Chapter 10
10
GENERATION RISING
Creating a counterculture from scratch (and a dash of salt)
Conner Cress was just a normal fifteen-year-old living a normal life on a normal spring day in Georgia when a magazine appeared in his family’s mailbox from World Vision, an organization that focuses on relieving poverty and its effects around the globe.
Conner arrived home from school and headed upstairs to his room, snatching up any new magazines as he flew by the kitchen counter—just like he always did. Usually there were several. Today there was only one.
Normally Conner would just skim through the magazines looking for comics or contests, but this one seemed to suck him into every page. Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Then thirty. An hour later, he was still sitting on the edge of his bed.
The magazine was a special edition on global poverty and featured page after page of haunting pictures. Little children, all skin and bones, stared out at Conner. Their shrunken bodies were shocking, but it was their eyes—big hollow eyes missing any spark of hope—that wouldn’t let him go. Conner couldn’t help wondering if the children in these pictures were even still alive. Has anybody helped them? Does anybody care?
The magazine took Conner on a journey through a world he never even knew existed, a world where over 1.1 billion people don’t have access to clean water and where little children are pushed to such extreme dehydration that they can no longer cry tears. Everything inside Conner screamed, “This is not right!”
Suddenly his normal life seemed anything but normal. He felt like God was pointing at him and saying, “Look how blessed you are, Conner. Just look around and see how much I have blessed you with. Now what are you going to do about it?” At that point Conner knew his normal life had to change.
That was two years ago.
A BIGGER REALITY
Have you ever had an experience similar to the one Conner had that day? It’s like walking through a door into another reality—one that is much different, much bigger, and much more unsettling than the world you had previously occupied. Your experience may have happened on a mission trip, or when you were reading about the number of abortions that take place in the United States every year, or when you saw a news clip showing children on the other side of the world chained to benches all day long rolling cigarettes.
Perhaps similar thoughts passed through your head:
• I guess not getting invited to the party this weekend isn’t such a big deal after all.
• I threw out more food yesterday than that kid will eat all week.
• Forgive me, God, for caring so much about stuff that doesn’t even matter!
Moments like that put our personal problems in perspective. They also demand a response. This chapter is about that response—exchanging our “normal,” comfortable world for a bigger and very real world that rarely shows up in most of our homes. This chapter is about zooming out from a focus on personal rebelution (the Five Kinds of Hard things) to look at the Rebelution as a movement—a counterculture of like-minded young people whose efforts God can bless and who together can make history.
In this chapter we want to ask a very serious and exciting question: could it be that teenagers today are faced with a unique opportunity to do hard things—not just as individuals, but as a generation? And not just any hard things but big, history-shaping ones? To put it another way, could it be that our particular crop of young people has been placed on earth at this pivotal time in history for a reason?
Some people look at our generation and the challenges we face and despair. We don’t. In every generation that faces intense challenges, God raises up those who will be His representatives to do His work. And often those representatives are young. We see this in Scripture, where young people like Joseph, Samuel, David, Josiah, Jeremiah, Esther, and Mary were chosen by God for the time in which they lived—and they changed the course of nations.
We believe the same thing is happening today. God is moving, and young people around the world are recognizing it and responding by overturning low expectations and doing hard things in creative, world-changing ways.
What happens when rebelutionaries band together to address the problems of their day? What is possible when a generation stops assuming that someone else will take care of the brokenness in the world—or that someone else will capitalize on current opportunities—and realizes that they are called to take action? What does it look like when a young person is passionate about what God is calling him or her to do—and that passion is contagious?
Jesus tells us what this God-honoring, world-changing counterculture would look like. In the gospels we find two simple but powerful word pictures of how a band of Christ followers really could impact an entire planet.
OPERATION SALT AND LIGHT
Jesus tells us,
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13–16, NIV)
In this passage, Jesus gives two different pictures of what it means to be His disciples, but both are addressed to all of us. We are salt. We are light. So what does that mean?
When we think about salt, our first thought is probably something along the lines of, Gotta have some of that on my popcorn. But Jesus isn’t talking about salt like we use it today. Although salt was used to flavor food during the Roman era, its primary use was as a preservative. In a world without refrigerators or deep freezers, a little salt rubbed into meat would slow decay.
So when Jesus tells us we are “the salt of the earth,” He’s saying we have been placed here to preserve it until He returns—to fight against the decay of sin, to combat sickness and suffering, and to oppose corruption and injustice.
What about light? To be honest, the first thing we think about is the old Sunday-school song: “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” There’s simple truth in that song, but it falls short of the full meaning of Jesus’ words. In the Bible, light is often used to represent truth, especially the truth God has revealed in His Word. The picture of us as a city on a hill or a lamp on a stand means that as Christians we display the truth in word and action—shining the light of God’s Word and the gospel all around us, in every corner.
In an address to students at the University of Notre Dame, the great apologist Francis Schaeffer made this profound statement:
Christianity is not a series of truths in the plural, but rather truth spelled with a capital “T.” Truth about total reality, not just about religious things. Biblical Christianity is Truth concerning total reality—and the intellectual holding of that total Truth and then living in the light of that Truth.
That is what Jesus meant when He called us to be light. Where secular methods and philosophies hold sway in fields of business, education, the arts, or any other area of society and culture, we are called to bring biblical philosophies and methods founded on that “total Truth”—that’s what it means to be light.
In both images, Jesus provides a model rebelutionaries can follow to impact the world around them. We are commissioned not just to love God and His Word but to radically impact our world with life and truth.
Putting the ideas of salt and light together gives countercultural rebelutionaries a clear mission statement: we are change makers who influence our world both as salt and light. That is to say, we influence our world both by fighting against sin, suffering, and decay and by fighting for truth and justice. And that covers a whole lot.
OH, THE THINGS WE WILL DO!
There is a misconception among some Christians that to “really live for Jesus” you have to go into the ministry, become a missionary, or marry someone who does. Those are high and noble callings, but to limit our idea of the radical Christian life to just a handful of areas isn’t only wrong, it’s dangerous.
The Rebelution needs Christians all over the world to be living as salt and light in business, science, medicine, law, politics, home-making and parenting, engineering, education, the arts, and every other field of endeavor. Like Schaeffer said, God’s Word is Truth for all of life—and our unique makeup as individuals allows room for beautiful diversity within a generation committed to doing hard things for the glory of God.
The Rebelution needs Christian musicians. And we don’t mean bands that talk about Jesus in all their songs, but musicians with a biblical view of culture and creativity who recognize areas of spiritual and moral decay in our generation and can impact their listeners with truth and life.
The Rebelution needs Christian men and women in business. By that we don’t just mean people who tithe 10 percent of their income, pray before board meetings, and give money to missions. We need men and women who can champion a biblical view of business management and finances, who are committed to integrity, who have a heart to serve rather than take advantage, who do well by doing good instead of by cutting corners and working the system, and who are innovative in integrating their career with their calling—to be salt and light.
The Rebelution needs Christian filmmakers. By that we don’t mean people who make films that always include a gospel invitation, but storytellers with a biblical worldview who know how to use the power of narrative to touch the gritty issues of life with the truth of God’s Word.
These are just three examples out of many. A thriving Christian counterculture will fight poverty, heal disease, and expose corruption even as we earnestly fight against the sin and spiritual darkness at the root of all suffering. A generation of rebelutionaries will write books, direct films, raise and train children, design buildings, run for office, and make scientific and medical discoveries. We will strive to bring the truth of God’s Word and the gospel to bear on every area of life we touch.
THE THREE PILLARS
You might’ve noticed that we skipped right past the clear warning in Jesus’ words:
If the salt loses its saltiness…. it is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. (Matthew 5:13, NIV)
“Thrown out and trampled” are sobering words. As we fight against sin, suffering, and corruption and fight for truth and justice, what is it that would dilute our effectiveness? What would shift the focus from God’s glory to our own failures? What would make the watching world conclude that we’re really no longer good for anything?
We think the answer is found in three power-packed words you’ve already encountered at various places in this book. They are so important, in fact, that we call these critical values the three pillars of the Rebelution: character, competence, and collaboration.
Being salt and light is the goal of rebelutionaries, but the three pillars are how we get there. Taken separately, each one certainly has merit, but only when all three work together can we build an effective and sustainable counterculture.
Think for a moment about how many Christian leaders, organizations, or causes have been discredited after one embarrassing failing or another. Most often they fail because they attempted to succeed without one or more of the pillars. For example:
• A pastor is an excellent speaker and leader but is weak in applying the truth of the gospel to his personal life. The pastor has competence but not character.
• A team of summer missionaries works hard to help the needy but a lack of coordination keeps them from accomplishing as much as they could have. The team has character but not collaboration.
• A business start-up brings together some of the best young engineers in the industry, but an underdeveloped business plan and budget shortfalls bring the promising enterprise to a screeching halt. The organization has collaboration but not competence.
Our vision for the Rebelution is to see these three qualities coming together in a new generation—young people who are passionate about growing in Christlikeness and sharing the gospel (character), who care deeply about skill, strategy, and creativity (competence), and who are committed to finding and working with a community of like-minded rebelutionaries (collaboration) to bring hope and healing to a lost and hurting world.
This alone is cause for excitement. And yet other generations have wanted to reach out and have been ineffective—even hurting their own cause through incompetence. Scores of Christian filmmakers, authors, politicians, businesspeople, artists, pastors, and leaders have failed miserably despite good intentions.
We still have confidence because we see rebelutionaries who are not only willing to make a difference, but are choosing to train themselves to be the difference. They remember that Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16, NIV).
Rebelutionaries know that competence matters for Christians because the Christian life is a life of action, and our actions are intended to result in God being glorified. They understand that the level of competence with which we perform the good works God has called us to do will determine how the watching world responds. They refuse to fall for the lie that says our Christian lives are meant to be lived behind closed doors—or tucked away at home when we leave for work or hang out with our friends.
And we see rebelutionaries melding humility of character with a zeal for collaboration—working together to accomplish greater things than they could ever do alone, inspiring and encouraging one another, bringing together diverse talents and resources, and taking advantage of modern technology to touch lives around the globe. We see young people working together to start businesses, launch organizations, and found ministries even though they live in different states, in different countries, or even on different continents.
We hope the potential and power of character, competence, and collaboration is as exciting to you as it is to us. But perhaps you feel discouraged that you don’t see all three of these pillars operating in your life. Don’t be.
The honest truth is that to balance your life on these three pillars requires constant work and consistent attention. And the good news is that the surefire way to build character and competence is to do hard things. Furthermore, the best way to attract people to come alongside you is to tackle a hard thing that is too big to accomplish alone.
Character, competence, and collaboration are the means by which our generation can fulfill its call to be salt and light—and keep from being “thrown out and trampled.”
Now, with a portrait of the Rebelution counterculture in hand, let’s take a look at the rest of Conner’s story.
YEAR OF THE WORLD-CHANGER
For the rest of the spring, Conner couldn’t stop thinking about that magazine and the photos that had grabbed his attention. Whenever he drank a glass of clean cool water, he thought of those African children walking miles every day for the equivalent of dirty swamp water. Whenever he threw away extra food because he was too stuffed to eat one more bite, he thought of their shrunken bodies that never had enough.
All summer he prayed, asking God to show him how he could help. But summer passed and there was still no answer.
Finally a simple idea flashed across his mind. Why don’t I make bracelets and sell them and use the money to dig wells in Africa?
The idea seemed silly at first. He didn’t know how much a well would cost. But when the idea wouldn’t go away, Conner knew it was from God.
Once he had a plan it didn’t take him long to get started. He knew he needed help, so he shared his vision with four friends—Dan Mirolli, Jared Ciervo, Kyle Blakely, and Logan Weber. They all signed up immediately. Kyle was seventeen, Dan had just turned sixteen, and everyone else was fifteen—all perfect ages, they decided, to change the world. They would pool their resources for the first batch of bracelets, then speak to churches and schools to raise money for wells and spread awareness about the need for clean water.
They named their organization Dry Tears (see www.drytears.org).
When we first met this band of brothers at our 2007 Rebelution conference in Denver, they had just come from being interviewed for Breakaway magazine’s Year of the World-Changer series at Focus on the Family’s national headquarters in Colorado Springs.
They told us that during the past year they had spoken to thousands of people about the need for clean water around the world. They had sold over thirty-five hundred bracelets and had branched out into selling T-shirts and water bottles as well. All told, they had raised over twenty thousand dollars—with over 90 percent of their sales coming from other teens. They could see their generation catching a passion for helping the afflicted and oppressed.
When we talked, they had already funded the construction of four different wells in Africa, plus an irrigation system that provides water for livestock and people, by working with the Blood:Water Mission, an organization started by the Christian music group Jars of Clay. According to that group’s estimates, the work of Dry Tears has provided clean water for over twenty thousand people and saved hundreds of lives.
But these five young men aren’t resting on their accomplishments. They’re already looking to multiply their impact by establishing student-led Dry Tears chapters around North America.
DO YOU HAVE A HOLY AMBITION?
The Dry Tears guys are just a bunch of kids to some people. But their drive to see their generation be salt and light to a hurting world has allowed them to have a greater impact as teenagers than most people have their whole lives. The difference isn’t some special gifting—these are just normal guys who are still terrified every time they have to speak in public. The difference is that they have a holy ambition.
John Piper, pastor and author, defines a holy ambition as something that you really, really, really want to do—and that God wants you to do also. Some people would call this passion, but it’s passion under the lordship of Jesus Christ. What’s yours?
At the beginning of this chapter we talked about opening your heart and mind to a new, bigger reality. What questions, thoughts, and crazy ideas have crossed your mind as you’ve read? Has God begun to place a passion inside you to take action on a larger scale—to do hard things that will launch you into the thick of the Christian counterculture we call the Rebelution?
If so, you’re in a very exciting place. Getting hold of that kind of personal passion for the first time is often one of the primary passages between childhood and adulthood. Think of your holy ambition as a world-sized passion placed under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Open your heart to His world in all its broken beauty, praying that He will show you how you could be salt and light in the middle of it. He will.
In the next chapter, we’re going to see how God has done it in the lives of seven other real-life rebelutionaries—a small but exciting taste of a growing movement.