This pretty much sums up where me and my right-hand man (SW) feel like right now.

Four years ago, Col. John Tanner approached me with an idea for a new program he was starting. I was a unit leader for ALERT’s Emergency Services Operations advanced training unit, about to graduate and planning on starting paramedic training that fall. Col. Tanner explained his vision and the role I was to play, and I got excited. It lined up with my own desire for that summer: To mentor young men and convince them to not waste any of their life.

Fast forward a few years, and now I’m heading into my last Quest program, the fifth one so far. I’ve gotten to invest in the lives of over four hundred young men, and I’ve grown by leaps and bounds in almost every aspect of leadership. Earlier this year, my roommate asked me why I stuck around for Quest. It certainly isn’t convenient, and it doesn’t pay anything. The reason, I concluded, was that I really, truly believe in the program.

If I were to condense the vision of Quest to a t-shirt, it’d read like this:

We exist to help young men choose Christ-like manhood. It is a choice, one each young man must make themselves. It is Christ-like manhood, not some kind of arrogant machismo.

We provide assistance in this choice, first and foremost, by imparting a vision for what Biblical manhood looks like. Then, we equip these young men with foundational habits, solid teaching for effectiveness, and healthy relationships with fellow warriors. Ultimately, my goal is that we would promote the glory of God by inspiring these young men to not waste their lives. A wasted life is, as John Piper says so often, a life that is not living for the glory of God—and God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. So Quest seeks to point these young men towards the superior satisfaction available in Christ. I want each young man to discover the treasure of Christ and be willing to give up all they have to gain it.

I feel a special burden for this age group (fourteen through seventeen) because I believe they are at a uniquely formative stage in their lives. These guys are just entering the adult stage of life. They are just beginning to form their own identity, to choose between the beliefs of their parents and the system of the world. Five years later, and they are typically set in their ways. But right now, they are still undecided, still reachable. And so it excites me to see this field ripe for the harvest each summer.

You see, life is made up of minutes and hours and days and years. If we waste a single day of time—if we don’t use our day to glorify our Creator—we have wasted life. Not all of our life, but a small fragment of it. I don’t want any of these guys to waste any of their lives. I want them to find the best satisfaction out there and build their lives around it. I want them to choose Christ.

My vision, and Quest’s vision, have lined up quite close by this point. As I’ve spent time working, my own desires have been shaped and molded by my experiences. And as I’ve gained increased responsibility, increasingly, Quest’s vision has followed my own.

And this year, my last year, I have the incomparable privilege of handing the vision on to the next Quest leader, a man whose own heart and vision I’ve watched develop over the last several years. Quest is going into good hands.

Every summer, my life gets like this. Quest is approaching fast—too fast—and my workload is going through the roof. My tasks are multiplying faster than I can complete them. Every conversation, every task done, hey, even every shower—they all fill my mind with yet more things to get on, more tasks to complete, more stuff to think about.

So I work. Longer. I drink more coffee, and tea, and set more alarm clocks.

And amidst the frenzied flurry of activity, I question myself. I wonder, “am I lacking in faith?” “shouldn’t I just trust God to get the work done?”

Psalm 127 suggests that our works are pointless without God’s involvement, but also seems to suggest that those trusting God get plenty of sleep—which is God’s gift to those he loves.

2 Thessalonians 3 provides a counterpoint, where Paul shares that he worked “night and day” with “toil and labor” so that he wouldn’t be a burden to anyone.

Right now, I feel more like Paul and less like the Psalmist.

The challenge lies in helping them see your idea through their lens, not yours…. Marketers of successful ideas rarely market the facts. Instead, they market stories that match the worldview of the people being marketed to.

It is easy to see the validity of this when you consider that the Bible is largely story. It is a big story told through many smaller stories, and much more focus is given to stories then to dogma. And through these stories, we begin to see ourselves, to learn about ourselves, and to learn about God. In pondering how to better do what we do at Quest, I find myself considering the impact of story more and more. The trend in the 20th century was about teaching people facts and expecting them to change based on those facts. I expect the 21st century will find us focusing on building relationships and telling stories. We can’t understand another person’s worldview until we listen to them, building that relationship. And we can’t expect to change a person’s mind with facts. We can change a person’s worldview with stories, however. This approach, after all, has worked out okay for God for the last several millennia.

Can I change the world? Doubtful. Can I impact 10 teenagers? Absolutely. Can those 10 teenagers impact 10 friends each? Definitely. Can those 110 teenagers change the world? Watch and see. Live exponentially. It’s called “discipleship.”

I love it.

So if the Church is not in competition with popular culture, how does it fit within society? And how does it continue to remain relevant to an ever-changing populace? The Church is, in some sense, similar to the position of a hospital in a community. It doesn’t exist to sell something, but to offer a cure to a sickness. In the case of the Church, the price of this sickness is more severe: eternal death. The message of the Church is cheapened when it is placed in the same category as a product to be marketed or a program to be promoted.

Seems to be echoes of Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. God doesn’t want us to market the Gospel, to peddle a “magic cure” like other snake oil religions. Instead, God desires us to be genuine and authentic, living the gospel message out in our lives and demonstrating that it is true.

via Collide Magazine | ARTICLES +.

The Orange Conference 2008 Intro from ItLooksGood on Vimeo.

Some of my favorite quotes:

We must become less impressed with our latest program, and less impressed with our latest website, and less impressed with our own creative idea, and become more focused on becoming less and making Jesus more in everything we do.

Craig Groeschel, LifeChurch.TV

We’ve said to the world that the primary task of the Church is the penetration of the whole world with the Gospel. We have our marching orders from the Great Commission, and we will not surrender nor retreat nor become discouraged by circumstances and events.

Billy Graham, 1966 Berlin Germany

This year, more than ever, I am learning the importance of prayer. The days I spend much time alone in prayer, things go better for the whole group. When I figure I’m “too busy” to pray, invariably things go all wrong. I am also seeing the fruit of three years of people development as my senior leaders are able to effectively run things in my absence (which happens one third of the time since I am still working as a paramedic full time).

I love seeing God change people’s lives. Being part of God’s work is truly exciting. This is what I was made for.