~ MoMo ~

Great recognition from Ball Hog who is a thoughtful evangelical writer.

http://razorbacktalk.com/board/index.php/topic,22161.msg366429.html#new

Son and I just got back from the “Do Hard Things” Conference led by the Harris brothers. They oversold the event with over 3000 in attendance and the fire marshall was directing where the overflow could sit in the aisles.

We sat with Josh Harris the twins 33-year-old older brother and pastor of the church where this event was held. Josh Harris is a best-selling author as a young man.

The premise of the conference is that our culture shackles teens with low expectations. The twins, Alex and Brett, started a blog about the subject which got the attention of the NY Daily News and other media outlets. They contacted by the Alabama Supreme Court and did a legal internship at the age of 16.

The term teen-ager was first used in Reader’s Digest in a 1941 article. The labor laws of the early 20th century created more educational opportunity and less sweat shop work for young people. It also created an age group that stopped primarily being a producer and became consumers.

The analogy is that in Asia a mature elephant is a beast of burden and yet can be contained with twine around its hind leg attached to a stake. The baby elephant is first chained with a real restraint to a tree. Over time, the elephant forgets about trying to escape its circumstances.

In a similar way teens can miss out on God’s glorious purpose for their lives during their teen years. The current ceiling for accomplishment is really where the floor should be.

They related “Rest of the Story” bits on George Washington, David Farragut, and Clara Barton. George was county surveyor at age 16. Farragut captained a captured British ship at age 12. When the British captain decided this was too much of an insult, young Farragut warned that if he came on deck he would be shot and tossed overboard. The cap’n stayed in the hold. Barton was shy but eventually started the Red Cross.

They related a contemporary story of a teen-ager who started Loose Change to Loose Chains. It encouraged people to donate loose change so that agents could buy persons in Africa out of slavery.

The brothers challenged teens to Do Hard Things including:
1) Fighting sin in their life
2) Battling discouragement and complacency
3) Doing more than is required
The Vikings apparently rowed their own ships rather than use slave labor. They were hard and tough to defeat in battle
4) Getting over our fear of failure.
5) What is Hard Is different for each person. Challenge is to take on the difficult aspect in your area of talent and God-given passion and service.
6) Do the Small Things that seem like Hard Things.
Equip for bigger challenges in the future.
7) Doing Hard Things is not the easiest life but is the best life.

The Christian ideal has never been found lacking, just too difficult.

3 Pillars of Doing Hard Things: Character, Competence, and Collaboration

Character: A true Christian has the heart of lamb inside wolf’s clothing. That wolf is always wanting to express. We bear the fruit of the type of person we really are. Some try to staple fruit onto a barren tree.

The twin’s father Greg led an invitation in which hundreds indicated they had made a first time profession of faith in Christ. At the end of the conference, the father got emotional when he noted that after years of feeling he was less than successful as an evangelist, there is this God glorifying response when his sons were the main speakers.

The twins urged Collaboration:
Do not just go it alone (II Tim. 2:22)
Do not go with just peers. Get wise, mature counsel, preferably from parents.

The twins challenged teens within the next month to:
1) Identify a hero or heroes. Learn about them.
2) Read great books.
3) Take advantage of the Rebelution (blog, message board, conference contacts)
4) Find the closet Rebelutionaries in their church or town to befriend
5) Seek out godly individuals. Ask them “what would you do differently if you had to do it over again?”
6) God is the ultimate companion. Draw closer to God in prayer and Bible Study
7) Change something. Make a conscious choice to change a habit.

The son enjoyed the event. It was a long day but fulfilling.

The message can be controversial but rightly understood, should not be.

~hannah

Thanks so much,
Morgan