Most public sex education programs assume teenagers will be sexually active and focus on educating adolescents about safe sexual practices and providing access to contraception. “Such approaches have been shown to have little or no efficacy (Rivara & Stout, 1989)”1

“Unfortunately, many public health initiatives intended to promote healthy behaviors are met with limited success because they focus entirely on education while neglecting to address the reasons that individuals often knowingly and willingly make choices that are neither in their own best interest nor in the best interest of their families and society.”2

1 David C. Weidner, “Analyzing Attitudes as Predictors of Sexual Abstinence Among Adolescents,” Psy.D. dissertation., Wheaton College Graduate School, 2005, 17-18.

2 Weidner, 10.

Burnout can lead to inappropriate behavior or other circumstances that necessitate the removal of the pastor from the church. The Recovery Program of the Evangelical Free Church of America Ministerial Association identifies six crises associated with the traumatic experience of losing one’s ministry that must be addressed by a recovery program.

• Housing Crisis—Where can we live?
• Financial Crisis—How can we pay our bills?
• Friendship Crisis—Have we lost all our friends?
• Job/Career Crisis—Where can I work now? In the future?
• Spiritual Crisis—How do I deal with the guilt, shame, broken dreams and vision?
• Personal Crisis—Can I be helped? Can I change?

6 Jeremy S. Haskell, “An evaluation of the recovery program at the Evangelical Free Church of Hershey, Pennsylvania,” Wheaton College Graduate School, 2004, 16-17.

• A study by Lifeway Research and the North American Mission Board revealed that sixty-four percent of the respondents think "the Christian religion is a relevant and viable religion for today."
• Seventy-nine percent think Christianity "is more about organized religion than about loving God and loving people."
• Eighty-six percent of those surveyed believe they "can have a good relationship with God without being involved in church."

• Every twenty-four hours the world has a population net growth of 219,000 people.
  
• Christians number 170,000 converts per day but find 91,000 defectors, so the net growth is 79,000 Christians each day.
  
• Of the 2,113,199,000 "affiliated" Christians, 1,476,690,000 are "church attenders." 
  
• There were 175,000 Christian martyrs worldwide this year, which means 480 per day.

• Americans are most concerned with three issues, which are perceived as “major” problems facing the country by three-quarters of the general population.
  
• The problems are poverty (78 percent), personal debt of individual Americans (78 percent), and HIV/AIDS (76 percent), according to the Barna survey.

• A new study of attendance at Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings shows the percentage of messengers in the 18-39 age group steadily declining since 1980 – the early days of the SBC’s Conservative Resurgence – and dropping sharply since 2004.
• The percentage of messengers in the 60-plus age group, however, has increased dramatically.

• According to a survey by Relevant Magazine, the younger generation of Christian voters shared some of the same moral values held by traditional Christian right leaders. 
  
• They differed significantly from traditional Christian right leaders in other aspects such as foreign policy, abortion, and healthcare.
• Abortion was still considered one the most important issues in the presidential election by younger Christian voters.
• Gay rights, a core issue for Christian right leaders, was selected out of a provided list (abortion, gay rights, church and state issues, bioethics, illegal immigration) as the least important presidential issue.

• Reflection Evangelism and Recent Seminary Graduates (pdf)
• Reflection Church Planting and SBC Seminaries (pdf)
• Reflection Denominational Loyalty of Recent Seminary Graduates (pdf)
• Persistence and Loyalty (PowerPoint Presentation made at the Southern Baptist Research Fellowship in Fort Worth)

• An Ellison Research study found that 66 percent of Americans believe their religious attendance before age 18 gave them a good moral foundation.
• Sixty-two percent say they are glad they attended church.

• According to recent study released by the Harris Poll, sixty-two percent of Americans believe in a literal hell and the devil. 
• Forty-two percent of the Americans surveyed stated that they believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution. 

• According to the most recent Rasmussen Reports survey, 47% of Americans consider this holiday season joyous.
• A slightly less percentage (44%) however, regard the holiday season as stressful.
• More Republicans (61%) deem the season more joyous than Democrats (39%).   

• Eighty-three percent (83%) of Americans say they celebrate Christmas this year. 
• Three percent say they celebrate Hanukkah
• Three percent will recognize the Winter Solstice