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While most folks their age are looking forward to or already enjoying retirement, Russ Polson, 77, and his wife, Wynell, 66, spend weekends traveling among the churches of East Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, calling Christians to discern the destructive nature of much in today’s entertainment industry.
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Their motivation, they said, is their grandchildren, great-grandchildren and the many young people they encounter week after week growing up in a culture hostile to biblical values. Using videos produced by the Phil Chalmer True Lies Ministry, the Polsons present a message intended to enlighten and engage Christians without browbeating them.
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Russ Polson Ministry, formerly Resource Center for Biblical Morality, is about a passion to help young people and their families understand that some of the influences of this world can only bring heartache and desensitize people to the value of human life, Russ explained.
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What the couple presents is relevant and compelling, said David Nugent, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jasper. He said the students of his church were encouraged to live pure lives. And they, he added, are not ignorant of the things of this world. “The youth are in the know. Nothing really surprises them.”
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It’s the parents, Nugent said, who are shocked to learn what kids listen to in music and see in movies and on TV. “Parents are the ones who are naïve.”
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“Tell me about it!” Russ exclaimed. “I just want to shake them and tell them.”
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There is no physical shaking during Russ’s presentation, merely spiritual shaking. He said many parents are stunned to discover what their kids?church kids?have been exposed to via the entertainment industry in foul language and sexually explicit lyrics in music CD’s, movies and even video games. For example, Russ said, much of rap music and other violent and sexually explicit forms of pop music “have just ravaged our kids.”
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“It’s ruining our kids,” echoed pastor and long-time friend, Ray Tenpenny of East Mountain Baptist Church, home church for the Polsons.
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Tenpenny said as far back as Aristotle adults have been concerned with the unseemly elements of their day and its influence on the young and impressionable. For his generation, Tenpenny, 71, admitted with a laugh, it was country music?Hank Williams, if one were to name names. For his kids it was Elvis and Archie Bunker. “That was mild,” he said, compared to what kids mentally ingest these days.
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Russ admits that every generation of parents has its concerns of what negatively impacts their children. But things are different today, said the World War II veteran. The messages proclaimed through music and movies?be they explicit or subtle?can negatively impact the value a teen places on his own life or the lives of others.
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Russ said the problem of unwed motherhood was real when he was a teenager, but it was not as common and casual an issue as today. Fifty years ago, he said, the young girl in question would “go visit her aunt” and come home a few months later. Now young girls visit an abortion clinic and come home that afternoon.
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His involvement with the Right to Life movement years ago was truly the impetus for what he does today. Just seeing how life is held in such disregard moved him to action in ministries such as the Gideons, Underground Evangelism, or his ministry today. At the heart of the ministry is his love and concern for his 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. For them and all the children who will inherit this nation, Russ said, “I’ll do this until the Lord calls me home.”
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If just a few hearts are touched by what he and Wynell present, than it is well worth any effort, he said.
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When the couple speaks to churches it is usually in three different venues. Wynell addresses the youth while Russ talks to the parents and other adults of the church. The evening service with all church members is a time of celebration of God, country, and what God has in store for those who seek his will in their lives and the lives of their families.
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“He is always very positive, very upbeat,” said James O’Dell of Calvary Hill Baptist Church in Mesquite. “Our folks just love it.”
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O’Dell said he believes the heart of what the Polsons do is simply rooted in a sincere desire to share with churches that are not aware of ungodly influences that hold sway over teenagers. “He’s there to encourage you ? it’s never a condemning. He never does a lot of preaching.”
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Russ said he doesn’t even go behind the pulpit. He said he’s not a preacher or evangelist. He doesn’t even quote a lot of Scripture. “Our churches have enough pastors,” Russ said with a laugh. “I’m just a Southern Baptist layman with a burden on my heart.”
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His wife shares that burden. “I find it so rewarding,” she said. “It’s just something I can do at this time in my life.”
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Wynell said she approaches the students as a grandmother. She encourages the teens to hold one another accountable to the higher
