Man I’m sorry to hear about your sexual sin, I struggle with it too. But to justify provisions for a temptation on stage with “It didn’t cause me to lust” doesn’t hold much water.

I understand what you’re trying to say, but someone else besides you might lust. We shouldn’t even flirt with that kind of disaster. Sin is serious, not sarcasm.

Grace and Peace.

• 12 reasons to do it before you’re in the 12th grade
• Let out your inner bad girl and still get a respectful guy
• 10 no-fail seduction secrets. Get her exactly where you want her
• Undress her with your eyes without getting caught

Secondly the way Newspring goes about preaching the gospel is completely scriptural. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 it says:

“I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

Paul realizes that he must make his message relevant and applicable to each audience he is trying to reach, yet still only use God’s word in doing so. This is exactly what Newspring does. They present the scripture in a more modern way, yet everything said is completely from scripture and done only to bring glory to God. Newspring has completely changed my life and hundreds of others lives. That is what a church is meant to do. Bring others to Christ. Jesus’s final command to the disciples was:

“go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching the to obey everything I have commanded you.” -Matthew 28:19-20

If we are Christians then saving others should be one of our main goals and by putting the message in a relevant form that people can understand, it attracts more people to the kingdom of God. We live for the sole purpose of bringing glory to God, and one of the best ways to do that is to bring as many people as possible to God by whatever means necessary, as long as it doesn’t involve sinning. We have to be willing to modernize so as to bring new people into the Kingdom of God. If we don’t then the world will see the Word of God as just an outdated religion and it definitely is not. God is awesome and will always be awesome, and it’s our job to tell the world about Him.

“Do you not think, if He was so upset that we were making the bride of Christ so unholy, he would not DEFEND HIS BRIDE. OF COURSE! As it stands, He’s still doing amazing things in this ministry. Almost 300% growth in the last year! God is moving in this ministry!!!”

With the right strategy, you can ‘win’ people to anything, and the younger they are (less discerning, less experienced, MORE VULNERABLE), the easier.

To Brad Robert, and others who glory in the multitudes ‘saved’ by questionable means…who do you say THESE people are:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (MAT 7:21-23)

To me, they appear to be energetic, powerful, successful, committed followers of Christ. They also appear that way to themselves. But, for all of their ‘passion’ and ‘high energy’ and ‘success’ and ‘humility’ (“in Your name”), Jesus reports to us that they missed heaven – that they were ‘saved’ only in their own minds. Why? Because of their “practices”, or perhaps their methodologies.

I have wrestled long with this passage that Jesus gives us of actual, future events. I wish more would. It might make us more considerate of our “practices.”

God has not called us to be successful, but to be righteous. He has given us His Truth to win people with as well as to. Substitution and/or mingling of right and wrong has never been OK with God (in either covenant). (1KI 12:26-33; 2CO 6:14-18)

I find it noble (no pun intended) that Newspring is addressing such an important issue with their youth. The salvations that Blake mentioned during this series is staggering… over 50, that’s amazing!

I was at another church two weeks ago who sought to do the same thing with similar methods… the tagline was “We talk about sex everywhere else, so why not the church?” which was followed by a video montage including clips from Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore slipping a condom over a banana, scenes from Scrubs with explicit dialogue, clips from music videos with very scantily clad lapdancers, and Fireproof.

This was followed by the youth director taking all the boys into a room and talking about pornography… stating how he couldn’t even watch the superbowl this year because of the commercials.

A lot of good came from that service too, but I find it discomforting that in situations like this we tell young men to guard their hearts and somehow demonstrate this point by displaying lustful material.

“I want to change. I know I’m capable of serving God better”

“Because of last weeks service, I realized God wanted me to stop looking at porn on the internet. I told my dad i struggled with it, and needed his help to change. He told me he was proud of me and wished he had been that brave when he was my age”

“I’ve already asked two friends to help me, by encouraging me, and sending me Scripture everyday, to help me get over my addiction to masturbation and porn.”

“I can’t look at a girl without lusting, and I can’t stop. I just thought it was something I would have to deal with forever, but now I know it’s possible for me to change, and I want to.”

“I feel so guilty for looking at porn. I always have, even before I was a Christian. Now, I understand why”

“Masturbation is so unsatisfying, but being obedient to God is. I need help with this.”

-also, a youth in my small group had been praying for his friend Sean to accept Christ for a while now.
-Sean finally surrendered his life to Christ, and is already having a huge impact on his friends. It happened to be during the SEX-ED series.

These are 8th graders. Middle schoolers. What we do every week at Fuse is not for you Mr. Duncan. It’s not for you Nick. It’s for these kids. I can’t express to you how clearly I can see Christ at work through this ministry, and even more so through these CHILDREN. My entire middle and high school careers would have been easier, less painful, and much more Christ-glorifying than they were had I had accountability like the kids in my small group have formed. They realize Christ has called them to be more. They realize Christ has set them free from sexual immorality. They realize they don’t have to be a slave to sexual immorality.

You know what they don’t care about… You know what I have never heard in my small group?

“I can’t believe they used that magazine advertisement. I can’t believe they used articles just like the ones all these teenage girls and guys read everyday, and would have seen somewhere else, if we hadn’t seen them in church.”

I started going to NS Youth (as a youth) in 6th grade when there were maybe 25 of us on a good night. Now, I get to stand back and watch over 600 hundred teens raise their eyes, their hopes, their hearts, and their hands to God.

Why do so many of you have to do be like the Pharisees? Dr. Duncan, my sister respects and admires you a lot. Because she does, I hold a certain level of respect towards you myself. It breaks my heart to see you tear down the church that finally brought Christ to a level I could understand. Because of NS’s boldness and willingness to teach and preach GOD’s Word, with God-glorifying-motives, I accepted Christ, and now can begin to minister to others.

But now you’re attacking the part of the church that I hold dearest to my heart. Jesus, in Scripture, again and again shows us how important children are to Him. I can promise you, Brad Cooper puts everything he has into accurately and passionately reaching the youth, with the primary intention of making Jesus’ name famous.

If Jesus was so dissatisfied with our youth ministry, do you not believe He would STOP BLESSING US SO RICHLY! He’s dissatisfied with the way the Christians in America have been using their financial blessing & what is He doing? Look at our economy. Do you not think, if He was so upset that we were making the bride of Christ so unholy, he would not DEFEND HIS BRIDE. OF COURSE! As it stands, He’s still doing amazing things in this ministry. Almost 300% growth in the last year! God is moving in this ministry!!! God is IN CONTROL of this ministry. & for you Nick, to say it isn’t about numbers? OF COURSE IT IS! Every SOUL on this Earth was handcrafted by God to bring glory to HIM! Christ calls us to make disciples of ALL nations. All – 100%, In full, Every single bit – That’s a number in my book. Of course, churches need to attract more people! That is not the only thing that limits a church to being successful, however. Attend Newspring, and you will obviously be blown away to find out that Newspring defines its success in making the name of Jesus famous (whether it be accurately teaching Scripture, or reaching an entire community for Christ).

I’m only 18. My knowledge is so finite. So, so, so limited. But you know what I am smart enough to realize?

Sometimes, I wonder if men like you are attacking this church because you feel it in your heart that Christ has told you to. Christ’s spirit in you is telling you “anywhere you see God moving and saving and changing lives, vocally attack it”. You’re so concerned with holiness in a church, but what about holiness in yourself. If you love Christ so much, why are you trying to hinder His movement in this community? Your motives seem so self-satisfying to me. It truly disgusts me.

Newspring serves Christ. I feel confident in saying, no man will ever be known as “the man who revealed Newspring’s true motives, and brought down a church that wasn’t serving Christ!”

I’m confident in my church. But more than anything, I’m confident in my Savior. He WILL bless this church if this church serves, provides, teaches, preaches, and leads the way it does. Our church is NOT going to change.

If you’re going to attack a ministry, attack us as a whole. From every small group leader, to the person who presses Spacebar to make the next few lines of Scripture come up, to the children who come expecting to leave with a better knowledge of how much their Savior loves them and wants the best for them (not that any of us will ever know just how much He loves us.”

I will never understand guys like you.
I pray for ignorant people who try (without meaning to) to limit the movement of God. I pray for myself, for this same reason everyday, because everyday, I go to bed with the guilt that I didn’t do everything in my power to make Christ’s name more famous.

I don’t mean any disrespect. I’m standing up for what I believe in. I’m sure a man of your integrity appreciates that Dr. Duncan.

With love,
Robert Grumbles
1 Corinthians 16:13-14