Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

Illustration texts

Bitterness is a Poison

Bitterness is the poison we swallow, while hoping the other person dies. -- Skip Gray, Navigators missionary

Pardoning the Unpardonable

Love means to love that which is unlovable, or it is no virtue at all; forgiving means to pardon that which is unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all. -- G. K. Chesterton

Forgiving Without Forgetting

I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I cannot forgive -- Henry Ward Beecher

Father Wants to Reconcile With Son

A Spanish father decides to reconcile with his son who has run away to Madre. Now remorseful, the father takes out this ad in the El Liberal newspaper: ?PACO MEET ME AT HOTEL MONTANA NOON TUESDAY. ALL IS FORGIVEN.? Paco is a common name in Spain, and when the father goes to the square he finds eight hundred young men named Paco waiting for their fathers. --? Ernest Hemingway, ?The Capitol of the World?, in The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, Scribner, 1953

The Strong Forgive

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. -- Mahatma Gandhi

Refusing to Make Me Hate

I refuse to let any man belittle my soul by making me hate him. -- Booker T. Washington

To be Wronged is Nothing

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. ? Confucius

I Was Wrong

Often, after terrible, embarrassing, public failures, we assume that God can no longer love and use us. But the story of the prodigal son shows us that God continues to love us and longs for us to return home. Jim Bakker was one of the most visible personalities in all of America. He and his wife, Tammy Faye started out in television as puppeteers. Their stardom rose quickly and their fortune and fame was meteoric as they blazed a trail in televised evangelism. The network they founded was PTL. As rapid as their rise was the descent of their empire resulting in an embarrassment to them and all of Christianity. Jim went to jail for wire fraud and spent many years there. During his incarceration he wrote a book entitled, I Was Wrong. The very first sentence of the book was his admission: "I was wrong." Jim begins to tell his story of why he was wrong. You can imagine how disgusted he was with himself, after publicly embarrasing both himself and Christendom. After confessing his guilt and mistakes, Bakker concludes by saying, "I felt that God could never again use me." His final sentence was the same as his opening one, "I was wrong." (By Ike Reighard)

Jay Bakker's Story

Son of a Preacher Man ? Jay Bakker's Story Most of you will remember Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of the PTL network. Jim's high profile fall when he was accused of mishandling money for his empire was a huge embarrassment to not only Christianity, but also his son Jay. As you can imagine, Jay had every reason to reject God and Christianity. And for awhile, he did. At the age of 11 he lost the world he'd known since he was born at the PTL Network and Heritage Village. He lost his father to jail. He lost a mother to drug addiction. And, he lost his faith in the God of His Father. After experiencing his losses, Jay wandered in his own "distant country" trying out the pleasures of the world, with a lifestyle that included both drugs and alcohol. He describes his journey in his book Son of a Preacher Man: "People have said that I have had a prodigal son kind of life," said Jay. "Maybe. But what I know for sure is that I have spent time in my personal wilderness, and I've had my share of tests. I would go through it all again, however, if it meant I would be the recipient of the AMAZING grace of Christ." Today Jay Bakker heads up a ministry in Atlanta called "Revolution." Through his ministry, Jay works with people who are wandering in a distant country, just like the Prodigal Son. In his ministry, people say, "I don't know how to read or write"; "I dropped out of high school"; "I'm an alcoholic"; "I'm a drug addict"; or "I'm covered head to toe with tattoos and no one will ever respect me." Jay has his own share of tattoos and piercings. Now he shares with others the same grace he discovered. "It is through grace that I have found strength in the toughest situations, like my father being in prison and my family being ridiculed," said Jay. "God has allowed me to make it through my parents' divorce and through watching, what I felt was, the whole church turn its back on my family. I survived the humiliation of my dyslexia, my alcoholism, my drug addictions, and being a high school drop-out. I guess that, more than any other reason, is why I decided to tell my story now. I, who have been through the mill, enjoy a sense of peace and purpose today not generally associated with people who look like me." Jay Bakker's message to a hurting world of the disenfranchised is simple: "Anyone can have access to the strength and dignity that I have found." I suppose this shows you can go two ways when you feel disenfranchised from society. You can either reject Jesus and all He stands for, or cling to Jesus and reach the others who feel rejected. I'm glad Jay chose the latter. (By Cherie Miller)

Staying Angry, Losing Happiness

For every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

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