May 2012

A Unique Summer Project

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For those of you who have read Joel's latest book, Seven Lies Almost Every Teen Believes, you understand the journey the reader takes from the beginning to the end.  The book covers everything from relativism to church membership in about 200 pages.  We worked especially hard to make this book easy to understand and written in 'teen lingo.' By God's grace, we were able to give away about 10,000 copies of the book this past school year and the feedback has been incredible (see the message from Joel). 

Now we know that for many teens, the idea of reading a book from cover to cover can be daunting.  So we have an exciting idea for next year to help students understand and internalize the theological concepts Joel communicates in Seven Lies.  Ryan is working on a brand new, full-length album. But this one is unique. The CD parallels Joel's book and each song correlates specifically with one lie (i.e. one chapter of the book!).  Ryan and Joel worked very hard all Spring and the album is now undergoing the finishing touches so that it can be ready for Fall 2012 school year.  If you think of it, would you pray for this special project? Pray that the words of the Bible reach the ears of thousands of teens and convict them of their need for Christ.  Pray that they would use Joel's "Seven Lies" book and Ryan's CD as just a stepping stone to their new relationship with Christ, time in God's Word and prayer, and a real connection to the church.

Until Next Month,

Bethany 

Support Team Update

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During our transition from FCA to our new ministry, Stand For Truth, we have been encouraged by the number of supporters who have continued to partner with us. So far, about 90% of our support team has remained intact!

If you haven't already, would you consider joining our support team with a monthly gift of $100, $50, or $30? You can quickly and securely join our monthly support team or give a one-time gift online HERE.

Message From Joel

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Friends,

It is exciting to think about the thousands of students who heard the gospel through our ministry this past school year.  It is perhaps even more exciting to think about some of the anecdotal feedback from students.  Below is a conversation I had with a couple students on my facebook wall after Ryan and I visited their school.  

Jenny: Joel, I just read your whole book within 24 hours. While my classes were going on I found it very hard to not open it and read it. I turned to God that night at the high school and I can't wait to grow more spiritually!

Joel: Wow...I'm glad you like the book so much... I'm even more excited that you have turned to Jesus.

Laura: I want to say something as well. I know you as a one of my close friends Jenny, and I am really proud of you. I also turned to Jesus that night at the concert. I read the entire book as well and it really made me think about the way I was living and looking at things. Now I'm ready to have him in my life forever.

Jenny: That’s good Laura, we can do this together!

Laura: For sure!

Praise God for the work he does in students' hearts and thank you for your prayers and support!

-Joel

March and April 2012

Since the birth of our newest son, Luther, came in mid-April (scroll to "Message from Joel" to read birth announcement) when I typically send out the Pentons' Progress, I decided to combine  March and April into one blog post.

A Busy Spring!

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Joel and Ryan's concert setup before the doors open

March was perhaps the busiest month this school year with 28 speaking engagements including eleven outreach concerts!  By the end of the month, Joel and Ryan were ready for a break from the road.  I was also ready for a little help with my two crazy sons, since I was nine months pregnant!

Some of Joel's most cherished experiences in ministry are not just speaking in front of large groups of people, but also interacting with individuals after the events. Joel shared with me an interesting interaction that took place at last concert in March.  A girl named Jessica asked him to sign her free copy of Joel's book, "Seven Lies." As Joel was signing, the following conversation took place:

Jessica: The only thing I got our of tonight was this free book. (yeah, students can be a little too honest sometimes!)
Joel: You didn't like what I had to say about Jesus?
Jessica: No, I'm an atheist. I believe in scientific explanations for everything.
Joel: Even Jesus rising from the dead?
Jessica: I mean about how the world was created.
Joel: Yeah, but what about Jesus rising from the dead?  That's kind of big deal isn't it?
Jessica: I think there must be some other explanation for that.
Joel: I wish I could talk more with you about this but I need to keep signing books for these people.  Will you promise me to read my book and send me an email so we can continue our conversation?
Jessica: Sure.

By the time Joel got home that night he had received an email from from Jessica.  She said that she had read two chapters of Joel's book and that she was already becoming more "open-minded."  After finishing the book and a few emails back and forth with Joel, Jessica confessed that she now believes that Jesus rose from the dead!

Please join us in thanking God for Him working in Jessica.  Pray also that she will grasp the full gospel message and be born again into a new life with Christ.

Much of April was spent catching up on ministry projects while waiting for Penton boy #3 to arrive.  Joel focused on the administrative aspects of our new non-profit Stand for Truth.  Finally, on April 19th, Luther Joseph Penton was born!  Praise the Lord!

Until Next Month,

Bethany

Message From Joel

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Friends,

We are so grateful to announce the birth of our third son, Luther Joseph Penton.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers for our family.  It was very hard for us to wait a full 10 days past the due date, but of course, totally worth it!  Luther is a very good baby so far. He is a champ at sleeping and eating much like his brothers...and father.  Joel 3 is very helpful with "baby Woo-fur" and often asks about him.  He is very affectionate and always wants to hug and kiss him.  Judah, at first, didn't even acknowledge baby Luther.  But now he likes to run up to the bassinet and say "Hi, baby!" with a wave.  His version of "Luther" sounds like "ruff-ruff" like a dog. Here's a video of the boys saying Hi to Luther.

We named Luther after the great church reformer, Martin Luther. Before meeting Jesus, Martin Luther devoted his life to earning God's approval through good deeds and keeping God's moral law.  However, he could never shake the conviction that before God, he was a rebel sinner deserving eternal judgement.  It wasn't until meditating on the book of Romans, that Luther saw that Christ offers the gift of righteousness to all who simply trust in him by faith. Luther believed this good news and was born again.  He spent the rest of his life proclaiming the gospel of God's free grace in Christ to all who would listen, even when it nearly cost him his life.  We love Martin Luther because he loved the gospel.  Please join us in praying that Luther Penton will love the gospel too.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

God Bless,

Joel

February 2012

The Return To Northwest Ohio

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Joel & Ryan with Kenton students earlier this school year.

Five years ago, Joel spent much of his first year of full-time ministry speaking in Northwest Ohio. Since Joel is from Van Wert, many requests came from the NW Ohio area.  Since then, we expanded his reach to many other states.  The amount of out of state engagements has increased every year.  For example, last year, Joel flew out to California (twice), North Dakota, and even drove to Texas!

Expanding our reach has its pros and cons.  The ability hold successful assemblies and outreaches outside Ohio increases our potential for filling our calendar and reaching more students. However, speaking and holding concerts far away requires many more days on the road and away from family.  Thank goodness a full four years has passed since Joel's first year of speaking in Northwest Ohio! This year he has been able to return to some of those schools and speak to a new group of students...in Ohio! How great! Joel and Ryan visited five Northwest Ohio schools in February alone.  They reached just as many students, but spent less time on the road.  What a blessing!

Ryan performs at Crestview HS

In early February, Emily Holliday and I were both able to attend the Crestview High School concert which was only about 40 minutes away from Van Wert.  We attended as complete spectators and gave feedback later on.  The guys definitely put on an entertaining event but also brought the full-force truth of the gospel. This was very encouraging for us, and we were thankful to have this experience.

Until Next Month,

Bethany

Message From Joel

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Friends,

Our transition from FCA to Stand For Truth is going very well.  As I mentioned last month, our greatest challenge is transitioning our automatic monthly donors to the new ministry.  We are so excited that more than 70% of those donors have already agreed to continue supporting our us.  Just over 5% have decided to stop their donations.  We will have to work hard to make up for that loss of funds, but it is definitely manageable.  There are, however, still more than 20% of our automatic donors who we haven't heard from.  Please join us in praying that we will be able to reach these supporters and they will remain committed to partnering with us in the work of the Gospel.

The most exciting part of the transition is that we have been able to maintain our heavy travel schedule.  We also plan to keep it up for the rest of the school year (minus a short break for the birth of our third son).  In fact, just this week we reached our booking goals through May.  We still need to hit the road to fulfill those engagements, but as we do, we can put a lot of effort into finishing the move over to Stand For Truth and even looking ahead to next school year.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

God Bless,
Joel

January 2012

A NEW ERA!

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Well, the time has finally come. We have talked about the possibility of starting our own non-profit for years and this January we actually did it. We are excited to announce that "Stand For Truth" is the new official ministry of the Pentons and the Hollidays!

So why the change?  Over the past couple years, our parent organization, The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, has become more and more focused on reaching primarily student-athletes and coaches.  At the same time, our specific ministry within FCA has become more and more committed to reaching all types of teens with the gospel.  The difference in focus isn’t a major problem, but we have begun to feel that working as official FCA representatives probably isn’t the best fit.  So after much thought, prayer and counsel we decided to transition out of FCA and into our new non-profit ministry, Stand For Truth.  

The mission of our ministry has not changed at all.  We will continue to reach unchurched teens with the Gospel of Jesus through school assemblies and outreach events across the nation.  We will also continue to work closely with the local FCA staff and partner with FCA groups around the country.  The only change will be organizational but it should enable us to be more efficient and effective at reaching teens.

January was Joel's last month on staff with FCA.  He served for exactly five years to the day. We are so grateful to FCA for all their support over the years, and freedom to achieve our own ministry goals.  Please pray for us an we begin this new phase of life and ministry.

Until Next Month,

Bethany

Message From Joel

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Friends,

The transition into the new ministry is very exciting but it is also a bit challenging.  We are in the midst of a pretty busy travel schedule which doesn't leave a lot of extra time for getting a new non-profit up and running.  I thank God that Bethany and Ryan's wife, Emily, are so committed to the ministry.  They are bearing much of the administrative burden of this transition.  Please pray for them to have the time and energy necessary for this task while also caring for young children at home.

Perhaps the greatest challenge right now is transitioning all our financial supporters over to the new ministry.  We have many supporters who donate through automatic monthly donations and it is difficult to get in touch with so many people in such a short period of time to get their donations switched from FCA to Stand For Truth.  We are also seeing a trend of some people taking this change as an opportunity to reevaluate their decision to support us at all. Please pray that our emails, letters and phone calls will get through right away and that our supporters will remain committed to our ministry so we can continue our work of reaching teens with the Gospel. 

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

God Bless,
Joel

December 2011

Family Update Edition

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This past Fall season was the busiest we have had in five years of ministry.  The further distances meant longer hours on the road and in the air.  The increased amount of outreaches (to meet our new goals) meant really late nights and additional travel days for Joel and Ryan. 

Early in December, Joel spoke in New York and New Jersey.  But, thankfully, most of December was spent catching up on much needed family time. 

JOEL III

At almost 3 years old, Joel talks our ears off all day long.  His favorite game this Winter was running around the house in circles (going from room to room) while holding a football and shouting "I'm a football player, tackle me, tackle me!"  This sometimes results in falling and smashing his face or head against something as you can see in the video below.  Around Christmas time, He loved making 'manger scenes' with his toy people.  He would arrange them in a circle and put a small one in the middle and say "Mommy look! It's a manger scene!" Very cute.

Joel has had some intensive training from Daddy in Bible memorization and a Biblical doctrine Q & A that we call "The Penton Catechism."  Here's a great video of a training session.

JUDAH

Judah is making the transition from baby to toddler very well, and it is fun to watch.  He does not have many words for 15 months, but he is incredibly coordinated, and great on his feet. He still finds a way to turn everything into a game.  He loves rythmic grunting to music and flailing his arms singing and dancing.  He is very mellow and even-tempered, though he has an intense passion for eating. He is incredibly resilient and will often laugh when his brother tackles him to the floor or pushes him down.  He follows simple commands, points at things, and raises his arms when he wants to be held.  He loves to crawl up the stairs especially when someone chasing him.  He is a joy.

Thank you so much for being a part of our team.  Please continue to pray for us (see requests on right sidebar). God bless you guys!

Until next month,
Bethany

November 2011

Ottawa-Glandorf High School

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In November, I had the rare opportunity to attend a concert!  Ottawa-Glandorf is close to Joel's home town of Van Wert, OH, so we were able to get free babysitters for the night (Joel's parents!).  And the drive over was very short.  I loved being a 'spectator' and just taking it all in.  Joel and Ryan have really honed their concert performance and they do an awesome job.  The kids really have a blast and love Ryan's music!  They also listened closely to the gospel presentation.  I was encouraged and blessed to have this opportunity!

The Concert at Ottowa-Glandorf

Wisconsin

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Several Months ago, Ryan and Joel began planning a trip to Wisconsin Rapids, WI to do three straight days of assemblies and outreaches.  They were able to schedule and confirm all the school assemblies but the guys began hitting some major roadblocks when they tried to schedule the outreach concerts.  The first high school principal that Ryan approached about hosting a concert said no and then proceeded to contact all the other schools and encourage them to say no as well.  As the trip approached, it looked like the whole thing might fall through. Ryan found a way to secure venues for a couple concerts but they came together so last minute.  So, when the guys headed off for the long trip, they were a little pessimistic about the chances of successful outreaches.  To their surprise, students came out in force to both outreaches and packed out both venues.  The second concert drew nearly 400 students!  Joel told me that the students were very attentive during the Gospel.  Praise God for continuing to show us that He makes things happen - not us.

Concert at Assumption HS in Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Concert at Nekoosa HS in Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Message From Joel

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Teammates,

We are so excited about my new book, “Seven Lies Almost Every Teen Believes” that - get this - we are GIVING AWAY a copy to every student who attends one of our outreach concerts from now on. We expect to distribute between about 10,000 books this school year alone!

The book was carefully crafted to present a solid biblical worldview in plain “teen speak” to unchurched students. Since late August we have given away about 5,000 books and the feedback has been incredible. A Christian teacher who volunteered at an outreach had this to say the day after the event:

“One of my seniors, who I am pretty sure is not a Christian, told me today that he started looking at your book before bedtime and couldn't stop reading. He said he read more pages than he can ever remember reading outside of school. Other students made similar comments.”

We wish we could mail a copy to everyone who receives the Pentons' Progress but that would take more money than we have. So here is what we are doing: we will send a book to anyone who makes an online donation to our ministry this month at www.tinyurl.com/give2fca No gift is too small (or too large) and all donations are tax deductible.

As a recap, to GET YOUR COPY OF THE NEW BOOK, here's what you do:
1. Make a donation at www.tinyurl.com/give2fca (make sure to select Joel Penton in the drop down menu).
2. Receive your copy of "Seven Lies" (we get your address when you make your donation).
3. That's all!

Thanks so much for all your support!


God bless,
Joel

October 2011

Intense fall travel continued through October.  Joel gave a whopping 31 speeches across six states this past month alone!

Urbana High School

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Joel and Ryan teamed up with River of Life Church in Urbana, OH to reach the students of Urbana High School one Friday last month.  The day started with a morning school assembly where they invited students to attend a "5th Quarter" concert at the church after the football game that evening.  After school, Joel had the honor of addressing the Urbana football team as they mentally prepared for the game. Joel was also able to hang out on the sideline and watch as Urbana destroyed their opponent 51-6. (His speech to the team must have been really good!)  After the game more than 300 students walked over to the church for the concert where Ryan played and Joel shared the Gospel!  Please pray for the students of Urbana and River of Life Church who ministers to them.

Joel and the Urbana "Hill Climbers" Mascot



Anthony Wayne High School

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Toward the end of October, Joel and Ryan spent a day in Whitehouse, OH where they had two school assemblies and an evening concert.  For some reason nothing seemed to go as planned in the weeks leading up to the event. There wasn't an in-school Christian club to provide volunteers, the administration wouldn't allow promotional posters to be displayed throughout the school, and the auditorium was hosting the school play so the concert had to be held in the cafeteria. The daytime assemblies went well, but Joel and Ryan were both a little pessimistic about whether students would come back for the concert. To their complete surprise, the students came back in force!  They packed out the cafeteria to the point that there was standing room only!  Afterward Joel told me that the students seemed captivated by the gospel and it was possibly the best outreach so far this year!  

Ryan plays to a packed house in the Anthony Wayne HS Cafeteria

Message From Joel

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Teammates, 

We've been doing a lot of traveling this fall.  As I write this message, I realize that it's been three full weeks since I have spent consecutive nights in my own bed.  The next month looks like it will be just about as busy.

As always, I ask that you pray for our safety on the road as well as our families that remain at home.  This month I ask you especially to pray for our spiritual health.  Traveling, setting up, presenting, and tearing down make for very long days.  It is all too easy to let our personal daily Bible study and prayer get lost in the busyness.  Please pray that Ryan and I both would find the time and energy to tend to our own souls as we reach out to the souls of teens.  Pray that God would fill our hearts during our time with Him and that we would be able to minister to others out of that fullness.

We are so grateful for your prayers and support.

God bless,

Joel