Hello friends. In this week’s newsletter I’d like to bring to attention the Christian band, Casting Crowns. 👑 I really enjoy their songs and lyrics but I didn’t know anything about them. When I came across their documentary on Netflix, I saw it. I was surprised that the lead singer and band members came from good Christian families. I just thought with such depth in their lyrics and voices, that they came from painful backgrounds – kind of like Jelly Roll.
The lead singer, Mark Hall said that first and foremost he is a youth pastor. After watching the documentary, I realized that his depth and insights come from his many years of teen ministry in his church in Atlanta, Georgia. He is still a youth pastor in the same church despite the band’s great success, the Grammy awards and money.
When you watch the documentary, you will also learn the stories behind some of their best loved songs. He also shares many insights when dealing with troubled youth. If you have a preteen/teenager or work with teenagers, I highly recommend you to watch the entire documentary and learn from his experiences in teen ministry.
https://youtu.be/DkjEQ4hkomE?is=xoQ-Sjs9QrWmCjsu
I commend Mark Hall for persevering through the great exodus of the millennial generation. It must’ve been very discouraging. That also explains some of the song lyrics. I pray that many of his former students are coming back to Jesus Christ, and also reaching out to him and letting him know that they are back following Jesus Christ. When I started following Jesus again, I reached out to my old church college friends and leaders.
After witnessing the exodus of many millennials, there has been many, many prayers that have been offered for the Gen Z’s. I believe this is the reason why we are seeing so many revivals happening in colleges throughout USA. Prayers are the fuel to keep the momentum going and growing. We are not dropping the baton of prayer. We are waiting and wanting more for the Gen Z’s.
If you don’t want to watch the full documentary, then please hear Mark Hall’s 20 minute testimony. It was very good.
https://youtu.be/Z-KaHPgVx18?is=Mcslr1XjyPwT5Twf
He gave a graduation speech to the class of 2012 at a Christian high school. His address to the graduating students was excellent, timeless advice and relevant for all ages.
https://youtu.be/gqV1ipuXJQY?is=0luGCCd2sIbRQBmv
My friend’s Liquid Church just finished a sermon series on the world’s top religions. It was excellent! They presented in a very respectful way and I learned so much.
I highly recommend you to teach your children about the top world religions. FYI – teen brains are wired in a way that scientists have shown that they don’t hear their parents/caregivers well at about age 13. The ancient Jewish tradition of preparing children for their own faith ends at age 13. After that, they are supposed to be accountable for their own actions and faith. I’m not saying that our job is done after 13. Far from it! After 13, we switch our strategy and partner with the Holy Spirit to pray more while letting go and learning to trust God with our children.
When I came back to the church after many years away, I was so surprised to learn about the huge exodus of the millennials from the church. I naively assumed that if someone grew up in a church with parents who also followed the faith, that they would not drift off like I did. What happened to me when I left my college church would not have happened if I was better prepared. For four years in my college church, I did Bible study with my small group on Tuesday nights, college students worship and fellowship on Friday nights, two hours church service on Sundays, and big college conferences couple of times a year. Plus I lived with Christian girls! I had Christian fellowship all hours of the week. And yet I fell away when my supervisor asked about my beliefs and planted doubts in the first months into my corporate job. We shared a cubicle for six months due to overcrowding. This was in 1997, during the “irrational exuberance” of the stock market and the internet boom. He followed some bizarre new age religion. He was a very smart, kind and good looking guy. That did not help.
My last 15 years of living life as a follower of Jesus Christ have offered me many, many hours of solitary Bible studies, reflections, research, and learning from others’ testimonies by books, YouTube, sermons, etc. My roots are very, very deep now. I am not sure if my roots would be this deep if I was doing a lot of busy work and socializing as I used to do in my college church…probably not. God knew that about me and had a good plan to get me to sit down and learn. I learned A LOT!
In case anyone is interested or needing help with your finances, Saddleback Church in California is offering Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course for only $25. It’s a virtual class. Please be mindful of the time zone difference if you sign up. Here’s the link:https://my.saddleback.com/event-details/fpu-online-summer-2026
Today’s AI boom reminds me of the internet boom era of the late 90s. As my desire to fund charities and causes grows, I have been praying that my husband’s business prospers greatly in this AI boom so that we can donate more. Funding orphanages is one of them.
Please read this story of a biracial Korean orphan. After the war, she was abandoned by her mother when she was only 4 years old. It is amazing how she survived on her own from ages 4-7. The Holy Spirit has been showing me more things about Korea, including the aftermaths from the war and the trauma. https://media.harpercollinschristian.com/files/z/PDF/Case_for_Grace_samptxt.pdf
Today, World Challenge does more than drug rehabilitation. They also sponsor orphanages. Here is a short five minute video of an orphanage in Kenya that they sponsor. https://youtu.be/YQOUlAbALSI
If you want to learn more about Kenya or the orphan situation in third world countries, please watch this documentary. It documents the life of Charles Mulli, a self-made Kenyan businessman who went back to the streets to rescue thousands of street children. He was abandoned by his parents at age 6. https://mcfus.org/mullymovie/
700 Club Interactive just announced that this is their last week. And I just discovered them too. Oh well, I’ll just watch their old episodes. This one is about a military family who were called to leave their life of security and become farmers! I learned a lot from their story. And it was a lot of fun to watch their farm animals, especially the piglets. Enjoy. 😊
With much prayer and in the love of Jesus Christ 🙏❤️
Journal of Faith 