10/22/23 - Intro to FUEL

What is Fuel?

A place where high school students can build community and explore the Christian faith.

What is the goal of Fuel?

To inspire students to see the world differently.

Why is that?

Because God wants For U an Epic Life, and for that to be possible, we must change the filter in which we see the world, people, and our circumstances.

Problems to address

  • Statistics

    • 70-80% of students that claim to be “Christian” in high school abandon their faith after high school. This stat hasn’t change for over a decade.

      • That is 3 out of 4 or 4 out of 5 of your friend group. That is a FRIGHTENING stat!

    • Less than 5% of Christians ever share their faith

  • Observations after 25 years of leading students and adults

    • Very few Christians can clearly articulate why they believe what they believe.

    • Even fewer Christians can give a high-level overview of “The Bible Story” in chronological order

    • Many Christians have a very circumstantial faith, where their faith is based on their circumstances, or something that God “did for them”. That can be a fragile faith because we already know bad things will happen in this world.

Question to wrestle with.

Are we getting it right? (And when I say “we”, I am including myself. I am referring to Christian leadership.)

Part of the Problem (just an observation, but it is based on research)

Christian culture tends to over-emphasize “emotions” and focus on feelings of the “heart”. So, if things aren’t going well, the first play is to create a better atmosphere and experience.

Christian culture rarely emphasizes the use of “logic”, or the “mind”.

But if you look back to the early disciples, they spread the gospel based on logic…” we saw Jesus die and 3 days later, we saw him alive. And not just us, hundreds of people. Plus, while he was alive, he performed MANY miracles we witnessed with our own eyes. And not just us, hundreds of people…that are still alive…that you can go talk to.” And the gospel message spread.

And as it relates to the heart, we need to use our MIND to evaluate what originates in the HEART, especially based on Proverbs 4:23 (guard your heart) and Matthew 15:19 (for out of the heart comes evil).

So, what do we do?

It is BOTH AND. We build a foundation of faith with our MINDS and let our HEARTS experience what God has in store.

And since most Christian experiences focus primarily on emotion, at FUEL, we will focus primarily on LOGIC to understand, develop and defend our faith.

So, who is Fuel for?

Atheists who don’t believe. Agnostics who aren’t sure. Students who are curious. Christians who want to deepen their conviction. Disciples who want to continue following Jesus.

Why listen to Todd?

  • I didn’t grow up in church and I wasn’t “raised that way”, so I can relate to those that don’t believe or have doubts.

  • I lived 25 years without Jesus and now 25 years with Jesus. I can address what life looks like on both sides of the cross.

  • I didn’t come to faith because of a need

  • Logic and evidence led me to believe

  • I have led MANY high school and adult ministries, so there’s a very good chance I’ve been asked most of the questions most students have. Plus, I likely had them myself at one point.

What will focus be in FUEL?

  1. APOLOGETICS: fact-based answers to faith-based questions. We will provide a logic-based foundation to faith and tools to help defend the faith.

  2. THE BIBLE STORY: a chronological understanding

  3. LEARN WHAT JESUS TAUGHT: this is where the “epic/abundant” life happens.

And why again is this all important?

Jesus makes 2 promises if you follow him:

  1. ETERNAL LIFE: Based on what Jesus taught, everyone spends eternity somewhere. IF the New Testament is an accurate account, wouldn’t we want to know what the eternal options are? And wouldn’t we want to know how to get to the best of all the options?

  2. ABUNDANT LIFE: John 10:10, “I have come that they may have LIFE, and have it ABUNDANTLY (or in abundance, or to the FULL).” IF the New Testament is an accurate account, wouldn’t we want to know how to have our best life possible?

Apologetic Fact #1

ISAIAH 53

Read it and determine who you think the chapter is describing.

When was it written? Approximately 700 years BEFORE Jesus!!!

What is the earliest manuscript copy we have? Dated between 100 and 335 BC….BEFORE CHRIST!

How is that even possible? Written 700 years prior and happened almost exactly as described!

And here is what is cool. It isn’t just the bible that records the man called Jesus. Many other non-biblical texts reference him as well. That’s awesome!