What is a 30-Day Secular Media Fast?

What if the noise of godless media is drowning out the voice of God? Not all media is bad... but maybe the distraction away from God is making harder to hear and see God at work.

This is a journey of a group of high school students who have committed to take 30 days to focus on God through God-centered media. This includes TV, movies, books, magazines, smart phone apps, and many social media outlets.

Here, you can follow their stories, their lives, and their challenges. Feel free to leave comments and encouragement.

Read
Relate
Respond

Thursday, April 3, 2014

the end

I know that I'm posting this a few days after the media fast has ended but I just now finally got the chance to post.  This year the media fast was amazing.  I loved having the opportunity to talk to all of my non-Christian friends about the media fast, church, and the missions trip.  I can't wait until missions trip and VBS!

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Thanks!

It is awesome to Know that the media fast is over now, but also that we were able to do what we did, but not without the support from our sponsers.  I wanted to say thanks over the internet to all my sponsers, including Mr. & Mrs. Breece, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Battles, and Mr. Guillen, Who all supported me and prayed for me to do well and endure through this challenge.  I also wanted to thank my aunts and uncles, and my grandmothers that also supported me during my fast.  And most of all, the people who supported me the whole time at home and reminded me when I was tempted, that I didn't have to do this for them, or myself, but for God:  My parents, Love you Mom and Dad! Hope you all did well too! 'Till next year.

Last day tomorrow!

Wow! What an amazing 30 days! It has been amazing being able to connect with God over this last month without any social distractions. Yes there have been the ups and downs, but overall I am very satisfied with my progress and the ultimate experience. This was very difficult for all of us! I hope we can all continue to live for God even without the restriction on social media. Great job to everyone and let's get excited for summer camp and the missions trip! Have a great April!
Jacob Lenhart

Beware of Christians

So, recently I watched a movie (by recently I mean I literally just finished it) called Beware of Christians. It's a documentary that follows four college guys-- Alex, Matt, Michael, and Will-- that travel to Europe to escape the routine of American Christianity. They go over seven different topics and talk about the way we see Jesus today, and, as Brennan Manning says, the reason why we as Christians are contributing to the cause of atheism.
     To relate this to Dangerous Wonder, the guys say we've lost our passion for Christ. It becomes an everyday routine, where we go to church and try to follow the Ten Commandments, just going through the motions. We are called to live differently, but a lot of the time look just like everybody else, with our worldly possessions and speech patterns. People today don't believe in Christ because we as Christians don't let our actions and words match. As one of the guys said, we say to beware of drugs, beware of worldly behaviors, beware of influences, but maybe we should beware of Christians, who say we follow Christ and think we have everything figured out, when in reality we don't, and we look just the same as the next guy.
     One of the topics in the movie was about media and entertainment. We definitely don't realize how much the media effects us, so it's great to have the Media Fast to show us what we never would have realized otherwise. And if by tomorrow morning, we're back to being of the world, then there was no real point in the Media Fast at all. I can't read Matt's mind, but I'm pretty sure the point of this is to grow closer to Christ and to realize, afterword, just how much the media got to us and how it changes us and stretches us farther away from God. All these things are temporary, but God is forever and always. God is enough.
     So maybe, today doesn't have to be the last day. Not for real. I know every single one of us will go back to what we missed over the month, but I don't think we should just shove all the Godly books and music away in the Media Fast closet until next year. I'm glad to have been part of the Media Fast this year. The temptation will always be there , but we can do all things through Christ, who gives us strength.
     Thank you everyone for supporting me this month-- See you next year! :)

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

4 more days

Four more days left and I can't wait to watch the movie Gods Not Dead. It's about the professor who tell his students there is no God and one student confronts him and has to prove the God is Not dead.... CANT WAIT!!!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Tag, You're It

Hello everybody! The media fast has been going great, and I'm determined to finish strong. It definitely has been hard, especially Thursday when Divergent came out....
     Reading Dangerous Wonder by Mike Yaconelli has totally helped this month. Never before have I looked at life that way-- having the faith of a child, to live with Daring Playfulness, Irresponsible Passion, and Naïve Grace. I had always thought of being Christian as being kind to others, helping them, and being Jesus to them. But of course, there are many people who don't think of Jesus as playful, exactly.... Ive been really experimenting this month about ways I can be more playful and have a more passionate faith than I ever have before, a faith that will make me want to get up and DO SOMETHING.
     I'm really glad Matt started that game of tag the group did. When before we would pass each other in the hallways at school, now we're waiting for them at their locker, hiding, so we can lunge at them and scream, "TAG, YOURE IT!" (Even if the game really just stayed at El Camino...). I think it gave us more of an idea of that playfulness-- I'm sure Jesus did things like that with his disciples all the time. Whoever said Christians are boring and joy-killers? We can prove them wrong with a playfulness and passion inside our hearts, so we can TRUELY be Jesus to them.
     Although, that game of tag definitely got me thinking over the week. If we were to play tag with Jesus, how would that go? I don't think that's a question we have to think hard about, because we already do play tag with Jesus. Maybe Jesus is always It, and he always chases after us, to tag us, to be with us, but we just continue to run away from him anytime he gets too close. How did it feel when your best friend ran away from you because you were It?
     And then when we are It, we reach to tag Jesus, but he's impossible to find. We look everywhere for him, and suddenly the game has become stressful, awful, dark and foreboding, stuck in something we cant get out of. It gets old fast. But we don't realize Jesus is right in front of us, holding our hand, telling us he's there, but we've become deaf, blind, unable to see what's right there. Sometimes he has to slap us in the face to get us to tag him.
     Maybe it's just best not to play tag with Jesus at all.... :P

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Almost Over

The month of March has gone by much faster than i thought it would. I have been so busy with school, church, extracurriculars, and softball. I have been meaning to post on this a lot more than i have (which is none)
I have been spending any freetime i have doing homework or reading christian novels. This years media fast hasnt actually been a challenge for me, probably because I havent even had time to think about media at all. In the car i will play Christian music which really puts me in a spirit of worship, which helps me have a better day and a positive mind.
I would just like to thank every single person that has been sponsoring me and praying for me this month. It is sooo appreciated, and i am so excited to go on the Missions trip because of you guys..
God has reallly opened up my mind this month and i have been looking at things maybe a little differently than i usually would. Im ready for this month to be over though!
Thanks again
Megan Whitney

Exitement!

I am so excited to look back on how far I've gotten and how fun the media fast actually is when you look at it the right way.  I've replaced the time that I would usually play video games and watch tv to help out around the house more, and to read books more.  I read books by a really good christian author named Ted DeKKer, who writes mainly suspense/fantasy books.  I also just started reading the books by Paul such as Romans, 1Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, etc.  It feels a little bit like a different lifestyle without my video games, and I realize just how addicted I was to my video games.  I also finally got to meet one of my sponsors today.  It was nice to talk to him face to face instead of always on the phone. I think it might be harder this week because of the exitement.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Waves

Wow. This month has been crazy busy with school, and needles to say its been stressful. Like I said in my last post, I don't even know where the media would fit into everything. All this preoccupation with school, grades, sports, family, friends, etc all seems to come before my sole purpose of this month: dedicating to God. Even mornings, where I usually spend time in the word, have been cut short because of lack of sleep, sometimes this time is even completely forgotten.

Today everything just started to build up inside me so I went for a run when I got home to clear my head. I blasted my Christian music (of course) and didn't stop. While running, my lungs burning, I found that when I tried to focus and look at everything going on around me, I was distracted and it became harder to focus on breathing. When I got home and had a chance to cool down, I realized that God used this to show me something very important: He said focus on me not all the distractions going on around you. Yes, it is still going to hurt but when you focus on me I am in control. Its just like Peter walking on water. Though the waves are always tossing around you, trust in me.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Media fast half way

This is one of the hardest things I have done in a long time! Baseball keeps me very busy, but it doesn't consume all of my time. It's awesome that I get to spend extra time away from media, and focus my life directly on God! I can't wait to see what these last couple weeks have for me.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

halfway there!

Sorry about the late post. I've just been so busy with all my theatre commitments and Beauty and The Beast rehearsals (which you should all come see!) 16 days down, 15 to go. almost exactly half. The first half hasnt been so bad, and im hoping the second half wont be either. Craig's message today was really powerful, and hit home a little bit, so I've spent all of the day so far, playing tag, hide and seek, etc (thanks, Matt) and dwelling on the allegories of the sermon. So far a pretty good day. Hope all goes well the rest of the month and I praise God my brother, Matt, arrived safely home from CBU. Praying for you!

Halfway

This is my second year doing the media fast so I knew what to expect.  I think this year giving up my music has been much harder than last year.  I love finding new Christian artists to listen to.  I love Britt Nicole, TobyMac, and Capital Kings.  They have great songs and even better messages in the songs.  I'm very unsure how I feel that the media fast is halfway over.  I am excited to watch my shows that have been recording all month.  I can't wait until VBS and the missions trip!

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Giving Up Your Gleaming Sheep

"What if I told you that every sin you are struggling with, every discouragement you are dealing with, even the lack of purpose you're living with are because of idolatry?"
-- Kyle Idleman, gods at war

Recently I read the book by the author above, gods at war. The book deals with the subject of idolatry, and it touched my heart in a way I wasn't expecting.
     I admit, this year I was a whole lot more reluctant to do the media fast than I was last year. I had just started rereading the Harry Potter series again, and I wasn't ready to just let go of my books, among other things, for a month.
     This problem arose much earlier than February, however. I remember how excited I was to find out one of top ten favorite books, Divergent, was going to become a movie. My best friend had just started reading the trilogy, and she and I had plans to see the movie at midnight for my birthday, because it came out in March. It took a while for that problem to kick in, however. I had forgotten March was media fast month, which meant no movie for Jael and I.
     And when I realized that, it reminded me that the only TV show I had ever shown enough interest in, Once Upon a Time, was coming back in March.
     I told myself there was no way I could do it this year. It would be too much work. I was making idols of these things, and it took me too long to realize that. A conversation with my mom helped me understand.
     In our lives, we have dirty, helpless sheep that don't mean much to us, and then we have beautiful, award-winning, gleaming sheep that we put on our top shelf to admire. Remembering that love is sacrifice, and the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us, I realized that in order to get closer to him, I first had to give up my gleaming sheep that was taking God's place. In my case, I would have to give up my books, my show, and my movie.
     This month, I am so happy to have made the right choice. I want -- need -- God to be the center of my life, and he can help me sacrifice that beautiful sheep for Him.
     Thank you all, and I pray everyone will have a great last half of the media fast!

Halfway There

I know that I should have posted one of these forever ago, but I didn't, so I guess better now then never. Tomorrow marks the halfway point in the media fast and I can honestly say that this has been my most successful media fast I've ever done. Each year I've been successful in the fasting part of it, but this month I've read my bible so much, which is super exciting because that's always been one of my goals. These media-less Saturdays have given me plenty of extra time to spend in God's word. This month I've really focused on 2 Corinthians 5, so if you guys have any extra time you should check that out. Well, congrats on finishing the first half of the media fast and good luck to everyone in their final half! 

Almost there!

It's hard to believe that we're almost done with the media fast!  It has been pretty hard, and I have messed up a few times, but even then, stay strong.  It has been fun to think that I haven't played video games for two weeks without it being a punishment.  I think that even though it's almost halfway through, it will still be just as hard as the first half.  It'll also be fun to contact our sponsors and tell them how we have done.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Half way

It's half way and I feel like I have grown closer to God. I enjoy finding new music to listen to and looking for verses that are influential also I found the picture that really caught my attention it said "with God we can face our giants" I can't wait to see the new movie coming out on the 21st called Gods Not Dead. 17 more says to go!!!

Half way there!!!!!

We are half way there!!! So far no media has not been a huge deal but the thing I miss most is music I have to constantly remind myself to not reach for my MP3 player but for my devotions instead. So far I am enjoying this month of no media. I have been going through a devotional called fashioned by faith. This devotional is about a Christian women who is a model. She wrote the devotional to not only tell her stories but also to inspire girls to model Christ in everything we do and say it has been  inspiring to hear her struggles that led her to become the women she is today. I am looking forward to continuing this journey and seeing what God has to teach me.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Same things so far!

This is my second official year doing the media fast. So far I have enjoyed looking through my bible for verses that grab my attention. I think that the verse that has stuck with me is Philippians 4:13 I can do all thing through Christ who gives me strength. Songs that I have enjoyed listening to is Scandal of Grace and Oceans by Hillsong. Thank you for all the support!!!!
No media.... Most peers I talk to about this month say they would die without media. I actually am OK  so far. I am actually enjoying having more time to focus on God. I think it's cool how I can explain to people at school what I am doing this month. God is opening doors I never thought would open

Sunday, March 9, 2014

  I went to see the Movie Son of God, and it was much better than I expected.  It was based and composed mostly from scenes from the mini series "The Bible".    I compared it to "Passion of the Christ", and I think that  Son of God was much better.  It went through the life of Jesus in the most important parts, and the story was kind of introduced and ended by John, after all the other disciples of Jesus had died or been killed.  It wasn't as touching as passion of the Christ had been, but it was just as good.  Something I found hilarious, was that they edited satan out because he looked too much like Obama. I also thought that it was about time that another big christian movie came out.  Anyways, I was planning on reading through Exodus to Numbers, but it was too hard to read Leviticus, so I'm going to skip it.  

Saturday, March 8, 2014

7 days down, 24 to go

Its the end of the first week, and honestly, the fast isnt as hard as I thought it would be. I have been so busy with school, homework, church, theatre, and many other things, that I havent even had time to think much about media that usually is so involved in my life. Looking forward to the rest of the fast, and growing closer to God. Good luck to all!

take 2

I'm really excited to be able to do the media fast again with the church.  I think this year will be much harder than last year.  Last year I had more religious friends who understood what the media fast was about.  This year I have more non-religious friends.  My friends this year don't understand why I would "punish" myself like this.  I continually explain to them that we use this fast to grow closer to God and to raise money for the mission trip.  I also think this year is harder with the fact that I love listening to music and I haven't found a lot of christian singers that I really like.  I'm still looking for a few that I really love.  I'm so excited for the missions trip this year and the rest of the month to continue the media fast.  

Starting with exodus

Don't want to sound stupid, but I couldn't remember how to post on the site.  Anyways, I am reading Exodus right now, and realized some new things about it since truthfully, I've never read it before.  I wanted to start with that book since the movie Exodus will be coming out, and I wanted to find for myself the differences between the way God is portrayed then and the way he is portrayed now.  Such as how many people focus on his wrath, even though the book of exodus was mainly a book of his dedication and love for his people, when they kept complaining about what he was doing for them and didn't "want" his love. I'm also going to see the new movie Son of God, and It sounds really good, so you might want to watch it. My mom also came up with a good Idea: we could have a movie exchange at church.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

The Line of No Returrn

Whew. Sorry for the late post! This week has been so busy... and it's only Tuesday. Haha I don't know what would happen if i was getting distracted with the media! I'm so excited to see where this month takes me in my walk with God. Sometimes I feel like it is an obligation to constantly check my Instagram feed or sit through another forty five minute episode instead of, say, doing my homework or spending time with God. I was so glad to kick this month off with a conference at Capital Christian called "My City". The speakers were amazing and one of them talked about crossing the "Line of No Return". Once you've jumped off the cliff, you can't go back up. This is how I began to look this month. And needless to say, I'm in.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

It begins

So this is my first year of doing the media fast, and it is already really difficult. I have heard that the first week is the hardest, and I am pretty sure that is true. My plan for this month is a whole lot of books, veggie tales, Air1, and KLOVE, and my goals include growing closer to the Lord, learning new things about His characteristics, and the things that make Him wonderful. I cant wait to see all the different things that God has in store for me and the other students participating in the fast. Praying for all of you, and hope you have a successful fast! Good Luck!

It's that time of year again...

During the year I always go through an influx of incredibly dependent on God and occasionally drifting away from Him. Needless to say, March is always a spiritual peak in my walk with God and even though this is only the second year, I am so excited to be participating. It really could not come at a better time, these next few months are really going to be challenging. There are some pretty big decisions coming up, mainly college. I'm really looking forward to growing in my relationship with God and I can't wait to see what is in store for this month and the months to come, not only for me but for my friends as well. Have a great week you guys!
-Destanie B.

Media Fast

Really excited for the Media Fast! It's a great opportunity to be able to challenge myself to focus on God and my goals are very high. I'm excited for a month focused completely on God and no distractions from the media. Also, the Media Fast allows us students to show ourselves that we can do anything, including stay away from Facebook, or other social media and electronics for a month!  It will be difficult, but a good month. Good luck to all!
I never know what to write for these things so bare with me haha. Soo I'm predicting that this year's media fast is going be a good one. I'm excited to be doing it with everyone. I'm hoping to grow even more this year in my relationship with God and really work to try and listen to God's voice and look to Him, especially when the making the big decisions that are coming up in regards to colleges and what I want to do with my life in the near future. I hope everyone reaches their goals for this years media fast and has just a lot of fun with it. :)

Here we go!!!!!

So we started!!! I'm excited for this to start because I know my relationship with God is going to grow. and I can take time that I normally wouldn't take to just listen To Him talk through his word. When God shows Himself to people in the bible He isn't in the wind the fire or the storm, He was the still small voice after it all. I've realized that media is like the fire and the storms and this month is the time we can step back and listen for the still small powerful impacting and life changing voice of God. Lets get started  :)

Saturday, March 1, 2014

4 Years?!

This being my 4th year doing the media fast, it's funny how it feels just as challenging as the first time I did it. But with each new year, I've learned, come new challenges and triumphs. I'm so excited for what this month has to bring in regards to my relationship with God and I feel so blessed to have the oppurtunity to do this again! Bring it on year four!

Friday, February 28, 2014

This Year

My goal this year for media fast is to grow in my relationship with God. Last year was an awesome first experience and i know that this year will be great too! It's such an amazing opportunity we have to take the month of march and to just exclude all secular media from our lives. Our lives become so busy and hectic and we waste so much time with this media that doesn't do us any good. This media fast is a reminder, to always have our focus on God, the most important thing in our life. When we take the time to focus on God, we will draw near to him & grow spiritually in our walk with him, which is my goal <3 #excited #goodlucktoyouall

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Taking the Opportunity

This is my first year to ever do the media fast. To be honest, I don't think that I have quite grasped the fact that for 31 days I won't be able to watch, listen, or go on anything non secular. Just for fun, I looked back at some previous blogs all the way to the very beginning. I think that with my friend's, but most importantly, God's help, I can achieve my goal. One of the blogs I read was about how someone's friend questioned why they were doing the media fast. Why don't they just not do it, but say they did? I think this fast is an excellent opportunity to not only devote yourself to spend more time with God, but also to share my faith. As Matt says, the reason you have friends is to point them to Christ. Not taking this opportunity would make my friendships meaningless. Already, I have talked to a few of my friends about this media fast. A lot of them said that they wouldn't be able to do it because they go on the internet, watch TV, or listen to music everyday. I admit that not a day has gone by that I can remember where I have gone without those things. Despite that, I think by succeeding in this fast, I can prove that through Christ you can do anything.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The first time

Although my brother did the media fast many times before, I never attempted it with him.  I am very excited to be doing it this year, and I think it will help me focus my energy on God and on things of heaven, not of earth.  I am expecting it to be a challenge, and I will miss my music, but hopefully, I can do it.  My main goal that I want to reach by the end of March is to be in a closer relationship with my Maker, and explore and experience His agappe (unconditional) love.  I'm ready, let's do it.  At least, I think ready...