Contact: Steve Watters, 502-689-1626

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn., March 14, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- In a strategic launch from Desiring God, Children Desiring God will become an independent ministry, changing its name to Truth78, introducing a new Website and releasing new resources.

At an event on April 10, Children Desiring God will officially re-introduce itself as Truth78, an independent 501(c)3 organization structured to more strategically fulfill its mission to equip the next generations to know, honor, and treasure God.

"The name Truth 78 connects us to Psalm 78 which has been a signature text defining our ministry over the past 20 years," explains David Michael, founder and chairman of the board. "Psalm 78 charges us to take this testimony we've received from our fathers and faithfully pass it on to the next generation...so that they would set their hope in God."

Truth78 nurtures the faith of the next generations by equipping the church and home with resources and training that instruct the mind, engage the heart, and influence the will through proclaiming the whole counsel of God.

Michael sees the launch of Truth78 as an opportunity to encourage and equip even more parents, pastors and teachers with the same ministry philosophy that grew from two decades of serving within Desiring God, the ministry of John Piper. "Our burden," says Michael, "is for the next generation to have a faith that can joyfully endure with joy the trials and temptations of this age."

In 1998, Children Desiring God was established as a ministry of Desiring God. The ministries shared many things, including a similar name, typeface, and color palette. Over the past twenty years, however, Children Desiring God grew more broadly as a developer of curriculum and the Fighter Verses scripture memory tools, while Desiring God increasingly focused its emphasis on spreading a passion for the supremacy of God through resources on the website of DesiringGod.org. This resulted in distinctive needs for infrastructure, technology, fundraising mechanisms and artistic and editorial methods.

"We saw pretty clearly after a while that we were holding each other back from the maximum flourishing of both by trying to constrain this under one organizational structure," said John Piper. "Hence the new name and new organizational structure." Reflecting on the transition process, Piper adds, "If you put your ear to the sound of this transition, what you'll hear is mutual cheering on both sides for the joy and hope of what's going to come of these two ministries."

The organization will launch a new Website, Truth78.org, featuring responsive design, a Spanish translation (Verdad78.org), and a new weekly e-newsletter, "Joy for the Next Generations."

Truth78 will also introduce four new resources for equipping churches and parents: "Glorious God, Glorious Gospel," an interactive devotional for families; "When I Am Afraid," a children's book; a newly revised "A Father's Guide to Blessing His Children" booklet that will also be available as an app, and "Indestructible Joy for the Next Generation," an anthology featuring chapters by John Piper, Albert Mohler, Russell Moore, Bruce Ware, and more.

The launch event will take place at Immanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., and will feature a charge by Bruce Ware and a video message from John Piper. Also speaking will be Ryan Fullerton, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church; Mark Vroegop, pastor of College Park Church in Indianapolis, and David Michael. The event will be livestreamed at truth78.org/live.