Reaching a Generation 'Ready to Give Their All'
Luce: ''If they get a clear message of what Christ demands, they are ready to go forth because He is worth their all.''
Young people today are going through what no other generation has ever gone through before, according to a sought after speaker whose youth organization is one of the largest of its kind.
TeenMania Founder Ron Luce, who started his dream 20 years ago of reaching a culturally-transformed youth generation with his wife and a hatchback car, launched a new BattleCry movement this year - a time more urgent than ever.
"After doing youth ministry for almost 20 years, it became apparent that the urgency of reaching this generation is reaching an all time high point," Luce told The Christian Post.
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According to a BattleCry fact sheet, 90 percent of 8- to 16-year-olds have viewed porn online. Only 6 percent believe that moral truth is absolute, and by the time they are adults, only 4 percent of this generation is expected to believe in the Bible-based Judeo-Christian principles upon which America was founded. From the "Builder" generation down to today's "Bridgers" (a.k.a. Millennials), each successive generation has seen a large decline in evangelicals - from 65 percent to 4 percent, according to statistics cited by LifeWay President Thom S. Rainer.
"The implications of [these statistics] are just absolutely horrifying," noted Luce. "Porn, violence, the media ... all of these are really beleaguering our younger generation. It dawned on me that we need to do something different. What can we do?"
Luce and some 30 other ministry leaders got together on a rescue mission to take this generation back for Christ while they have the chance.
"'We better do something now!' kind of spawned on us," he said.
It's not only a matter of prayer and hope, but planning and engaging, he added.
BattleCry Stadium events kicked off this year with 60,000 students in San Francisco and Detroit thus far. Teens and young adults showed up in droves to commit themselves in a cultural battle and save their fellow peers.
The stadium events are only part of the counterculture battle plan.
"The bottom line is we need 100,000 churches that will double and disciple the [youth] ministry every year for the next five years," Luce explained. In that short period, if youth ministries doubled every year starting from a group of 20 students, 32 million teens would be raised.
The large-scale BattleCry events are just "catalytic moments" to help build youth ministries. The "real answer" for a thriving youth ministry is in the long term, said Luce.
Students have already signed on as a new generation committed to pursue an exemplary life. The Teenage Bill of Rights has the signatures of youths who made their battle cry commitment.
The youths struggling today have been equally dubbed as the "lost" and "passionate" generation. Luce attached a more sacrificial image to the young people.
"They are ready to give their all for something. If they get a clear message of what Christ demands, they are ready to go forth because He is worth their all. They're serious about God and taking their generation back."
Some have already made bold moves for Christ. Luce described how one student, who had attended a BattleCry event, made a cultural stand. On his way home, he saw an out-in-the-open, easily-accessible porn display at a store. The store worker acknowledged that it was illegal to have such a display, yet it was left there as a potential temptation for many teens. The student walked outside and called the police to report the illegal display.
It's the "simple, little common things like that [of] living your own Christian life and protecting others from temptations" that can change this culture.
TeenMania's next reverse rebellion in Philadelphia will take on a national face with students across the nation called to organize their own rallies in front of the local city hall.
"I think what's happened is a lot of young people didn't realize that they have a voice in this," said Luce. "The young people need to speak up. People will listen to them."
