Generations of Virtue Ministry Seeks to Bring Purity to America's Children

Michael Ireland : Apr 30, 2012
ASSIST News Service

"Don't give up the battle, don't give up the fight. Don't feel like 'technology is too much, I can't do it. I'm just going to forget about it.' Get in there, learn as much as you can and try and walk shoulder-to-shoulder with your kids. Keeping lines of communication open is the other thing that is so important." -Julie Hiramine

(Santa Ana, CA)—Sexually explicit advertisements in the media bombard us and our children every day. This dramatic increase in media pressure affects the schools and communities that we live in. Children come home from school or playing in the neighborhood with words that we were not even aware of by our high school years.

To counter this attack on Christian morals and values such as purity and virtue, Julie Hiramine started Generations of Virtue, a Colorado Springs, CO, ministry committed to raising up the next generation in purity—purity of Body, Mind and Heart.

In an interview with international author, broadcaster and journalist Dan Wooding, for his Front Page Radio program to be carried on KWVE 107.9 FM in Southern California, Julie Hiramine shared how her ministry is impacting culture, both in the US and around the world. Excerpts follow:

"You know, our kids are growing up in a very, very different environment then we grew up in," said Hiramine. "I am a parent of five children that are 17 to 4, and I see, since I have done so much youth ministry in the past, that the issues our kids face are so much different than what we faced as parents. Generations of Virtue is not only for our teens, but for parents to empower their kids for purity in our culture today."

How does Hiramine suggest that parents help their children to stand for purity?

"I believe God is raising up a generation who will stand against this tide of culture. I see it happening all the time. Of course they have to choose that. One thing I would say to parents, you parents out there—start young. You know age-appropriately with your kids, it is not too early to start mentoring them in all of these different issues in pre-school on up. Those teens who are listening, you know you always feel like you're the only one, but you know what, God backs you up because it is His idea for you to be pure and not just your own."

Also in the studio for the program were two of Hiramine's team from Generations of Virtue, including Katherine Lockhart, who has been with the ministry since it started in 2003. Lockhart shared her testimony about walking pure after God.

"I am 24 years old, and when I was in high school I first met Julie and I remember I was really struggling because all of my friends were dating and all of them were in relationships and they were all miserable. I found out it is possible for a young person to remain pure in today's sexualized culture in America" Lockhart says.

Sitting together with Hiramine and Lockhart in the studio, Kelsey Roberts said she hadn't always agreed with purity and told Wooding what happened to change her mind.

Roberts said: "You know I had grown up in a Christian home and I had heard this message about staying pure until you're married and all these different things, and I just did not buy it. Something in me was like, those Christians have no fun; they aren't doing anything. They just don't know what they are missing, and so I made a choice from the time I was a teenager that I would just do whatever I wanted to do. And then as I got older, I just found myself so miserable, so caught up in the place of sin and you know the Lord really had to take drastic measures to get a hold of my heart, but once He did, once He pulled me out of that lifestyle, I could never fathom going back."

How does Hiramine present an unpopular message to young people that they really don't want to hear?

"The perspective we come from in our ministry is that it is not about don't do this, don't do that. No-no-no. You know what it's about is having your first love story with God. Our deeper love story for any of us, I don't care whether we're married or single, our first love needs to be the Lord and that needs to be the foundation.

"So we can encourage our kids to fall so deeply in love with the Lord that that's a strong foundation. Then they are going to make better choices in the long run, and so one of the things we worked is we do a lot of fun stuff with kids. We approach in fun ways. I'm convinced that Hollywood does not even match the love story that the Creator of this universe could create for these young people. I mean Hollywood might have some good stuff out there, but it does not compare with the One who created this world, and He is the one who is architect in each of our lives."

So how does a parent work without totally turning off the kids and just yelling at them?

"It's not all about rules, it's about strong relationships. You know that is the key, is that we need to build a relationship with our kids. We need to be willing to talk with them and walk through things and get into their music, and into their social media and all different things. It doesn't mean that we accept everything they're doing but we don't just say no, but there are reasons behind it and we help explain things like 'this is why I'm not allowing you to do this.' So we have strong boundaries, but a lot of positive input."

"To make it easier for parents, one of the things that we tell them is imagine having a computer and a TV, and a movie theater, and radio station all sitting right in front of you, only it's about 4 inches high and 2 inches wide, and it will tell you everything you need to know right there," said Kelsey. "That is the access that kids have, and not only have they had it recently, they have grown up in it, so they are so familiar and they cannot imagine life without a cell phone. So every bit of technology that is available, whether it is a newspaper or it's the Internet or magazine, all of that is available to kids on their cell phones."

How should young people also try and understand their parents?

"First of all, I would say to parents that just because you might have messed up in your background, that is where Jesus comes in. He is taking care of that; that is on the Cross. We want our kids to walk in a different place because they are in a sense standing on our shoulders. For young people, your parents might be coming from a different perspective, but they love you and God has given them a certain sense of wisdom, and so it's worth taking a listen. Parents—it's worth spending time listening as well as talking. It's a two-way street on both, and I know I've spent a lot of time listening as well."

The ministry website is www.generationsofvirtue.org where there is material for parents, preschoolers, all the way up into the teenage years.