Recent News:
Look for a major announcement about a new phase of ministry soon! If you would like to receive this announcement and other updates, please Contact Us.

In the meantime, check out our Music - WJG CD's make awesome gifts!I

Why Do We Believe in Reaching Children? (See below)
Here for "Eternity!" (20 shows - See below)
DVD Demo and Show Pics!

Why Do We Believe in Reaching Children?

Please take a few seconds to answer three questions:

• By what age do the vast majority of people who eventually accept Christ do so?
• 50
• 21
• 13

Answer: C. According to studies by George Barna (www.barna.org), the vast majority of people who accept Christ at some point in their lives do so before reaching age 13. We have confirmed this time and again by asking audiences and small groups to indicate when they accepted Christ. I’ve seen studies saying the number is anywhere from just over 50% ranging up to 90%. I think the real answer based on our experience is somewhere around 70%. It really doesn’t matter – this is a staggering revelation that surprises most Christians, as very few are aware of it.

• If an invitation to accept Christ is presented, what is the chance that a child under age 13 will respond affirmatively?
• 15%
• 10%
• 32%

Answer: C. Another astounding truth. Per Barna’s research, there is a 32% chance that a kid under age 13 will accept Christ if asked in a typical church or ministry setting. There’s only a 6% chance that adults will respond affirmatively. What a huge difference! We’ve seen this hundreds and hundreds of times at our shows.

This is why for any evangelistic event, a 10% response rate of people coming forward at the invitation is considered to be outstanding. We have been blessed to have a track record of averaging about 10% of the overall audience making a decision when asked. For our target audience, we estimate that on average, 25% of the kids in the audience between ages 4 -12 came forward.

• By what age does a person learn most of the values that influence their choices, lifestyle and worldview throughout their adult lives?
• 21
• 18
• 13

ANSWER: C. According to Focus on the Family, conclusive studies show that most of a child’s lifetime values are established by age 13. By then, they’ve established their opinions of religion, ethics, abortion, right vs. wrong, etc.

Regardless of whether they knew about the above statistics or not, 98% of the thousands of adults that I’ve talked to through the years totally agree that it is important to reach kids and instill Biblical and moral values in their lives while their minds are still open and uncluttered by the world. They also agree that the best way to reach adults is through their kids.

Thank you for your time. I welcome any thoughts and comments that you may have.

God bless you and your families,

Dave

*****************************************************************************

Update: Here for "Eternity"!

December 8, 2006 

Dear Wendy & the James Gang Friends,

Hello!  We wanted to write to give you a quick update on what happened this Fall and to thank you for your prayers and support in 2006.   

In our last letter, we announced that we had all three shows up and running and had completed two three-day events with our new tech partners, including implementing the 30’ video backdrop.  I was confident that we had solid booking leads to keep us busy all Fall.  We were excited and raring to go!   

But something strange happened.  All of these expected events fell through for various reasons.  It was weird.  We had faith, but at times it was hard not to wonder what was going on.   

In the meantime, over a year ago, our home church decided to schedule an outreach drama for October 7-11, 2006 called “Eternity”.  It was brought in by an outside ministry but used all local actors.  It was a major production – a moving, intense drama about how our choices in life affect our eternal destiny.  It consisted of six or seven different scenes with people from all walks of life who die and arrive in heaven for judgment and either meet Jesus and go into heaven or are cast into hell.   

It included a very realistic visual depiction of the glory of heaven and the horror of hell.  Since our family was available, I was asked to play Satan (complete with shaved head and complete makeup), Wendy played a hilarious old missionary lady who goes to heaven with her husband, while Zac & Ben played teens who made the choice to reject Jesus and had to pay the price.  It was a little unnerving at first to play Satan, to say the nasty things that I had to say and then throw people, including your own sons, literally into the pit of hell!   

It was scheduled to run for 5 nights, but due to overwhelming response, it was extended for 4 more shows.  The decision was then made to take a week off to recover, catch up on laundry and everything else that got dropped and also rehearse some new scenes, but to then continue for 11 more consecutive nights, for a total of 20 performances!   

During that time, over 15,000 people attended, and we know of about 1,300 confirmed new decisions for Christ, plus hundreds of other rededications!   

Without a doubt, we now know that clearly God wanted us at home this fall, at our own church, instead of on the road.  Isn’t it great to know that He is always in control?   

We are well and looking forward to what God has in store for 2007 for our family.  We pray that your home will be filled with the joy and meaning of Christmas, and that you and your family will find peace and rest. 

Thank you once again for your prayers and support! 

God bless, 

Dave for Wendy, Zac & Ben James

***********************************************
NEW DVD DEMO AND SHOW PICS - A new DVD demo is available for download or mailing, and new pics of all the shows with the new video backdrops are available here. Here's one example:

(Oakley, the narrator and host of "Song of the King" at home in "Dragonwood"...click on the link at left to see more cool pics of our new video backgrounds!