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Please pray for me as I start working on another book project this week. Actually, I’ve worked on this particular one off and on over the last few years. I made the decision last night to scrap it all and start over from scratch.

For some reason this is the toughest writing project that I’ve ever tackled. That must mean that either I’m not up for the task talent wise (I hope this is not the reality) or that Satan is trying to prevent me from getting this one done. If this book comes out like I hope it will it could potentially get a lot of Christians sharing their faith and a lot of non Christians considering the claims of Christ.

Please pray for me as I try to tackle this overwhelming project.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

I read a blog post written by a friend of mine on Saturday. He highly recommended the movie Iron Man so I went to see it yesterday.

Wow. What a crazy thrill ride of a movie.

Thank you Brian for helping me find my “spiritual armor” analogy for the Invincible Tour. The scene where the armor goes on Tony is simply amazing. It reminds me of the armor of Christ that we are called to put on every day as we go out to wage war with the devil for the souls of humanity!
Check out Brian Ford’s blog for a full review and spiritual relevance stuff.

If you find the movie offensive in any way (it’s PG 13 for a reason) please put all your complaints on his blog as well. He loves answering them all with tender loving care while quoting from the original Greek of the New Testament to defend his point of view.

Love ya Brian!

“The best defense is a good offense.”

This statement is true in the sports world. I’ts true in the military world. And from now on I’m going to make sure it’s a reality in my world as well.

For the last several years I have been pushing the “stop the evacuation of our young people from the church” cause. But where does playing this kind of defense get you? At best it gets you a group of young adults who haven’t forsaken their faith during the college years. Later on (if these young adults continue to retain their faith) it gets you status quo church goers who live out a status quo Christianity and make a jack squat difference.

No more.

Defense is taking a back seat to offense in my world from now on. You don’t win wars against the devil by being defensive. You win by punching him in the throat for Jesus. You punch first. You punch fast. You punch hard with God’s power.

Pretty much that’s what Jesus promised to do in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The idea here is that Jesus is on the attack against death and the forces of darkness. He is using the people of God as his battering ram to punch through the gates of hell and free Satan’s captives through the truth of the gospel.

As Christians we are not called to hunker down and hide. We are called to charge headfirst, headlong and headstrong into the battle against Satan for the souls of those around us.

How does all this tie into Dare 2 Share? Simple. I’m taking a more “offensive” approach as the leader of this organization. Instead of merely “equipping teenagers to know, live, share and own their faith” I want to see God unleash these teenagers to reach every teenager in their world with the message and mission of Jesus.

When I use this warfare analogy I’m not at all talking about how we approach those who don’t know Jesus. We approach them with love, service, humility and truth. We don’t approach them with a clenched fist but with open hands to wash their feet. But we approach Satan with guns blazing drenched in the power of God and wrapped in the armor of Christ.

I long to see an army of Jesus loving, people serving teenagers who wage war with the underlord of the underworld in their underwear (just making sure you’re paying attention) for the souls of all their friends. My goal? Every teenager on this planet hearing the gospel from a teenager they know! I’m not done until every cutter becomes a healer, every sinner becomes a saint, every student becomes a soldier in the army of Jesus!

Let’s stop the defensiveness and go on the offense for Jesus! The end result? When teenagers graduate from high school they don’t evacuate the church but they do help evacuate lost souls from the kingdom of darkness! They become missionaries at their universities and workplaces. They don’t merely retain their faith, they regain lost ground for the kingdom of God by advancing the mission and message of Jesus everywhere they go!

This job is way too big for me to accomplish. But if all of us join together we can see God do something so big, so wonderful, so transformational that the ears of all who hear about it will tingle (I don’t know what that means but it sure sounds cool!)

Will you join me is this quest?

Every year around this time a group of between thirty to forty national youth ministry leaders get together for a time of fellowship, facilitation, and strategic interaction. This year the gathering is in Norfolk, Virginia at a place called The Founder’s Inn. Pray that it is a profitable time of ministry encouragement and exchange.

To be honest the last thing I need is another thing to go to. But I really enjoy getting together with other ministry leaders from time to time to compare notes, get ideas, discover potential partnerships and just hang out. After all, if we are really want to reach every teenager in America with the message and mission of Jesus we can’t do it alone. It’s going to take all of us working together for this singular cause to make it happen. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul to the Philippian believers,

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.”

What a great reminder! That is my prayer for the next few days as I hang out with my ministry friends.

Please pray with me that God unites us all for the common cause of the Great Commission!

Years ago at a zoo in my home state of Colorado I pulled the tail of a large, male lion. His furry, gently swinging appendage was sticking through the bars as he slept. It’s almost as though it was whispering to me, “Hey Greg, grab me and see what happens. Come on dude it will be fun.” Sadly, I listened to that little voice in my head (not the Holy Spirit) and suffered the consequences.

I remember the moment of seizure. I remember watching in shock and awe as that huge lion jumped up, turned around and roared loudly just a few feet from my face. In that singular instance my life flashed before my eyes and I almost lost control of my bodily functions. It was the single most terrifying moment of my existence. My hair felt blown back by the hot air of the angry cat who wanted to eat me. For seconds after I was frozen, locked in a death stare with with the king of the beasts.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I just read a book that reminded me of that incident so many years ago. Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck have pulled the lion’s tale. They have dared to stand up against the teachings of many in the Emerging church in a well written and powerful book that I believe every youth leader and pastor should read.

I didn’t know what to expect when I ordered this book off of Amazon two weeks ago. To be honest I thought it would likely be full of anger, retribution and the tongue-in-cheek, tit-for-tat sarcasm that we’ve come to expect from many of the pro-reformation, anti-Emergent boys. But when I finally got this book in the mail, tore to shreds the brown cardboard package around it and read the back cover, I began to realize that this book was going to be different. It’s tone was polar opposite from much of the villainizing vitriol I’ve read from many in the ready, fire, aim fundamentalist circles who are just looking and longing for the next thing to hate.

Actually the authors of this book, both of whom could visually pass for poster children for the Emergent movement, were quick to point out what they agreed with in the Emerging world of Christendom. They applauded their compadres’ focus on serving the poor, trying more experiential ways of worship and, of course, being more like Jesus. As I read through the first few chapters it seemed like they felt the pain of their Emerging friends and were equally tired of the big program, big church, big budget approach to 21st Century mega Christianity. They, like their blogging buddies, seemed to long for something deeper, more authentic, transformational and missional in the way church is done in the postmodern world.

But (you knew a “but” was coming) there was much that these writers were concerned about when it came to the beliefs of many of the lead influencers in the Emergent movement. Suffice it to say that the authors had more red flags than a Communist rally. These red flags include the marginalizing of core doctrines of the historic Christian faith, the questioning of the knowability of truth, the more-than-hints at universalism in many Emergent circles and the refusal to take seriously the literal, impending, eternal reality of hell for all those who reject the Lord Jesus as their Savior.

This book communicates hard truth without ever being mean spirited. I did sense a certain sadness in many of the words of these young writers though. Kevin and Ted seemed to be genuinely concerned for those who had bought hook, line and sinker into the Emergent movement. They also seemed to care for many of the Emergent leaders themselves. I could sense that they were rooting for these Emergent leaders to get more centered in Biblical orthodoxy so they could be more effective at reaching this postmodern world with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This book has footnotes galore. This dynamic duo is not randomly accusing in a non scholarly way. They give countless quotes straight from the pens and mouths of many of these ministry leaders and influencers. This is a very well researched, well written book that was entertaining, informative and inspiring at the same time.

If you have ever struggled with how you feel about the Emergent movement, but didn’t want to just throw rocks with the angry-at-everything fundamentalists, I think Why we’re not Emergent…by two guys who should be is for you.

Thank you Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck for writing this book. You have done a service for the body of Christ. My prayer is that it will be talked about over lattes for years to come.

But be warned. You have officially pulled the lion’s tale.

Enjoy the roar.

My wonderful wife turns 40 on Sunday. I have some special surprises in store for her. One of the surprises is a bunch of encouraging notes from those who visit my blog from time to time. So would you consider typing an encouraging comment to her below? I’ll print them all out and let her read them at her party (not a surprise party…she hates those.)

For those of you who don’t know Debbie let me share with you a few things about this wonderful woman.

…she has survived being married to me for 17 years (I’m not the easiest person on the planet to live with…does that shock you?)

…she is a 5th grade public school teacher. Her kids, their parents and the other teachers at her school absolutely adore her. She is the kind of teacher you remember for the rest of your life. She loves her 5th graders and sees herself in as an ambassador of the love of God on her campus.

…she holds down the fortress on my many, many road trips. She drops off both kids before 7:20 am in two different places every school day to be able to make it to her school in time. She makes breakfast, packs lunches, cooks dinner, cleans the house, works with Jeremy on his homework and puts him and Kailey to bed at night, only to start the routine over the next day…all by herself. Of course, when I’m home I help…but she said that when I’m home it’s like having a third kid (?!)

I remember the first time I met her at Colorado Christian University. I saw this beautiful, big haired (it was the 80’s) redhead and approached her to get some, um, prayer requests from her. I said, “What’s your name?” She said, “I’m Debbie.” I said, “I’m Greggie.” (yes, I actually said that.)

Strike one.

But I re-approached her later and was finally able to get her to say yes to go out on a date. After our second date I asked for a commitment to “go steady.” She said, “no way.”

Strike two.

But, finally, after almost four years of dating we got married.

Homerun!

What is Debbie like? She is sweet yet strong. She is humble, self-effacing and much more concerned about other people’s welfare than her own. She loves animals and probably would work for PETA if she wasn’t married to me. When she asks, “How are you doing?” she really wants to know. She is the one person constantly reminding me to love others, not to be so dogmatic about everything and to take time to listen, smell the roses and all that stuff that I’m not naturally good at. This wonderfully sweet woman, who normally wouldn’t argue with anyone else, wins every single argument with me, every single time.

Debbie is God’s gift to me…and to you. Why to you? Because I guarantee some of the changes that have happened over the years at Dare 2 Share are as a result of her gentle and sometimes, not so gentle, prodding.

Would you type a note of encouragement to her for her 40th birthday celebration? She has sacrificed much more than I have so that a generation of teenagers could be equipped to reach their generation for Jesus. Your thoughtful note would mean a lot to her.

I had the privilege of seeing the movie Expelled: No intelligence allowed in a pre-screening a few weeks ago and I’m thrilled that I did. It was a funny, thought provoking, dangerous, serious, engaging (and did I mention “funny”?) documentary. I have been a fan of Ben Stein since his “Bueller, Bueller” days, but now he is a rock star to me. He was so tongue-in-cheek that he almost bit it off.

Regardless of where you stand in the Creation vs. Evolution vs. Intelligent Design debate you will find this documentary thought provoking and fun. Mr. Stein interviews experts from both sides of the debate and has a great time doing it.

He is not actually trying to make an argument for Intelligent Design as much as he is that we should be free to have the debate in the public square. Expelled clearly shows that once esteemed scientists and/or educators who embrace an I.D. point of view have been marginalized, mocked and often expelled by the tightly wound, gated community of evolutionary elitists who rule the roost of all things smart.

This documentary exposes the hypocrisy of the high brow Intelligentsia and shows that most are only open to free speech and debate if it happens on their side of “the wall” (a term that is coined to describe the closed thinking of many evolutionists to consider any other origin options than evolution.) Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed pulls their fancy pants down and spanks em good.

If I were a youth leader I’d take a core of my teenagers to go see it and then I’d make a plan with them to unleash a youth group wide discussion once the DVD came out. The doc, while great, feels like about 15 minutes too long for the average teenager to me. And the last thing I would want to do is have a bunch of teenagers fidgeting in the theater. They could miss out on some great content and that would be bad. This film is too important to miss any segment. I think the DVD, broken up in segments over the course of 4 weeks in the youth group setting, would give the entire youth group a chance to process and talk through the excellent content in this ground breaking documentary.

So grab ten or so of your teens, get some tickets this weekend and let the conversations begin! And, once the DVD comes out, make it a youth group wide, month long discussion. On second thought, open it up to the teen community once the DVD releases and use it as an outreach. If this is not an evangelism opportunity I don’t know what one is. For once a movie that doesn’t make creationist Christians look like back woods dummies who cling on to their guns and their religion in the face of all the evidence.

Where do I stand in the Creation vs. Evolution debate? Suffice it to say that I take Genesis chapter 1 at face value. Call me a brute. Call me a literalist. Call me a Neanderthal (actually dont’ call me that one). But don’t ever accuse me of not taking the Bible seriously. Although I have friends that vigorously debate with me on this, I just can’t get away from how plainly the first chapter of Genesis describes how everything began…and I believe it. Because I’m a scientist? No. I wasn’t even that good at science. I believe it because the Bible says it.

What about all the “evidence” that evolution provides? Check out Expelled when it comes out in theatres (Friday, April 18th). You may be surprised at how little compelling evidence Darwinian evolution actually does provide. Lots of smoke, little fire.

For more information on the movie (and some downloadable leader’s guides) go to www.getexpelled.com.

Now that the dust of the Survive Tour have settled I thought that I would share with you a couple of my musings about this particular conference tour.

Let me start by thanking everyone involved in making this tour a reality. From our own amazing and hard working Dare 2 Share staff to all of the organizations we work side-by-side with to execute these training events (Outside the Box Ministries, Legacy, Torn Curtain Arts Ministries and Universal Stylz.) Great job everyone!

This year it wasn’t just our volunteers but our volunteer staff that really saved the day. Thank you so much for the sacrifice and investment you made to minister to these teenagers for a weekend.

Lincoln Brewster rocks. I love that dude. He is a godly, humble man. And he has a special way of unveiling the presence of God as he leads worship. And what can I say about The Washington Projects? They were awesome both on stage and off.

I thank God for Derwin and Zane. Both have become good friends and, I believe, have the capacity for making a nation-shaking difference. My prayer is that God will use the platform of Dare 2 Share to give them a larger platform nationally and provide them some tools they can use to help their audiences follow through with a Deep and Wide life.

Paul Leavitt with Torn Curtain, once again, did an amazing job writing and directing the skits and the drama. As always he and I “tangoed” but in a good way. We work from different perspectives and I love the end product that we are able to come up with together.

The drama this year was a tough one for me. We usually end with more closure and a happier ending (happier than two martyrdom executions anyway). What helped me after the first few conferences was seeing my closing talk after the drama as the third act to the play. Because of the dramas abrupt ending it really set up my closing challenge to be willing not just to die for Christ, but to live for Christ. It also had a lot of youth groups talking late into the night. The drama grew on me over the tour. I think we are going to go back to a drama with a bit more closure (but with every bit as much tension) for next tour.

I loved the training portions of this tour. I really felt like Derwin, Zane and I were able to communicate some significant content that connected. It felt likethe audience was tracking and I heard some great feedback afterward. I look at these conferences as fire and wood. The fire is the motivation and the wood is the content that the motivation burns on.

Giving the Double Dare (to share the gospel with all your friends) got me pumped up this year. Tens of thousands responded.

To be honest I’m kind of getting sick and tired of the “let’s save the children” approach we have taken in trying to get teenagers to keep their faith after they graduate. Sure I still use the great graduation evacuation statistic (70% graduating seniors walk away from the church after high school). But the Double Dare this year gave us a chance to be offensive and not purely defensive. As one soldier put it, “Nobody ever won a war by being defensive.”

Our goal is not to just keep kids from leaving the church. It is to raise up an army of Christian teenagers who are reaching every teenager in their world with the message and mission of Jesus. Imagine with me every teenager in America hearing the gospel through another teenager that they know. The Double Dare has started making that dream into a reality.

Sure the Survive Conference had some kinks (usually something i did) but all n all it was an amazing tour. I can’t wait for The Invincible Tour to start!

Almost 5,000 teenagers gathered in the Sears Centre. Hundreds trusted in Jesus as their Savior. Thousands made life-changing decisions. And Jeremy (my seven year old) came out on stage to share the gospel hand, double dare everyone to share their faith and walk and talk like a robot for no apparent reason. He ended up in the lobby signing autographs. It cracked me up.

Oh yeah…the vast majority of the teenagers in attendance took the Double Dare. Were you one of them? If so do tell me your 48 Hour or Cell phone challenge story. I really want to hear it!

Today I leave to go to Chicago where we will do our last conference of the Survive Tour. So far it has been a powerful run. God has done and continues to do some amazing things in and through the tens of thousands of teenagers who have been trained and equipped through the Dare 2 Share conferences.

Pray for this last event to be powerful and effective. My prayer is that God’s Spirit moves in hearts in such a way that these teenagers are never the same. Also pray for the youth leaders to put into practice the Deep and Wide Youth Ministry model in the context of their youth group. The last thing I want these equipping weekends to be is a one weekend hip, hip, hooray holy huddle. Youth leaders need to implement this long term model so that they can see ongoing growth (in depth of spirituality and new conversion growth) in the context of their youth ministries.

Also, I’m bringing Jeremy my seven year old son (of “Teeter Totter Theology” fame) with me on this trip. Pray that we have some great daddy/son time this weekend in the windy city. I love that little boy.