You can download this 1 page formatted version of our year re-cap to include in your church's bulletins or post on your news boards, etc to share OAFC in your church.

Prayers & News

News:​

• We're working with the Synod Youth Ministry to plan an outreach event at the National Youth Gathering, 2016 in New Orleans, LA, July 16-20.
• The OAFC Board is meeting December 30th to January 1st to plan the 2016 and 2017 Summer Training and work on other national OAFC business.

• Pastor and Rebecca Nehrt assumed the duties of Financial and Business Manager for OAFC. Our national office address and phone number are now PO Box 712 Greenville, IL 62246, (618) 780-5059  

Prayers of Supplication:

• That God would open doors for local groups to have weekends across the country, even as He continues to raise up volunteers for OAFC groups.
• That God would bless our upcoming Board meetings.
• That God would bless the outreach event at the 2016 National Youth Gathering
• That God would continue to remind us and our Synod of the importance of sharing our faith even while enlivening the hearts of unbelievers to hear.

Prayers of Thanksgiving:

• That God so abundantly blessed our National Summer Training and Travel Teams.
• That God has so richly blessed us with new leaders and groups.
• That God continues to provide for our financial and prayer needs through volunteers like you.

Because this Summer is also the National Youth Gathering, we need to know who of those coming to Summer Training are also going to the NYG. Please email Pastor Tassey as soon as you know one way or another of your plans. 

Planning this year's Training with everything going on throughout Synod was tricky - to say the least. With NYG in the middle of July, we had to decide whether to have it before or after, and we decided to host it right after so that those going to NYG would have the opportunity to continue the spiritual experience of the Summer by going straight into Summer Training. Because our hosting church is in Nebraska and the Gathering is in New Orleans, we know we need to leave travelling time for groups. That's part of why we need to know who's going to the NYG and who will be coming straight to Summer Training.

Prayers & News

News:

• October Weekends in your area: Oct 3-5 Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, MO (Our new Missouri group), Oct 18-19 Trinity Lutheran Church, Waseca, MN, Oct 24-26Immanuel Lutheran Church, Davenport, IA (Joint Illinois and Iowa Weekend), Oct 25-26 St. Luke Lutheran Church, Olney, TX (Our new Texoma group).
• Pastor and Rebecca Nehrt assumed the duties of Financial and Business Manager for OAFC. Our national office address and phone number are now PO Box 712 Greenville, IL 62246, (618) 780-5059  

Prayers of Supplication:

• That God would open doors for local groups to have weekends across the country.
• That God would open doors in the planning of our 2015 Summer Training.
• That God would bless our Fall Board of Directors meeting with his wisdom and guidance for our ministry.
• That God would continue to remind us of the importance of sharing our faith even while enlivening the hearts of unbelievers to hear.
• That God would continue to raise up faithful volunteers to help both nationally and locally with the ministry of OAFC.

Prayers of Thanksgiving:

• That God so abundantly blessed our National Summer Training.
• That God has so richly blessed us with new leaders and groups.
• That God continues to provide for our financial and prayer needs through volunteers like you.
• That God continues to provide us a forum for defending and expanding our ministry among those who would malign it.
• That God provided a smooth transition for our new Business and Financial Manager.

"You Lost Me."

Part of being a youth evangelism organization is constantly learning and re-learning about trends among youth - both in the Church and outside of it - and among those to whom we witness. That's why I recently picked up David Kinnaman's new book, "YOU LOST ME: why youth are leaving the Church and rethinking faith." The author had previously done a book on why this new generation isn't attracted to the Church, called "UNCHRISTIAN." In this book, he turns the lens inside the Church and asks especially youth 18-30 years old, known in sociology as Mosaics, why they are leaving the Church. As the president of the Barna Group, a cultural opinions survey-analyzing organization, the results of this wide-ranging study are certainly worth the time of anyone interested in youth and evangelism ministry. If you're an adult or youth worker, I encourage you to take note of this and seek to put it to work in your ministry. If you're a youth, I ask you to look at what he has to say and review whether it fits you or those you know, and how we might work together to help you and your fellow youth not to get lost in the shuffle.

While emphasizing that every individual story matters, "YOU LOST ME" notes a trend among this generation's youth that so many either 1) walk away from the Church but still consider themselves Christians (whom he calls, Nomads), 2) reject or lose their faith, describing themselves as "no longer Christians" (whom he calls, Prodigals), or 3) find themselves trapped between an anti-church culture and their desire to be part of the Church (whom he calls, Exiles). Now, people leaving the Church is nothing new to history - consider John 6:60-66 when some turned away because his teaching was too hard for them - but in this generation the numbers of people leaving, and that from a single generation, are startling and worrisome for anyone concerned with faith formation in the Church and the world.

From his many studies and surveys, Kinnaman and the Barna Group have identified three major reasons Mosaics are leaving the Church and rethinking faith. These are the areas of 1) Access, 2) Alienation, and 3) Authority. Youth today have access to anything and everything through technology that wasn't even available 20 years ago, but it's been pointed out that that kind of access to knowledge has come at the expense too often of the ability to wisely discern the good from the bad; the helpful from the hurtful, so that youth are overloaded with information and told they have to choose from more options than any previous generation ever had, and certainly at a younger age. Compounding this, the hectic schedules and the very real generation gap, plus the modern mindset of "newer is better," have actually served too often to alienate youth from their parents and other adults, forcing too many away from the wisdom of experience and discernment and into a youth-only worldview where too often there haven't been honed the skills for dealing with the more mature aspects of life. (For more on this topic, check out Chapp Clark's, Hurt 2.0). Into this whole issue comes the culmination of the Baby Boomer call to "Trust no one under 30;" the call to reject the authority structures of previous generations and build anew. Mosaics take this to a whole new level because they weren't separatingfrom the past - they've been separated from it their whole lives - and so don't have the ties to tradition and expectation of those who went before. So, the Church's teaching that Christ is the only way to God (John 14), that we are all the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12), and that the Bible is the only authoritative, revealed Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17), strike many of this generation as simply untenable. 

What you quickly discover, though, in all of this, is that youth are actually more interested and willing than ever to learn about reality. However, the canned answers that at one time satisfied an overwhelmingly Christian culture no longer do the trick. Youth don't really want a "fast-food" Church, they want substance, they want "meat and potatoes," and they're ready and willing to go deep. In other words, they really want historic, biblical, confessional, discipleship Christianity with roots and reasons; with a willingness to do what the Apostles and their heirs did: stand up and give reasons - real, rational, reasons - for why we believe, teach, and confess what we do about God and Christ. It's about being real, holistic, life-claiming, and life-giving. That's biblical Christianity. So let's do that.

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Prayers & News
News:

• Summer Training Survey Results at a glance - 1,790 visits, spoke with 617 people, left literature at 1,173 homes. Of the 617, 194 knew Christ as their Savior, 94 were trusting their works to save them, 72 didn't know how they'd be saved, and 255 didn't answer. There were discovered 24 prospects and 62 unchurched whom we invited to local congregations.
• Our 11 person Travel Team was sent through Kansas, Colorado, and north Texas, working toward interest in starting two new groups out of Broomfield, CO and Wichita Falls, TX. They visited 1,273 homes in 4 different states where they spoke with 256 people. They shared 1,017 Gospel pamphlets where people weren't home. 76% of the 256 people talked to didn’t confess Christ as their Savior and 23 people were found who wanted to know more about their local church. 2 new OAFC groups were formed, one in North Texas and one in Colorado.
• We welcome Mr. Mark Clemens as the new local director for the Texhoma Group based out of Wichita Falls. They are hosting a weekend September 13-14 at Our Redeemer Lutheran in Wichita Falls, TX.
• We rejoice that Pastor Matthew Larson of Faith, OKC and the pastors of the Oklahoma district have taken up the task of organizing weekends in Oklahoma. They are hosting a weekend September 12-14 at Faith Lutheran in OKC.
• We rejoice that Pastor David Baumgarn is going to be working to organize and direct weekends in southern Minnesota. Minnesota group will have a weekend September 13-14 at Trinity Lutheran in St. Francis, MN.
• Our Missouri group, started through last year's Travel Team, is hosting a weekend at Holy Cross Lutheran in Emma, MO October 3-5.
• We welcome our new Board for the 2014-2015 year: Pastor Matthew Tassey, Pastor & Rebecca Nehrt, Pastor Peter Kirby and Pastor Jacob Mueller, Roger Schafer and Paul Schlake, Sandra Hernandez and Jennifer Krupp, Nathan Nehrt and Gabby Mitchell, Collin Coats and Aaron Fosse, Lauren Sperry and Brittany Jennett. 
• Pastor and Rebecca Nehrt assumed the duties of Financial and Business Manager for OAFC. Our national office address and phone number are now PO Box 712 Greenville, IL 62246, (618) 780-5059 
• We thank Nathan and Dorothy Ruppert for their faithful service as national Financial and Business Managers, even as they step down from these positions this Summer. We pray God continue to use them locally for OAFC.
• Memorial in honor of DeLoris, Onnen given by Gerhardt R. Onnen
  

Prayers of Supplication:

• That God would open doors for local groups to have weekends across the country.
  
• That God would continue to remind us of the importance of sharing our faith even while enlivening the hearts of unbelievers to hear.
• That God would continue to raise up faithful volunteers to help both nationally and locally with the ministry of OAFC.

Prayers of Thanksgiving:

• That God so abundantly blessed our National Summer Training.
• That God has so richly blessed us with new leaders and groups.
• That God provided us with great hosts for Summer Training: Good Shepherd, Midwest City, Faith, OKC, Emmanuel, Kingfisher, and Trinity, El Reno.
• That God so richly blessed our Travel Team through their trip across Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Texas.
• That God continues to provide for our financial and prayer needs through volunteers like you.
• That God provided a smooth transition for our new Business and Financial Manager

[A sermon preached at St. Paul's in Malcolm, NE about OAFC and confessing the faith]
Our lectionary reading from a couple weeks ago read: "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesaria Philippi, he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that I am?" (Matthew 16). Not much has changed in the past 2,000 years. People are still asking who this Jesus really was. And the world is still giving plenty of answers. But is there a right answer, and who has the right to claim that they know it?

This summer we took a group of our youth together with folks from across the country to the OAFC Summer Training. And there these bold youth went out and asked people a simple question: where do you believe you'll go when you die, and why? And the answers people gave were pretty similar to this questioning of Jesus with his disciples. We talked to people who thought heaven was a place for good people – regardless of what they believed about Jesus. We spoke with those who, like Peter, boldly confessed Jesus as Lord. We talked to people who had no clue about heaven or Jesus or even God and usually it was because they'd ignored Jesus or just didn't care. And we talked with those who thought that it was just none of our business to ask that question – as if faith was something you only did inside your own heart with no public expression at all. All of these people were really answering the question, "Who do you say the Son of Man is?"

And the hard thing for the Church, today, is to be clear that there will be an account to be given before God on the last day for every person's answer to this question; and if your faith answers in any way other than what Jesus says about himself, there are absolute consequences. Jesus says in both Matthew and Luke, "Whoever confesses me before men, I also will confess before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." And that word Confess means "to say the same thing together about something." It doesn't just mean to have a thing that we say about Jesus but it means to have the same thing to say about Jesus that he says of himself. And throughout his ministry Jesus has been saying of himself that he is the one sent by God to redeem the world by dying and rising again to forgive repentant sinners and give us eternal life. And his death and resurrection proved him to be speaking the truth.

That people were saying all these different things about him, other than that he is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, says that – even though they may have sounded pious and religious in their answers – they were not confessing him, they were not saying the same things about him that he was saying about himself. As then, so now, if we, or anyone else, go to our deathbeds confessing something other than Jesus as the Son of God, the Christ, we will not be welcomed into the Father's arms, but we will be denied by Christ, and so cast into the outer darkness prepared for the devil and all who follow him.

So you can see that this is a pretty big question Jesus is asking the disciples. And then he turns that same question on them: "Who do you say that I am?" So the question comes not only to "those out there" but also to us, his disciples today: Who do you say Jesus is? Do you confess with him the very same things he said of himself from Scripture, or do you confess something else; and so confess someone else?

Too many Christians, even Lutherans, when it comes to talking about God and Jesus, turn in on themselves. It's easy to talk about the God of my feelings and my thoughts; I think God is like this or that because that's what feels right to me. I know God's word says this, but in my situation I think God would make an exception. That's idolatry. When it comes time to answer the question, "Who is Jesus?" if we're searching our own desires, our own feelings, what we end up confessing is a Jesus who looks and sounds an awful lot like me, or like our family traditions, or our wants and likes. And so we make of Jesus an idol fashioned in our image and likeness because when we looked for what to confess about Jesus we looked to ourselves rather than to where God has revealed himself: in his Word. And to put it bluntly, I think that's because it's easier to look at ourselves than to open the Bible.

            Yet the true answer to the question, the answer that so many have been blinded to, is that the Son of Man is truly the Son of the Living God: the Christ. The only answer is the confession that acknowledges that the God who created us and who will be the judge of our answer of faith, is the God who became flesh and blood like us in order to be our Savior. That the almighty God was made flesh to redeem all flesh, and that in his death for sin he's put sin to death, and in his resurrection from the grave he's given all who confess him before men the hope of eternal life. This is what Jesus says of himself, and so this is what we must say of him when we all appear for judgment on the Last Day when he returns.

            But this confession doesn't come to us by reason, or logic, or by enthusiasm, looking into our hearts; it doesn't come by flesh and blood, but by the revelation of the Father. For so Jesus told Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." That's why we teach that the meaning of the third article of the Apostles' Creed begins with "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to him; but he has called me by the Gospel." And for all to whom the Father has revealed this confession, this foundation of faith, and for all who share that confession given them by the Father, there awaits the very blessings of God: eternal life, love, joy, and peace through the cross of his only-begotten Son: Jesus Christ; that you, poor sinner, may look upon and call upon the Creator of the World your true Father, and you his true child.

            So it is for all who confess that Jesus is the Son of the Living God: the Christ. Jesus goes on to tell Peter and all the disciples both then and now, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and the rock I will build MY CHURCH, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against THAT." The Father brings us into the Church of his beloved Son, the very body of Christ, into which there is peace and security and the certainty that the very gates of hell will never overcome it. You who've been Baptized into his name and into his blood, you've been given the Holy Spirit – the revealer of the Word of Christ, the creator of faith in Christ, sent forth from the Father – you've been placed inside the walls of a Church, not made with human hands, but the spiritual Church, the body of Christ, over which even the devil and all his horde cannot prevail. Here in the body of Christ, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as its cornerstone, you will be secure, you can be certain, that you are blessed by the Father and will be blessed even into eternity because he has put that confession into your heart which overflows even onto your lips – before not only God, but also men.

            And to assure you of that very certainty – that all who confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God will be saved in that Church over which the gates of hell cannot prevail – Jesus has given us the keys to his kingdom. He's told us, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." So that we can know for certain, that where the pastor says, "As a called and ordained servant of Christ and by his authority I forgive you," that you are forgiven even as surely as if Jesus had come down here and said it himself to your face.  That's certainty. That's security and confidence, because Jesus has said it, he's promised it, and he has the power to do it.

            That's also why, if you're being held down by the weight of your sin on your conscience, if you're having a hard time confessing the Jesus of the Bible because of something on your heart, you're called to come to me personally; that we may meet privately and privately as the pastor you called to this church, as the pastor God called to be over you for this very reason, I will speak Christ's certain forgiveness to the penitent, confessing Christian. That's also why, to the impenitent, I have been called to bind sins, privately for private matters but even publically for public matters. All so that we all may have the certainty of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation that come to all to whom the Father has revealed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God; that we may know that heaven always wins, and hell will not prevail over Christ's Church.

May we ever be so bold to confess, in our hearts, but also before the world, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, to the glory of Christ and to our eternal good. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Prayers & News
News:

• Summer Training Survey Results at a glance - 1,790 visits, spoke with 617 people, left literature at 1,173 homes. Of the 617, 194 knew Christ as their Savior, 94 were trusting their works to save them, 72 didn't know how they'd be saved, and 255 didn't answer. There were discovered 24 prospects and 62 unchurched whom we invited to local congregations.
• Our 11 person Travel Team was sent through Kansas, Colorado, and north Texas, working toward interest in starting two new groups out of Broomfield, CO and Wichita Falls, TX. They were met with great interest and we are hopeful that this will produce new groups.
• We welcome Mr. Mark Clemens as the new local director for the Texhoma Group based out of Wichita Falls.
• We rejoice that Pastor Matthew Larson of Faith, OKC and the pastors of the Oklahoma district have taken up the task of organizing weekends in Oklahoma. 
• We rejoice that Pastor David Baumgarn is going to be working to organize and direct weekends in southern Minnesota.
• We welcome our new Board for the 2014-2015 year: Pastor Matthew Tassey, Pastor & Rebecca Nehrt, Pastor Peter Kirby and Pastor Jacob Mueller, Roger Schafer and Paul Schlake, Sandra Hernandez and Jennifer Krupp, Nathan Nehrt and Gabby Mitchell, Collin Coats and Aaron Fosse, Lauren Sperry and Brittany Jennett. 
• Following Summer Training, Pastor and Rebecca Nehrt will be assuming the duties of Financial and Business Manager for OAFC. This will change our national office address and phone number, so we'll send out a mass update when this change is finalized.
• We thank Nathan and Dorothy Ruppert for their faithful service as national Financial and Business Managers, even as they step down from these positions this Summer. We pray God continue to use them locally for OAFC.

Prayers of Supplication:

• That God would continue to guide and bless our Travel Team as they finish their travels.
• That God would open doors for local groups to have weekends across the country.
• That God would continue to remind us of the importance of sharing our faith even while enlivening the hearts of unbelievers to hear.
• That God would continue to raise up faithful volunteers to help both nationally and locally with the ministry of OAFC.
• That God would provide a smooth transition to for our new offices.

Prayers of Thanksgiving:

• That God so abundantly blessed our National Summer Training.
• That God has so richly blessed us with new leaders and groups.
• That God provided us with great hosts for Summer Training: Good Shepherd, Midwest City, Faith, OKC, Emmanuel, Kingfisher, and Trinity, El Reno.
• That God continues to provide for our financial and prayer needs through volunteers like you.

Prayers & News:
News

•  It is with great pleasure that I report to you the acceptance of Rebecca Nehrt with the assistance of her husband Rev. Dr. Jeffery Nehrt to take over the business manager/ treasurer duties of OAFC. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Thank you Rebecca and Pastor Nehrt.
• Summer Training is July 17-23rd, 2014 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Midwest City, OK . 
• Our Summer Travel Team is going to Colorado and North Texas, both of which have expressed interest in starting new local groups.
• We've purchased a new van for our Travel teams to more confidently go out and share the Gospel. Look for it soon at a church near you.
• The new 5th edition of the OAFC Songbook has finished production. We're planning to distribute them to local groups at Summer Training. (Everyone who comes to Training gets a songbook).
• We're making room in our archives by digitizing our files. We've purchased a commercial document scanner and will be working on this project for the next few months.
• Executive Director Matthew Tassey and wife Veronica are going to be bringing our new baby to Training, so come and see. (She'll only be a month old, so cute!)

Prayers of Supplication

• That God would guide and bless our Summer Training preparations and conference.
• That God would guide and bless our Travel Team.
• That God would bless our local groups with weekends, youth, and leaders.
• That people would be receptive to the Gospel. 

Prayers of Thanksgiving

• That God provided new business/financial managers in Rebecca and Pastor Jeffery Nehrt
• That God continues to provide for OAFC's financial needs through our supporters.
• That God blessed the production of the new OAFC Songbook and we give thanks to the CID LWML for their grant which provided the funding for this project.
• That the Oklahoma District so graciously received us for Summer Training.
• That God has given us many great leaders and volunteers to serve OAFC.

2014 Objectives

1. Sustain and grow our current groups
2. Add more local groups across the country
3. Equip youth and adults for witnessing in a cyber-based culture
4. Recruit a new Business and Financial Manager *

Prayers & News:
News

•  It is with great pleasure that I report to you the acceptance of Rebecca Nehrt with the assistance of her husband Rev. Dr. Jeffery Nehrt to take over the business manager/ treasurer duties of OAFC. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Thank you Rebecca and Pastor Nehrt.
• Summer Training is July 17-23rd, 2014 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Midwest City, OK and registration is open on the website. 
• We've purchased a new van for our Travel teams to more confidently go out and share the Gospel. Look for it soon at a church near you.
• The new 5th edition of the OAFC Songbook has finished production. We're planning to distribute them to local groups at Summer Training. (Everyone who comes to Training gets a songbook).
• We're making room in our archives by digitizing our files. We're purchasing a commercial document scanner and will be working on this project for the next few months.
• Executive Director Matthew Tassey and wife Veronica are going to be bringing our new baby to Training, so come and see. (She'll only be a month old, so cute!)

Prayers of Supplication

• That God would guide and bless our Summer Training preparations and conference.
• That God would bless our local groups with weekends, youth, and leaders.
• That people would be receptive to the Gospel.
• May God strengthen each of us as we work through life's challenge in the death of Chelsea Jean Schofield our 18 year old ambassador. We in Ongoing Ambassadors For Christ particularly in the SE Illinois group who knew Chelsea were proud to have known and worked with her as she witnessed her faith in her Lord and Savior, Jesus with us and with total strangers. Her smile, friendly nature and God given talent in playing guitar and singing praises to the Maker of Heaven and Earth, her Creator were greatly appreciated. We in OAFC are assured of heaven when we die because of what Jesus has done in the suffering, dying and rising again in victory of Jesus for all of our sins. We morn this accidental loss of Chelsea and fondly remember her love for us and for her Savior.   

Prayers of Thanksgiving

• That God provided new business/financial managers in Rebecca and Pastor Jeffery Nehrt
• That God continues to provide for OAFC's financial needs through our supporters.
• Memorial was made by Brenda Drefs in memory of Anita Reimnitz. 
• That God blessed the production of the new OAFC Songbook and we give thanks to the CID LWML for their grant which provided the funding for this project.
• That the Oklahoma District so graciously received us for Summer Training.
• That God has given us many great leaders and volunteers to serve OAFC.

2014 Objectives

1. Sustain and grow our current groups
2. Add more local groups across the country
3. Equip youth and adults for witnessing in a cyber-based culture
4. Recruit a new Business and Financial Manager

Should Christians Apologize for Jesus?

Paul says in 1 Corinthians that the word of the cross if folly to the Greek and a stumbling block - a scandal - to the Jews. In today's world, we see politicians, leaders, businessmen, athletes, and activists continually apologizing for every little thing they may have done to cause offense or scandal. Christians can be tempted in such a world to apologize for a Gospel that clearly says there is no other way to salvation except through faith in Christ - that is, all who don't believe in Christ do not receive salvation; are condemned. But should we apologize for the words of Jesus?

At this year's Summer Training, we're going through the book of 1st Peter, and in chapter 3 the Apostle best known for putting his foot in his mouth throughout the ministry of Jesus, Peter, says that we are to "be prepared to give an answer/defense for the hope that is within you." And that word for "defense" is actually the Greek word Apologia. Literally, it's "be prepared to give an apology for the hope that is within you." So is the Apostle Peter calling on Christians to apologize for the rather tactless, non-Politically-Correct, statements of Jesus? Well, no. Of course not.

In the Greek, Apologia means to make a defense against the prosecution. It means that whenever someone attacks or criticizes your faith in the Jesus who made such extreme statements, that you are prepared to defend him against such arguments. That's why we call doing just that Apologetics - answering the criticisms against the Bible, Jesus, even the Church. We don't apologize in such a way that we belittle Christ and his words and works, but we make an Apology so that we defend the words of our Lord. That's Apologetics.

In OAFC, we encourage Apologetics in one of two ways. We primarily train youth in the Bible and the consistency and Apologetics of the Bible, itself. So, through our different witnessing methods, we train youth and adults to defend the words of Christ with solid biblical teachings from Scripture. That's why the AH method is so solid and needed; it's a clear answer to the questions about what's in the Bible.

The other way of Apologetics is to use that which is outside of the Bible, like science and man's logic, to answer questions about why one should even read the Bible in the first place. We don't train youth to use these arguments at the door during our Witness Survey because that's not what the Survey is about. Yet youth are encouraged to delve deeper into this form of Apologetics through some of our Dramas and in using such in their everyday lives.

Both are important forms of Apologetics: the Biblical and the Extra-Biblical. Let me close with my favorite Biblical Apologetic: the empty tomb.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 - written 20-30 years after the resurrection of Christ - that he saw the risen Jesus and that he was not alone. He says that over 500 others saw the resurrected Jesus, too, and were willing to testify to what they saw, since most of them were still alive and able to be subpoenaed into court. If 3 witnesses agreed on the witness stand, you could believe it. If 10, there'd be no room for doubt. If 500 witnesses, one after the other marched into court, sat in the witness stand, and attested the exact same thing - that they'd seen the marks of the nails and spear in the resurrected Jesus - you would be laughed out of the court if you still refused to believe. So we know from the witnesses that Jesus appeared after his death to enough people to discount any type of stolen body or mass hallucination or any other naturalistic attempt to deny it. So he is risen, and risen, indeed! Alleluia! And since he died and rose again, God has made him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2), and given him authority over all the earth to judge all things. His resurrection proves that he is God and that what he said is true. And he says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14). So, if you desire eternal life according to the promises of Jesus in a place with no more pain or suffering or death, you must believe that he is your Lord and Savior. Let me show you how...

For God so loved ______ that he gave his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer, die, and rise in victory for _____, so that, believing in Jesus as the Savior from sin, _____ shall not perish, but _____ shall have everlasting life. 

This is God's promise to you and He cannot lie, as he says in Titus 1:2. If I promised that to you, I could be lying. But God, who cannot lie promised. And He promised eternal life to all who believe in Jesus as they're Savior. Isn't it great to know that Jesus died and rose again to guarantee this promise to you?

Sound familiar? That's Apologetics.