Phoenix, Ariz., May 24, 2007 / 10:31 am
Mark Hart has received thousands of questions about faith and the Bible from teens. He responds by making the Bible fun and relevant and drawing youth back to the Catholic faith and church practice.
The 33-year-old executive vice president of Life Teen helps teens develop individual relationships with God through Bible studies, online questions and answers, retreats and live podcasts of the scriptures.
Life Teen is an international Mesa, Arizona based program that seeks to make the scriptures relevant to Catholic teens. Hart points to the lack of relevance of the Bible and the faith as a reason teens have left the church.
In his communication with teens, Hart emphasizes seven core values of a personal relationship between a teenager and God: love, joy, evangelization, primary vocation, affirmation, authenticity and Eucharistic spirituality.