Challenge Accepted

Joseph Parker, director of intercession and outreach at American Family Association (AFA) and host of American Family Radio’s (AFR) The Hour of Intercession, is encouraging children to think deeply about the life-changing Word of God by participating in this year’s Ten Commandments Speech Challenge, hosted by AFR.

Parker spearheads the Ten Commandments Speech Challenge because he firmly believes that “our children and youth desperately need to hear the gospel and be discipled in the Word of God.”

The tool

This is one way that AFR is coming alongside parents as they teach their children the importance of the Ten Commandments as the foundation for a Christian understanding of morality.The premise of the challenge is the same as last year: Children, ages 7-17, are encouraged to deepen their understanding of God’s Word by writing, presenting, and submitting a speech on the Ten Commandments. The overall challenge is designed to walk participants through researching and understanding all the Ten Commandments by focusing on one commandment per year.

While last year’s topic prompted a broad understanding of the commandments, this year’s challenge is to write a speech about the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).

The truth

According to theologian Matthew Henry,

The first commandment concerns the object of our worship, Jehovah, and Him alone. … The sin against this commandment which we are most in danger of is giving the glory and honour to any creature which are due to God only. Pride makes a god of self, covetousness makes a god of money, sensuality makes a god of the belly; whatever is esteemed or loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended on, more that God, that (whatever it is) we do in effect make a god of.

“In today’s culture, our children are pulled in so many different directions that it’s easy for ‘little g’ gods to receive the affection of their hearts,” said AFA Vice President Wesley Wildmon. “That’s all the more reason that we as parents should guide our children to be firmly planted in the truth of the first commandment.”

“And what better way to do that than encouraging children to study and dissect the meaning of this commandment and share their understanding of it in a speech,” Parker added. “The Ten Commandments Speech Challenge is used to disciple youth with one of the most fruitful and powerful teaching tools in the Word of God – His law.” 

To participate in the 2025 Ten Commandments Speech Challenge, children and teens are to write a speech in response to the given prompt, record a video of themselves reciting the speech, and upload the video to afr.net/tencommandments.

Speeches can be uploaded June 1-30, 2025. However, participants are encouraged to submit their speeches early in the month, as some of them will be aired on American Family Radio throughout June.

The suggested length of each speech is no more than five minutes. AFA encourages parents, grandparents, and guardians to help participants with their speech writing, if needed.

AFA will reward all participants with a newly designed Ten Commandments T-shirt, a Ten Commandments bookmark, and a code to use for free shipping on an order from the AFA Resource Center (resources.afa.net).    

For more information about AFR‘s Ten Commandments Speech Challenge, visit afr.net/tencommandments.