LifeWay Christian Resource’s True Love Waits ministry has introduced “True Love Waits 3.0: A Path of Purity.”
The new initiative, introduced during the National Youth Worker’s Conference held Sept. 13-15, is a result of a study of how the 17-year-old ministry can be more effective for future generations.
Jimmy Hester, a Greenville native and co-founder of True Love Waits, explained that feedback from student ministry leaders indicated a need for more emphasis on parental participation, specifically to support parents in their role as the primary spiritual developers of their children.
“While the message in society today is one of encouraging teen sex, these leaders emphasized that many parents are in denial as to the scope of the problem and the ways their children are affected,” Hester said.
In response, True Love Waits created “True Love Waits 3.0: A Path of Purity,” which builds on the ministry’s sexual-abstinence-until-marriage message to include a variety of markers students experience from childhood to young adulthood. Resources supporting this new emphasis will guide parents and church leaders to take advantage of these markers and treat them as teachable moments on purity.
“Walking the path of purity is not easy, but it’s the right way,” Hester said. “After careful consideration through interaction with student workers and students, we realized that this emphasis [True Love Waits] has often been viewed as a one-time event emphasis.”
True Love Waits is a process, Hester explained, noting that the new emphasis will focus on 18 life markers that will provide student ministry workers and parents the opportunity to have conversations about abstinence.
“It’s a spiritual development process,” he added.
During the National Youth Worker’s Conference, Seth Buckley, student minister at First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, introduced Jeff and Angie Rosenlund and their daughter Teal.
The Rosenlunds are members of Spartanburg First and spoke about how True Love Waits impacted their family.
Teal Rosenlund, a junior at Clemson University, attended a True Love Waits ceremony in seventh grade, but explained her commitment to purity came long before the event.
“The True Love Waits ceremony wasn’t the big ‘a-ha’ moment,” she said. “I had made a commitment in my heart before the ceremony. I grew up with my parents talking openly about dating, purity and waiting until marriage to have sex. The True Love Waits ceremony was huge because it reinforced everything I had already believed. It was neat to see my peers commit with me. I loved that my parents were there at the ceremony. It just reinforced that we were all holding each other accountable.”
Jeff Rosenlund said the key to teaching kids about purity begins with teaching them about God’s standards for their lives.
“We tried to teach our kids early on, through conversations, lifestyle and Bible studies, that God’s way is the right way,” he said.
Rosenlund also explained that being active in a church helped with teaching his kids about abstinence.
“We were discipled, challenged and taught how to grow as Christians,” he said, noting that he and his wife also learned from other parents.
Angie Rosenlund spoke about the importance of the mother’s role regarding purity.
“One thing I tried to do is make everything comfortable to talk about – hair, makeup, boys and even sex,” she said. “We had a rule that if you heard a word or saw a gesture, come home and ask us. We wanted to be approachable. We are here to help them figure out God’s way.”
For more information about True Love Waits, visit www.truelovewaits.com. – LifeWay