Pure reflection

When Janice Turner's daughter was grown up, a successful, independent woman, people asked Turner how she raised such an impressive child. "I just told them I taught her principles and life," she said.

Four years ago, after many more parents inquired about her secret to raising a confident Christian daughter, Turner decided to let them in on her philosophy. She started Power of Purity classes at New Birth Ministries in Florence, the church she co-pastors with her husband.

The eight-week program started June 7 and centers on building spiritual strength and sexual purity in girls ages 12-18. Topics include "The Power of Packaging," on physical presentation and "The Sleeping Giant - Never Awake Love Before It's Time."

"It's kind of nice to know that this is in the community," said Kristen Perez, who is helping to organize the classes. "It would have helped me quite a bit."

Each class consists of one hour focusing on the spiritual and one on outward appearance. Classes center on values and purpose and "not being afraid to present that," Perez said. Guest speakers teach the girls about friendship, makeup and why they should remain sexually pure before marriage.

Danielle Elliott, a nurse practitioner in Florence, taught the first purity class informing girls about the risk of STDs. Elliott said teens lack such information. "I work with the teen population and have for the last 15 years, and they just don't know (about STDs)," she said. "In their mind, '(infection) is never going to happen to me.' "

Misperceptions that STDs exist only in big cities contribute to the rampant infection among teens, Elliott said. Parents who discuss STDs with their children, but are misinformed, is another probable cause, Turner said.

Peer pressure to loose virginity is intense, said Brittany Tanner, an 18-year-old who attended Power of Purity three years ago. "I just graduated, and you just deal with everyday pressure to have sex or your friends telling you to just go ahead and do it," she said.

During Elliott's class, the 10 girls in attendance asked few questions, probably because of the stigma of the assumption of sexual experience, Elliot said.

If a girl is not a virgin, she has the opportunity to be born again as one through a simple prayer. "Because it's biblically based, even though you made a mistake, you can still be redeemed," Turner said. "There is redemption."

At the end of classes in August, girls will take vows to remain pure at an abstinence ceremony, where they will wear white and their father, brother or guardian will escort them down the aisle to receive a memento to remind them of their vow.

Turner's desire to raise her daughter with Christian values that emphasized purity, came from her own troubled adolescence. When she was a teenager, "I had low self esteem, and I was full of rejection and insecurity," she said.

After her daughter was born, Turner thought "I'm going to teach her principles that no one taught me." Turner didn't have a father figure in her life, which she said left a void. Many young girls try to fill that void with sex she said.

"Girls give in to sex not because they want sex - it's like a hug. If they can get that from their fathers, they won't need it from a boyfriend." Turner said classes on romantic relationships focus on communication, not sex. "Sex is only a small part of relationships," she said.

In teen relationships, however, oral sex is a mainstay. For many teens it's a guilt-free way to engage in sex.

"I think they need to know there's options," Elliott said. "Purity will never break their hearts."

"It's really worth it," Tanner said. "It makes you stand out amongst other girls."

Turner said that though purity is a two-way street and should be taught to young males too, she's not the one to instruct them. "A man can relate to a male better than a female," on sexual matters, she said.

"We just need more males to step up to the plate, so (male teens) can make some of the same decisions."

Whether or not that happens, Power of Purity will continue to teach the facts and spiritual benefits of abstinence.

"You go down fighting that's what I say," Elliott said. "They can never say they didn't know."

Jennifer Crossley can be reached at 740-5743 or jennifer.crossley@timesdaily.com.