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

Saturday, March 10, 2018

Reckless Love

     Day 9! Where has the time gone? It both feels like the Media Fast has just begun (which it has) and also been going on for a month already. That's the amazing thing about spending time with God: time stops and speeds by all at once. And that's a good thing! I've been listening to a lot of worship music and really feeling the incredible power of worship in singing and music. Music has always been very meaningful to me, but it seems that this particular year has brought about a new meaning to music and the power it has to influence my thoughts and emotions.
     In my psychology class we were discussing the fact that we are not consciously aware of most of what goes into our brains. Though the unconscious is a place of our mind that is not often tapped into by our conscious, it still greatly affects our physical and mental well being, and many things we put into our brains can come out in various ways, whether we mean them to or not. That really stuck with me and I pondered how much of what was unconsciously going into my brain was positive and healthy, and how much of it (likely quite a bit more) was negative or secular. 
     This month is all about focusing on Christ and avoiding secular things (anything not focused on Christ) but it's way harder than one might think to avoid the overwhelming amount of secular everything that constantly surrounds us, especially music. The thing is, when we're not fasting from it, it's really easy to not notice how much this secular stuff surrounds us, which reinforces the statement that we really don't know what goes into our heads.
     With all this being said, I've really been trying to focus on the lyrics of the Christian music I've been listening to, and the results have been amazing. I feel uplifted, humbled, and oh so loved, because I know that every single word of every single song is true. And the few times I've gone out and heard secular songs, I tried to listen to the lyrics and think about what message they're sending, and it usually doesn't fill me with love or hope.
     I'm really glad music exists, because "where words fail, music speaks." And sometimes all it takes is a little bit of positive, encouraging music to remind us of that "overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God" (a lyric from Reckless Love, a song that's been on my heart all week - I really suggest it!!)
     This post is a little longer than I intended, but I guess that's the way it was supposed to be :) Happy fasting! And remember, God made you special, and He loves you very much!

In All Honesty

I would love to tell you that I'm having an amazing time and that I don't miss secular media at all. But in all honesty I miss it a lot. I miss my tv shows and instagram, the games I play when I'm bored, all of it. But missing it has not discouraged me. It just shows me how much I need to be away from it all. The fact that I am having trouble with this fast, and it has only been 10 days, kind of scares me.That's why I am so thankful that I have been given this greatly needed opportunity, because I can already feel God working in my life and heart. Without all the distractions of media, the time I have had for devotion, has allowed me to understand my faith and grow in my faith more than I ever have before. So in these next 20 days, yes I may struggle, but I hope I come out of it stronger in belief and that I don't just go back to forgetting about giving time to the Lord and the bible. Thanks for the continued prayer.

Friday, March 9, 2018

So Far, So Good

The media fast is going pretty good. It's still tempting not to watch my shows and listen to my favorite songs but, other wise it's good. I had a good day at school and when I came home, I did my homework and went into my office and read the Bible for an hour or so with devotional music on.  I'm thankful for the people who are praying for me and supporting me. I'm praying for myself so I can complete this challenge and grow closer to God and I'm praying for the other people who are doing the media fast.



                                                         
"Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me."
   
                                                               2 Corinthians 12:9
                                                        New Living Translation Bible

9th Day

This is my ninth day on my media fast. I am doing fine mostly, but it is hard not being able to watch TV. I have watched a few christian movies along the way. I am getting more used to the media fast and I am seeing changes in how often I read my Bible.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Survived Week One!

     Yay! I made it through the first week of my first Media Fast! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but, there were still a couple of temptations to break the fast. One example is when I finished all my work in class and everyone was just playing games. Knowing I wasn't allowed to do that I sat there and waited to wait for the bell to ring (which was luckily only like 3 minutes). Other than things like that (temptations) everything is going pretty good. I read my bible a lot more often than I did before and I feel more connected to God as well. Now this is only after one week and I know God still has more for me during the rest of this month. I can't wait to see what it is he has for me!

This Isn't Easy

Today is March 8. I am a good ways into the Media Fast now and am sort of getting used to and liking not having to check my phone and use that time to connect with God. Thank you to the people that are supporting me financially and with prayers, this isn’t easy.

Week 1

It has been one week of the Media Fast, and I have to be honest, it has been hard! It has been really tempting to look at Instagram or watch my favorite shows, but I have not looked at ANY of them! I have found a lot of good shows on Netflix that I can watch. This journey has been amazing so far and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the month will be like. I have been reading my Bible more and praying more, but the best part is feeling like I have more time every day.

1 week ✅

I have officially made it through the first week of the media fast! I am not going to lie that it was hard and I did struggle a little. I was able to stay away from all media the whole week but I was tempted a little. I think the biggest problem for me was to not watch tv or a movie when I was bored. I was able to focus more on homework and priorities without the distractions of media! I think that this week will be a lot easier because I have gotten more used to it and it's getting easier everyday! I'm excited for the weeks to come on. Thank you for all the help and support!

Media Fast first time!!

Hi, my name is Emma Kapelkin. I am a freshman at river city high school and I am doing the media fast for the first time this year! I'm nervous and excited to start the media fast! I want to be able to stay strong and not be tempted by any media. Throughout the first week, I am hoping to grow closer to God and not rely on media so much! Thank you to everyone who are sponsoring me and praying for me throughout this month! Can't wait to see what God will do through me this month! Sorry this post is so late.. I had some difficulty logging in and posting earlier this week.

THE END IS NEAR!! (and by that I mean the first week)

Good morning my fellow media fasters. The week is almost done...But we still have a whole month ahead of us, but you know what we can make it, I know we can and we'll all come out of this closer to God than we've ever been.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

1 week down!

I never thought not watching any tv, playing video games or listening to my music would be this hard. At least it's getting easier now that week goes by. I am looking forward to growing closer to God.

The end of one!!



The first week is practically done and I already feel a lot closer to God. During the week it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would. Thanks to the media fast, I have had a lot more time to do things like pray and do our books devotions. It has only been a week and the media fast has affected me so much in such great way, I hope to keep these habits even after the media fast.




Thank you so much for all the people who are sponcering us you mean a lot to us!!!!

Never ending

Well, the first week is almost done. I have to say I have not missed media as much as I thought I would. I have been reading in the book of John this last week and I realized how never ending God’s love really is, all of the stuff that Jesus went though he could have just stopped it all with a word but he didn’t, his love never ended. At the start of this month I expected to learn more about the Bible and come closer to God, this one week that has gone by has proven that that is possible, over the span of these last seven days I have understood more of the Bible than what I had understood in the last two months. I hope that my progress with understanding God and the Bible will advance as much as it has in the last week over the rest of this media fast. Praying for everyone who is doing the fast and hopping they are learning more about God.

-Jordan

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

It means no worries

Ok guys so I just realized what God is for me. He's Hakuna Matata which as you know,  means no worries for the rest of my days, and that's exactly what Jesus is once you accept him as your Lord and Savior. Oh and I also really like Disney. 😄

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body or what you will wear.💖

Monday, March 5, 2018

My First Time!!!!

I am Lily Bone I am a 6th grader at Caleb Greenwood. I am a little frustrated and excited about the media fast. Now that I'm off media I'm starting to realize that I'm on media a lot more than I knew I was. I come home and all I want to do is watch the Flash, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, or read a book. But I cant. So I do my homework to get my mind off things. But that doesn't work.So then I go Netflix to see if I can watch something and then I find a movie called "I'm In Love With A Church Girl" I was a little confused because all I could think of at the time was that song "I'm In Love With A Church Girl''. And then I go on Vudu to see if I could rent some movie like the prince of Egypt but I had already watched it and then I remembered the movie "God's Not Dead" so on Sunday  me and my family watched "Gods Not Dead" and then I said to my self after watching the movie I think Ill be able survive this media fast a little longer.


                                                                             --Lily Bone

There's a first time for everything...

         
There's a first time for everything...

          Hi everyone, I'm Lana Storm! This is my first time doing the media fast. I am a seventh-grader at California Middle School. My media fast has been Ok so far. Sorry that I haven't been able to post sooner, I've been having technical difficulties. But not now! But back to the Fast. The past five days have been pretty good in my opinion. But what can I say... I have 25 more to go! I feel slightly closer to God already.  Please continue to pray for me. While surviving these 31 days is hard, with God all things are possible!😃
❤ "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
 - Matthew 19:26

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Third Times the Charm

This is my third time on doing the media fast, and will be my third time on the mission trip...

So I’m basically an expert when it come time ever March, ehh? Nope, not even close.

 I still find myself thinking about media, not in the sense of, “oh my, I wonder about all of the stuff I’m missing” but more in the sense of, I’m not used to it not being there. At the same time I have found myself more joyful and happy the past few days and I don’t think it would take Einstein to figure out why, I guess we just don’t realize how much time and energy our media takes from our lives, even in a passive way.

I’m excited to see what God will do in our lives this month, See y’all around

Erik W. Washburn

My First Year

Hi, this is Abi McLean.  This is my first year doing the media fast at Arcade.  Today is day 4 and my biggest challenge so far has been giving up listening to music.  However, Since giving up all media I do feel like I have had more free time to focus on God.  This month is defiantly going to be a challenge for me, but I think it is going to help me break habits of turning to an electronic device when I am bored.  I am hoping by the end of the fast I will have gotten into a routine of reading out of my Bible, if even for just a few minutes, each day.   I think that overall this month will be a very positive experience for me. 

It's official


Hi this is Hudson Jones. I am in 7th grade at Victory Christian School. This is my first official media fast, but I have done it for the past several years along with my older sisters. It is hard to give out a letter to someone asking them to sponsor me. But I have seen that people have responded generously and graciously. One of my teachers at school even told me that sometimes he takes a break from media and being free from a screen seems a lot better. For me, it has been hard to give up watching TV shows. I have seen in years past that in the end having a break from media always helps me calm down and helps me be more interactive in my daily activities. Although the other years that I’ve done this it didn’t seem too hard, this year it seems more official and there is a purpose at the end of it.

There is Good news

There is so much bad news in the world right now
but no matter what we have good news and that good news 
has a name and that name is Jesus Christ

There is good news for the captive
Good news for the shame
There is good news for the one who walked away
There is good news for the doubter
The one religion failed
For the good Lord has come to seek and save

He's our rescuer
He's our rescuer 
We are free from sin forever more


Love this song by rend collective!

Media Fast

Hello, I am Jake Ward and I am a 7th Grader at St.Micheal School.So far I have been doing the Media Fast for four days, and it has been surprisingly easy. Video games are a big part of my life, on uneventful weeks I play sometimes around 30 hours! So when I first heard we would have to do a Media Fast, if we wanted to do Stay2Serve, I tried to think of some excuse to myself of why I couldn't do it.But, So far I have found substitutes to my media, like instead of video games and non-christian music I listen to Christian music, read the bible, or play basketball.So that's my post, please read my next one. 

LAST YEAR

So this is my last year doing the media fast (at least while in high school). This has already been pretty difficult for me. For the past few months I’ve been been really struggling with my faith. As many of you may know, one of my closer friends passed away a little over three months ago which really lead me to struggle with my faith. I started to go down the wrong path. What I don’t think many people realize is how much music affects your mood and your actions. I definitely didn’t realize this, which really lead to some trouble. I started getting lower grades in my classes, started a relationship that was not Christ centered, and just started to hang out with an overall bad crowd. Even though this media fast has just started, I have already seen a change in my life. I have brought up my grades slightly (as it only has really been 3 days), ended my relationship, and am trying to hang out with a different group. All of this from only three days of more positive music and devotional. I’m very excited to see what god can do with me and what he can do through me. I’m grateful to have so many of you to hold each other accountable.