Barna Reports

What percentage of young Americans (age 21-29) do you think meet the following criteria?

1. Know, love and serve God as their top priority in life
2. Faith in God has the highest importance
3. Possess a 'biblical worldview' as defined below:

• Absolute moral truth exists
• Such truth is defined in the Bible
• God is the all-knowing and all-powerful creator and ruler of the universe
• Faith in Jesus Christ is the only means to salvation
• Satan is a real being
• Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth
• All of the principles taught in the Bible are true and accurate

4. Believe that their main purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind and strength
5. Currently active in a vibrant community of faith, as demonstrated by a consistent engagement in worship, prayers, Bible study and spiritual accountability.

The answer:  Less than 10%!!!  And that was almost 3 years ago! (Barna Report, Sep 2007)

Rhetorical questions of the Day:  Now, what percentage of American Christian parents do you think desire these convictions to be evident their adult children?  Isn't it time to bridge the gap between our Christian parenting vision and our cultural reality?

Growing in New Directions

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live - Romans 8:13

The other day I went out in the back yard and literally hacked down our Hibiscus bush.  Really.  It no longer resembles anything alive and flourishing with beautiful red and yellow flowers, but instead looks like a skeleton of it's former self.  I chopped off all the smaller branches from their base and knocked down the height of this overgrown bush from a towering 8 feet to something under 5 feet.  (I should know.  I can now see over the top of it.  I am only 5 feet tall...on a good day :).  In short, it looks ruined.

Why did I do this, you ask?  Well, that beautiful Hibiscus bush was growing all right, but all in the wrong direction.  I was only growing up, and not out.  While the branches extended high up into the vast spaces above my head, I could see through all the spindly little branches from 0 - 5 feet.  It was tall, yet thin; growing up, yet not providing what it was created for - privacy.

Tell the Nations

Have you ever wondered if you were headed in the right direction?  If you had started on a path that really was not meant for you to go down? Or if you had taken a wrong turn on that "road less traveled?"  These were the kinds of questions that I was pondering last night regarding my writing 'career'.  And the following words were my God's response the following morning.  (His mercies are new every morning...)

Did You Know??

Recently I had the privilege of reading one of the latest reports from the Barna Group. (You can read more about the Barna Group here, and the work they are doing as the leading research organization focused on the intersection of faith and culture.)  For the purpose of this research, the Mosiac generation refers to adults who are currently ages 18-25; Busters are those ages 26-44; Boomers are 45-63; and Elders are 64 plus.

Did you know...

• While 90% of Boomer and Elders identify the Bible as sacred, only 81% of all Busters hold the same view, while an even less number (67%) of Mosiacs call the Bible a sacred text.
• Just 30% of the Mosiacs strongly agrees that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.  This only increases to 39% for Buster.
•  A majority of the Mosiacs believe that the Bible teaches the same spiritual truths as other sacred texts - 65%!

But surprisingly enough...

• 19% of Mosiacs - the highly skeptical generation - also had the highest level of interest among all Americans in gaining Biblical knowledge.

I found these statistics interesting as I was working on the ministry plan for Crossing Jordan.  Just who is the core audience? And what do they believe?  If Crossing Jordan is going to reach the next generation of young and growing families, just how are we going break through their cultural skepticism and penetrate their heart?  How are we going to turn their cultural quest to know of the things of the Lord into a burgeoning desire to know the Lord? These are the questions Crossing Jordan seeks to answer...