Our home will soon be a gathering place for teenagers to get real with God. We believe that we can be used to impact this generation and we feel blessed beyond measure that God wants to use us.