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Christ For the Nations Institute – Why Is Covenant Eyes Mandatory for Students?

Last Updated: April 2, 2015

Luke Gilkerson
Luke Gilkerson

Luke Gilkerson has a BA in Philosophy and Religious Studies and an MA in Religion. He is the author of Your Brain on Porn and The Talk: 7 Lessons to Introduce Your Child to Biblical Sexuality. Luke and his wife Trisha blog at IntoxicatedOnLife.com

In a previous blog post, I asked to hear from our customers about the effectiveness of Covenant Eyes when it is broadly implemented across a community (such as at a school or in a church).  Many Covenant Eyes members are individuals and families, but more and more church staffs, schools, and other institutions have been making Covenant Eyes available or even mandatory for their members.

The effect?

Joe Temte, the Dean of Students for Christ For the Nations Institute, writes, “Covenant Eyes Accountability software for the PC and Mac has, for several years, been part of the integrity and character-building strategy at CFNI.”  Christ For the Nations Institute is located in Dallas, Texas, and is a training facility for future missionaries (domestic and abroad).

Christ For the Nations reports:

CFNI Administration places just as much emphasis on the student’s integrity and character development as they do about traditional learning.  Therefore, installing the Covenant Eyes (CE) Accountability tool on every student computer is a necessary part of this proactive CFNI strategy.

The already-busy CFNI administration needed an effective way to develop Internet integrity, while at the same time empowering Resident Assistants (RA’s) to build a deeper relationship with the students under their support and care. . . .

Prior to implementation of the Covenant Eyes program, there had been an alarming increase in dealing with Internet pornography issues.  The time and resources spent on these issues was a serious concern.  But even more alarming was the effect of Internet pornography on the students in all areas of life, on and off campus.  There was a growing recognition that Internet pornography was impeding CFNI’s mission of training and equipping leaders with Godly character and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

CFNI Internet policy stipulates that each student install the CE Accountability tool on his/her PC and/or Mac before the Internet is made available to the student’s dorm room.  The RA’s are the Accountability Partners (AP) for the group of students under their care.  They are able easily to read and track the reports of each student using the CE Enterprise Administration System.  The Covenant Eyes system helps non-technical Accountability Partners read the reports of multiple users in one easy-to-read format.

The Covenant Eyes accountability tool provides a way for the RA’s to hold the student accountable for all their online activity, effectively ‘squeezing the life out of temptation’ for the students under the RA’s care.  The administration found Covenant Eyes to be easily implemented at low cost.  The Covenant Eyes administrative tools allow RA’s to easily view all of their students’ reports, investing little of their very precious time.

Since CFNI students are always accountable (as it is virtually impossible to bypass the CE Accountability tool), this frees up the CFNI Administration staff to concentrate on increasing the quality of the campus and curriculum.  Not being concerned with the Internet usage of the student population is very liberating for the CFNI Administration. . . . The CE Accountability tool also protects the school from potential lawsuits, criminal activity, and damage to CFNI’s reputation.

The RA’s job also is greatly enhanced by the open and transparent communication initiated by the Covenant Eyes program.

  • Comments on: Christ For the Nations Institute – Why Is Covenant Eyes Mandatory for Students?
    1. Bernard Vieira

      CFNI failed on teaching students about resisting to temptations and not falling into sin, which the Holy Word of God teaches us, so they had the students install this malware program into their computers and brag about how they found a solution for it. Stupid school, stupid joe temte.

      • Paul

        Bernard said it perfectly.

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