In 1996 Jeff Hannah, a married youth pastor at Crossroads Church (SBC) in Libertyville, IL, committed adultery with four teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 17 and received a sentence of nine years in prison.
In 2001, after serving five years, he was released on parole, remarried, and began attending First Baptist Church of Romeoville.
Teenagers who identify as “evangelical” or “born again” . . . think sex should be saved for marriage. But thinking is not the same as doing. Evangelical teens are actually more likely to have lost their virginity than either mainline Protestants or Catholics. They tend to lose their virginity at a slightly younger age—16.3, compared with 16.7 for the other two faiths. And they are much more likely to have had three or more sexual partners by age 17: Regnerus reports that 13.7 percent of evangelicals have, compared with 8.9 percent for mainline Protestants.
How is that possible? What happened to all those happy, young Christian couples from the ’90s swearing that True Love Waits? Partly, the problem lies in the definition of evangelical. Because of the explosion of megachurches, vast numbers of people who don’t identify with mainstream denominations now call themselves evangelical. The demographic includes more teenagers of a lower socioeconomic class, who are more likely to have had sex at a younger age. It also includes African-American Protestant teenagers, who are vastly more likely to be sexually active.
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Abstinence pledgers are considerably less likely than nonpledgers to use birth control the first time they have sex. “It just sort of happened,” one girl told the researchers, in what could be a motto for this generation of evangelical teens.
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Among the mass of typically promiscuous teenagers in the book, one group stands out: the 16 percent of American teens who describe religion as “extremely important” in their lives.
Tomorrow Christians around the world begin fasting and praying for North Korea.
Christians all around the world are gathering to pray and fast from June 1 to July 10, for 40 days, in response to the great spiritual attack on the youth of North Korea as well as their own nations. This second annual 40 day fast, hosted by NK Missions is beginning Friday, June 1 and ending on July 10. Signups for the fasting chain are online at www.nkprayer.com. Resources include daily prayer updates, fasting guides, emailed reminders of the day of your fast, and a community blog where fasters will post their prayers.
LifeWay Research conducted a study on the religious beliefs of teens, which showed noticeable decline from 2005.
Though the large majority of teenagers believe heaven exists (69 percent), there has been a 6 percent drop since 2005 (75 percent) in the percentage of teens who are sure in their belief of heaven.
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Twenty-four percent said they had told a friend about their religious beliefs in the last 30 days (compared to 30 percent in 2005). Fifteen percent had invited someone to a church activity in the last 30 days (compared to 19 percent in 2005).
The study also showed that more black than white teens believe in heaven—as do more girls than guys.
African American teenagers are more likely to believe in heaven than the average teen (81 percent vs. 70 percent). Girls (73 percent) are also more likely to strongly agree heaven exists when compared to guys (66 percent).
A minority of teens who say they are trusting in Jesus for eternal life are trusting in Jesus alone.
Results show that 69 percent of teenagers believe heaven exists. Also, a majority of teens strongly agree with the traditional Christian belief in Jesus Christ’s death for their sins as the reason they will go to heaven (53 percent).
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Approximately 28 percent of American teenagers are trusting only in Jesus Christ as their means to get to heaven.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, “nearly 11 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed in the United States in 2006, up 7 percent from 2005.” Just as troubling is the number of teens who had cosmetic surgery: 244,124, which is nearly twice as many as in 2002. This included 47,000 nose jobs and 9,000 breast augmentations. What would be interesting to know is how many of these teens are professing believers.
This video is worth watching if you haven’t already seen it.
Had a good instance of the benefit of breaking children’s wills betimes. Last night, going between decks (as I do every night) to visit the sick and to examine my people, I asked one of the women to bid her little boy say his prayers. She answered his elder sister would, but she could not make him. Upon this I bid the child kneel down before me, but he would not till I took hold of his two feet and forced him down. I then bid him say the Lord’s prayer (being informed by his mother he could say it if he would), but he obstinately refused, till at last, after I had given him several blows, he said his prayer as well as could be expected and I gave him some figs for a reward.
Whitefield was an incredibly godly man used greatly by the Lord, but here’s my advice: Don’t try this at home (or anywhere else for that matter).
In the deadliest shooting spree in U. S. history, an unidentified gunman killed more than 30 and injured more than 20 today on the campus of Virginia Tech in two separate shootings. Read about it from these major news sources.
Chuck Edwards looks at the huge decline in the spirituality of college-age students and offers some suggestions to reverse the trend.
When it comes to the spiritual life of college students, the statistics are not very encouraging. According to a recent study by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, after three years in college, the number of students who frequently attend religious services drops by 23 percent. The study also confirms that 36 percent rated their spirituality lower after three years in college.
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What can we do as parents, educators, and church leaders to keep our young people from dropping out of church or converting to the “no longer born again” category?
First, we must understand that the battle is for the hearts and minds of students. For too long many churches have been content to focus on the emotions, shying away from a serious discipleship of the mind. . . .
Second, our teaching should revolve around the fact that Christianity is a robust faith, and when it comes to life’s most pressing issues, we have answers that are superior to all other philosophies. . . .
And third, we must teach students that Christianity is a comprehensive world and life view. This means explaining the reality of God’s truth in every area: from philosophy and science, ethics and economics, to psychology, sociology, law and, yes, even politics. . . .
In 1996 Jeff Hannah, a married youth pastor at Crossroads Church (SBC) in Libertyville, IL, committed adultery with four teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 17 and received a sentence of nine years in prison.
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Tomorrow Christians around the world begin fasting and praying for North Korea.
