"The world of Mitt Romney makes it sound like they're minor differences," the Rev. Johnson said. "But the language of the (LDS) restoration is not that we just need to fix a few little details. It's a pretty significant claim Mormonism makes that historic Christianity was all wrong and there was a need for a brand new start. (Josh) didn't know anything about that."

The struggle plays out on the flip side as well, he said, referencing a student at Brigham Young University who left his LDS faith to become an evangelical Christian. "I can tell you it's every bit as painful for that Mormon family dealing with the loss of their son to evangelicalism," as it is for the traditional Christian parents, neither of whom seem to think their child's new faith is "just a little bit different."

Josh was raised in a Christian home, attended church regularly, graduated from a Christian high school and "still doesn't know what he believes," the Rev. Johnson said. "There's no real deep feeling either way. But that is post-modern culture" for most young people, he said. "Truth is a very malleable thing."

And that is just what "Grounded" tries to counteract, through a series of five video lessons designed to get teens thinking about the specifics of what they believe and why.

Topics in the fast-moving video program — which features quick shots, nontraditional camera angles, skateboarders and lots of graphics — include how to find truth, key differences between LDS and traditional Christian theology, how friendships can be successfully navigated between teens of different faiths, answers to some questions Latter-day Saints may raise, and examples of effective ways to share faith with LDS friends.

David Pascoe, who helped formulate the "Grounded" program, said it follows the adult counterpart called "Bridges" that was produced before the 2002 Winter Olympics as a training tool to help Christian evangelists understand how to effectively talk with Latter-day Saints.

"You can't go up to the first Mormon you see and say, 'I can't believe you swallow that Book of Mormon stuff.' The level you start at is real friendship, built around life experiences and common ground. Then if you want to talk about matters of faith, you can, but you don't start by slamming (LDS Church founder) Joseph Smith."

People who were exposed to "Bridges" kept telling Pascoe it had given them "new ways to deal with Mormons, and I wish there was something like that for kids." People were telling him "our kids really don't have very good answers when their Mormon friends say, 'Here's a Book of Mormon and I want you to read it and consider it."'

Many Christian churches weren't providing "a strong enough foundation in their own tradition to be able to talk in any kind of defense for their own belief to LDS friends. The LDS do a wonderful job of teaching their faith to their children of all ages."