January 6, 2021 Show with Bud Amundsen on “Mentoring At-Risk Children in Perilous Times” (Part 2)

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Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

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Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

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Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation, to make one another wiser and better.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions, and now here's your host,

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Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth.

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We're listening via live streaming at IronSharpensIronRadio .com. This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Wednesday on the sixth day of January, 2021, and we have as a returning guest today,

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Bud Amundson, who is Executive Director of Youth 715

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Ministries, and we're going to be discussing part two of a conversation that we began a number of weeks ago,

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Mentoring at Risk Children in Perilous Times, and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Bud Amundson.

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Thank you, Chris. Fantastic to be back. Appreciate it. And I'm going to give our listeners our email address right away, in the event that you have a question to ask,

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Bud, it's ChrisArnzen at gmail .com, C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

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And as always, give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence, if you live outside the

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USA. Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

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Well, Bud, why don't we start off by giving our listeners, especially for the sake of our listeners who missed your last interview, and may be unfamiliar with Youth 715

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Ministries, tell us about this organization. Sure. Probably the best place to start is our name.

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Most folks are wondering what Youth 715 stands for, and actually the professionals, the marketing professionals that helped us rebrand here recently said, in today's world, you have to have a name that leaves people with a question mark.

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And so, I think we've done that, but yeah, the

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Youth 715 Ministries comes from Psalm 715, and that in the...and

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we use the International Children's Bible just because it's so concise and simple. It says,

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We're God, you are my hope, I've trusted you since I was young. So, our byline for our ministry is

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Trust to Hope, and so that leads right into our mission, and is best articulated through our mission statement, which says,

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We exist to share God's story with young people through trusting relationships in any relevant way.

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So, that kind of builds the foundation for what we do. We have come out of a long history of connection with Youth for Christ Campus Life, and we have moved to a,

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I would say, over the 30 years that I've been with the organization, we've moved to a greater awareness of how important relationships are in working with youth.

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I would say, 30 years ago, we were pretty good at being friendly in our ministry approach, but not necessarily relational, even though we called it relational evangelism.

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And really, the key element of that relationship segment is the fact that our society, our young people in particular, are coming with a post -modern worldview, and I don't know if you want to unpack that a little bit, but frame why relationships are so important.

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So, yeah, I oftentimes ask in our training, you know, what's the definition of post -modern?

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And I get blanked stares, and people are kind of scratching their head, and the concise definition or the dictionary definition is, you know, it's a rejection of modernism.

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And that doesn't usually clear things up very much in the conversation.

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So then we kind of unpack that to just say that our society today rejects modernism that was built on science, logic, and reason.

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And truth, if it could be, or if it was truth, it could be proven and defined through science, logic, and reason.

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And that's fine in one sense, but there are things in this world that are not necessarily able to be proven by science, logic, and reason.

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So, you know, the existence of God can't be proven in a laboratory.

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And oftentimes we think, well, modernism ought to be better than post -modernism.

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Well, not really. If we look historically, the theory of evolution came into being because of that modern worldview where it's like, well, we can't believe in anything that we can't prove through science, logic, and reason.

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So that's kind of the framework to bounce off of in regards to post -modernism.

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And instead of giving a clean, concise definition, because there really isn't one, it's really best to look at characteristics of the post -modern mind.

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And that frames really the way that young people in particular communicate, or I should say consider the world around them.

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So the first major element of the post -modern mind is that it is experiential.

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So people are in a place where they define truth through their own experience.

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Well, if you take a moment and think through that, well, experience is basically illicit feelings, and so what really takes place is our society today in general defines truth through what we feel is right or true.

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Well, I'm sure if we compared experiences, you and I, Chris, that your life experience is quite different than my life experience, and you would come up with a completely different set of truths.

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So, principle number one, truth becomes relative in the post -modern mind because we're left to define our own truth through our experiences and feelings.

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The next major concept related to post -modernism is it's less logical.

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We talked about the fact that it's a rejection of modernism that was based on science logic and reason.

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Well, we've essentially tossed logic out the window. A great example of this is the whole debate about abortion, and yet at the same time our society highly values, you know, unborn,

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I'll use the example of unborn eagles, and if you destroy an eagle egg, you pay a dear price for that crime, but our society says a woman has the right to choose whether her unborn child is, you know, going to live or be born, and she can end that life within the womb.

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Logically, we would say if you value the unborn organism of one creature, you need to value the unborn organism of another.

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If you consider one the same value as an adult, you should consider the other as the same value as an adult, but that, as you know, doesn't take place in our culture today, in our society.

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So we basically frame our law, our right and wrong, our morals, according to, again, feelings, and we don't apply logic, and this is what

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I run into most often with our older volunteer staff that are working with young people, you know, they'll come and say, hey, these kids, they're not making any sense, you know, they're being hypocrites in what they're saying, they're not logical, they're not making any sense with what they believe in, and I just have to tell them, reality is, you know, that is their world right now.

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They don't have to, our society doesn't require, you know, two opposing beliefs to be logically, you know, compared, and so that's a huge level of confusion, normally, in regards to adults, particularly older adults and young people today.

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The next major component of postmodernism is it's non -linear, and, again, because information is received through our feelings, you know, it's not about information that we're used to in a modern perspective, which is defined by the outline.

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You can see this most clearly in websites designed for older folks. You go to National Geographic and you will see that the information is still placed in pretty close to outline form.

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The main topics and subtopics will all be listed in a linear fashion from top to bottom.

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You go to a youth -oriented website and you're going to see, you know, and those of us that come from a more modern perspective, it's going to look like chaos and confusion.

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Well, because the page is not designed to be read in a linear way, it's designed to be read according to what speaks to you and what you feel, and so you look at a website, whether it might be

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Pepsi or something else really focused on young people, and you'll see maybe an animation.

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You'll see different fonts. You'll see, you know, maybe some music playing, something, and instead of starting from top to bottom, you look at that page and go, hey, what's of interest to me?

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And a kid would sit there and say, well, man, this animation is interesting. I'll click on that.

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Or this font speaks to me. I'll click on that. And they move through it, again, according to their feelings and how stuff makes them feel.

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So we run into a major issue within ministry. How do you communicate truth?

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How does that get from one person to another? Because it's relative, it doesn't have to make sense, and you better speak to my feelings.

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Well, you know, oftentimes we have been trained to present the gospel in a very linear, what

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I would classify as a modern way. And you start with this, you know, whether it's

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God has a plan for your life or, you know, the four spiritual laws or something, but you walk through those things in a linear fashion.

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And I can tell you right now, young people, they don't care about facts, figures, and logic, and information as it stands.

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The only thing that changes that is when that information is placed in story form.

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So if you're a typical kid, and I'll tell you, I have young kids in my home, 20 -somethings, that if I hand them even a half sheet of typed text, they're like,

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I don't want to read it. Unless they know that it's a story, and it engages their feelings in that information.

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So that's where it's like, oh, man, how do we deal with this? Well, can you think, you know, Chris, can you think of a book that communicates truth through story?

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Obviously the Bible. 66 books. Yeah, exactly.

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And so, you know, one, there's a great, like, feeling of relief in a sense that, oh, wow, the postmodern generation isn't surprising

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God. You know, it works. He understands the postmodern mind, and he wrote the

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Bible for the postmodern mind. So that's where, you know, things aren't lost.

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It's not like, oh my goodness, we have to get kids back to science, logic, and reason. No, the

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Bible speaks truth through story. So that's another major framework that Youth71 .5

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Ministries functions under, is that we communicate truth through story. And there was a paradigm for that that was developed some years ago in Youth for Christ called

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Three Stories. And it's about us as ministers of the gospel learning their story, a young person's story, sharing our story, what's happened in our life.

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And in a place where those two things overlap, those two stories overlap, we share

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God's story, what God has done in our life.

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And this really turns the gospel presentation on its head, as opposed to this list of information like, oh, they need to know this, this, this, and this, and we need to start with this, this, this.

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It really frames that interaction to be about, hey, I need to find out who they are, what is going on in their life, and what their questions are.

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Where's the Holy Spirit working in them? What's the Holy Spirit doing to prompt a question?

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And then as I learn that story, and I show them love, and I build trust, then

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I have opportunity to bring in my story. Somewhere, my story connects with what's going on, and I'm able to relate to that young person communicating about what's going on in my life.

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And I can tell you, there's always an overlap in any two people's stories. And that is, there's an overlap of painful experiences.

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We've all struggled, we've all experienced pain. Somewhere in there, we can relate and connect.

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And then, when we learn where their questions are, and they've gotten to know us and trust us, that's where it's just fertile soil for us to bring in the truth of God's Word, and what

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God's story is, and how He's provided a

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Savior. And honestly, Chris, it takes people back.

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I was talking to a very solid, well -known, much -respected, and really a mentor of mine in our area here, and as I was describing this to him, he's like, well, where do you tell kids that God created the heavens and the earth?

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And I had to basically say, well, that is important truth and doctrine.

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But in my 30 years of working with kids, I have not run across a kid where that's their first question about God.

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And so, we don't ignore those important doctrines, but we connect with this young person through the questions that they have, through what we call a doorway the

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Holy Spirit is opening in their mind and heart, related to, usually, it's more about, you know, how do

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I know somebody cares about me? How do I get, you know, my past wrongdoing forgiven?

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How do I have a friend that doesn't leave me? How do I know what's going to happen tomorrow?

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How do I deal with uncertainty in our world today? And all of those questions, you know, we as believers have walked through to some level, and it's where we can then go through personal experience, through our own story, we can bring

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God's story right into the very relevant place that that young person is dealing with questions.

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Am I making sense? Did I articulate that well? Yes. And how are these conversations with youth typically done?

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Perhaps there's a mixture of venues. Is it typically one -on -one with a mentor?

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Is it more of a classroom setting? That kind of a thing, because one thing that just occurred to me, when a

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Christian very often is having a conversation with an unbeliever, especially somebody who is more hostile towards Christianity, more skeptical, more verbose, they will typically try to take control of the conversation, and the

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Christian who has the Bible in his hand, and who should be actually in control of the conversation, finds himself just going from one rabbit trail to another, as the person who is the critic, when he is hearing an answer to a question, perhaps that foils his presupposition, he'll just immediately jump to another rabbit trail, and go back and forth and back and forth, and it's usually to take the spotlight off of himself or herself, take the spotlight off of his or her own sin, his or her own rebellion against truth, and need of a savior, and so on.

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So I was just curious, how are these conversations usually happening? With 715?

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Yeah, so obviously, I mean, our mission talks about relevance, and so we do a lot of different ministry methodologies, and everything from larger groups and events and camps, all the way to mentoring relationships, one -on -one formalized mentor connections, and so we work, we have five different youth centers around our area.

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We work with kids in the detention system, both the lockdown and then also the residential treatment program.

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We run a chapel in detention each Sunday. We have a vocational training school that works with young people in a variety of settings, classroom, and then also one -on -one instruction.

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So we have just this wide spectrum of personal connection with caring adults,

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Godly caring adults, and kids, and so in that, our premise is influence comes through trust, so work to build trust.

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So let's get to your question about that conversation about, you know, a young person that is highly defended against the

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Gospel, and there's two premises there. One, yes, you're absolutely right, this happens all the time.

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A young person is more trying to argue than be actually contemplating their spiritual condition, and will run all kinds of, you know, damage to avoid actually dealing with it, and that often comes with trying to ask questions like, you know, did

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God create a rock that's too big for him to move? You know, all these really frivolous things that are trying to avoid the real issue, and I train my staff and volunteers in that situation, always bring the conversation back to Jesus, and you know, that is the focal point of our relationship with God, and so all of these things and, you know, these concepts of how do you know about creation and all that, it's always really an opportunity to say, well, what do you think, you know, we can discover all that stuff in time, but what do you think?

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Were we created for the purpose of a relationship with God?

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In fact, we're going to pick up right where you left off there, bringing the conversation back to Jesus.

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We have to go to our first break right now. If anybody would like to join us again, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com,

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c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n at gmail .com. As always, give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the

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USA. Only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. We'll be right back with Bud Amundsen of 715

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We are now back with Bud Amundson. Bud Amundson is the executive director of Youth 715

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Ministries, and we are discussing part two of a discussion we began weeks ago,

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Mentoring at Risk Children in Perilous Times, and right before the break,

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Bud was talking about how we as Christians, when we're having conversations with the youth in particular, because that's our subject today, but obviously it would be really anyone that we are having a conversation with, we have to constantly bring the discussion back to Jesus Christ, and if you could pick up where you left off,

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Bud. Sure. Thanks, Chris, and I'm glad you made that distinction that, yeah, this, you know, paradigm or methodology, you know, called three -story could be used in both, you know, the lives of youth and adults alike.

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So, yeah, the question was, what, you know, during conversations, people that are antithetical to the gospel, well -defended, they usually go down a rabbit trail, or many different rabbit trails, trying to avoid the real thoughtful discussion about, you know, the gospel, and that's where, yes, you always work to bring that conversation back around to Jesus, and, you know, again, a kid wants to talk about, you know, evolution and whether we believe in creation or whatnot, and it's a great opportunity to say, well, do you think we were made to have a relationship with God, and depending on their answer, you know, where does that go, and then you can talk about, do you think that we have rejected

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God, that we have rebelled against God, and that brings in the concept of sin, and then boom, all of a sudden, what's the answer?

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What is God's provision for our sin to bring us back into relationship with Him, and that, of course, is

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Jesus Christ. So that's kind of the thing. You just always be thinking, no matter what rabbit trail they're going down, how do

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I bring this conversation? Not that I ignore their question. I need to be respectful in that, but how do

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I bring it back around to the real main point is, who is

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Jesus, and am I in need of a Savior? And one thing that surprised me,

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I can't exactly remember how long ago it was that I heard this. It was a few years ago.

40:40

I heard a lecture being presented by a person who was involved in college campus ministry evangelism, and he was saying that the college -age students of today, and he was making it clear he wasn't broad -brushing because there are exceptions to the rule and so on, but he was saying that those that appear to be genuinely drawn by God, that they are truly interested, rather than just there to heckle or oppose an evangelist, they are sincerely seeking because, obviously, the

41:36

Lord is doing something supernaturally with them. But the thing that surprised me is that this individual was saying that the youth of today have a paranoia, if you will, or perhaps even an anger and a suspicion that there are many evangelists and pastors and so on, who are trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

42:13

And the surprising trend he was noticing is that there are many youths, the ones that appear to be drawn by God in reality, they are actually looking for something that most closely resembles the religion or the atmosphere of worship and the awe and reverence towards God that they may have remembered as a child.

42:46

The trappings of a lot of modern -day evangelical showtime worship, if you will, is looked upon by many and a growing number of youths as an attempt to trick them by using things as lures that are more considered to be appealing to their tastes, the tastes and desires of people of their age.

43:22

And so it was really surprising to me to hear this, I was actually disbelieving what

43:28

I was hearing. And then it was interesting how the daughter of a friend of mine, a friend of mine who led me to Christ, her oldest daughter, who at the time was in her late twenties, she was living in Florida at the time, and she asked me for a church recommendation.

43:48

And I went to, I contacted a very well -known and highly respected

43:54

Reformed ministry that gave me some recommendations of churches that were close to her zip code.

44:08

And one of these churches that was closest to her, she paid that church a visit, and she actually emailed me back.

44:18

And this is at a time where I don't even think that she was regenerate,

44:23

I don't think she was born again. The good news is that she has since made very clear, has given really clear evidence that she is born again, and she is requesting baptism and going through instruction on getting to that point of being baptized, which will,

44:43

God willing, be soon. But back then, she said to me, thank you,

44:49

Chris, for your going through the trouble to find a church and your recommendation, but I have to be honest with you,

44:55

I don't want to return to that church because I did not feel that I was in an atmosphere of worshiping

45:03

God. I felt like I was being entertained. There was very little difference in the praise band

45:11

I was hearing than secular music. In fact, it was just a less than quality imitation of the music that people my age are supposed to be listening to.

45:27

I was turned off by the skinny jeans on the pastor, and the t -shirt, and the approach where it looked very obvious to me that young people were trying to be lured into this church and this experience because of the way that the pastor and everybody involved in the service were dressed and so on.

45:53

That really surprised me, and I was actually pleased with this person wanting something deeper, something more worshipful,

46:08

God -centered, and real. If you could, just comment on what I said. Yeah, you're hitting right on an incredibly important aspect of reaching people, not just young people, in our current post -modern society.

46:29

Well, okay, so we talked about post -modernism, and we determine truth through our feelings.

46:37

Well, what does that really do? It isolates us because we're no longer part of a community that has the same, you know, truth perspective.

46:48

So that's where we're left alone in our so -called you know, silo of self -made truth.

47:01

Nobody else has that same truth. Okay, well, so that isolation creates this desire to connect.

47:13

But what, you know, think about your average 30 -year -old, and how many times have they heard promises on TV, media, social media, you know, if you buy this, then this will happen.

47:35

You know that's a lie, right? Well, young people today are constantly searching for what's authentic, what is true and real.

47:50

And what's funny is, my daughter, when she was heading to college, we went to the town and kind of went and visited some churches to see where she might get plugged in.

48:02

And after one service, yeah, it seemed like they were reasonable people and doctrinally sound and interested in ministering to the college close by their facility.

48:20

But her comment was, Dad, he had like the church's logo like tattooed on his arm, and you can just tell he's just trying to be hip, you know.

48:35

And so my daughter sniffed out like this, um, you know,

48:42

I'm going to be something I'm really not so that you'll like me and maybe listen to what

48:49

I have to say. Man, kids can smell that a million miles away.

48:54

They have no interest in something that is fabricated.

48:59

Why? Because their world is full of fabricated stuff that they're trying to sift through.

49:06

Like, is that, you know, you see something on social media. Is that a real picture or has that been, you know, doctored?

49:16

Has somebody edited that? Has made something untrue look true?

49:23

That is their world right now, trying to sift through that. So here again, why is trust so critically important?

49:33

It's because young people, they are looking for authenticity. They want something real.

49:41

And so if you're going to engage me as a young person, then don't come to me trying to be something that you think

49:49

I want. You better be you, and you better just be honest and truthful and completely upfront with who you are and what you believe and what your story is.

50:03

And that translates into the church experience. And so when they're looking at hype, and they can smell hype.

50:12

Now, I'm, you know, there's a variety of different worship experiences that can be truly, you know,

50:18

Spirit -led and authentic in its worship.

50:24

But they can smell out the, you know, inauthentic worship elements.

50:34

They can, you know, kind of smell out what we used to call the posers, people that are simply playing the part.

50:42

And so, yeah, you're hitting right on it. We have to bring an authentic message.

50:50

So in our training, we talk about, you know, an authentic person bringing an authentic message to our young people, which is critical.

51:05

And we have to go to our midway break right now. This is a longer than normal break. So I hope that you are patient with us.

51:12

The midway break is always longer, because Grace Life Radio, who airs this program twice a day in a pre -recorded format, a 98 .1

51:22

FM in Lake City, Florida, they air this in the morning drive, and they air it in the evening as well.

51:29

They are compelled by the FCC to localize all of their programming to Lake City, Florida, and that would include

51:36

Iron Trumpets Iron Radio. So they have to air their own public service announcements and other local things in the middle of the show, while we simultaneously are airing our globally heard commercials.

51:48

So please use this time wisely. I'm asking you, if you are listening to this show today in a pre -recorded fashion, that you don't just fast forward through the commercials, or at least don't do that every day, because we need you, the listeners, to respond in some way to our advertisers.

52:09

Now, obviously, the first and foremost way that we hope you respond is by purchasing their products, utilizing their services.

52:18

If you live near a church being advertised, paying them a visit, especially if you don't have a good, solid,

52:26

Bible -believing church of your own. And many times it may just mean that I'm going to contact that business, parachurch ministry, church, or organization, and I'm just going to thank them for sponsoring

52:38

Iron Trumpets Iron Radio, because it means so much to me. That might be even the most prevalent way that you can respond to our advertisers.

52:48

But please use this time to write down as much of the information as possible that our advertisers provide, so that you can more frequently and successfully patronize them, or at least respond to them.

52:59

Also, use this time to write down your own questions for Bud Amundson, anything to do with youth at all, or specifically the ministries of Youth 715

53:10

Ministries. Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com. chrisarnson at gmail .com.

53:16

As always, give us your first name, at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence, if you live outside the USA.

53:22

Please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. That's chrisarnson at gmail .com.

53:32

Don't go away. We'll be right back with more of Bud Amundson on Part 2 of our discussion of mentoring at -risk children in perilous times.

53:41

Don't go away. We'll be right back. We are excited to announce another new member of the

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Iron Sharpens Iron Radio advertising family, Bhanu Gadi, owner of three

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Bhanu Gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy degree and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic.

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Please contact Dr. Gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media.

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To find the pharmacy nearest you, call 516 -354 -2000. That's 516 -354 -2000.

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Or order online at leesdrugsrx .com. That's L -E -E -S drugsrx .com.

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Don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program. Greetings in the matchless name of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Bhanu Gadi. I'm a pharmacist in New York which is the epicenter of the latest crisis the world is going through.

55:01

In Psalm 139 verse 14, the psalmist offers praise to the Lord like this,

55:06

I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made and wondrous are your works that my soul knows very well.

55:14

He saw God's goodness and mercy, kindness and the beauty in what

55:19

God has designed and he has erupted into praise. In any crisis or problem brothers and sisters, our only fallback position is to trust

55:28

God's design and once we do, there is nothing for us to do but to erupt in praise to him.

55:36

When the whole world is searching for a solution, God in his infinite mercy has given us what we need to address this illness which can be very serious.

55:45

Such is the beauty of his design. Knowing that design, how can we not erupt in praise to our great

55:51

God like the psalmist did. May God bless you and give all of us wisdom to see greater things in his design.

55:59

Thank you. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries and the

56:10

Dividing Line webcast here. Although God has brought me all over the globe for many years to teach, preach and debate at numerous venues, some of my very fondest memories are from those precious times of fellowship with Pastor Rich Jensen and the brethren at Hope Reform Baptist Church, now located at their new beautiful facilities in Coram, Long Island, New York.

56:30

I've had the privilege of opening God's word from their pulpit on many occasions, have led youth retreats for them and have always been thrilled to see their members filling many seats at my

56:39

New York debates. I do not hesitate to highly recommend Hope Reform Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island to anyone who wants to be accurately taught, discipled and edified by the holy scriptures and to be surrounded by truly loving and caring brothers and sisters in Christ.

56:54

I also want to congratulate Hope Reform Baptist Church of Coram for the recent appointment of Pastor Rich Jensen's co -elder,

57:00

Pastor Christopher McDowell. For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net,

57:08

that's hopereformedli .net or call 631 -696 -5711, that's 631 -696 -5711.

57:19

Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island that you heard about them from James White on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

57:31

Here's what Gary DeMar, President of American Vision, had to say about Iron Sharpens Iron Radio recently.

57:38

Good to be back, Chris. I always enjoy our time here. I have to tell you, one of the better interviewers out there and I've been doing this for 30, more than 30 years.

57:48

Wow, that's some compliment. How much do I owe you for that? You don't have to owe me anything.

57:55

We're in good shape. I'm glad you said it on the air so I don't have to brag about myself.

58:01

Tell your friends and loved ones about Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, airing live Monday through Friday, 4 to 6 p .m.

58:08

Eastern Time at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is

58:23

Pastor Bill Sousa, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

58:29

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support

58:34

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially. Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our

58:51

Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end for which we strive is the glory of God.

58:57

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

59:10

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

59:20

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

59:28

This is Pastor Bill Sousa, wishing you all the richest blessings of our

59:34

Sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King, Jesus Christ, today and always.

01:00:11

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and co -founder of new york apologetics and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor tim bushong of syracuse baptist church in syracuse indiana and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm eli ayala founder of revealed apologetics and staff member with the historical bible society and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor josh miller of grace bible fellowship church in harrisburg pennsylvania and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm joe bianchi president of calvi press publishing in greenville south carolina and the nasb is my bible of choice i'm pastor jake corn of switzerland community church in switzerland florida and the nasb is my bible of choice here's a great way for your church to help keep iron sharpens iron radio on the air pastors are your pew bibles tattered and falling apart consider restocking your pews with the nasb and tell the publishers you heard about them from chris arnzen on iron sharpens iron radio go to nasbible .com

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that's nasbible .com to place your order every day at thousands of community centers high schools middle schools juvenile institutions coffee shops and local hangouts long island youth for christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need jesus we are rural and urban and we are always about the message of jesus our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on long island new york by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following christ long island youth for christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959 we have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around help honor our history by becoming a part of our future volunteer donate pray or all of the above for details call long island youth for christ at 631 -385 -8333 that's 631 -385 -8333 or visit liyfc .org

01:05:11

that's liyfc .org was your business shut down during the covid 19 pandemic depriving you of earning any money causing you to default on your rent as you try to survive without income maybe you've had to close your doors for good the good news you thought was that you purchased business interruption insurance as a part of your business liability policy with a major insurance company who told you they are a good neighbor or that you would be in good hands you filed a claim only to be told that it was denied due to the pandemic exclusion clause the pandemic exclusion since 2006 most insurance companies added this clause to enable them to deny your income loss claims in the event of a worldwide pandemic do not give up no matter what state you live in call buttafuco and associates now at 1 -800 -669 -4878 buttafuco and associates is a part of a large multi -district litigation and they are working with lead counsel to bring what they believe will be a successful lawsuit for these claims it is the best way for you to proceed there's absolutely no risk to you you do not have to pay them out of pocket and there is no fee unless you recover on your claim you need to call 1 -800 - 669 -4878 right now trust the law firm where the attorneys at one of the largest business firms on long island new york are sending their own clients for representation during this lawsuit buttafuco and associates here to help business owners rebuild their lives in the wake of the pandemic call 1 -800 -669 -4878 linbrook baptist church on 225 earl avenue in linbrook long island is teaching god's timeless truths in the 21st century our church is far more than a sunday worship service it's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant it's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement it's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people in healing we're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our lord jesus christ in fellowship play and together hi i'm pastor paul walderman and i invite you to come join us here at linbrook baptist church and see all that a church can be call linbrook baptist at 516 -599 -9402 that's 516 -599 -9402 or visit linbrookbaptist .org

01:08:16

that's linbrookbaptist .org so as host of iron sharpens iron radio i frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations the church i've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is grace covenant baptist church in flemington new jersey pastored by alan dunn grace covenant baptist church believes it's god's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he shall be represented in the world they believe churches need to turn to the bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship god in spirit and truth grace covenant baptist church endeavors to maintain a god -centered focus reading preaching and hearing the word of god singing psalms hymns and spiritual songs baptism and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship performed with faith joy and sobriety discover more about grace covenant baptist church in flemington new jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace

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.com that's gcbcnj .squarespace .com

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or call them at 908 -996 -7654 that's 908 -996 -7654 tell pastor dunn that you heard about grace covenant baptist church on iron sharpens iron radio charles heddon spurgeon once said give yourself unto reading the man who never reads will never be read he who never quotes will never be quoted he will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own you need to read solid ground christian books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the prince of preachers to heart the mission of solid ground christian books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to christians in the present and future and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world since its beginning in 2001 solid ground has been committed to publish god -centered christ exalting books for all ages we invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com

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that's solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past or present you can unearth from solid ground solid ground christian books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of iron sharpens iron radio and please don't forget folks that solid -ground -books .com

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solid -ground -books .com especially if you love the reform faith you are going to love visiting that website solid -ground -books .com

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because of the vast selection of treasures from not only the past that they have brought back into print but also even some excellent contemporary books written by some of the finest authors like dr james r white of alpha and omega ministries and others and uh this is a perfect place to be a first stop for all your gift giving needs whether it be for valentine's day whether it be for easter coming up whether it be for a birthday wedding anniversary a bereavement gift for someone you know that just lost a loved one and please remember not only to purchase gifts for your brothers and sisters in christ who are already saved but also remember the lost folks in your life when you're shopping at solid -ground -books .com

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because obviously those who do not yet know christ could use a good biblically solid book for perhaps even more infinitely more than a saved person we god could use a book or books plural that you purchase from solid -ground -books .com

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to lead these lost people in your life to salvation so put this address somewhere on what you see it every day whether it be a magnet on your refrigerator door whether it be on a post -it note on your laptop screen somewhere near your telephone wherever that you frequently look at solid -ground -books .com

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and always mention to them when you're making purchases that you heard about them from chris arnzen on iron sharpens iron radio before we return to bud amundsen and our continued discussion that we began several weeks ago on part two of mentoring at -risk children in perilous times just have a couple more important announcements to make first of all if you love this show and you don't want it to disappear go to iron sharpens iron radio .com

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NASB that you heard about them from chris arnes and an iron sharpens iron radio but whatever the case is please help us uh we need your your finances more urgently than ever before remember i don't want people siphoning money away from the regular giving that they're accustomed to to their own local church where you are a member in order to give to us in other words don't punish your own church financially by blessing us financially and don't put your family in financial jeopardy and peril if you're really struggling to survive those two things are commands of god and scripture providing for your church and your family providing for my radio show is not a command of scripture obviously but if you love the show and you are blessed financially above and beyond your ability to provide for your church and your family please help us as frequently and as generously as you can by going to iron sharpens iron radio .com

01:17:00

click support then click click to donate now and also folks if you are not a member of a local bible believing church i have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the planet earth i may be able to help you as i've helped many people in our audience already to find churches near where they live in all parts of the globe that they didn't even know existed or sometimes it's just because they didn't even know these churches very close to their homes were biblically sound until i confirmed it by letting them know so please send me an email to chris arneson at gmail .com

01:17:30

and put i need a church in the subject line and i will do my best to help you find a church that's biblically faithful near where you live or for a loved one if you're looking looking for a church on their behalf or if you're going on vacation somewhere that's chris arneson at gmail .com

01:17:45

i need a church in the subject line and that's also the email address where you could send in the question to bud ominson if you have a question on mentoring at risk children in perilous times or specifically about youth 715 ministries it's chris arneson at gmail .com

01:18:01

chris arneson at gmail .com bud you had mentioned before the break that you do work with children who are in detention centers do you also work with the young who are more and the more serious forms of incarceration and prisons and so on and what are the age groups that you work with and tell us what you offer for the incarcerated sure um great question and uh yeah we work with young people in our in our area the detention center and also the residential treatment center are run by the county and so we're highly involved there we have those young people participate in discussion groups that most recently has taken place in the form of video conferencing and just because they have been shut down in terms of having personal visits that has recently reopened to us so our discussion groups that take place a couple times a week are available to the kids and then we also do a chapel on sunday afternoons for the young people there and also we have a team of volunteers that's available throughout the week to go in and have a personal conversation with a young person if they request that so that's in the detention facility in the residential treatment center we also have discussion groups going on there we have created a bridge from that program to our vocational training center and so that's where we have typically about a dozen of those young people coming out each week and being trained in some sort of vocational trade we also have a state facility which is in josephine county which is a county we also do ministry in and our justice 715 justice staff are involved over there and our coordinator for our ministry program is the head of coordinating volunteers in the state facility so we run a weekly discussion group and in that setting as well really we do our best in those contexts to again build trusting relationships that carry on after a young person either gets placed if they are found guilty of their crime they get placed in either the neighboring state facility or another state facility within the uh you know our state of oregon as well as if a kid gets released so we try and make sure that they have a relationship that kind of follows them outside the walls of the detention facility so that's kind of our our focus and again trying to draw all of our ministry down to those trusting relationships and forgive me if you said this but i didn't recall hearing the the age brackets of those with whom you work yeah sorry i did not respond to that we work with young people from typically age five to right now 29.

01:22:21

um we've seen this is another thing we talk a lot about um the extension of adolescence young people are not even um you know physically or emotionally formed by the age of 18 at this point from 18 to about 25 is now middle adolescence as opposed to adulthood and later adolescence extends up now into the early 30s as a general um concept within our our society so we work with elementary kids of any age most of that is happening in our our youth centers and large group settings and then uh our we have a 71 .5

01:23:16

parents which is a mentoring program for young parents that extends up through the 20s and our vocational training program is focused on young people from age 15 to 29.

01:23:36

And we do have a listener CJ from Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York who says at the risk of sounding sexist or misogynist which are very popular insults these days to hurl at anyone who has traditional views of gender roles is there a different way typically that the lost who are girls respond to the gospel than those who are boys and is there a different approach to reaching girls and boys and what has been the responses as far as numbers who have you whom you have seen come to Christ and who have obviously benefited from your ministries?

01:24:25

Yeah all great questions um and just in terms of methodology

01:24:33

I'll start with that and really the only difference in methodology even with our vocational training program is connecting young women to godly adults who are women and young men to godly men who are willing to to connect adult um uh you know male adults and so other than that all of our programs are open to whichever gender typically our parent ministry is you know 90 percent gals but we do have some young men that participate and we work to connect them with again godly men who will engage them as they're seeking to be a parent uh you know as they're still an adolescent but yeah typically uh same program interestingly enough with our vocational training program uh we see a lot of gals who want to get involved gravitate towards welding things like that's something that they really uh enjoy and have some um skill at so that's uh kind of a welding like you know with a welder's mask and all that all that yep uh you know basically using electrical current to stick pieces of metal together they uh they are uh enjoying that and like I said have seemingly some great uh affinity and skill towards that so we also do circuit board soldering and that's another thing that they seem to be interested in but you're saying that the girls are typically more interested in those areas of vocational training

01:26:35

I would not say more interested than the young men we have involved typically our programs right now we're you know 75 percent are are male that want to get involved in the trade but the girls the 25 percent that are uh involved seem to gravitate like I said towards the welding area and uh any other ways that they are being trained for careers and vocations and so on in any other fields yeah we we run um tracks in automotive repair general construction skills small engine repair as I mentioned welding and soldering and we also have a pre -apprenticeship program that works with sheet metal fabrication so learning how to uh break metal to build ducks and work in the

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HVAC industry now how do you uh work with a kid that might have gifts or interests that are not in anything like that let's say you have a kid who's an artist and shows great gifts and talents and potential or an athlete or you know something like that is there any way that you can uh use whatever is available in the community to help them cultivate these gifts use these gifts possibly even enter into a career with these gifts yeah and that takes place in the form of a mentoring relationship and we'll connect you know if a young person is involved in our program or comes to us you generally again they're looking for someone to care about them and connect relationally but we encourage all of our staff both paid and volunteer you know to again learn who they are learn their story what what do they enjoy what is going on in their life and to facilitate that so we have a local organization called life art and our newest youth center that we're close to finishing up in a remodel um we have an art room and life art will be using that uh that art room so our we would encourage our mentor to take their mentee and go get involved in that program same thing with youth sports and hunting fishing we encourage all of our staff in those trusting relationships you don't you know it's not about going taking the kid to Dairy Queen uh once a week um it's about bringing that kid into your life we try and match active adults with active kids and whether you know they're taking them out like i said fishing golfing um you know throwing footballs that that adult making sure the kid can get to practice because their parents are uninvolved and disengaged all of that stuff fleshes out within those mentoring relationships and going back to a question that cj from lindenhurst asked uh is there any noticeable difference i mean obviously individuals are individuals but sure is there a more broad uh broadly typical way that young girls and young ladies respond to the outreach of the gospel as opposed to young men i have never seen a huge disparity in the numbers or even the way the manner in which they respond oh okay yeah well i would say that as far as questions they ask and things like that sure right i got you now um you know when you look at the adolescent uh development process gals are you know light years ahead of young men in that regard and so um typically we will see uh you know young women with with a much more mature thoughtful response that uh you know it seems to mature fairly quickly although you know many of them that are dealing with abuse and and addiction issues we see them be serious and then fall away fall back into some of their behaviors obviously we can't determine their heart condition so we trust that the lord is at work there and you know continue to to challenge them as a believer to uh grow in their love for christ and and uh self -control in their their lives young men typically um so it seems like they generally will respond more out of crisis in their life and um you know just to be clear we we do not look for decisions for christ we look for lives transformed by the power of jesus christ so you know if a kid makes a decision um it's not that we just go oh hey you know they're a follower of christ now and you know move move on we walk with that kid and um and oftentimes we see young people that make a profession and you know completely fall off the the radar to fall off fall off any kind of um you know christ -centered perspective and and so we continue to walk with that kid and and uh continue to share the gospel and and hope that they'll come to an authentic um you know faith or true faith experience so again coming back i would say guys uh generally respond out of a crisis and probably see more of them um it's kind of the more frivolous or you know spurious uh faith uh scenario that uh they cycle through a couple different times and and then all of a sudden they come to a life -changing true authentic faith in christ um probably a little a little bit longer into the process than the gals we are going to go to our final break right now this will be much shorter than the last breaks uh if you intend to send in a question please try to do so as soon as possible because we are running out of time our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com

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c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n gmail .com give us your first name at least your city and state of residence and your country of residence if you live outside the usa please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter don't go away we'll be right back with bud ominson of youth 715.

01:34:42

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that's l e e s drugs rx .com don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program welcome back this is chris orange and our guest today is and will be for the next 15 minutes or so bud ominson executive director of youth 715 ministries and we are continuing the discussion that we began a few weeks ago on mentoring at -risk children in perilous times and our email address if you have any question is chris arnson at gmail .com

01:46:51

chris arnson at gmail .com as always give us your first name at least your city and state of residence and your country of residence if you live outside the usa and susan margaret in dalton county pennsylvania wants to know have there been any specific reactions you can mention by the youth to the current situations going on in the united states and even the globe when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic and other things that are going on such as scandals in the government etc.

01:47:28

that's a broad question probably could take another two hours to unpack but that is a very good question and you know i'll speak in general um i think young people again all the way through the early 30s are feeling trapped they're feeling caught in something that they are um you know that is completely outside of their control um whether i mean in our area kids haven't been in school face -to -face yet uh looks like that might take place in mid -february but um you know they they have absolutely no control of whether they are or whether they're not um you know we've we dealt with a young gal that her aunt who is her guardian um from the beginning of april all the way through the end of august she was not allowed outside once uh completely locked into her mobile home uh frankly that gal was dealing with suicidal thoughts and our staff was checking in on her daily to just kind of help her walk through that we had some horrific local fires uh that actually helped this gal because their mobile home got damaged in the fire and and they had to uh evacuate and she was actually able to be outside and since that time seems like the aunt has allowed her to be more active and outside things so this was all due to fear over the coronavirus so well fear over the coronavirus yes that is exactly it that you know somebody would die from the coronavirus if they were outside interacting with people so i mean that's a one of the issues that the young people are are facing the political scenario no matter what side of the political spectrum you're on these young people feel like it's it's out of their control they have um no ability to to vote they know that there's a huge impact to their future um they i mean we obviously here in the state of oregon have had a lot of violence um and protests and things that uh have really kind of shaped shaken the you know structure and security of our society so all in all young people are are in a huge way feeling um unsettled they feel out of control they are dealing with huge amounts of loss things that we as adults may not you know worry about so much but you know kids missing birthday parties and sports as was mentioned you know the here you know number of kids we we know and work with were looking forward to their senior year of competing which would maybe help them get something going for college and you know poof all taken away so that feeling of loss uh that feeling of being out of control that feeling of you know complete uncertainty is just rampant and so that's why we're seeing huge amounts of suicidal ideation emotional troubles um and young people dealing with anxiety and depression that i i hate use the word because it's been so overused but unprecedented levels we just have never seen it so you know here here's what i've been challenged with though because i know that that feeling of being unsettled usually um drives us in one of two directions one we get mad at god and uh reject him further or it draws us into where the holy spirit that we're we realize that he's an answer that we desperately need and so um i'm challenged in the discomfort that i've experienced with the hardships of our present time and like i said add to that some local fires that destroyed 2500 homes in our community um you know should i complain about what god is using to draw people to himself so um that's been my my challenge in it and uh yeah young people are just emotionally and spiritually hunger hungry that in a level at a level i haven't haven't experienced before in 30 years um we have uh joseph in south central pennsylvania who wants to know how are adults vetted before you encourage involvement with them and the youths over which you have any oversight great question um super important to make sure that we're uh only putting safe adults with the young people and um probably the one our process takes about two months to get through but there's an application process there are a number of personal references that are are needed um but really the core of our you know check on this individual that's applying is the exact same background check fingerprint background check that our law enforcement uses which covers local county state and federal databases so if that person has had any kind of issue unresolved issue or you know convicted of a crime we we know about it i want to make sure that you have about four minutes to summarize uninterrupted what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners today about youth 715 ministries um well you know thank you uh and and i'm grateful for the opportunity to kind of unpack a lot of different things and and the reality is um again i kind of closed the same way i did uh i want to the same way i did a couple weeks ago um this generation desperately needs adults in their life they need those trusting relationships and um you know build trust wait for the holy spirit to move in their heart um answer the questions that they have uh we have opportunity we have a the fertile ground right now because of the anxiety young people are feeling um to change this next generation and i would say you know beyond um you know the medical realm and the political realm we have opportunity in the spiritual realm like i've never seen before and it's the professionals can't do it there's just not enough of us that are working in the lives of kids and so we really truly need every you know god -fearing uh functional um you know loving caring adult to look into the lives of the next generation and engage them learn their story starts with loving them uh share your story what's going on in your life and somewhere in there uh god has impacted your life and your world and um that is what this young person in a post -modern perspective can get a handle on can can get a real world authentic um you know connection with faith as it explained to me yesterday with a kid i worked with 20 years ago and he said you know what before i knew jesus i knew who jesus was because i saw in the life of my mentor bud and so when i had opportunity to experience you know jesus and get challenged enough to where i wanted to know i felt like i already knew who he was so that's where um yeah young people are they are so hungry for someone that truly cares and brings a authentic real life message related to jesus and his plan of salvation great well if anyone wants to find out more about youth 715 ministries on how not only how you can benefit from this ministry yourself but how you can bless this ministry with your own charitable giving with your own involvement or just to spread the word about this fine organization you can go to certainly open to chat with anybody that has a passion for you amen we'll go to 715 .org

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that's the numbers 71 and then the word 5 715 .org

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and all of the information that you will need to know to not only learn more about this organization but to contribute to it and to benefit from it and to spread the word about it that is the numbers 71 and then the word 5 f i v e .org

01:58:21

and bud i want to thank you again for doing such a great job as a guest here on iron sharpens iron radio i look forward to your return to the program uh i want to uh give our listeners a heads up we've got dr michael haken the world -renowned baptist historian joining us again tomorrow on iron sharpens iron radio on a subject yet to be announced whatever that subject is i'm sure that dr haken will have a thorough level of expertise on he is indeed a brilliant and knowledgeable historian and prolific writer so i look forward to dr haken joining us again he's one of my favorite guests i want to thank everybody who listened to the program please don't forget our urgent need for donations go to iron sharpens iron radio .com

01:59:11

click support then click click to donate now that's iron sharpens iron radio .com click support then click click to donate now we do really need your donations more than ever before due to the hysteria connected with the coronavirus pandemic that has damaged the livelihoods and careers of many people in our audience who have supported this program and advertised on it so please help us whenever you can and as much as you can at iron sharpens iron radio .com