NEWS MEDIA CENTER

U.S. Celebration Caps Year of True Love Waits

July 1994

WASHINGTON (BP) -- A national celebration for the year-long "True Love Waits" sexual abstinence campaign brought thousands of youth from across the United States together in person and by television July 29 on Washington's National Mall.

An estimated 25,000 teenagers attended the day of events sponsored by the LifeWay Christian Resources of Nashville, Tenn., and Youth for Christ of Denver, Colo., host of a July 27-31 youth evangelism conference also in Washington.

Thousands more viewed evening events by live broadcast on the Charlotte, N.C.-based Inspirational Network (INSP).

Begun by the LifeWay Christian Resources in April 1993, the campaign is designed to encourage teenagers and college students to pledge sexual abstinence until marriage. In subsequent months, 27 other U.S. denominations and organizations have endorsed the campaign, and international interest has increased its visibility.

Throughout the morning of July 29, approximately 1,000 Southern Baptist teenagers worked under the direction of the youth department of the Southern Baptist Brotherhood Commission to fill the equivalent of several city blocks of the mall's grassy area with signed sexual abstinence pledge cards from the nation's teenagers and college students. As of 3 p.m., more than 207,000 cards had been received at the mall, with groups continuing to deliver the pledges. Some churches which participated in the campaign missed the deadline to ship cards for the display or chose to use them in other ways, celebration organizers said.

President Bill Clinton was to meet with a representative group of 150 youth and 10 adults for a one-hour dialogue at the White House early in the afternoon. Included among those to participate was Richard Ross, campaign spokesperson from LifeWay Christian Resources.

On hand to lend their support, answer news media questions or perform at an evening concert were contemporary Christian artists, including the Newsboys, Geoff Moore & The Distance, Steven Curtis Chapman, Petra, Lisa Bevill and DeGarmo & Key.

At a morning news conference using the massive pledge-card display as a backdrop, Ross characterized the campaign as "a positive challenge to teenagers to make a promise to be sexually abstinent from this day forward until their wedding day."

Dave Sherrer of Youth for Christ said the success of the campaign demonstrates that "God raises up movements; people raise up organizations."

Christian artists who spoke to the media included Chapman, who said he believes, "There is hope for this generation by letting God make the rules in their lives."

Moore added his belief that "we all feel very humbled and small compared to what this (campaign) has become." "True Love Waits" is about raising standards and having young people take a stand not only for abstinence but also for truth.

Entertainer Lakitha Garth, spokesperson for Athletes for Abstinence, said she hears youth asking why abstinence is not presented more often as an option when messages about the use of condoms are prevalent.

"There is no condom that can protect you from a broken heart and a shattered dream," she declared.

Josh McDowell, a writer and speaker, urged behavior among youth that demonstrates the same character in private that they display in public.

Blasting federal officials and educational programs, he said, favor safe-sex messages over those of higher moral options, McDowell insisted. "Character is consistent. While the government and educators may have given up on them, our kids are not animals. They are created in the image of God."

Teenager Susan Fitzgerald, a member of Tulip Grove Baptist Church of Hermitage, Tenn., was among the first youth group to make public in 1993 their intentions to remain chaste until marriage.

In addressing the news conference, she said her desire is "to do with my life what God wants me to do. When I made this decision, I decided I want to be in a relationship with someone who has the same values."

Keith Hartsell, a youth from Springfield, Va., said he believes God's plan for sexual purity is designed "to keep us safe ... so we can enjoy sex within marriage."

Washington, D. C., teen-ager Monica McIntyre, a member of the Third Street Church of God, said the campaign has helped her know "I am not the only one. If others see this, it may reinforce their beliefs."

Concurrent with the Washington festivities were similar celebrations involving more youth in Kampala, Uganda in Africa and Ottawa, Ontario in Canada.

Local, national and international news media reporters covering the July 29 rally added to more than a year of intense print and broadcast media coverage.

More than 500 media outlets with a combined listening, viewing and reading audience in the hundreds of millions have reported on the campaign during the past year for audiences in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, China, Brazil, Argentina, Sweden, Colombia, Venezuela, South Korea, France, Northern Ireland and several African countries.

The Washington rally followed a June display in Orlando, Fla., of more than 102,000 abstinence cards from Southern Baptist youth. The cards, signed in their home towns and churches, came after Bible studies, music, Christian sex education resources and other materials had been used to present the biblical view of sex within marriage.

The pledge cards read: "Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, those I date, my future mate and my future children to be sexually pure until the day I enter a covenant marriage relationship."

For Southern Baptists, the national celebration does not mark the end of the campaign as much as a transition to an ongoing emphasis. LifeWay Christian Resources is developing a "True Love Waits" planning kit for churches interested in educating youth and college students about the biblical view of sexuality.

Available Oct. 1, the kit will include Bible study materials, a drama, music, ideas for church services/celebrations and information to order supplemental materials such as the Christian Sex Education Resources published by LifeWay Christian Resources, the "True Love Waits" album and commitment rings, among others.

Messengers to the 137th annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando voted June 15 to make the campaign's message an annual emphasis. February will be designated as "True Love Waits" month on the denominational calendar and the LifeWay Christian Resources will provide guidance materials to help churches carry out a yearly abstinence education program.

A display of covenant cards signed by young people from around the world is planned for Aug. 1-6, 1995, during the Baptist World Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina.