All around the country high school students are getting ready to graduate.

Unprecedented freedom is just around the corner…they can almost taste it! Soon they will packing up and heading off to college–away from mom, dad, their youth pastor, church, and many of their friends. Are they ready?

Most likely they are not ready for the intellectual, spiritual, and moral challenges that are waiting on them. Around 50% will disengage from their Christian faith during the college years. But they can be prepared–or at least have a fighting chance!

Let me be honest with you. A small, graduation gift book with short pithy inspirational quotes is not going to cut it. That will evaporate in about 10 seconds. I know this from experience. I know what is waiting for students on campus. I work with this generation. We live in a post-Christian culture. That is why I wrote Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower’s Guide For the Journey.

Even if they just use it as a door stop until the day they need it, that’s OK. When they get challenged in class or when they are dealing with doubts or are tempted to compromise their moral standards it will be waiting on them in their dorm room when you aren’t there with them and they may not have the courage to ask for help.

I am gratified to have heard stories of Welcome to College helping students around the country stand strong in their faith and make wise choices. It excites me when I see youth pastors buy copies and give them away to all their seniors. Please don’t get me wrong, it’s not a magic bullet. But it covers pretty much any challenge a student will face in the college years.

I am passionate about seeing this generation own their faith. That’s why I wrote this book. That’s why I do what I do. This graduation please consider giving your son or daughter a copy of Welcome to College. Or have one mailed to a friend’s son or daughter. Whatever you do, please don’t let your student head off to college with just another Christian pep talk on graduation Sunday. Good intentions, emotions, and will power will only go so far. Training is needed. Check out this summer worldview and apologetics training opportunity that I am a part of. We’d love to see your high schooler!

If your son and daughter is not graduating yet, why not pick up a copy and work through it together? The chapters are very readable, only 3-5 pages each and cover 41 different topics. In the back of the book there are discussion questions to help with dinner conversations. Students need a real world faith. My prayer is that this book would help them along that path! (cf. Rom. 12:2).

“Wow! What a book! Quite frankly, this is the book I’ve been waiting for the last forty years to give to college students. It is the single best volume I have ever read for preparing students for how to follow Jesus and flourish as his disciple in college.” –J.P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy How to Respond to the “That’s Just Your Interpretation” Objection

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