No. 1013 - REACH YOUTH FOR CHRIST!
No. 1013
Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN
REACH YOUTH FOR CHRIST!
Here is a question to get your thinking started today: What do the following men all have in common: John Hancock, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Daniel Webster, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and John Quincy Adams? They are each founding fathers or early statesmen who asserted that religious faith was the most important source of developing civil virtues.
To be sure, somewhere along the way we have lost that among far too many of our citizens. When you look at the mass shootings, riots, road rage, billing the insurance company or the government $35,000 for a $10 jar of ointment, domestic abuse, $50 million sports stars taking performance enhancing drugs -- you just know that we have serious moral and ethical problems in our nation.
There is hope, and this is what I want to share with you. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall affirmed, one great object of the colonial charters was avowedly the propagation of the Christian faith. We must have a renaissance of the Christian faith and turn our people, especially young people, back to a faith in Jesus Christ to again have the kind of nation that the vast majority of us desire.
There is a wonderful little book, only 20 pages, that has given me hope for a better future than anything I have read in the most recent past. This book is titled “Separation of Church & State: What the Founders Meant,” by historian David Barton. Just read this little book and you will see why I have such hope and optimism for the future.
There is a movement started here in our community called “Reach Youth for Christ” that is led entirely by lay people. Our goal is to encourage our nation’s youth to stay in church or come back to church where they can be taught Biblical values that will form the foundation for a very successful and rewarding life. Those who have their names on the line are Coach Dale Brown, former coach of the Louisiana State University Tigers; Zach Ahrens, publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat newspaper; Richard Henley, president and CEO of Conway Christian Schools; Cliff Garrison, former coach of Hendrix College; Chuck Beale, Central Arkansas director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes; and Jim Davidson, nationally syndicated columnist.
As you know, every great movement in the history of the world started somewhere, and what better place for this one than Conway, Arkansas? In time, our prayer is that this movement will spread all across the nation, as we believe there are millions of people who are also concerned about the direction our nation has been going and are willing to get involved. Please understand, this is not about money because no one will earn a penny, we just want to hear the Lord say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
We will need some tools to get started, and one thing we are doing is producing a booklet titled, “A Very Exciting Journey: As We Study the Bible.” The booklet gives a simple overview of the Bible in easy-to-understand language where any young person can read it and know what the Bible is all about. We have asked a number of young people to provide questions that today’s youth want to know the answers, and the questions and answers will be in the back of the book.
We also want to develop a mentoring plan where those qualified to teach the Bible can sit down and share those bedrock Biblical principles that will help our nation’s young people understand who they are, what they believe and why they believe it. To be sure, we can be a much better nation than we are now. Hope you will want to be involved.
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(Editor’s Note: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)
