Overwhelmed or Inspired?

Consider these statistics: "This year, nearly 3 million teenagers will become infected [with a sexually transmitted disease]." "In 2000, some 240,000 children were born to girls age 18 or younger. Nearly all these teenage mothers were unmarried." "More than one-third of all teenage pregnancies in the U.S. end in abortion." "Ninety percent of 8- to 16-year-olds have viewed porn online." "Eighth-grade boys play violent video games for about 23 hours a week, and girls for 12 hours a week." These paragraphs I have quoted were taken from Ron Luce's new book, Battle Cry for a Generation: The Fight to Save America's Youth. Ron also reprints a selection of the letters he gets from teens -- letters crying out for help. These are from young kids who are dealing with sexual abuse, bulimia, cutting, and a host of other problems, the likes of which most of us never even thought of having to face when we were growing up. As Luce writes, "When teachers in 1940 were asked to identify top problems in the public schools, they said, 'talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise.' In 1990, teachers said, 'drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery, and assault.'" No wonder the problems of teenagers can seem overwhelming to us adults. We look at the statistics like the ones I have just cited and wonder what we could possibly do about them. When teens' problems exist on such a massive scale, where do you start? How can you hope to make even a small difference? As it happens, Ron Luce and his excellent organization, Teen Mania, have been working to address these problems for nearly twenty years now, and they are making a big difference. And they're helping others to do the same. Ron's book offers a multitude of suggestions for adults who want to find practical ways to help the teens in their community. It's a battle cry to rescue our teens. And we at the Wilberforce Forum and BreakPoint are heeding that cry. Teen Mania has already been using my book How Now Shall We Live? as a textbook for teens in their Honor Academy program. But now there's a new development. As I mentioned two weeks ago, we have teamed up with Teen Mania to produce a one-of-a-kind curriculum for teaching Christian worldview to teens called Rewired. This is something you can teach out of your own home or your church. It comes with everything you need: guides, workbooks, and a DVD that includes both video clips and presentation slides. I have never seen a teaching tool quite like this, and I can tell you, it is a very powerful way to get the message across. This curriculum is about to be released, and I urge you to visit our website or call us here at BreakPoint (1-877-322-5527) to learn more about it and how you can use it. You can buy it to teach your own kids, or you can start a group for neighborhood kids in your own home, as my friend Nancy Fitzgerald did with her Anchors Away program. Still think that the problems of teenagers are too overwhelming? They don't have to be. Even reaching just a few at a time with a curriculum like this can make a tremendous impact for God's kingdom. With tools like these, we are trying to help adults who care about teenagers not to be overwhelmed, but rather inspired and prepared.

04/9/06