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 +

We’ve made a rule not to share things with you we have not personally read, watched, or experienced — and we broke that rule. We recommended you follow Maddy Curtis on American Idol even though we’ve never watched it ourselves. Based on your feedback, there are aspects of the show that should have tempered our recommendation. We apologize for not doing our due diligence.

But if this is a learning experience, it is also a teaching moment. We can certainly do a better job evaluating what we promote, but we will never do a good enough job to excuse you from practicing biblical discernment. Please take everything we say back to Scripture. God’s Word is the only source you should trust to always be right.

With that in mind, we want to offer the following observations:

1) You don’t have to watch American Idol to follow Maddy. Thanks to YouTube you can watch Maddy’s segments without having to experience the rest of the show. This is probably the approach we’ll take because we don’t own a television.

2) You don’t have to watch American Idol to pray for Maddy. She needs our prayers and support to navigate the treacherous waters of success. 30 million people watched her story and heard her sing. Regardless of what you think of the show, pray that God would help her to use her platform for His glory.

Finally, seek to understand people who are different than you. Most of us can’t relate to people with a special gifts, like Maddy. To some people her desire to sing could seem like self-exaltation. But God made her to sing. This comment from her mother helped us understand Maddy better, and we pray it will help you as well:

With Maddy, it’s all about performance. When our family took the Meyers Briggs test, she and her older brother had the personality type “performer” - and it is very true. He studies opera at Liberty University. Maddy has been asking visitors to our house since she was a toddler to listen to her sing. She has a definite gift.

It’s hard to explain to people who aren’t wired the same way. As Eric Liddell said in Chariots of Fire, “When I run I feel His pleasure.”

When Maddy sings, she feels His pleasure. She sings all day long because she loves singing and God has put such joy in her heart. It’s not about money or attention — it’s just about what she was meant to do.

I don’t see her winning the competition at all. Even if she had the best voice (which I believe she has, and I’m pretty objective about my kids because I have 12 so my ego isn’t invested in them), she doesn’t dress, act or choose the songs that would win her the title.

So it’s not about winning, not about money, not about inconsistency. Just following the setup they’ve provided so that she can sing [another] time.

Share Your Thoughts in the Comment Section

We have a confession to make. We have never watched an episode of American Idol. Ever. It’s nothing personal. Our family doesn’t own a television and we’ve never had a good reason to keep up with the show online — until a few days ago when Mike Spielman of Abort73 let us know about Maddy Curtis.

Maddy, a 16-year-old Christian (former homeschooler), won over Simon Cowell and the panel of judges in auditions with the song “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen and with her incredible back story as the ninth out of twelve kids (including four brothers with Down Syndrome — three of whom were adopted).

We love Simon’s comment after she’s done singing: “Amazingly, for sixteen — because we get a lot of 16-year-olds that come in here — you’re not annoying. That’s rare.” All the other judges then chime in, “Yeah! You’re not annoying!” Which means Maddy is already breaking through low expectations on the show.

It gets even better. Since discovering Maddy through American Idol, we found out that she and her family live just a few minutes from Patrick Henry College, and many of our friends here know her. Everyone we’ve talked to testify to Maddy’s incredible heart for the Lord and amazing singing ability.

Suffice to say, we’ll be following American Idol this year. More specifically, we’ll be following Maddy Curtis, voting for her if she makes through, and praying God would keep using this young lady as a bright light of faith in Him and love for family.

Share your thoughts in the comment section

The same God who fed five thousand people with one little boy’s five loaves and two fish, took the desire of a seven-year-old boy from the UK to raise £500 for the people of Haiti and turned it into much more (three hundred times more, to be exact). We hope Charlie’s story will encourage you that starting small is better than doing nothing. Whether it is raising money for Haiti, witnessing to friends at school, or volunteering to help out at church, remember that God can do great things when we make ourselves available. So, stop making excuses, and step out in faith!

Boy, 7, raises $240,000 for Haiti appeal
by Agnes Teh • CNN World • Tuesday, January 26, 2010

London, England – He’s no Wyclef Jean or George Clooney, but that hasn’t stopped seven-year-old Charlie Simpson from raising more than £150,000 ($240,000) for the Haiti earthquake.

Simpson from Fulham, west London had hoped to raise just £500 for UNICEF’s earthquake appeal by cycling eight kilometers (five miles)around a local park.

“My name is Charlie Simpson. I want to do a sponsored bike ride for Haiti because there was a big earthquake and loads of people have lost their lives,” said Simpson on his JustGiving page, a fundraising site which launched his efforts.

“I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti,” he said.

And with that simple call, messages of support flooded the site. (cont’d below)

“Such a big heart for a young boy, you’re a little star!” wrote one supporter. “Well done Charlie. A real celebrity,” said another.

More donations began pouring in after the story caught the attention of the British media — with many cheering Simpson past the £100,000 mark.

Even British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is spreading the message. His “Downing Street” Twitter alias said: “Amazed by response to the great fundraising efforts of 7 yr old Charlie Simpson for the people of Haiti.”

David Bull, UNICEF’s UK executive director described Simpson’s efforts as “very bold and innovative.”

“It shows he connects with and not only understands what children his own age must be going through in Haiti,” Bull said in a press statement.

“The little seed — his idea — that he has planted has grown rapidly and his is a place well deserved in the humanitarian world.

“On behalf of the many children in Haiti, I thank Charlie for his effort.”

Money raised by Simpson will go towards UNICEF’s Haiti Earthquake Children’s Appeal which will provide water, sanitation, education, nutrition as well as support child protection.

My name is Truman Falkner and I competed in the National Bible Bee in Washington D.C. last November and placed 2nd! I heard about the Bible Bee from Alex and Brett earlier this spring, so I decided to sign up and “do hard things!”. It has been an rigorous 6 months of study, memorization, and review, but the Lord has taught me a lot through it and I have the privilege of sharing some of it with you now.

4 Things God Taught Me Through the Bible Bee

1. It has helped me to see the true incentive. The anchor of incentive in this competition really did challenge me and continued to challenge me to persevere in giving my all. The prizes were indeed large. But this incentive gradually changed midway. Even with a grand prize of $100,000, it seems the Lord tricked us all by teaching us, through the very verses we memorized, that the true treasure was the Word richly dwelling within us (Col. 3:16, Ps. 119:11) and setting our hope on the reward to come (1 Pet. 1:13, Rev. 21:3-7).

Sitting up there as one of the top 3 finalists (knowing we would all receive sizable prizes), it came up in our conversation, “What are you going to do with the money?” But as we talked, it became evident that we really didn’t care about the money. Now it sounds like I’m telling you the money was an ineffective incentive. No, indeed the money served it’s purpose: It got us in the Word and when we got in the Word we found that the Word itself became a greater incentive than the money!

What other spheres of competition are there in which the very medium of the competition is a greater incentive and reward than the “prize” itself and the very act of competing is worship, testifying to the preciousness of God and the worth of His Word (Ps. 22:22)? So when I got up to that platform and gave the Word of the Lord, the motivation to do it excellently now became because I wanted the Word to look precious. I wanted God to look glorious and worth giving up everything to know deeper, and I believe He was.

2. It taught me to order my life around the Word of God. I often forget about the power of having a focused life. Doing hard things requires hard choices. It changes everything and demands your all. Most significant was the time it demanded of me and I had to stick to that schedule. In many instances, it required me to say “no” to friends, movies, TV, soccer, games… etc. because I had to study the Bible and review the memory passages. One example of how the incentive of the Bible Bee challenged and ordered my life was in regards to diet.

I found myself studying which foods would cloud and hinder my memory (like dairy, sugar, and bleached wheat…) and sought to refrain from those foods. I am reminded of Jonathan Edwards. His early biographer and great grandson, Sereno Edwards Dwight, describes how Edwards “carefully observed the effects of the different sorts of food, and selected those which best suited his constitution, and rendered him most fit for mental labour.” (Works, I, xxxviii). Edwards lived his life like this in doing everything he could to better know the Word. After the Bible Bee, the habits of discipline are still intact and I am committing to continue in the same focused disposition to know the Word.

3. It has taught me that no matter how much of the Bible you know, your heart can be dead with no love of God (John 5:39-42, Rev. 3:1). Our hearts were meant to flow like a river in love for God and our neighbor (John 7:38-39, Mt. 22:37-40, Gal. 5:22-23, 2 Thess. 3:5, 1 Thess. 5:16-18). The Bible is not just a bunch of stories and rules, it is the transcript of His heart. What was burning in the treasury of the heart of God from all eternity, He has spoken (Heb. 1:1, Mt. 12:34-35), and it was meant to burn in our hearts as well.

If I want to know Him, truly know Him (before I see Him face to face and find out I didn’t really know Him), I must treat the Bible as the words of a real person (He is the living Word -John 1). The Lord really wants an active dialogue with us, He wants relationship. He wants us to sit down (not run around under the pressure of memorizing) at His feet and hear His words (Luke 10:38-42). But not just this, relationship is two-way, He wants us to talk back to Him in prayer and ask Him about His word, ask Him to reveal more to our hearts, resolve to believe it and obey it, and ask Him to help us believe it and obey it (these are exactly the kinds of things the Psalmist does all throughout Psalm 119). I

have had to be diligent set aside time to just pray the Word, this is where the heart comes alive. The greatest thing I could say about the Bible is that we must pray it! Otherwise it just becomes empty words on a page (or in your brain) that have little impact on your heart. The Word becomes ineffective against all the onslaughts of sin and temptation if we don’t know to wield it. And the greatest way I know to wield that Sword of the Spirit is by speaking it to the Lord (thanking Him for it, asking Him to reveal it, and to help me believe/obey it) and to my heart (resolving to believe/obey it) by “praying in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17-18, Jude 20-21).

The third person of the Trinity is our teacher to reveal the Word (John 14:26, 16:13-15, 1 Jn. 2:27), and He wants us to pray and talk to Him. It is also interesting to note that Paul describes the way we are filled with the Spirit is by singing the Word back to Him (Eph. 5:18-19).

4. It has taught me that getting in the Word (to where it abides in our hearts through prayer) is the way to say “no” to sin. Actually saying “No!” (Titus 2:12), and having 5 Bible verses on the promises of God, the deception of sin, and the day of recompense, to back it up that emphatic, “No!”. Even with Jesus Himself, the Word is the thing that revives faith (Rom. 10:17) and keeps us resisting the temptations of sin. In the face of temptation, He shouted what He had nourished His inner man on from His youth, “It is written!” (Mt. 4:1-11).

I believe the greatest deception of Satan is about to sweep the whole earth in our day. If we want to be those who stand firm in the evil day (Eph. 6:10-13) and overcome, we must be those who wield the sword of the Spirit and love the truth (2 Thess. 2:3-15, 1 John 2:14, Rev. 12:11)! In a day when culture blows us around (Eph. 4:14) and entices us to fill our minds with trivial stuff in the name of “knowledge” (1 Tim. 6:20-21, 2 Tim. 3:7), I want to be a tree planted in the house of the Lord (Ps. 1:3, 92:12-15) who meditates on the Word of God day and night (Ps. 1:2) and revels in the glory of it just like Jonathan Edwards described a “greedy miser gathering up handfuls of gold” (Ps. 119:14). And whatever storm may come my way, I can rest assured in the promises of God because in them, I have built my life like a man builds his house on the rock (Mt. 7:24-25, Prov. 3).

I challenge all who read this to, in like manner, give yourself to the Word of God: 1) See the reward and incentive it is, 2) order your life and time around it, 3) pray it, 4) speak it against the temptations of sin — and also consider competing in the next annual National Bible Bee!

Check out the Bible Bee / Leave a Comment

If you have no idea what all of this is about, check out our previous post (or just comment here asking to be filled in) — then join our treasure hunt to discover the what, when, and where of Twenty29.

Detectives, here is your next clue. This clue will lead to another clue, which will lead to another clue, etc. You are ultimately searching for a three-letter word — which are the first three letters of the answer to the very last clue.

When you have solved one step of the hunt, you will play around with the following link to uncover the next clue:

http://www.therebelution.com/twenty29/________.jpg

If your search leads you to a name (e.g. Ben) then insert the word “ben” into the blank space (i.e. ben.jpg). If your search leads you to a website (e.g. www.bmw.com) then insert “bmw” into the blank space (i.e bmw.jpg).

Your next erand is to find a person. He has a “manly” name. Once you discover his name you will try to meet him (i.e. find a picture of him). Once you meet him you will count down 1, 2, 3 — and then use horse sense and black-and-white thinking to discover what he is doing. That will be your last and final clue (and provide the three-letter word you are looking for).