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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

THE SAFEST PLACE How do 88 students meet as strangers and leave 15 weeks later as a family? Some people accuse places like the Focus on the Family Institute (FFI) of being a Christian "bubble." For me, it became one of the safest places I've ever known. While I learned something from every aspect of the Institute, my most valuable lesson came from the community experience. FFI is the place I learned to thank God for how He created me instead of praying that He would make me someone different. This community spoke God's very words into my life and helped free me from all the lies Satan tried to tell me about my value and worth as a human being. I honestly had very little idea what authentic Christian community looked like until I got to the Institute. Although I am a very social person and I have always loved people, I have fought a perpetual fear of rejection for a good portion of my life. I felt as if I was always on the outside looking in. I wanted more than anything to share my heart, but I often felt that when I did reveal what I was truly thinking and feeling, people tossed it aside without caring how much it cost me to be vulnerable. But something amazing happened to me during my time at the Institute and now I am leaving with almost none of this fear intact. I'm not even sure exactly when it happened. Maybe it was the night some of the guys had us over for dinner and just encouraged us that being a godly woman is attractive by reading a verse from Proverbs 31. Maybe it was the night I couldn't stop crying because Satan was pelting me with lies about my worth. Three of the girls here gathered around me in prayer and taught me that it was OK to be weak for once in my life. Maybe it's the way that the men here respect the women every day in simple things like opening our doors, pulling out our chairs, or letting us go first in line. Maybe it was the day in Family Studies Class that I confessed some very deep wounds and the other three people in my group spoke words of healing and gathered around me in prayer, instead of feeling awkward because of my tears. Maybe it's all the late night conversations where my thoughts and questions were welcomed and appreciated instead of rejected. Regardless of how it happened, I just know that the community here taught me to see that everything God made was good … and that means everything He created me to be is good. God laid the book of Joshua on my heart while I was here, and as I read, I felt like it was written for people exactly like me. This is His promise: "No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you" (1:5, NIV, emphasis mine). I can go home with the same confidence God and my new family have instilled in me because they helped me realize that not only is my heart attractive to them, but also that my God has never rejected me. And He never will. Amanda Shelley - FFI Alum. - Spring 2006 Lincoln,IL

Men of God Real men wax. Real men don't cry. Real men wear kilts. The only difference between men and boys is the size of their shoes and the price of their toys…so the sayings go anyway. I googled "real men…" today to get a brief idea of how men are portrayed in our culture only to find that the media is using our innate desire to be real men in order to steer us in the direction they desire. The relativistic mindset that society is cultivating today allows for considerable confusion among men as we are pointed in so many directions as we search for significance. This futile search leads us farther and farther away from manhood at its core, leaving us to wonder why our society does not seem to be fully functioning on so many levels. The problem is that the definition of a real man has been revised. A real man is defined by his role in the family. One trend evident among men these days is that they don't want to get married. One of the reasons is that, since they are visually stimulated and have strong sexual drives, our culture of instant gratification precludes the need to wait until marriage to act on these desires. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? When a man's desires, which should be satiated within the covenant of marriage, are fulfilled outside of that relationship, he loses the motivation to move towards a life long commitment with a woman that would ultimately create a family. With the understanding that the family is the foundation of society, the shortcomings of our culture and society are a direct result of the deconstruction of the institution of the family and this deconstruction is a result of men — namely Christian men — not knowing the magnitude of their calling to be the head of a family. Men desire respect, and naturally strive to be successful. The fact that we are career motivated, goal oriented, and task driven often leads us to the conclusion that we should focus directly on our career and let the wife take care of the family. This is where we go wrong. A man's ability to be successful in his career is in direct correlation to his ability to lead his family. If the value of family is depleting, so is the state of our society. We cannot adequately pursue our career goals without understanding that family life is a precursor to this. The foundation (the family) determines the structure of the building (society). The Bible points out that one can determine how successful a man will be in tending to his job by the way that he tends to his family (1 Timothy 3:4-5). Men, we must become educated on how to lead our families from a biblical standpoint. It is our responsibility and our calling to develop the foundation of society before we begin developing the framework. My experience at Focus on the Family Institute (FFI) has done exactly that and has taken my understanding of this calling further than my prior understanding allowed me to comprehend. Where are you in your understanding of this aspect of life? Can you adequately fulfill this calling with your current knowledge? Are you striving to be the real man God intended you to be? FFI has done more for me in this area than I could have ever done for myself. I strongly encourage you to look into FFI for this reason. I have been able to see God work through the desire of males to embrace their calling as men. It is amazing. Don't miss this incredible opportunity. Ryan Griffin - FFI Alum. - Spring 2006 Atlanta,GA