exodus youth

When people use the term “gay agenda,” it can bring many different things to mind. While it’s important to reach out to and love those people in your world who call themselves gay or lesbian, or who are struggling, you also need to be aware that there is a movement to reshape our culture–and it pays no small attention to the hearts and minds of young people.

Not every gay-identified person participates in these often militant efforts, but the efforts are very real and they have specific goals when it comes to youth. Those goals include:

• Promoting homosexual, bisexual and transgender lifestyles as healthy, positive and normal.
• Disintegrating all meaning of gender.
• Silencing and vilifying any different point of view.
• Undermining parental authority to indoctrinate kids.
• Rewriting Christian principles.
• Polarizing students, so that anyone who is not “gay-affirming” is labeled a bigot.

These may seem like pretty extreme statements, but there are several organizations and tens of millions of dollars a year dedicated to these goals. (keep reading…)

There are many things that can make parents wonder if their child is confused about their sexual identity. It’s true that this struggle is not one teens are eager to share with a parent, or anyone for that matter. In the often fuzzy arena of understanding your teenager, here’s how to recognize the serious warning signs.

Help Them Open Up

The best way to make it more likely your child might share a sexual struggle with you is to respond with an attitude of compassion and understanding whenever these types of issues come up. Your reaction to the subject of homosexuality when it comes up in conversation, on TV or through other relationships sends your children a message about whether you are a safe person to confide in. (keep reading…)

It’s not. God is love, and He created us to love Him and each other. You have a very real need to love and be loved by someone–by several someone’s–of the same gender. That’s a need that God cares about, and nobody is saying you should ever ignore it.

But God does have a lot to say about how love is expressed in different kinds of relationships. He created sex to be sacred and special, protected and pure. God didn’t give us a bunch of rules to follow because sex is bad or because He doesn’t want us to have fun. He doesn’t want you or me to lose out on the holy mystery He created it for.

Parents love their children, brothers and sisters love each other, and people also love their pets. One married couple can become very close to another married couple within a community. All of these are wonderful, love-filled relationships. I think we can also agree, though, that bringing sex into the expression of any of these loves would not be good. And these are all relationships that the Bible plainly tells us sexuality is not meant for. (keep reading…)

Every week at Exodus we get phone calls, emails and letters from teenagers who are struggling with same-sex attraction–and nobody knows. The fact is, whether your youth group is large or small, you could have students who are confused about their sexual identity and aren’t telling you.

Let’s face it: pastors are among the last people struggling teens feel comfortable confiding in. It probably has something to do with the fact that homosexuality isn’t talked about in church–and when it is, it’s often treated rather harsh and simplistically.

The best way to encourage those students to open up to you is to talk about the issue with grace, truth and understanding. When they see that homosexuality doesn’t freak you out, that you understand that nobody chooses that struggle, and most of all that you love and care about people who find themselves in that situation, they’ll be far more likely to trust you with their secret struggle–rather than a friend or schoolteacher who might point them down the wrong path. (keep reading…)

There are many powerful stories out there about men and women whom God has delivered from the gay lifestyle. It touches the heart and certainly glorifies God when we see these people getting married and leading godly lives free of homosexuality, but in all honesty, what about the rest of us who deal with this issue and haven’t come to our “happy ending” yet? What about those of us who continue to struggle with same-sex attraction (SSA), even after choosing to follow Christ? We’re caught in a sort of identity limbo, unsure whether we can or even should hope to experience heterosexual desire, get married and start a family someday.
(keep reading…)

Why do we speak up about what the Bible says about homosexuality? Why do some of us who have walked away from it go public with our stories? What’s the point of trying to communicate this message to a culture that doesn’t want to hear it? These are important questions that each of us needs to have answered in our own hearts. Here is some of what motivates us.

(keep reading…)

A lot of people lately are talking about a complete overhaul in the way our society thinks about sexuality and gender. One of the biggest concepts being promoted is “fluid” gender and sexuality. It’s coming to our attention more and more that people are having a wide range of experiences in their sexual attractions and responses. Some take this to mean that our sexuality is meant for whatever it may respond to, and people should experiment to try to find their “true” sexuality. Straight, gay, bi and trans can’t even cover all of what’s out there, some are saying.

This same idea of fluidity is being applied to gender. Many are considering that perhaps the binary (two-part) concept of male and female is too rigid. After all, there are so many people who grow up never feeling like they fit into either of the stereotypical gender roles presented to them by society. Some believe that this is evidence that there are other sexes besides male and female, and society should recognize and promote them.

(keep reading…)

I met ‘Greg’ in high school through the drama team. He just came up to me one day and asked me to make him laugh, so I did. We were pretty much inseparable from then on.It was rare for me to find another guy with the same sense of humor, the same taste in movies and hobbies, so being together was really fun. And we hung out a lot. I always enjoyed spending time with Greg, so much so that I thought about him whenever I wasn’t with him. Whatever I got involved in, I thought of ways to get him involved, too.

We ended up going to the same college and taking a lot of classes together. As we drifted away from our high school friends, we got even closer. He was a really affectionate guy who had no problem hugging me, and sometimes we even wrestled around together. He was so considerate, calling me often and giving me silly little gifts or messages.

There was a down side to this seemingly fulfilling friendship, though. No matter how loving Greg was toward me, I always wanted more. Even if we spent a whole day together, for some reason I would go home at the end of it with a sort of frustrated, dissatisfied feeling. He was very social, and when I saw him laughing with other guys I felt jealous. I always worried, ‘What if he likes them more?’ (keep reading…)

School life is rough for a lot of people. Most teenagers get picked on, and sometimes hurt, to one degree or another throughout their school experience.

Students who struggle with their sexual or gender identity (or who are perceived as gay) are no exception. If you’ve read any of the of the many men and women who’ve come out of homosexuality, you’ll know that bullying and isolation during youth is almost par for the course. (keep reading…)