“And have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” Colossians 3:10 NKJV
When you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you become a new creation. When you are born again, old things pass away and all things become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
When you are “renewed in knowledge,” old things pass into oblivion, and new things replace them.
The night I was born again into God’s forever family, my parents came into my room to pray with me. Explaining that I had been habitually praying: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” But they explained that now, as a child of God, I had the awesome privilege of talking directly to the Lord about anything and everything, and should end every prayer “in Jesus’ name.”
Soon I was thrust into a new environment, and found I needed to pray about things I have never even considered previously.
At age 8 I was born again, but half a lifetime later at age 16, I was confronted with a situation. I had been asked to play trombone with the Campus Cadets high school dance band. I told my mother what had happened, and asked her what I should I do. She said, ” Ask your Dad when he gets home.” So when I told my Dad, he said, “My first advice is to pray about this.” I tried, but my prayers didn’t get through the ceiling, because I really wanted the prestige and “glamour” of wearing a white dinner jacket, carrying my brand new Olds super trombone, and being part of the most elite group in the high school music department. But when it was time to play “That’s My Desire,” I prayed, “Lord, You know this is not my desire. Help me. Help this to be my first, my last, and my only night with the Campus Cadets.”
Almost immediately, God hit me in the heart with two verses of scripture I did not even know that I had memorized: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:1-2
Immediately, I had a desire to reach out to my friend Ivan “Pete” Peterson, because I saw him moving in the wrong direction and I had an intense burden for him. Asking God to help me reach him, the Lord gave me a strategy. In a relatively short time, God used that strategy, and Pete totally surrendered his life to the Lord.
Shortly after that, God called Pete to preach the Gospel, and soon he too became a Romans 12:1-2 follower of Jesus.
Ivan Peterson enrolled in Midwest Bible college in St. Louis as I was beginning my senior year in high school. Our pastor, Charles Pedersen, brought Youth for Christ possibilities to Mt. Carmel. In February, the Pedersens had invited my mother to attend “Founders Week” at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. She brought a copy of Youth for Christ Magazine to me, and gave raving reports about a young man she heard there. Her comment was, “You’re going to hear a lot more about and from Billy Graham.” He had just concluded his first area wide evangelistic crusade in his hometown, Charlotte, North Carolina, with Cliff Barrows leading the music and George Beverly Shea as soloist.
Through Youth for Christ Magazine and the Scripture Press publications Sunday and Power, I received more and more knowledge about what God was doing in and through the Youth for Christ movement. I was eager to be a part of Mt. Carmel Youth for Christ. The more I learned, the more excited I became, and the more willing to put my new knowledge into action.
“The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Proverbs 18:15 NKJV
Fast forward: From the initial miracle of God’s providing a house and 2 1/3 acres, beginning in the living room with two teenagers Saturday, February 5, 1966, TTT now has a 30-acre campus, including the Christian Communication Center, and has hosted an event every Saturday night (now also online), moving toward TTT’s 60th birthday “Rendezvous” Saturday, February 7, 2026 – Celebrating God’s faithfulness: Telling The TRUTH, 60 years and counting.
You are invited to join us renewing in knowledge. Christ through you can change the world!