John Shea graduated from college with high honors, accepted a job at a major company in New York, earning $60,000 a year, was offered admission to numerous prestigious law schools, and full-ride scholarships from several – all by the age of 17.

+ Read John’s Story at CollegePlus.org +

Once you’ve finished the article over at CollegePlus!, come back here to share your thoughts. We were excited to see the language of rebelling against low expectations throughout the article — as well as from John himself. Moreover, even as students at Patrick Henry, we are stoked to see the rise of alternative approaches to higher education for those who can’t afford to pay for (or spend) four years in college.

Some questions for discussion:

• Have you (or anyone you know) pursued accelerated distance learning, whether through CollegePlus! or by some other means?
• What do you think are the advantages of accelerated distance learning?
• What are the advantages of the traditional four year approach?

With just over a week to go before the Amazon.com Book Bomb, over 250 people have pledged to order 375 books on February 23rd. This is a good start! But it’s less than half the number of pledges we had at this point for Do Hard Things.

To make this a success, we all need to push hard over the next week to spread the word, build excitement — and most importantly, get people to sign up and pledge.

A lot of you have already been doing an amazing job. A special shout out to…

Camden M. — who redesigned his blog for the Book Bomb.

Matthew R. — who created a Facebook App for spreading the word.

Tabitha H. — who is using her next paycheck to order 5 copies.

Seth W. — who got his whole youth group (of 20) to sign up.

If others will follow their lead — there’s no way the Book Bomb won’t take off.

To do our part, we’ve decided that on top of giving away free copies of Start Here for every copy ordered on February 23rd — we want to give away prizes to our top Book Bomb participants and promoters. Here’s what we’ve come up with…

All orders of 5 or more copies will receive…

- One autographed copy of Start Here OR
- One “Do Hard Things” t-shirt.

All orders of 10 or more copies will receive…

- One autographed copy of Start Here AND
- One “Do Hard Things” t-shirt AND
- One ticket to a 2010 Rebelution Conference

The largest order placed on February 23rd will receive…

- One autographed copy of Start Here AND
- Two “Do Hard Things” t-shirts AND
- Three tickets to a 2010 Rebelution Conference AND
- We want to meet you backstage and say thanks!

We will also have corresponding prizes for our Top Three Promoters. These are people who have enthusiastically and creatively helped spread the word about the book bomb. We understand not everyone can afford to purchase 5+ books (and if you can’t afford it, don’t feel bad about not participating). But everyone can help spread the word — and if you do a good job, we want to reward you.

We hope these prizes encourage and equip you to spread the word. We offer them because we truly believe that an effective Book Bomb next Tuesday is one of the best (and practical) ways to reach our culture and generation with message that will point them to Christ and make them more effective in His service. Soli Deo gloria!

+ The Book Bomb / Prize Rules +

In five weeks, our new book Start Here will finally be released. After working on it all last summer and fall, we couldn’t be more excited to get this very practical — and we hope, very inspiring — new resource into the hands of rebelutionaries.

In anticipation of the launch, we’ve revamped the Book area of the site. We’ve added a brand-new section for Start Here — where you can download and read the first two chapters of the new book, as well watch the official promo video.

We also want to announce two exciting pre-release promotions: A partnership with BooksChristian.com to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti and the return of the Amazon.com Book Bomb — a chance for rebelutionaries to shock the world again.

Autographs + BooksChristian.com = Help for Haiti

Over the next few weeks (between exams, papers, and homework) we’ll be signing almost 2,000 bookplates — many of which will go to BooksChristian.com. They’re the exclusive source for pre-ordering autographed copies of Start Here.

We did a similar promotion for Do Hard Things — but unlike last time, when you pre-order your autographed copy of Start Here, $2 (almost 20 percent) of your purchase will be donated to the Haiti relief efforts of Samaritan’s Purse.

This is a great opportunity to get an autographed copy of the new book and support the efforts of those responding to one of the greatest tragedies of our time. To learn more about the disaster — and to lend a hand — visit Samaritan’s Purse.

The Amazon.com Book Bomb

On March 25th, 2008, rebelutionaries stunned the publishing world by propelling Do Hard Things — a hardcover, challenging, non-fiction book for teens — to the Top 5 on the Amazon.com Bestseller List. In 2010, we’re going to do it again.

The Amazon.com Book Bomb will coordinate hundreds of people all ordering Start Here on the same day — Tuesday, February 23rd — raising the book to a place where thousands of new eyes (and hearts) will be exposed to its message.

Like last time, this is about spreading the message, not selling a lot of books. That’s why we commit to give away as many copies as are purchased on February 23rd — to teens, families, or ministries who can’t afford them.

To learn more about the Book Bomb, sign up to participate, and help spread the word (we need your help!) check out the Book Bomb page.

Promotions… But A Whole Lot More

The reason we are so excited about these promotions is that, while they include buying books — they’re actually about a whole lot more.

When you pre-order a copy of Start Here from BooksChristian.com, you’re not only getting an autographed copy, you’re also giving to relief efforts in Haiti.

When you order copies to give away to family and friends on February 23rd, you’re not only helping reach a whole new audience with the “do hard things” message, you’re also providing free copies of Start Here to teens who can’t afford them.

We hope you’re as excited as we are, not just about the release of Start Here, but about a chance to make a difference in the lives of others — soli Deo gloria!

+ Visit BooksChristian.com / Join the Book Bomb +