News
Spiritual Emphasis Week with the AXIS Team
January 8, 2012
Secondary Spiritual Emphasis with the AXIS Team
CCS strives to engage students in owning their faith, applying Scripture to their life, and being equipped to share the good news of Jesus Christ to their culture. During Spiritual Emphasis Week for secondary students (held the first week of January), the AXIS Team from Colorado Springs addressed students during special assemblies. AXIS is a team of twenty-somethings who creatively educate hearts by questioning assumptions, interpreting media, and equipping communities to move from apathy to compassionate action.
Opening Sessions
The AXIS team examined the “marketplace of ideas” in today’s culture and focused on the six questions that determine an individual’s belief system. Following an explanation of the critical nature of each question, the team used current movies, songs from various genres, and multiple media clips to demonstrate the importance of questioning the truth of ideas. The team made the point that many false worldviews are actually “whirdviews” that are caught like a common cold.
The Big Six Questions that served as a grid for a discussion of ideas/worldviews:
- What is real? (reality)
- Where did we come from? (origin)
- Who am I? (identity)
- What is right and wrong? (ethics)
- What is the meaning of life? (purpose)
- What happens when I die? (death)
Mid-Week Sessions
The morning session focused on the prevalent worldview of naturalism, which is the root of atheism, agnosticism, and communism. Celebrities that support this erroneous worldview were shown so students can learn to be aware of such compromising influences in popular media. Short clips of popular movies and music videos were shown demonstrating the pervasiveness of this worldview in current culture.
The afternoon session examined the false worldview of spiritualism, which can be seen in Hinduism, Buddhism, animism, and New Age ideas. Celebrity and movie clips that espouse this philosophy in some form were shown.
Final Sessions
The AXIS team emphasis moved to the strong evidentiary and rational basis for the Christian faith, and the importance of understanding the battle over the worldview that is going on in culture around us. The students were challenged to defend their faith and prove the existence of God to an agnostic college professor in a very interesting improvisational skit. The point was well-made to the students that none of them could take on the “professor” for more than a few seconds before being out of ideas and words. The team shared some interesting statistics: although 90% of Americans say they believe in God, only .5% of college-age adults agreed with 8 key statements that define a Christian worldview. Short clips demonstrating the tragic and morally bankrupt and views of current celebrities and television programs emphasized the fact that a mere mention of God does not necessarily equate to a true Christian worldview.
Christianity was examined through the grid of the six "Big Questions:"
- What is real? Reality is an intersection of the physical and spiritual realms
- What is man’s origin? God designed and created man and all creature with precision and purpose
- What is man’s identity? Man is created in the image of God
- How is right and wrong determined? Ethics are determined by God’s character and standards
- What is man’s purpose in life? Man’s purpose is to be an imitator of God, to love God and others
- What happens at death? Eternal justice, heaven or hell
AXIS team members challenged the students to consider the difference that being a Christian should make in critical areas of life, particularly the arena of media (TV, movies, music, computer, video games, texting, and print). Some startling statistics awakened the students to the sheer number of hours teens spend “in front of the rectangle.” AXIS then encouraged students to consider the tremendous blessings that are theirs and the issues of poverty, hunger, lack of education, lack of clean water, lack of available medicine and health care, and human trafficking.
Finally, the team asked four thought-provoking questions for each student to consider as he or she searches for a way to make a difference in Jesus’ name:
- What breaks your heart and eats away at your mind?
- What is in your hand?
- Where is God working?
- What would you do if you knew that you could not fail?
A closing thought challenged everyone in the room: What could you do with ONE hour a week?
AXIS Parent Meeting
Parents were invited to join the team in a one-hour parent meeting, called "Sex, College, Beer, Technology, Money and Jesus - What Students Think About and Tools for Effective Family Discipleship." CCS and AXIS understand that parents are appointed by God to be the primary influence on their child's faith. In this one-hour meeting, AXIS equipped parents with the information and tools they needed to better understand their students and educate them to think wisely about the ideas that are influencing them.
Testimonies
Administration: We believe that students were challenged in their growth as a follower of Christ this week, and together we thank God for our friends from the AXIS ministry for investing their time with our students during this week.
Staff Testimony: Cindy Wilhite commented, “I have never heard so many positive words come out of our students’ mouths about something. AXIS was great! They had so much information provided to us that will better equip students and teachers to profess their faith.”
Student Testimony: Junior Lauren Echols remarked, “I thought that AXIS was a great group of young adults that could really relate to our age group. They did a good job of making us aware of the world around us so that we can be better witnesses for Christ.”
Student Testimony: A Sixth Grade Student explained: "I learned my most important lesson when Axis asked, 'How would you act if God did not exist?' Well, I wouldn't go to church, read the Bible, go to this school, be as nice, be as smart, be as thankful. And, that got me to thinking. These are the things that normal Christians do. That was the moment when I realized that I wasn't 'getting it' like I thought I was. I don't want to be a normal Christian. I want to be 'on fire for God.' I am going to pray and work on it."
Students, employees, and parents agree that AXIS should definitely come back next year!
