THE BENEFIT So I bet a lot of you students that attend Christian colleges are wondering if it's worthwhile to attend another Christian institution or program. If you're thinking that you can learn the same ideas and concepts within the lecture halls right there on your own campus, I encourage you to reconsider. As a fellow student attending a Christian university, let me just say that my education would not be complete had I decided not to spend a semester here at the Focus on the Family Institute. Not only have I been exposed to real and powerful teachings that have helped to solidify and strengthen my own belief system, I've realized just how much my home institution has been inundated with the secular mindset that defines our culture today. Honestly, many Christian campuses are only Christian in name. Academically speaking, many professors standing up in the front of each classroom have earned their degrees from secular institutions and it would be naïve of us — as students and as Christians — to believe that doesn't have any affect on what they teach and what we learn. Secularist agendas and the philosophy of moral relativism are just as active in our classrooms but somewhat hidden behind religion. Socially, the way many Christian students talk and walk isn't very different from their friends at the secular campus just around the corner. Although I'm not saying that we should isolate ourselves in our own little Christian bubbles, we need to be aware that we represent Christ to this generation and it is our responsibility to be His ambassadors inside and outside of the classroom. There is a spiritual battle brewing as well. More and more young people are entering school as Christians and leaving as atheists, Buddhists, agnostics or something else because they haven't witnessed the awesome power of Christ to not only save and heal us but to also transform our minds. Of course, there are many benefits in going to a Christian school — including a Christian foundation for our education — but, as the world's up-and coming teachers, lawyers, doctors, politicians, community members, parents and leaders, we need to gain the ability to discern between God's solid truth and man's watered-down version of it. This generation has a mandate to infiltrate and change our culture. No matter what our degrees are and no matter where they take us, we need to be prepared to offer hope and truth to a broken culture that has been lied to far too many times. God will help us take back our schools, our families, our cities and this nation if we are willing to take a stand and make the sacrifice. That's why the Focus on the Family Institute is equipping us with the necessary weapons to change our world. Ashley Vermillion - FFI -Alum - Spring 2006 Broomfield, CO

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