I\u2019ve heard quite a few people say it: \u201cI have the best job in the world.\u201d I always like it when I hear that, because it makes me feel really happy for the person that says it. And I\u2019m one of those people. I say it. And I mean it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2003, I co-founded ARISE, a discipleship ministry for primarily young adults, with Nathan Renner. ARISE is kind of my \u201cjob.\u201d It\u2019s now 2019 and I\u2019ve been at this \u201cjob\u201d for 17 years. You know what? I\u2019m more fired up for ARISE than ever! I started ARISE at 30 and now I\u2019m 46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m sorry but that sounds really old to me. It doesn\u2019t feel<\/em>old, but it does sound<\/em>old. And I think it\u2019s because of my job. Hear me out. Three weeks ago, we graduated ARISE Australia\u2019s eighth class; it was the 23rd ARISE class ever (if I\u2019m counting right). There were 42 students and, get this, 19 of them were teenagers! The oldest student was 30. The last two ARISE Australia classes have been our youngest classes ever. I\u2019ve absolutely loved it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a father of two teenage boys, 18 and 16. But when this most recent ARISE class was in session for 14 straight weeks, I feel like I had 21 teenage children! And again, I absolutely loved it. My job keeps me both happy and young. But it gets even better . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next year, my oldest son, Landon, will attend ARISE. He\u2019s been talking about it for years. \u201cDad, after I graduate, I can\u2019t wait to do ARISE.\u201d It\u2019s hard to describe how amazing this makes me feel. Honestly, I feel humbled before God as never before. I mean, my<\/em>children are super excited about attending a discipleship program that I <\/em>started with my<\/em>best friend Nathan to teach young people about my<\/em>amazing God and Savior! Absolutely incredible. But it gets even better . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nathan\u2019s oldest son, Levi, may also attend next year too! And it gets even better still . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several months ago I wrote in the Mission Update<\/em> about the amazing revival of the youth and young adults that\u2019s happening in my local church here in Australia. I\u2019m happy to report that the revival continues! Here\u2019s really cool evidence of that: nearly all of Landon\u2019s friends that are graduating this year are also planning to attend ARISE! The culture is shifting wonderfully and powerfully down here. It\u2019s almost expected<\/em> that when you graduate, you attend ARISE. It\u2019s just so incredible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This most recent class, the one that graduated just three weeks ago, was, once again, a truly international group: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, South Africa, Canada, the United States, Australia, and Tasmania (just kidding). I think I might even be forgetting a country, but I can\u2019t for the life of me remember which one it is. This class was such an energetic, fun, friendly, committed, spiritual, and easy-to-get-along-with group. Whenever it was my turn to teach, I would get excited, giddy even. Just like I used to back in Troy, Michigan in 2003 for the first-ever class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a beautiful thing to look up, while teaching, and see dozens of young people taking notes and nodding their heads and to hear them ask thoughtful, important, and deep questions. I keep hearing about how young people are leaving the church, both the Christian church generally and the Adventist Church specifically, but, honestly, I feel quite insulated from it. Most of the young people I\u2019m around, whether in my local church or at ARISE, are fired up about Jesus and are taking real steps to better understand, live, and share their biblical faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I mean, I came to Jesus through the Adventist Church when I still a young person, just 23. It was a complete change of course for me: punk rock, skateboard kid to suspender-wearing Adventist Bible worker. I\u2019ve lost the suspenders, but I\u2019ve kept the fire! In fact, the fire has grown. So I know by experience that a young person can have a deep, life-changing experience with Jesus. Forgive me, but I just don\u2019t believe that youth or young adults need to be entertained into submission to tenderize them to the Gospel. I just don\u2019t buy it. What I needed was Jesus, the Word, and a group of like-minded people\u2014that is, a community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s what ARISE is all about. We have been for 17 years now, and by God\u2019s grace we\u2019ll be about the same thing 17 years from now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll be, *gulp* 63. My sons will be 35 and 33.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, who knows, maybe my teenage grandchildren will be talking about attending ARISE when they graduate from high school . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the thought is enough to keep me perpetually both happy and young. I told you, I have the best \u201cjob\u201d in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope you do too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve heard quite a few people say it: \u201cI have the best job in the world.\u201d I always like it when I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[232],"class_list":["post-12971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-report","tag-newsletter"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The_Best_Job_in_the_World.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paAh8r-3nd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12973,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12971\/revisions\/12973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}