From Tim Vincent, youth pastor, Federal Way
To: Pacific Northwest area youth pastors

The best thing going these days regarding sexuality is BY FAR “Sexual Integrity” produced by Carrie Abbott and the Legacy Institute.  As you may remember, I’m a really big advocate of sexuality and relationship training in the church (and public schools) and Carrie has just catapulted the whole topic into orbit.  It is an amazing advancement which takes the whole “virginity pledge” – which is often naïve and simplistic – and turns in on its head by bringing parents and the church family into the center of the process.  It is a holistic approach to gender definition and affirmation that creates the deep seeded values that we have always wanted for our students but were never really able to obtain.  We just beta tested the curriculum for her (and Cascade had pioneered some of the topics with her last Spring) and the impact on our students was immediately more genuine and much deeper then I have EVER experienced before with “Why Wait,’ “SHARE,” “Every Young Mans/Woman’s Battle,” and the rest of those resources.  I could write a book about the changed lives of our young MEN who have stepped up to that role with strength and courage (it truly brings tears to me eyes to think about the changes I’ve witnessed).  Our young women have begun to radiate a modest beauty that comes from a confidence in their Creator and a trust in His provision for them. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, the parents are honored and equipped in this approach and this allows for the process to go WAY BEYOND the annual “sex talk” typical of most youth ministries.

As you can probably tell….I’m an advocate of this approach and I wish that every church in the nation would adopt it and make a part of their core values.  Sexual Integrity is not simply a new approach…I believe it is THE approach that can stop our current cultural downward spiral.  Take look at their website and let me know if you have any other questions.

In His grip,
Tim