True Love Waits Takes the Town
True Love Waits with its special message for students and others has launched a second phase after 11 years of successful ministry.
True Love Waits with its special message for students and others has launched a second phase after 11 years of successful ministry.
Now, TLW will expand its message of abstinence from the church to the whole community in "True Love Waits Takes the Town," including businesses, health organizations, education, government, and others according to Jimmy Hester, co-founder of True Love Waits and senior director of Student Ministry Publishing for LifeWay Christian Resources.
"Just as True Love Waits quickly moved beyond the United States to become an international campaign, we are praying that True Love Waits Takes the Town will spread to help towns and communities find solutions to reclaiming sexual purity among students," stated Hester.
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Society is assaulted with images and messages of impurity with devastating consequences, but True Love Waits has an opposite message and subsequently has a positive impact.
Hester said he hopes this message will change the trends related to teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.
True Love Waits spokesperson Paul Turner said the new theme developed as the logical next step for the 11-year-old ministry. "We’ve done a good job with churches and making students understand," according to Baptist News Press.
Christin and Michael Bumstead, a newly-wed couple who had pledged to be pure until marriage, shared their testimony during the launching of the new initiative, filmed in a studio in Nashville, Tennesee on February 11, 2005. (The video is available online at www.lifeway.com/tlw/).
Christin attended a True Love Waits youth rally ten years ago, and it was then that she made her commitment to abstinence.
"We actually wrote a letter at that camp to our future spouse, just saying I want you to know that today I am making a commitment to save myself for you and not just sex but everything leading up to that because purity is so much more than just the act of marriage, but I wrote that letter saying that I'm praying for you, that God will bring me to you, and that you will also make that decision. On my wedding day, I was able to give that letter to Michael."
Role model, Christin Bumstead was Miss Mobile and participated in three Miss Alabama pageants, while Michael Bumstead is a professional baseball player. Their story was featured on the Oxygen network's reality television show about true weddings, The Knot, and it reached a national audience, leading them to speak across the nation in public schools, churches, and other settings.
And though many people have asked her, 'Shouldn't you test-drive a car before you buy it?' Christin Bumstead attrbutes her steadfast obeisance to her pledge to God.
"Well, I was made by an awesome God and I think my life is a little more valuable than a car," she said during the launching.
Barlowgirl also spoke about their walk of purity.
"We've really prayed as a family and sought God on this and really felt that God put on our hearts that He is calling on us to live a pure life. He really just challenged us over these past few years based on Romans 12:2 of not conforming to the world but allowing Him to transform us," said Alyssa Barlow.
True Love Waits was born when students came to LifeWay and asked for a way to express their faith in God and the values He has impressed upon their hearts, said Hester.
True Love Waits' platform for the message is public displays of cards signed by those who have committed to a life of abstinence.
Over 2.5 million to 3 million students have been involved with True Love Waits, though Hester strongly suspects the number is much higher.
Since True Love Waits has been around, the percentage of students who reported being active decreased by 8 percent. In 2001, 46 percent of high school students (grades 9-12) reported ever having had intercourse, down from 54 percent in 1991, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, 2001.
Wes Turner, a businessman, said in the video broadcast of the launching that purity is beneficial for business too.
"I think a commitment to purity is very beneficial to business, overall. The lack of purity generates a lot of problems -everything from poverty to single mothers, to disease situations, to healthcare costs, to unplanned pregnancies. Purity makes better employees, makes better people, makes better citizens."
"If we as a community bond together and have the same message, it makes it so much easier for young people to make the right decision," agreed one mother of two teenagers.
