Lighthouse Trails Research Journal
22
Letters to the Editor—continued from previous page
only confirms what I’ve learned all along
and how much danger we are in even in a
church that’s totally dedicated to preaching
about Jesus and His Word. Mary
AWANA CONTINUING DOWN THE EMER-
GENT ROAD
A while back I alerted you to the fact that
Awana was joining forces with Josh Griffin
who was the youth pastor for Rick War-
ren’s Saddleback Church. Josh Griffin is
also associated with Youth Specialties, an
organization that promotes occult [con-
templative] practices to youth.
Unfortunately, Awana is continuing
down the emergent road. Here are some
examples:
On February 22, 2017, Steve Kozak,
the executive director of Awana YM,
(Youth Ministries), wrote a blog post en-
couraging youth leaders to promote Lent.
Lent is very popular among those in the
emerging church. Wikipedia says, “The
purpose of Lent is the preparation of the
believer through prayer, doing penance,
mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins,
and self-denial.” Kozak in his blog said,
“Teach your students to go without, so
that they can experience an overflowing
of Christ.” Nowhere in the Bible is the
practice of Lent mentioned.
On April 6, 2017, Awana YM held a
youth leaders round table event at Bill Hy-
bels’ Willow Creek Community Church.
Awana is promoting several books they
feel youth group leaders should be reading.
Sincerely, L.F. [Editor’s note: The writer
of this letter listed several books by authors
who are contemplative and emergent. To
see the list, visit our site at: http://www.light-
housetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=23653.]
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME OR A DECEPTION
BY ANY OTHER NAME—IT’S ALL THE SAME
This is from a circulating e-mail from Prai-
rie College [formerly Prairie Bible Institute
or PBI in Three Hills Alberta]. It sounds so
good, but I suspect it is dangerous. S. ____
Volume 5—No. 6
E-mail Our Reader Received from Prairie:
LAUNCHING NEW CHRISTIAN
FORMATION PROGRAM: “Centered
on keeping company with Jesus and
being reshaped by his Spirit, students
in the Christian Formation program
will become more deeply rooted in the
Scriptures and the process of discipleship.”
Online: http://prairie.edu/Bible-College/
Christian-Formation
Comments About PBI by Lighthouse Trails:
Lighthouse Trails has researched and re-
ported on Prairie Bible Institute a number
of times over the past several years. And
even though school leadership has, at
times, insisted they were not contemplative
or emergent, every time we have observed
them, we have come to the same conclu-
sion—that’s exactly what they are.
“Christian Formation” is just another
term for Spiritual Formation or Spiritual-
ity. It is rooted in contemplative spiritual-
ity. In Prairie’s description for the Chris-
tian Formation program, it says students
will: “Engage with Christians of the past
that have thought deeply about Christian
growth and formation” (emphasis added).
Which Christians of the past? (Or the pres-
ent?) We can gain some insight into who
PBI is turning to for spiritual guidance
by looking at PBI’s current textbook list
for 2017 which includes: Dallas Willard,
Eugene Peterson, Andy Stanley, Henri
Nouwen, and Richard Foster.
WHY DOES LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS BOTHER
SENDING BOOKLETS TO CHRISTIAN LEADERS?
I’m not sure why you bother, it seems
they’ve ignored everything you’ve sent to
them so far. I think your greatest strength
is sharing with people about their decep-
tion, I don’t think you’ll be able to con-
vince them of it.
VOGUE MAGAZINE PROMOTES WITCHES
I’m not sure if y