Conference Overview

For some of here at Probe, there is one ministry we especially love. Our Student Mind Games Conference is a week-long, total immersion, give-it-all-we've-got experience for high school and college students that changes minds and hearts forever.

We teach Christian students how to think biblically on a wide range of

We teach Christian students how to think biblically on a wide range of subjects: worldviews, basic apologetics, creation and evolution, human nature, the differences between guys and girls, the problem of evil, the value of suffering, campus Christianity, and even how to watch a movie without swallowing it whole. They learn about world religions, a compassionate but biblical view of homosexuality, science and Earth history, feminism, and genetic engineering. We always have a lively discussion on "A Return to Modesty," where the guys and girls get refreshingly honest with each other about how to glorify God in their behavior.

The Probe teachers don't just give the lectures, though; we continue conversations at meals, where we eat and visit with the students instead of each other. We assign readings by authors who don't have a Christian worldview, and break up into discussion groups to help the students develop their discernment skills and tune up their baloney detectors. There is free time every afternoon for everybody to hike, swim, play basketball or card games, read or nap. They learn how to be discerning in watching movies or films, and get practice at it by watching several movies during the evenings.

The students are delighted to meet other thinking Christians from all over the country, students eager to think and grow in their faith as they learn to love God with their minds together. They enjoy getting to know us as the instructors, too. We're not only available the whole week—we look for opportunities to engage in conversations that will encourage and affirm what God is doing in the minds and hearts of these precious young people.

We'll be talking about our conference all week. You'll hear from a couple of our Mind Games alumni and their fathers, and hear a little bit from several lectures. But you can go right now to our Web site, Probe.org, and see for yourself what a conference looks and feels like. We've got lots of pictures and reports from the past four years' Mind Games conferences online. You can look at last year's schedule, read what alumni have had to say, and find out all the details . Or you can call us at 1-800-899-PROB. Now is the best time to register for this summer's conference in July, so please check it out!

Interview with Alumna and Dad - Part 1

Our usual weekend Mind Games conference at churches gives little time for personal interaction. But at our National Student Conference an hour from Little Rock, Arkansas, students have time to study, worship, play, eat, and generally just hang out with Probe staff and other like-minded students. For many, it's their first opportunity to spend real time with other Christian students who passionately desire an authentic faith that makes a difference. Jordan Singleton enjoyed Mind Games so much, she came back a second year. Here's Jordan and her father Bob:

Jordan Singleton:
I went to Mind Games for two years, in 2001 and 2002. I was interested in going to a summer camp that was a little bit more in-depth than what my church usually offered as summer camp. Plus I just thought it would really be cool to go to a camp where people from all across the country came rather than just people from my youth group. The two weeks I spent at Mind Games have really defined how I approach learning in my university, and how I relate to my professors. Learning to see things from a Christian worldview . . . I didn't even know what the word "worldview" meant before I went to Mind Games. But now just learning to not take people at face value and to think about what they're claiming is what really lasted after the week was over.

Bob Singleton:
"We were really excited when Jordan said she wanted to attend the camp. The retreat offered a lot of things that we couldn't give her. She was in high school. She was going to be going to college. She was participating in a lot of things. And she had a lot of questions about things that we really couldn't answer. So, to have somebody as trusted as Probe Ministries to put on a week-long retreat that would be a challenge for her and answer her questions was really an answer to prayer.

"When she came back, she was excited, she was laughing a lot . . . she was so full of information, And we were really pretty much assured from the way that she talked and the way that it affected her that they'd really done a good job of preparing her for what was coming up in her life. She was going to be going to college soon, and she was already interacting with a lot of people, college-aged people and subjects and dealing with things that they covered. So when she came back, we were excited, she was excited; she'd obviously had a whole lot of fun. And the first thing she said when she came back was, 'I want to go again next year.'"

Bob (Singleton Productions, Inc.— www.singletonproductions.com) is a composer, producer, and sound designer.

Sneak Peek of Probe Lectures

The Ozark Mind Games conference is our favorite week of the year. Probe instructors have the privilege of teaching great material to great students that we really enjoy getting to know and love. The students get a total of eighteen lectures plus a couple of films. We've got a special alumni track for returning students, which they really enjoy. And then there are the mealtime conversations, which can become quite lively as we continue discussions started in the teaching sessions! Here are snippets of four of our Probe Mind Games instructors:

Todd Kappelman:
"I believe there are two ways in which individuals go wrong. One is when we drift apart from one another, or else we collide with one another and do one another damage. The other is when things go wrong inside of us—inside the individual, the different parts of him. His different faculties and desires and so on either drift apart or interfere with one another. The study of ethics—the analysis of concepts such as right, wrong, should, ought, good and evil—is extremely important for the Christian to understand his or her world."

Sue Bohlin:
"How do we explain why human beings are capable of such good and such horrific evil? The biblical explanation has two parts. First of all, we are made in the image of God, which explains the beautiful, loving, noble, kind things we can do. But also, because sin entered the world, we are fallen creatures and that explains the awful, evil things that we are capable of."

Ray Bohlin:
"So when I was in the classroom, particularly in the class about evolution, I never felt it was a problem at all ato understand evolution as best I could and to repeat on tests and so forth, I simply would say, 'Well, according to the theory of evolution such and such is true.' But there also might come a time in the classroom when you realize that things are being said you simply can't ignore, that people are being misled and you have to do something. And so my response to that is to learn the art of asking questions rather than blurting in with the little speech or whatever, learn how to ask the right questions to expose the truth."

Rick Wade:
"Do we have any experience at all of the impersonal creating the personal? Those who deny a personal beginning to the universe simply do that. They simply deny it and then they look for evidences to explain the universe apart from it but they have no explanation for how personality rises from the impersonal. We do have an explanation: a personal God created us."

Interview with Alumna and Dad – Part 2

One of the things that sets Mind Games apart from other conferences is that we do our best to teach students not just what to think, but how to think. They need to learn how to discern between truth and error, how to identify the worldview of a writer or speaker, how to ask questions for maximum impact, and how not to just blindly swallow everything a professor says. But some students leave skid marks at the door! Jennifer Robison was one of those students we love to see coming because they're so changed when they leave:

"When my parents first informed me that I was going to Mind Games I was not happy because it meant that I was going to give a week out of my summer vacation that I wasn't sure if I was willing to give up to go to a -– um -– 'Let's-learn-about-the-Bible' camp. But when I got there I instantly felt welcomed by the professors and the staff and all the kids there. It was really a very friendly atmosphere. And then once I got into the classes and started learning more and more about what they were talking about—the apologetics and about how to defend your faith—I learned so much in that week that I was like a sponge that couldn't absorb enough. I came back just really realizing that as a Christian you need to understand not only your faith but the other religions out there so that you can defend your faith and I just learned so much and it just made me a stronger person in my faith and in my morals and being able to defend myself among non-Christians and Christians alike, like it was just a wonderful experience. And I remember leaving just thinking, 'I cannot wait to come back here next year and learn more and more.' And I did. The next year, the second year, I came back. I was able to reabsorb some of the same stuff I had forgotten from the first year and learn brand new stuff. And it's stuff that has really shaped the way I view the world and my worldview and just with everything, with the way I deal with people, with the way I think of God and other religions and my morals and everything. It's wonderful. I would recommend it for everyone out there.

"The teachers there are so nice and so friendly. They hung out with us just like the other kids did. They would help us, you know . . . open up discussions. And they'd sit with us at dinner and lunch and breakfast. They wouldn't go off in their own little table. They'd always be with us. And they'd be talking with us and trying to get to know us. And they're so much fun and so funny and so intelligent and informed. They know what they're talking about. You can bring questions to them, and they'll help you work through it instead of just giving you the answer . . . they'll almost, like, come back with a question of their own for you to really get you to think through it. And they're all so nice and stuff there; the teachers are just so, so nice. They care so much about the kids and about really equipping them to go out into the world and make a difference."

Why Go to Mind Games?

Probe's Mind Games conferences have been preparing young people for the challenges to their faith for nearly a decade. In that time we have witnessed first hand the incredible thirst for a reliable trustworthy faith. Again and again we hear that some had despaired of ever finding something like Mind Games. The conference consistently exceeds expectations and students often tell us they wish they had brought their friends.

Alumni from these summer conferences are going on to become leaders on their campuses and beyond. This weeklong immersion truly changes lives, giving them a new confidence in their God, His Word, and in their role as His ambassadors. We know this because some of them come back as alumni a second year, and because they e-mail us from college and let us know how Mind Games continues to impact them.

The National Student Mind Games Conference is for those who have finished their junior or senior years of high school, and college freshmen and sophomores. They receive 25 hours of lecture using video clips, role play, and other teaching techniques. They participate in small group discussions that help them learn to read with critical thinking skills, they worship together, they play together, and they make lifelong friends. During this week, many move from merely receiving their parents' beliefs to choosing a vibrant faith of their own.

Here are some of the topics we cover:

Worldviews
Apologetics
Human Nature
Introduction to Ethics
Creation and Evolution
Is Jesus the Only Savior?
Guys are From Mars, Girls Are From Venus
Homosexuality
The Problem of Evil
The Value of Suffering
World Religions
Science and Earth History
Feminism
Genetic Engineering
Nietzsche for Beginners
Campus Christianity
A Return to Modesty

Please go to our Web site, Probe.org, and check out the reports and pictures of the last few Ozark Mind Games conference—and then register someone you love.

Here's Rod Robison, a dad who sent his daughter Jennifer to Mind Games:

"One thing Jeannie, my wife, and I really appreciated about Mind Games was, we felt it was very reasonably priced for what we received back. And I would just encourage any parent out there, parent of a teenager, to consider the small investment you'll be making in your child. It will bring back great return."

Rod is Vice President for Development of Family Life Communications, Tucson, Ariz. (www.flc.org)

©2004 Probe Ministries.

About the Author

Sue Bohlin is an associate speaker with Probe Ministries. She attended the University of Illinois, and has been a Bible teacher and conference speaker for over 30 years. She serves as a Mentor Mom and speaker for MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers), and on the board and as a small group leader of Living Hope Ministries, a Christ-centered outreach to those dealing with unwanted homosexuality. She is also a professional calligrapher and the webmistress for Probe Ministries; but most importantly, she is the wife of Dr. Ray Bohlin and the mother of their two grown sons.

What is Probe?

Probe Ministries is a non-profit ministry whose mission is to assist the church in renewing the minds of believers with a Christian worldview and to equip the church to engage the world for Christ. Probe fulfills this mission through our Mind Games conferences for youth and adults, our 3-minute daily radio program, and our extensive Web site at www.probe.org.

Further information about Probe's materials and ministry may be obtained by contacting us at: