Climbing to the Summit

Hi, I'm Joanne Vickner, Memaw with It's Storytime Memaw, an answered prayer for stories that point children to God on the Truth Network for kids. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. In an amazing restaurant overlooking the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado, now we're in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Dr. Jeff Meyers, Summit Ministries. God bless you, man.

Thank you. Well, it's great to see you. It's a lot of fun to be able to come to Winston-Salem.

This is a great community. And at this particular event, we've got a homeschooling conference going on. And there are thousands and thousands of people here who were thinking about homeschooling their children, trying to figure out how they could do it, if they can do it, and what tools they would use. So Summit Ministries is really privileged to be able to be here and be a part of the program. Well, if your kid hadn't had the Summit experience, you got to get them there.

These are high school, college-aged kids. And what blew me away was when you took me through the facilities. I saw everything because my daughter had just been there and loved it.

My daughter, Hope, absolutely loved it, met lifelong friends there. But the statistic you shared, the statistic, the number of kids that hang on to their faith and thrive in—which is the name of this homeschool conference, by the way, thrive—that thrive with Christ in college amid all the attacks, just by going to Summit and beefing up on Christian worldview and the amazing content and life-on-life stuff you do there goes way up. Like, it's a big number.

Yeah, no question. Well, anybody who has children or works with children knows how difficult the last couple of years have been of COVID lockdowns. The effect on kids has been immense. 75 percent of young adults are saying they do not have a sense of purpose that gives them meaning in life. More than half are saying they regularly struggle with anxiety and depression. And then in the church, we think, well, you know, Jesus is the answer to this. A biblical worldview is the answer. But only four percent of young adults who regularly attend church have a biblical worldview.

They're there. They make friends, which is great, but they don't understand how God could change their lives. So at Summit Ministries, students come in for two weeks. They get to ask all of their hard questions. They meet top Christian thought leaders and authors who will answer their questions and give them great information. And by the end of the two weeks, too, they move from four percent of them having a biblical worldview to 86 percent having a biblical worldview. It is transformational to be there for two weeks. And we also have a one week virtual program for students who aren't able to come in person for one reason or another.

And both of those programs have such a profound influence helping young adults embrace God's truth and champion a biblical worldview. Well, it's a blessing. And I'm looking up here. I mean, this room is quiet now, but we're at this huge homeschool conference. There's kids, people from all.

Someone told me your family drove from West Virginia to be in Winston-Salem for this to hear you. But this room was just packed just a few minutes ago with all kinds of families, moms, dads, grandmoms, kids, youngsters that are trying to learn. I look at the big board up there. It says fast track to world of ideas, finding life purpose, answering kids top five questions about God.

Truth changes everything. Standing in the land of giants, Marxism, socialism, social justice. I mean, all these ideas are infiltrating our kids. And I even see kids that grew up in Christian homes.

Dr. Jeff Myers with Summit Ministries. I see them commenting, supporting evil causes, pro death causes. It's like, wait a second. Time out. You know, you can like a lot of we think this is common sense, but they really we got it.

We got to we got to double our efforts. That's why you're here. Well, I think when I was coming up, I always sort of thought if I could just get my kids to church, then they'll turn out all right. And they will, you know, they can turn out to be moral people, but they can turn out to be people who have a completely wrong worldview. So they have no sense of direction in life, and they certainly can't help lead the nation toward anything good if they don't even believe there is such a thing as truth. That's sort of the battle that we're facing right now. And it's fun to be at an event like this. All the events we're doing, whether it's homeschooling, Christian school, public school, these events are packed out right now because people are struggling to find answers to big questions. And they they want to know, is there such a thing as truth?

And if it's if it is, if there is, is it something I can stand for? You know, David Noble, the founder of our program Summit Ministries said truth is the most important thing to stand for. And I love that Summit Ministries and this last one, how to speak the truth and be nice at the same time. So often we we get accused of being these angry religious bigots that were out there getting mad. But, you know, what I love about Summit is you have these great thinkers, these guys with like multiple degrees behind their name that come in and equip these kids to speak the truth and love.

How important is that how we play offense a little bit here in a loving way, engaging the world with the good news of Christ? Well, if you think that you should be looking for that mic drop moment every time you engage with someone, you know, I can't I can't say something really great unless I can say it the way Ben Shapiro would say it. Right. Then you then you you'll always draw back because you realize I'm just not that clever. I'm just not so good with words. But everybody can ask questions to anybody can ask, hey, how did you arrive at that conclusion?

Why would you think that is true? Simple questions that you can use to press into situations rather than back away from them. And that's the starting point, not only for connecting with other people, but for inspiring yourself to develop a love for truth. And you've written a book to really get into this. Talk about your new book. We just got a young lady came up and asked you to.

I said, hey, I'm getting out of the way. Let you autograph the book. She says she got to hear you speak and then she got you to sign the book. Talk about the new book and how everyone can get a copy of that, too. Well, that book, Stu, is called Unquestioned Answers, which is sort of a play on words. Most people think about having unanswered questions, but a lot of people have unquestioned answers, things that they think they know, but that they don't really know because they haven't fully looked into it.

So I take on 10 Christian cliches and show how to discover the amazing biblical truth in the midst of sort of a bumper sticker world. Awesome. Now take us on a quick, get that book, Unquestioned Answers. I guess it's at the website by the name or can they go to the Summit website, too?

You can go to summit.org, pick up all those resources or wherever books are sold. I love it. Now, we're going to have a little fun here in the final second here of our time. Dr. Jeff Myers, I'm Stu Everson, Truth Talk. I caught this guy after speaking. We're going to get you some lunch. You got a bunch of workshops ahead of time. This might be the quietest it's going to be for you this whole weekend.

Thank you for coming and pouring into these homeschool families. But let me ask you, Dr. Myers, just let's go. Let's go to the Rockies. Let's go to Colorado. Take us to Pikes Peak. Take us to the Summit Campus. Let's go on a little tour where you're going to create right now in the next 30, 60, 90 seconds in the parents and the kids listening to Truth Talk right now, what would be like to spend those two weeks that they'll never forget in the Rockies of Colorado with you and your awesome team?

Well, you know, it's happening tomorrow. So there'll be a group of 180 students who will be getting on airplanes, flying to Colorado Springs. They're getting on a bus. They're riding into a little hippie town called Manitou Springs, which is right at the foot of Pikes Peak. Very friendly little place.

And they will go up one of the side streets to the Grand View Hotel, an antique hotel that has been there since the 1880s and is the headquarters for Summit Ministries. They will make friends from all over the country. They will come in with a big list of questions of things they want to find answers to. How do we know there is a God? How do we know that there's creation instead of evolution?

How do we why would God allow hell? All of those sorts of questions. Then in small groups and one on one with mentors, you know, we have one staff person for every four students who are there. So it's very personal.

You very love. Nobody drops through the cracks. And then students hear lectures, 56 hours of instruction over the course of two weeks, where they get answers to all kinds of things from pro-life to, you know, why does God talk about man, woman, marriage to how do we even know that that there is such a thing as intelligent design? And what about Marxism? What about New Age?

All of those sorts of things. And we have the top speakers in America come in to address those things who are fascinating in their presentations. So students get to hear the lecture, talk about it with their friends, be in small groups, find somebody who can help them answer questions like how do I discover my life purpose? And in the course of two weeks, they see the trajectory of their lives change forever. So that's the it's just called Summit, right? It's called Summit Ministries and just the website is summit.org. So get your kid there. If you can't get your kid there, then be a Summit Ministries in another young person's life. We have a Truth Warrior intern program. We're trying to get them to read your books and what you're doing.

They can't maybe get to Colorado Springs, but just a blessing. And what's your final challenge to the next generation and to parents about really playing offense and reaching people with the good news of Christ while we still have time? It's only going to get worse, Doc. We got school shootings of little kids going on.

We got a war way over there in Eastern Europe. We got just evil, atrocious things happening, more abortion than ever before. What's your challenge to everyone out there on equipping this next generation to do something about it?

Well, we live in incredibly evil times, but Stu, as you know, that's not new. The Apostle Paul said, be prepared for every opportunity knowing that the days are evil. So what kind of attitude should we have? Well, the Apostle Paul told Timothy, don't let anyone look down on you because you are young. Instead, set an example for the believers in speech, conduct, faith, love and purity. If we had a generation that could rise up with that kind of confidence, not thinking that they aren't qualified, but realizing that they can know the truth, they can understand the times, and they can help set people free from spiritual captivity, we could experience the greatest revival imaginable. Learn more at summit.org.

Is that the right website? And then learn about the book, Unquestioned Answers. I just love that. So good.

And meet Dr. Myers' amazing team, his family, and what God's doing. Thank you for your ministry, brother. God bless you and your ilk. And thank you for hanging out with us here on Truth Talk. Thanks, too.