by REBECCA GRACE | AFA Journal Staff Writer

"Hello. I’m Miss America," young Tara said to her seventh-grade classmates as she presented an oral book report. She wore a foil-embossed cardboard crown and held a silk rose.

While her classmates took on the personalities of presidents, astronauts and other noble characters, this young girl chose to read and present an autobiography about Cheryl Prewitt, Miss America 1980.

"Of course, I knew I wasn’t Miss America, but through reading that book, it really inspired me that God can use even pageant girls. He can use somebody besides a pastor or a missionary," she added.

And so began her journey into the pageant system. However, the aspiring beauty queen did not start competing until the age of 17.

Sixteen pageants later, including four tries at the state level over a span of seven years, the young seventh-grader’s dream came true as she was crowned Miss America 1997 two weeks prior to her 24th birthday.

The power of the crown
Today, Tara Dawn Holland Christensen uses her glory days of pageantry as the backdrop for a spiritually-based message she shares nationwide.

"When I was younger and first getting involved in pageants, quite honestly, my motivation was not completely spiritual," Christensen admitted.

"But as I went through the system, and as I began to understand the impact and the power of the crown, then the true attraction for me became the voice that goes with the title," she explained.

"I knew that I would have the opportunity to be Miss America for that one year, but I would always be a former Miss America who would at least have some sphere of influence and be able to use that title for Christ and hopefully be able to make an impact," Christensen said.

And that is just what Christensen is doing today by speaking to numerous audiences about the importance of abstinence outside marriage.

Her nationwide public speaking endeavors began as Miss America when she traveled about 20,000 miles a month making appearances and speaking about literacy. During her travels she realized society’s growing interest in abstinence.

The commitment of a beauty queen
At a very young age, Christensen made a commitment to remain sexually pure until marriage. Her commitment stemmed from asking Christ to become Lord and Savior of her life when she was five years old.

"I didn’t know how to engage in a theological debate, but I knew that I needed Jesus to cleanse me of my sins and to make me pure and clean again," Christensen said.

As a natural overflow of her renewed heart, Christensen desired to live a life that was pleasing to God and that included saving herself for her future husband.

"God says to be pure and to be abstinent until marriage, and I didn’t want to let Him down," she explained. "…It was also important for me not to let down my parents."

While Christensen was young, her parents took the initiative to teach her the Biblical standards of sexual purity and did not rely on the youth group or school classroom to do so.

"…God was my reason for abstaining, but my parents were my motivation," Christensen added.

As soon-to-be first-time parents, Christensen and her husband, Jon, have already decided they will begin teaching their child about the importance of sexual purity from a very young age and encourage other parents to do the same.

She believes that the standard is set too low when it comes to premarital sex, and many adults smooth over the problem with the excuse, "They are going to do it anyway."

Therefore, Christensen is working to raise the standard to one of purity.

Christensen’s advocacy efforts took full force after she was interviewed by Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family.

The interview was the result of a scathing newspaper article about Christensen’s commitment to abstinence and how her fiancé greatly valued her decision. At the time, she and her husband Jon were engaged. He was a former U. S. Congressman running for governor of Nebraska. After the couple verbalized their beliefs to the press, a media frenzy erupted.

"From the day that that [Dobson interview] aired, I’ve been doing abstinence events ever since," the former Miss America explained.

"So it was something the Enemy meant for evil but God turned around to use for good."

The plot of the Enemy
While the Enemy now uses the hidden agenda of sex education to fight for a foothold in the lives of today’s teens, God’s goodness is evident in the effectiveness of abstinence programs.

Real abstinence education recognizes that lasting sexual happiness is found within marriage. In contrast, comprehensive sex education programs focus almost completely on contraception and include sexually explicit material, graphic language, homosexual role-playing, erotic movies and hands-on activities.

According to a recent study by The Heritage Foundation (www.heritage.org), "Ninety-one percent of parents want teens to be taught that ‘the best choice is for sexual intercourse to be linked to love, intimacy, and commitment. These qualities are most likely to occur in a faithful marriage.’ "

Unfortunately, these parental pleas remain muffled as evident from the govern-ment’s allocation of funding.

The Heritage Foundation reports that "in 2002 alone, the government spent $12 promoting contraception and condom use for every $1 it spent to encourage teens to abstain from sexual activity."

More recently, the pleas of concerned parents and abstinence advocates caught the attention of President Bush who has embraced the issue as a major initiative. According to CNN.com, the President proposed that $272 million be budgeted for abstinence-until-marriage programs in 2005. Unfortunately the request was not met in its entirety; however, abstinence programs will receive an increase in funding to $170 million (up from $138 million in 2004) for the current government-spending year (www.abstinence.net).

This slight increase in funding is justified by a substantial increase in positive effects of abstinence education.

The goodness of God
For example, sexual activity was lowered 17% among girls who participated in the national Best Friends Foundation, a program that teaches abstinence as a part of physical and emotional well-being.

"Be the One" is another abstinence-based program that results in significant attitudinal changes as referred to by its founder Lloyd Groves.

"In 1991, 46% of high school students surveyed said they were still virgins," Lloyd said, as reported by Abstinence Clearinghouse in the Boca Raton News. "In 2001, 54% said they were virgins. The only thing that has changed on the landscape is abstinence education."

In addition, a study published by the Journal of Adolescent Health revealed, "Overall, 53% of the decline in pregnancy rates can be attributed to decreased sexual experience…and 47% to improved contraceptive use."

As evident from the statistics, abstinence education is effective, and Christensen is intent on being a vital part of the movement.

The former Miss America’s message encompasses a variety of points that vary depending on the setting but include highlights such as: purity is a calling from God; individual worth is a reason for waiting; and goals and dreams can be achieved. But her favorite aspect to share is that God was her strength when it came to remaining sexually pure until marriage.

The voice of virginity
"My prayer is that those who hear me would be some how reminded of the fact that we can live up to purity, and we can have that kind of a lifestyle," Christensen said.

"As much as I believed in abstinence and purity before I was married, it was after I was married and experienced that intimacy with my husband that I just wept for all the people who [willingly] give that gift away to someone prior to their spouse," she explained.

Having personally experienced the impact of sexual purity both before and after marriage, Christensen aims to encourage young people that it is possible to wait.

"I was a 26-year-old virgin when we got married," she said.

Although Christensen’s romance with her husband unfolded like a fairy tale that involved meeting on Valentine’s Day, being proposed to on the South Portico of the White House, and having an intimate Southern wedding, it didn’t outweigh her commitment to purity.

In fact, during their engagement, Christensen and her husband made a written commitment to one another and to God of what they physically would and would not do prior to their marriage. It was very helpful, especially in the wake of heightened emotions leading up to the wedding.

"Then just from a practical standpoint, my thought was, ‘I’ve waited 26 years. I’m not going to blow it now,’ " Christensen rationalized.

But more than that, it was Christensen’s desire to please God that sustained her, and it was her virtue that made her a crown unto her husband (Proverbs 12:4).

BEWARE OF THESE SEX ED PROGRAMS/ALLIANCES
• Abstinence Plus – a sex education program in which only 4.7% of the curricula is devoted to abstinence.

• Be Proud! Be Responsible! – invites students to brainstorm spontaneous and erotic ways to use contraception.

• Focus on Kids – teaches alternatives to sexual intercourse such as fantasizing, watching erotic movies, sensuous feeding, etc.

• Planned Parenthood Federation of America – opposes any efforts to teach character-based abstinence.

• Advocates for Youth – Supports abortion on demand and government-funded contraceptive clinics.

• The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy – presents a “value-free” message in which abstinence and condom use are seen as equal.

Sources: www.heritage.org; Take Twelve, a publication of Focus on the Family, www.family.org