King Solomon once said that "fools despise wisdom." Unfortunately, we don’t have to look far to see that revealed throughout modern society. Sadly, today’s youth culture reflects such a statement far too often. Some have tagged today’s young people as the "Lost Generation." We have "lost" them to the Internet, video games, movies, television and in some cases their own families. If they are the lost generation then those of us older are the "Generation who gave up on them."

Kids in Rural America seem to be the "neglected and forgotten" demographic of America’s youth culture. Statistics show that young people in rural communities face the same risks that kids in both urban and suburban settings face. At the risk of over-simplification, we believe that the solution to many of today’s problems facing these rural kids can be found in mentoring them through intentional friendship. King Solomon also once said that, "he who walks with the wise, will grow wise." It is our belief that through mentoring relationships, teens in rural communities will become better suited to "live wise" when the time comes to face life on their own.

LiveWise is a mentoring program for rural teens designed to lead them on the path to wise decision making that will serve them for a lifetime. It is our hope that this program will not act as some kind of bandage or behavior modification system, but will produce young people who reject foolishness and instead "live wise."