Truth for Youth Bibles Go Around the World
by Randall Murphree
October 3, 2005
(AgapePress) - Tim Todd wasn't counting on Hurricane Katrina when he went to Tupelo, Mississippi, August 28 for the fourth annual "TRUTH FOR YOUTH" campaign on American Family Radio. The 180-station network, an arm of the American Family Association, debuted the annual week-long event in 2002 to help Tim Todd Ministries place Bibles in the hands of the nation's teenagers.
Tim explains the incident that inspired the Truth for Youth program: "In September 1991, I joined my dad, Dr. Cecil Todd, for a meeting with the Ministry of Education in charge of all of the public schools of Russia. In this meeting we were granted the approval, endorsement and encouragement to distribute Bibles as textbooks in the public schools of Russia."
In that meeting, Minister Vladimir Saprykin asked, "What kind of a Bible project do you have for the public schools of America?" Saddened to have to tell him that America was working hard to keep the Bible out of schools, Tim resolved to try to reverse that course of action.
He tried a grassroots campaign to restore the Bible and prayer to public schools, but Congress voted down the Religious Freedom Act in 1995. Immediately, Tim took another approach, and The Truth for Youth project was born that September. The program has now distributed well over 900,000 Bibles by offering the slick, attractive paperback New Testaments free to Christian teens who make a commitment to pass them on to unsaved friends.
"We give The Truth for Youth to teenagers in revival services, evangelistic crusades, television, radio and on the internet," said Tim. "The biggest distribution outlet is each August on American Family Radio."
This year, as Katrina battered the Gulf Coast and much of the Southeast to its knees, AFR and The Truth for Youth shared air time with news updates of the devastating storm, and fervent pleas for stunned listeners to respond to the needs of hundreds of thousands who lost homes, loved ones, jobs, cities and -- for some -- hope.
At week's end, countless AFR listeners were, indeed, finding ways to give time, money and others resources to their storm-ravaged neighbors to the south. Almost 20,000 had also called to request a copy of Truth for Youth to pass on to an unsaved high school friend. The unique book has the entire New Testament as its anchor, but includes comics that address issues relevant to teens, guidelines for starting a Bible club at school, and a copy of students' legal rights on public school campuses.
Teens Choose Life
Taking a break one day in the AFR offices, Tim received an e-mail message from a teenager in Australia. "This is what it's all about," he said. The young man wrote:
I used to be heavily entrenched in Satanism, due to my parents' involvement in witchcraft. I didn't know any better until I received a copy of your Bible while I was overseas. Somebody heard you on AFR radio and got the Bible and gave it to me. Jesus saved me, and I will be ordering more Bibles so more of my classmates, whom I had unfortunately convinced to leave religion, can be saved!
Tim relies on God's promise in Isaiah 55:11, when He says through the prophet, "[My Word] will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Time and time again, Tim sees that promise fulfilled.
One of Tim's favorite stories comes from a revival he was preaching in McAllen, Texas. Teenager Shelley O'Brien had taken a Truth for Youth Bible and given it to Alex Perez, a gang leader. She also invited Alex to her church. Alex came to hear Tim preach that night, and he got saved.
The young gang leader told the entire congregation, "I have found real peace. I'm going to invite my entire gang to come with me tomorrow night. Pray they will come and get saved, too."
The next day, Alex told the pastor, "I gave a Bible to each of my gang and they all agreed to come to the revival tonight." Sure enough, that night, in walked Alex with all of his gang. They filled two back rows. When the invitation was given, all 11 came forward, fell to their knees and gave their lives to Christ.
Remembering it today, Tim still can't contain his excitement. "Think about it," Tim said. "One bold young lady gave one Bible to one gang leader and an entire gang was saved! God's Word is alive and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. It will not return to Him empty. It will accomplish what He sends it to do."
Tim's Passion for Teens
Tim's files are filled with stories like those of the youngster from Australia and Alex, the gang leader. Every one is a story of God's power to reach down and save young people out of drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, witchcraft and all sorts of bondage. One reason Tim Todd has such a passion for these teenagers is that he himself knows how lost a kid can be and how God's power can save.
As a rebellious teen, Tim was often in trouble at school. His temper earned him suspension for fighting, and he began drinking as a teenager. Then, one night at a keg party, he was offered a marijuana joint. He thought it made him fit in with the crowd. From there it was downhill all the way for the preacher's kid.
"The drugs and alcohol were my way in," he says, "but soon they became my way out of dealing with my problems. My dad was a respected minister on nationwide TV, but I didn't care what my drug use did to his reputation."
To make a long story short, Tim survived auto crashes and drug abuse that would have killed many, but after three experiences that almost took his life, he surrendered his life to Christ and immediately began to experience what he calls "spiritual heart surgery."
Each time he revises The Truth for Youth Bibles, he also updates the original comics that deal with the issues uppermost on the minds of today's teens -- rock music, "safe" sex, pornography, drugs, peer pressure, abortion and more.
"I highly commend Tim Todd for designing The Truth for Youth Bible," said Michael Reagan. "The spectacular comics deal with important issues that today's youth are faced with and it is making an eternal impact in our schools and around the country."
The 2005 edition includes almost 100 pages of comics featuring characters drawn by the best artists in a style that will appeal to teens. The lead comic story is "Hairy Polarity and the Sinister Sorcery Satire." Another, "Passes and Plays," deals with the truth about safe sex. "Born That Way!" addresses the issue of homosexuality.
"These are things kids struggle with every day," Tim said, "and these comics are a format that will grab their attention, then turn them toward biblical principles and truths."
AFA president Tim Wildmon endorses The Truth for Youth program wholeheartedly. "We look forward to the campaign each August because we know Tim Todd is being used by God to put Truth into the hands of America's teenagers."
In today's cultural climate, no one is surprised when people challenge the presence of the Bible on school campuses, but Tim says while teachers may not be able to distribute or recommend the Bible, students can do so on non-instructional time.
"In the event that a young person gets in trouble for giving The Truth for Youth away in school, Liberty Counsel in Orlando, Florida will represent the young person at no cost," said Tim.
The potential of The Truth for Youth has not gone unnoticed among other Christian leaders. Among those who have endorsed the project are the late Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ; William Murray, son of atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair; entertainer Pat Boone; and Dr. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University.
"The Truth for Youth Bible is a powerful tool that is a deterrent to the decadence that this generation confronts on a daily basis," said Bishop T. D. Jakes. "It falls in line with what God is speaking to my heart."
Tim says one broad goal of The Truth for Youth is to restore religious freedom to the 53.8 million youth in public schools. However, in his message in the current edition, he writes, "The main goal ... is to bring the message of the Gospel to America's young people so they might receive Christ and become His disciples."
And that's the TRUTH FOR YOUTH.
Randall Murphree, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is editor of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
