There are many reasons given for why someone else (i.e. not you, not me) should do something to help the needy and oppressed. However, being only five-years-old probably tops the list of effective cop-outs. But five-year-old Phoebe wasn’t looking for an excuse — and helped raise $34,000 to feed the hungry. Which makes you wonder: What if we stopped looking for excuses too?

5-Year-Old Helps Feed Nearly 18,000
AOL News - Wednesday, July 29, 2009

(July 28) - Phoebe did something “really big” that raised more than $30,000 to feed poor families in San Francisco last June.

The 5-year-old girl expressed a desire to help feed the needy after seeing a man begging for food through the window of her parents’ car when they passed him by during her daily ride to preschool.

Phoebe set a goal to raise $1,000 to feed needy residents by collecting cans.

Her teacher, Kathleen Albert, told her the dollar amount was a “bit ambitious” for a 5-year-old, but the Phoebe was determined.

She was especially encouraged after talking to officials at the San Francisco Food Bank. They told her several agencies had pledged to provide $9 in food for every $1 donated to the food bank.

Albert helped Phoebe draft a letter to the school’s alumni asking for canned food donations and matching cash gifts. The response was overwhelming. Her stash piled up as donors delivered bags full of cans and checks to help her meet — and far surpass — her goal.

Phoebe’s once overambitious goal seems minuscule compared to the check for $3,736 she gave to Paul Ash, the executive director of the San Francisco Food Bank. With matching donations from the charity’s large network, Phoebe’s donation will result in $33,624 worth of food — or 17,971 meals — for the city’s hungry.

“We get many gifts of this size, but with this one it’s a real emotional boost,” says Ash. “I’m going to be speaking to a bunch of lawyers tonight, and I’m going to tell them about her. I’ll say, ‘If Phoebe, 5 years old, can raise $3,700, we as adults can do more than we’re doing.’”

“I think it is very important to teach children to give back to the community,” Albert said. “I see so many adults who walk around and have no idea of that. It doesn’t matter your wealth, you can still give back. It teaches kids that small donations can add up to big donations.”

We first read “Holiness” by J.C. Ryle when we were fifteen. Our older brother, Joshua, gave us both a copy as a gift and the three of us read through it together. Revisiting it five years later, we still find it encouraging and challenging — with much to say about low expectations and complacency in the life of a Christian.

“The Christian who is always at a standstill…”

This morning the following passage jumped off the page. It is one of five reasons Ryle shares for why continued growth is of infinite importance to the soul. We trust it will convict and challenge you as much as it did us:

Ryle writes: “The Christian who is always at a standstill, to all appearance the same man, with the same little faults, and weaknesses, and besetting sins, and petty infirmities, is seldom the Christian who does much good. The man who shakes and stirs minds, and sets the world thinking, is the believer who is continually improving and going forward. Men think there is life and reality when they see growth.” (Holiness by J.C. Ryle - pp. 103-104)

Men think there is life and reality when they see growth. Isn’t that true to experience? How many hearts have been warmed through seeing the stunning transformation brought about by conversion? Radical change in a person’s life almost requires a supernatural explanation — God must have changed their hearts!

But Ryle is telling us that growth and change should be the mark of a Christian, not only at conversion, but for the rest of his life. We should always be growing!

How can we be expected to grow continually?

Ryle is not setting forward an unrealistic expectation. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer (Gal. 5:22-23). This is the result of beholding our Savior and being changed from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18). This is the ongoing process of sanctification as God completes the good work He started in us (Phil. 1:6). Christians not only will keep growing, but they must keep growing.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that growth will be uninterrupted, or that there won’t be seasons of dryness. We all experience those. The difference between mature and immature believers is not the absence of spiritual valleys, but the refusal to remain at a standstill (Phil. 3:12-14). This means that the mature believer will fight against stagnancy and persevere through it, holding fast to Him who never lets us go. It means that the general trend of his life, from one year to the next, will be growth.

So what about you? What evidence of “life and reality” can you see from one year to the next? Are you improving and going forward — or are you resting on the laurels of past spiritual highs? Do you love God more than you did last year — or have you been content at a standstill? Do you see growth in your life?

When you don’t see growth in your life…

Your answers to these questions may concern you. And you may have good reason for concern. Read carefully through the following categories and be honest with yourself about where you are in your walk with God. This is very serious.

If you are fighting through a dry spell, be encouraged. All the most eminent saints of history have experienced the same. God has not given up on you — and even through this season He is teaching you to be faithful. Remember the words of the psalmist: “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” And in your waiting, fight for joy in God. We highly recommend reading “When I Don’t Desire God” by John Piper — and, of course, “Holiness” by J.C. Ryle.

And if you have given up fighting, be exhorted. In his book, “Crazy Love,” Francis Chan describes life as a never-ending downward escalator. In order to grow in Christ we must sprint back up the escalator — to stand still is to move backwards. The good news is that there are endless supplies of fresh strength for those who wait upon the Lord (Isa. 40:30-31). And in your waiting, fight for joy in God. You will also be well-served by the Piper book recommended above.

But if you have never fought at all, be concerned. Those who have little care for spiritual growth, and have shown minimal progress over the course of their Christian lives, should seriously question whether their faith is genuine. The Bible makes this clear. A tree is known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45). Faith without works is dead (James 2:14, 17). Spiritual life and reality will result in growth.

This brings you to a vital question. This post may have been a mirror into your life (James 1:23-24). Will your turn away and forget what you saw? We plead with you: Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart (Heb. 3:15). Rather, repent and believe that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord of your life — and be transformed from the inside out, today and for the rest of your life.

Soli Deo Gloria! (To God Alone be the Glory)

Tim Tebow is an amazing quarterback. But more importantly, Tim Tebow is a Christian, with a passion for proclaiming the gospel. From his missions work to his eye-black, Tim knows what really matters — and it’s not football. By God’s grace, he stands as a stellar example of how to use your platform to magnify the Lord.

At our conference in Orange County this weekend, Brett and I read the latest cover story on this God-glorifying young man and his family. Whether you’re into sports or not, as rebelutionaries we should all be inspired by Tim Tebow’s example and committed to lifting him up in our prayers. The enemy would love to take him down.

You Gotta Love Tim Tebow by Austin Murphy

He’s a Heisman Trophy winner and a two-time national champion, but the Florida quarterback will tell you he does his most important and rewarding work off the football field.

[Williams] was ferrying Tebow and three other Gators to the Lawtey Correctional Institution, one of Florida’s four “faith-and-character-based” prisons. There would be prayers and singing, and gospel music from the prison’s own band. But the highlight of the night would be a 25-minute oration by Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, who would stress the importance of “finishing strong” and conclude with an invitation for inmates to come down from the bleachers to be his “brothers in Christ” and be born again.

“It’s one of my favorite things to do,” Tebow said during the drive, making it sound as if he were bound for Walt Disney World rather than this razor-wire-ribboned stalag 35 miles northeast of Gainesville. “You’re talking to guys who have no hope, no support, who have been totally written off by the world.”

Watching Tebow zip passes into the seams of opposing defenses, lower his shoulder in short yardage and exhort his teammates like King Henry V on St. Crispin’s Day, one might think that he was put on this earth just to run coach Urban Meyer’s spread offense. Watching him pace the floor of a gymnasium packed with 660 wayward men hanging on his every syllable is to realize that regardless of what position Tebow eventually plays in the NFL, and for how long, the football phase of his life is merely a means to a greater end.

Teen siblings and Texas natives, Stephen, Melanie, and Diana Muldrow decided to use their summer raising funds to fight human trafficking in the city of Houston. But instead of doing the more traditional bake sale or car wash, the Muldrows set their sights on organizing a benefit concert — and not just any concert, but a concert featuring world-class musicians at Jones Hall, home of the Houston Symphony.

Brett and I love their creativity — and the way they have worked hard to accomplish their goal. The concert, which they named Broken Cords, will be held at Jones Hall on August 29th, and will include acclaimed clarinetist Håkan Rosengren, concert pianists Rick Rowley, Caleb Harris, and Andrew Staupe, and violist Luke Fleming, a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at the renowned Juilliard School in New York City.

This past week, the Christian teens were featured in the local newspaper — The Baytown Sun — with a great article on what they’re doing and why they’re doing it:

Teens work to end human trafficking
by Stacy Parent

Movies. Parties. Friends. These common teenage pastimes have not filled the days of three Highlands teenagers this summer.

Rather, Stephen, Melanie and Dianna Muldrow have spent their time organizing a life-changing event.

Broken Cords, a benefit concert to raise awareness of human trafficking and modern-day slavery, will be held Aug. 29 at Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in downtown Houston’s theater district.

All proceeds from the concert will benefit Houston’s Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

The Muldrows were inspired to organize the concert after reading “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris. The book encourages teenagers to rebel against low expectations.

“Teenagers are capable of a lot of stuff, but they don’t do a lot of stuff, mainly because people don’t expect them to,” Stephen Muldrow said. “We wanted to do something meaningful, something that had a purpose to it.”

The Muldrows decided to shed light on a cause close to their hearts — human rights.

(Click here to read the rest…)

If you live in the Houston area, make plans to be at the concert with your family and friends on August 29th. Tickets range from $25 to $75, and they have special discounts available for groups. All proceeds go to fighting modern-day slavery.

Even if you don’t live in the Houston area, take the time to think of people you know who do. Then give them a call, send them an email, or shoot them a text message and encourage them to attend and spread the word themselves.

Broken Cords is an effort worth getting behind — not only to end injustice, but also to show the world what God can do through teens who are willing to spend their summer doing more than just watching movies, shopping, and going to parties.

+ Official Site / Buy Tickets / Facebook Group +

© 2009 GizaraArts.com

After having Reilly at the Chicago conference on July 11th, Brett and I are thrilled to have Zac Sunderland — fresh off his record-breaking journey around the world — attending the Orange County conference this Saturday.

Whether you’re planning to attend the Orange County conference or not, check out Zac’s website and soon-to-be-released DVD. You can register online through Friday.

+ www.SailZac.com +

The wind whipped past me as we cruised up and down the country roads nestled between the beautiful Flint Hills. I was sitting comfortably atop the back seat of a Harley decked out with all the bells and whistles. “Ah, the life,” I sighed. But then reality reminded me that this was not my life. As soon as I returned home from this atypical early morning excursion, I would be thrust back into the load of responsibilities and things-to-do that are a more accurate characterization of my life.

What would it be like to live a carefree life of pleasure and freedom from the tyranny of a packed-full schedule? What would it be like to do my own thing – free of family obligations and the ever-pressing deadlines that require consistent, diligent effort if they are to be met? A dozen such “what ifs” accosted my mind as I pondered the delight that such a life seemed to promise.

My reverie was broken as the next realization hit me full force. Somehow, somewhere, unawares, I had been robbed of my joy. The thief had struck; the damage had been done (John 10:10). The constant flurry of running from one thing to the next, always striving to do the right thing, the next thing, the hard thing, had taken its toll. In my well-intentioned efforts to live a life of purpose and passion, I found myself instead drained and coveting the easier life that now paraded before my imagination.

Such is the temptation that eventually lures all who embrace the hard life of a rebelutionary. The hard things that once seemed glamorous and worthy of pursuit now seem, well…hard. The one hard thing that propelled us into the exciting fray is now replaced with ten hard things that require more diligence, more patience, and more sacrifice than we at first bargained for.

The appeal is acute, and the pull strong, to abandon the hard way and embrace the easier life of pleasure and apparent freedom. But beware; this is not the answer! The deceptive thief has laid his well-camouflaged trap, and we must not fall victim to his wiles (Ephesians 6:11). The path to joy is not in the absence of hard things. However, neither is the path to joy in merely the execution of hard things. Joy has only one Source, and the absence of joy must necessarily lead us to discover (or rediscover) that true satisfaction and delight flow only from the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we abide in Him, He promises that we will bear much fruit (John 15:5) And we find in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians that one of those fruits is joy for which our spirit longs (Galatians 5:22). It is Jesus whose example reminds us that our calling to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3), is, after all, the path whose end is joy – everlasting joy (Hebrews 12:2-3).

Rebelutionary, if you are weary of doing hard things, if you find yourself robbed of joy, take heart! Don’t abandon the way of hard things. You see, the Giver of Joy is standing in this way. Look to Him, delight in Him, walk with Him, and you will find joy (Psalm 16:11). This is key, for as the great leader Nehemiah once declared, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

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Yesterday morning, 17-year-old Zac Sunderland completed his historic journey — becoming the youngest person in history to sail solo around the world. Along the way Zac has taken opportunities to share his faith and challenge his generation. He even made the cover of ESPN Magazine last month with an article entitled, “Do Hard Things.” With family, friends, and supporters surrounding him at his victory press conference yesterday, Zac had this to say about why he did what he did.

As far as inspiring people, the main thing today would be that society puts younger people, like 15 through 18, in kind of a box, no one’s really expected to do much. They kind of just tend to go to high school and play football and that’s pretty much it. There’s so much more potential that people can do with the right motivation and the right ambition in life. So my thing would just be to get out there and do hard things. Go for it.

As the highest-profile rebelutionary to date, Zac can certainly use our prayers and encouragement. With that in mind, we’ve written the following letter to Zac, and wanted to share it with you at the same time in order to inform your prayers and help guide your reactions to his historic accomplishment.

Dear Zac,

Congratulations, brother! You are the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. Many eyes have been on you throughout your 13 month voyage — and especially as you steered the Intrepid into Marina del Rey yesterday morning. Thank you for being so open about your faith in Christ along the way. Thank you also for challenging your generation to “go for it” and pursue big dreams. And finally, thanks for rebelling against the low expectations our culture has toward teens. We love you, and your family. And we’re so happy to have you back safely.

As you know, this website is dedicated to challenging Christian young people to do hard things for the glory of God and the good of others. As Tim Kizziar wrote, “Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.” Don’t misunderstand, we think breaking world records matters on its own. You have made history. But how can young adventurers like you make their success matter even more?

As you rest up and consider your next big conquest, let’s join our hearts and minds together in prayer and planning to help make it even more useful to God and more beneficial to others. Not just by getting better sponsorships or more media attention, but by using the adventure itself to draw attention to some issue that needs it. Think about how you might climb Mount Everest for some worthy cause or traverse the arctic for the glory of God — in a way no one, young or old, ever has before.

Some of our regular readers may wonder why you are pursuing such a unique calling. But maybe that’s because we’ve never really thought about what a sold out Christian adventurer could accomplish for God through his or her claim to fame. So, we ask you and our readers to answer this question: How might souls be saved and lives be touched for the glory to God through these kinds of world-record breaking adventures? We have a few ideas, but we would like to hear what you think.

So, once again, congratulation! Welcome back. Our prayers are with you as you plan for whatever comes next — and we’ve got your back all the way.

In Christ,

Alex and Brett

Leave a Comment // Visit Zac’s Website

This summer I’ve been making a concerted effort to listen to sermons and audiobooks in addition to my regular reading — as a way of redeeming time while running, working out, or driving. It’s been very productive.

I’d been hearing a lot of good things about Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love, so when I heard ChristianAudio.com had made it their Free Audiobook Download for the month of July, I downloaded it immediately. Over the past week I’ve been blessed by Chan’s emphasis on knowing God and pursuing Him passionately — and I figured you would be blessed as well.

To redeem your free audiobook, follow the link below and use the code JUL2009 when checking out. For more information on the book, check out this review by Tim Challies and watch the video introduction below.

Download Francis Chan’s Crazy Love

Alex and I have long admired William Wilberforce for his tireless dedication in pursuing his holy ambition. One year after coming to Christ, Wilberforce wrote in his diary, “God Almighty has placed before me two great Objects, the Suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners.”

Over twenty years later, Wilberforce succeeded in abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire — but not slavery itself. As he continued to work towards emancipation for existing slaves, Wilberforce realized that the cause would need younger men to continue the work. So, in 1821 he asked Thomas Fowell Buxton (pictured above) to take over leadership of the campaign.

Buxton himself was an exceptional man, a strong Christian, and a dedicated abolitionist. For twelve years he served as leader of the abolition movement in the House of Commons — not only persevering, but succeeding. In 1833, slavery was officially abolished in the British Empire — one month after Wilberforce’s death.

This story is a remarkable tribute to both Wilberforce and Buxton. It’s a shame that more attention is not given to this successful “passing of the baton” between two generations — and to T.F. Buxton himself. From even my limited research, he seems to have much to teach us. Check out the following excerpt from John G. Edgar’s, “The Boyhood of Great Men,” which includes Buxton’s challenge to young men:

Buxton’s opinion seems to have been that a young man may become very much what he pleases, by working, studying, and struggling. He wrote: “The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between men, between the feeble and the powerful, is energy — invincible determination — & purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. That quality will do anything that can be done in this world; and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man without it.”

Upon reading this quotation I wondered what might happen if each of us prayed that invincible determination would come to define our lives; that faithful perseverance would characterize each one of us as we serve over a lifetime in our families, churches, schools, and world. What might God do through a generation like that? What victories might He grant us? It seems worth thinking about. And praying for.

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone be the Glory)