Lifeway Hopes New Youth Resource 'Fuels' Spiritual Growth
by Allie Martin
November 8, 2004
(AgapePress) - A new resource on the market is designed to teach the Bible to young people using fast-moving video technology and special effects.More than a year ago, staff members at Lifeway Christian Resources began asking youth ministers for advice about how best to develop educational resources for teenagers. Now the results of that input has been incorporated into the newly released first volume of Fuel: Igniting New Life with God's Story.
The exciting new DVD and CD-Rom series of lessons takes young people through the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, using engaging video graphics, special effects, and other cutting-edge features. Lifeway's Jim Johnston notes that Fuel has been popular, even with teenagers who do not regularly attend church. He says, "We feel like this is one way to give them a reason to come."
Johnson says Lifeway hopes young people who do not regularly attend church will connect with the new youth-oriented resources. The idea, he explains, is that young people will encounter Fuel at home or with their friends, and get comfortable with it, ideally "experiencing this media and saying 'Okay, I understand this story and if this leads me back to the Bible, then maybe the Bible is something that's important for me.'"
The Lifeway spokesman contends that if Christ's advent on Earth had occurred in the present day, he would probably make use of all of the tools of technology in order to reach modern young people. "So that's what we've essentially tried to do with Fuel," he says.
"We've tried to take video, technology, and all the elements God has given us," Johnson says, "and we've tried to do an effective job of talking about the Bible in terms that today's young people can understand. That's really where we're trying to go with this."
Future volumes of Fuel will be released quarterly over a two-year period. The teaching resource includes 96 episodes in all.
