Demolishing Strongholds

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER

Jim Gardner of Canopy Ministries spoke to a number of AiG staff at today’s “Brown Bag” lecture. Jim speaks on creation and conducts a lot of ministry in South America. Recently, he spoke on a ministry tour in South America with AiG’s Dr. David Menton. I’ve attached a photograph of Jim as he spoke today.

RADIO MORNING

Mark Looy and I recorded another 45 radio programs this morning (Tuesday) for our daily radio program that is played on hundreds of stations throughout the USA (and other parts of the world).

It was a long day, ending with a leadership team meeting where we discussed many important aspects of running the AiG ministry. We have a great leadership team—great camaraderie.

DEMOLISHING STRONGHOLDS

One of the highlights of this year will be our special conference for teens (high school/college) to equip them to defend their faith. Tom Miller, Director of Outreach, has a burden to see the vision for this unique and powerful conference realized. He sent me this report to include in my blog. If you have college- and pre-college-age students, I urge you to consider sending them to this unique program geared specially for them.

The Outreach team is very excited about the upcoming Demolishing Strongholds conference (DemolishingStrongholds.com). We have been blessed with a great facility and an incredible lineup of dynamic speakers. This is our first conference that is directed specifically toward college- and pre-college-age young adults. If you review the schedule on the website, you will see that we have a terrific mix of motivational speaking, hard science facts, and real-life application strategies that will train and encourage anyone who attends. Add to that, music from a wonderful up-and-coming Christian recording duo, stargazing (weather permitting) with Dr. Jason Lisle and his newest high-powered telescope, and a Sunday morning worship service led by Dr. Charles Ware, and you can understand why we are so excited!

As you know, statistics indicate that upwards of 70% of young people raised in the church fall away from the church when they leave home for college or the workplace. Sadly, this is often because they are not well-equipped to deal with the secular worldview that undermines God’s Word. College professors, classmates, and co-workers will question their beliefs, and if they are unprepared to answer, many will begin to question their own faith. Generations of Christian youth have dealt with this issue, and we live with the results of that struggle each day. The decline of moral standards in our world, the refusal to accept God’s Word as absolute truth and authority, and man’s prideful thinking that he determines right and wrong are just a few of the symptoms of living in a fallen world.

We feel compelled to be more focused and intentional toward today’s youth in our outreach efforts. The Demolishing Strongholds conference is our contribution to this battle for the hearts and minds of young people. And it is indeed a battle! Our ministry theme for 2006 is “We’re Taking Them Back!” Our prayerful intentions are that through this conference, we will begin to ‘take back’ the classroom and the workplace as well.

Through this conference, we seek to equip young adults and church youth leaders with the facts they need and strategies they can use to confidently defend and share their faith in today’s hostile environment. We have purposefully kept the cost of the conference low, and we will be putting together some excellent and affordable resource packages that will continue to serve the participants long after the conference ends.

We are also hosting a pastors’ luncheon here at AiG headquarters Tuesday, January 24, for youth pastors/leaders. From 10 AM until 12:30 PM, they will learn about the conference, receive promotional materials, enjoy a catered lunch, and have the opportunity for a museum tour. There is no charge for this luncheon, and each attendee even gets a complimentary pass to the conference! We already have 30 confirmed attendees for this luncheon, but we have room for more, and we want to extend an invitation to any youth or college/career pastor or leader to join us for this important time of information sharing.

Although this conference is geared toward high school and college age young people and church leadership, we want everyone who has a heart for youth or a passion to learn more about defending their faith to join us from March 17 through the 19.

Thanks for stopping by,

Ken