On October 12, Dare 2 Share LIVE Will Empower Tens of Thousands of Teens and Youth Leaders in 90+ Locations in the US, Canada & South America to Serve and Boldly Engage Local Communities with the Gospel.

Arvada, CO — Following up the success of the Dare 2 Share LIVE event the past two years, national non-profit organization Dare 2 Share is preparing to go beyond our borders, in order to inspire and unleash tens of thousands of teenagers this fall into even more communities to serve and to share the good news of Jesus. Founder and CEO of Dare 2 Share, Greg Stier stated, “With skyrocketing statistics of teen depression, anxiety and suicide, I believe we must do something radical to change the spiritual trajectory of this current generation of teenagers. Only the good news of Jesus can set them free from all they’re going through! That’s what Dare 2 Share Live is all about. It’s about reaching a generation with the hope of Jesus and then mobilizing them to reach their peers until every teen everywhere has every last chance to put their faith in Jesus.

“On October 12th, 2019 thousands upon thousands of teenagers will be mobilized simultaneously to fight to win the souls of their peers with the hope that only Jesus can bring. Through powerful worship, inspirational talks, hands-on training and cutting-edge technology, teenagers will be unleashed to serve the poor and reach their peers in their local communities. Now more than ever with violence and depression rampant, students are stepping out with the message of life, serving and bringing the Gospel to make a difference because the Gospel changes everything.”

Commenting on the expansion of Dare 2 Share LIVE outside the U.S, Kris Stout, the Executive Vice President of Word of Life said, “The vision of Dare 2 Share Live is desperately needed for the local church and its teenagers not only in the United States, but also around the world. We are thrilled to pilot the first South American event in Paraguay this fall and ook forward to helping expand the impact to every region worldwide in the years to come.”

At the event last year, almost 10,000 students and youth leaders attended from 93 sites. This year, on October 12, Dare 2 Share LIVE will be broadcast from the flagship event in Denver, Colorado and is on track to be streamed to 100+ satellite sites nationwide. Each individual site will feature their own live worship band and emcee trainer, along with the direct feed of prominent speakers and artists such as Greg Stier, The Skit Guys, Vertical Worship, Esteban Shedd and Zane Black.

Over the last 28 years, Dare 2 Share has inspired and equipped over 1 million christian teenagers and youth leaders to engage in spiritual conversations through conferences, training curriculum and resources. In this one-day event, Dare 2 Share LIVE is seeking to engage over 500-800 churches to initiate up to 60,000 gospel conversations in one day.

A teen-led evangelism movement, Dare 2 Share LIVE is a national, multi-site training event designed to inspire students with the mission Jesus gave His people, to reach their generation for Christ. Utilizing technology that students are accustomed to, the event is structured to inspire teens as they are trained to relationally share Christ, and then empower them to reach out to both their local communities and their social networks. Dare 2 Share President, Debbie Bresina shares, “This is the largest youth population in history. By leveraging technology, these young people have the opportunity to ignite a significant movement of Gospel conversations on one day. Our vision is to see every teen everywhere hear the Gospel message from a friend so the expansion to include Canada and Central and South America are a critical step in the right direction.”

About Dare 2 Share: Founded in 1991, Dare 2 Share’s mission to Energize the Church to Mobilize youth to Gospelize their world, has led them to train and provide resources to hundreds of thousands of students and youth leaders. The focus on relational evangelism training has made Dare2 Share the go-to teen evangelism training resource for youth leaders and churches globally who want a Gospel Advancing Ministry that accelerates the spiritual growth of their teens and impacts their communities with the good news of Jesus Christ.

For more information on Dare 2 Share Live, visit dare2share.org/d2sliveinfo

For more information on the organization of Dare 2 Share, visit dare2share.org

For press inquiries and interview requests, please contact Jillian Treibel, jilliantreibel@dare2share.org.

Pastor Brian Kluth from Colorado never expected his personal Bible study of God’s word on finances and generosity would lead to two bestselling devotionals (600,000 copies) that would be used by God to help Christians and churches across America, Australia, Europe, Russia, India, East Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Pastor Kluth spent six weeks studying his Bible and found 400 Scriptures on what God wants people everywhere to know about finances and generosity. He then organized these verses under 40 Biblical financial principles and 40 daily readings. He printed out copies of the 40 Day generosity devotional for every family in the church and challenged everyone to take a few minutes each day to read and pray about the daily financial principle for the day and the 10 Bible verses. Individuals, couples and even entire families took him up on his challenge. In the weeks and months that followed, giving increased over 40% at his church!

Kluth thought his generosity devotional might help others churches, so he contacted seven Christian publishing companies to see if they would like to print and sell his devotional to other churches. All seven publishers turned him down. So, he and his wife decided to pay a graphic designer friend to make his 40 day devotional into an attractive 4-color booklet. When they printed their first 15,000 copies people laughed at them and said they would never be able to sell that many copies in their lifetime. But the people that laughed at them were wrong. God allowed them to sell hundreds of thousands of copies to thousands of churches who gave out the devotionals to ignite people’s faith, inspire generosity and increase giving..

In Australia, hundreds of churches used the devotional and saw giving increase an average of 35%! One church saw giving go up 80%.

Another church saw giving increase 50%!

 

A church in Texas received a $200,000 special offering and saw giving increase 50%!

After the dramatic and powerful impact the 40 Day Generous Life devotional was having on people’s living and giving, Kluth was invited by the Salvation Army in Australia to write a follow-up 30-Day devotional. This second generosity devotional is called the “7 Keys to Open-Handed Living in a Tight-Fisted World.” All 30 days have a daily Bible devotional, an inspiring true story of generosity, a daily quote and prayer.

Pastor Kluth went on to develop digital companion materials for his devotionals at www.generositydevotional.com. Both his 30 and 40 Day digital kits include weekly videos for church services, weekly discussion videos for small groups, sermon helps, children’s Sunday school curriculums, digital copies of the devotional and even downloadable iPhone/Android/Microsoft apps for phones, tablets and computers. There are also digital copies available in over 40 foreign languages for worldwide distribution.

Over 3000 churches from over 100 denominations/affiliations have purchased copies (print, digital or app) and given out copies to every family in their church. Because Kluth self-published these devotionals, he is able to offer them to churches for as little at $2.95-$4.95 per copy in bulk orders, but sample PDF copies are available for free to preview. Kluth has also allowed churches and denominations to make their own 4-page custom covers for just $1 more per copy. Churches as small as 25 or larger than 20,000 have distributed his devotionals to every family in their congregation.

In addition to his bestselling devotionals, Pastor Kluth has created hundreds of dollars of downloadable resources for churches. He sells these digital resources at a deeply discounted price of $99 (limited-time-offer) for over $500 in year-round generosity materials at www.kluth.org/kit99.htm. This includes cartoons, eBooks, webinars and much more!

Kluth’s ministry has taken him across America and to over 50 countries as a popular generosity speaker for churches and colleges and leadership conferences and events.

For more information, speaking engagements or media interviews, please contact Brian Kluth – Cell 719.930.4000 – bk@kluth.org. To receive your FREE sample copy or to place an order for print, digital or app copies and the digital kit of companion resources, go to www.GenerosityDevotional.com.

For people outside of ministry, the perception can be that it must be pretty easy. After all, it’s 90 minutes on a Sunday, leaving the rest of the week free, right?

Not quite, and in Ministry Stinks, this revealing new book, author Melanie J. Saward helps those in ministry navigate the challenge of being a pastor or in a ministry position.

“Ministry has got to be one of the most mentally and emotionally grueling roles I’ve personally ever played in life,” states Melanie. “I was a counselor, so I know the weight of people’s pain and how to not let it get you down. But in ministry, you deal with people throughout some of the darkest moments of their life and you don’t have the option to opt-out, because they are your sheep.

“There are incredibly high expectations of leaders in the church these days. They are often being asked to do tasks and have people skills that are rare to find cohabiting in one person.”

Statistics show that 50% of people will exit the ministry within five years of employment, and in terms of current pastors, 89% are considering leaving their jobs, so there is a real need to help pastors perform their all-important role.

“It can often feel like you are frequently letting people down, and falling short in some way,” she continues. “Because people are often dissatisfied with their church experience, there is the subsequent disillusionment at realizing that it’s definitely not as glamorous as people have often made it out to be. There’s the risk of burnout that is high for most ministry leaders. There’s the constant challenge to not let ministry become your identity. And there’s the ongoing battle to keep a humble heart when you see fruit. I could go on, but probably the worst challenge is how terribly lonely and sometimes isolated you feel.”

The success of megachurches has placed even more pressure on pastors, as people make the comparison that a church must be large to be influential and successful.

“Most churches nowadays presume that success in ministry is being a megachurch,” states Melanie. “I can’t even begin to imagine what influence social media and viewing famous celebrity pastors (who often have a platform because of their megachurches) have on the psyche of the average leader and their own expectations on themselves.

“But there is hope, and with the right tools, a position in ministry is one of the richest and most rewarding vocations. “I deliberately go very deep in unpacking what each challenge looks like so that those in ministry can identify quickly if that difficulty applies to them.

“I am also very deliberate to give quite practical solutions, because I believe we need real and not conceptual tools to empower leaders to live out their calling.

“Because we don’t generally share the really hard stuff with those around us, I’ve put myself out there in this book, bringing solutions to the questions and challenges that need to be faced.”

Ministry Stinks is a must read for anyone currently in ministry, or at least considering it. The book is available globally. Those in ministry can also follow Melanie via her blog.

Media Inquiries:
Melanie Saward
sawardmelanie@gmail.com