IWT

For those of you familiar with Impact World Tour there has been quite a wake in it's leaving. Apparently, a few hundred kids either became Christians for the first time or re-committed their lives to Jesus.

Many folks here in town have also felt a little duped by the lack of info that people were given heading into the events. Many have vocalized some frustration (most of it very fair albeit not so nice) regarding IWT's willingness to be upfront in publicizing what reallywas to happen at the events. The IWT folks spent time a local schools giving a 'positive' message passing out invitations to the full event.

Honestly, it was a little deceptive. They didn't lie per se, but they really weren't all that up front either which always feels a little shady.

Read the Courier's article here.

And here's IWT's response from the local chairperson.

Dearly beloved,

By now you have read the article in the Courier concerning the Findlay City School Board reaction to the IWT tickets that were passed out during some school assemblies. Pastor Bill, Scott and I have had a lengthy conversation with Nicole Coleman who was responsible for arranging the local school assemblies. Nicole spoke with Findlay City Schools public relations officer Jen Ruhe this morning. It is our assessment that this is a valid concern but not because anyone did anything wrong.

As week six of the tour, we had no indication from the previous city assemblies that promotional ticket flyers would be a problem. However, there was a problem with handing the tickets to each student and with passing the tickets out in the classrooms. We agree that this put the School Board in a tenuous situation by implying that the school was endorsing the events at Koehlor center.

We understand the school board’s reluctance to be perceived as endorsing an evangelistic crusade. If they were to endorse our event, they could also be obliged to endorse events that would be contrary to our Christian faith. We are blessed by the strong relationship between the faith community in Findlay and Findlay City Schools. However, these events have brought a need for policy clarification to the surface. We are offering to serve the school board to seek a mutually satisfying principle that protects our children and allows us to continue our ongoing cooperative relationships within the public schools.

We should all agree that protecting our children is a worthy objective. These are complex times we live in. The school board is not diminishing the healthy values that our Christian faith promote. They are not trying to remove our influence from the schools. It doesn’t seem that there is any other agenda than addressing a line of safety that was unintentionally crossed. We strongly urge you to refrain from polarizing statements that would create enmity between those who serve our schools and the faith community of Findlay . We recommend that you do not write your opinions to the Courier. This would only escalate differences in community convictions and intensify the situation.

Finally, we are in the process of setting up meeting with Marty Emmett and Al Caperna. We feel blessed to have worked with an organization that has such a heart for youth. Our experiences with this tour have been faith inspiring but also sometimes confusing. As in all efforts to serve the Kingdom, communication and intentions sometimes conflict. Our prayer is that God will continue to fill the gaps of our limitations with His grace and that His Spirit will strengthen us to proclaim the love of Christ to a broken and hurting world.

Wanna chime in? Go right ahead...