During this youth leader training I will be sharing some stuff that I’ve recently discovered that has been hugely eye opening to me…perhaps the biggest missing element in most discipleship strategies. We called it “Firestarter” because our goal is to help you ignite a passion for Christ and His cause in your youth ministry!

If you are a youth leader in or around Colorado I would strongly encourage you to sign up for this FREE training event (yes, lunch is included!) If you know a youth leader in Colorado get ahold of him or her and get them to sign up right away.

Call Dare 2 Share at (303) 425-1606 to reserve your spot at one of these three trainings. Hurry, there are filling up fast! The Firestarter seminars are all short (11am-1pm), fun and very interactive…but believe me, you will leave challenged, encouraged and equipped! Ask for Brian when you call D2S!

I can’t help but think of one young man in particular who came up to me last night after the program was over to tell me that he trusted in Jesus at Dare 2 Share a few years ago and that now he was in training to become a missionary with New Tribes Mission. This was one story of many changed lives. To be honest hearing these stories is “pay day” for me and our staff at D2S.

Do you have a story to share? Maybe you trusted in Jesus at the conference. Perhaps you are shreddin the gnar with one of your friends. Whatever your story I want to hear it. You can be sure that hundreds of thousands of others adults like me are praying for you right now as you seek to put into practice what you learned at the conference.

Keep shreddin’

I am so looking forward to the conference this weekend. Pray with me that teenagers are equipped to share their faith relationally and relentlessly over the next 28 hours.

God is up to something BIG! I can’t wait to see what He will do!

St. Louis rocks!

I really like this city. Why? Several reasons: I have family here, the Arch is cool and the food is very good. It is home to our largest regional conference for the last few years (sorry Denver…you’re slacking!) But more than anything I love this city, not just becasue of the quantity of people but the quality of people who attend. People call Missouri “The Show Me State.” And the people here have definitely shown me that they are serious about the advancement of the gospel of Jesus through an army of teenagers.

Can’t help but reflect back to the Fall of 1997 when we had 241 teenagers at North County Community Church right here. Just a tad over eleven years later we are expecting between 8-9,000 teenagers. How have these events grown? It’s not because of our “huge” marketing budget I assure you. These events have grown from youth leaders, teenagers and donors showing others the vision and mission of Dare 2 Share. This event has EXPLODED through word of mouth!

Thank you St. Louis for showing me, once again, that you are serious about mobilizing the next generation to relationally and relentlessly reach their generation for Christ!

As I type these words I am surrounded by much of the Dare 2 Share conference team. We have been on the road since 9pm last night (it’s now 8:43am) and have a few hours to go before we reach our final destination. We are all exhausted, disheveled and a bit gamey.

My wife called me this morning and assured me that we made the right decision. Schools all over Denver are being cancelled and the weather channel is saying that this storm “could be one for the ages.” That’s right, a giant blizzard is about to hit Denver hard and fast.

To be honest it’s kind of fun. I feel like a youth leader again and all my “rowdy kids” are the Dare 2 Share conference crew. We even have a few adult “sponsors” Lyn Anderson and David Teraberry to keep us all in line. It kind of smells in the van…a little musty to say the least. But we just ate at Cracker Barrel and have had a lot of fun so far.

Pray for the conference this weekend. We have over 8,000 teenagers already registered and could see close to 9,000 teens in total with those who sign up at the door. That’s a potential army of Jesus loving, gospel sharing evangelists who come from all over the midwest and could be used to strike a revival of Biblical proportions all across America.

God is up to something big. We are more than willing to drive 14 hours to see what it is.

7 tons of canned food collected for the Salvation Army.

Tons of decisions for Jesus.

All in all a great weekend.

If you were there please tell me your story. Did you get to share Jesus with a friend yet?

Pray with me that these young ambassadors of the gospel will be fully equipped and mobilized to reach their friends for Jesus. Pray that tonight, during the drama, many significant and life changing decisions are made. Pray for the entire D2S Conference crew to all be healthy, awake and filled with God’s Holy Spirit as we seek to minister to these teenagers this weekend.

Time to Shred in Seattle…

We saw something special in him and used him as a mountain guide and activities director in the original GOSPEL Journey. Over the course of seven full days I got to see the way he interacted with the teenagers and twentysomethings. I couldn’t help but notice that his personality was a unique and powerful combination of pure joy, genuine compassion and child-like wonder mixed in with a strangely compelling “surfer dude” kind of eloquence.

It has been a pleasure to see him bloom over the last two years traveling, first as an emcee, and now as a full blown speaker with the Dare 2 Share conferences. The thing about Zane is that he is still on an accelerated tragectory as a speaker and is getting better and better with each event.

Sometimes people ask me how I feel about Zane’s popularity among the teenagers at Dare 2 Share. I think they think that I may be self conscious about how well the teens receive him. I think they think I’m nervous that Zane is more popular than me.

To be honest I am relieved. My goal is not to be popular but to be effective. And with speakers like Derwin Gray (another unbelievably solid and motivational preacher) and Zane I feel more than effective. It’s like having two UFC fighters backing you up in a street fight against the school bully. And that’s what these events are, a street fight with Satan for the attention and souls of these teenagers. I’m also relieved because I feel fully confident that if I ever went down due to illness or whatever that the show would go on without skipping a beat.

Last week as I was standing on the stage during the Saturday night portion of the conference our stage manager came out to me during a movie clip. He whispered in my ear that my flight out that night (to another speaking gig) had been cancelled and that my only option was a 9:30 pm flight that night. It was 8:15pm when he told me that. In a moment’s notice Zane was ready. I quickly wrapped up that session and in between movie clips gave Zane a quick pep talk. He just looked at me, put out his fist and said, “One team. One dream.”

He did the final talk in Phoenix and wrapped up the entire evening. I called our director for the program from the airport and asked her how Zane did. She said, “I don’t want to make you self conscious or anything but he was absolutely incredible.”

Guess what? I’m having Zane wrap up the Saturday night portion for all the rest of the Invincible events. I thank God for Zane, Derwin and the entire crew that pulls off the conference week in and week out. They are all incredible and they all love Jesus.

One team, one dream indeed.

Here’s a little sample of my buddy Zane’s speaking style taken from some teenager’s phone at a D2S conference. Enjoy.