Last weekend, July 11 the Do Hard Things Tour visited Chicago. I had the opportunity to attend the conference with a friend and my father. What an experience! If you haven’t heard of the Do Hard Things Conference or the Rebelution, you can find out more by visiting their website. While this tour is specifically aimed at teens, it’s message applies to everyone. Here’s the description of the tour:
“The Rebelution’s Do Hard Things Tour is coming to five major cities across the United States in Summer of 2009. Each conference is a challenging one-day event for teens by teens who believe that our generation is ready for a change. Ready for something that doesn’t promise a whole new life if you’ll just buy the right pair of jeans or use the right brand of deodorant.
“We believe that our generation is ready to rethink what teens are capable of doing and becoming. And we’ve noticed that once wrong ideas are debunked and cleared away, our generation is quick to choose a better way, even if it’s also more difficult.
“The Do Hard Things Tour invites you to explore some radical questions:
- Is it possible that even though teens today have more freedom than any other generation in history, we’re actually missing out on some of the best years of our lives?
- Is it possible that what our culture says about the purpose and potential of the teen years is a lie, and that we are its victims?
- Is it possible that our teen years give us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for huge accomplishments — as individuals and as a generation?
- And finally, what would our lives look like if we set out on a different path entirely — a path that required more effort but promised a lot more reward?
“We describe that alternative path with three simple words: Do Hard Things.“
Alex, Brett, and their father Gregg each had very unique insights into the mindset of “Doing Hard Things.” Doing Hard Things often requires that we conquer our fears and step out of our areas of comfort to work for God’s kingdom. Each of the speakers had unique and pointed suggestions for rebelling against the low expectations that our culture, our generation has placed upon us. It’s an incredible movement and an incredible challenge.
It’s a big invitation, one that I want to explore more in future posts. I made sure to take good notes so that I can relay some of the words from this Tour. Some of these posts involve topics such as discouragement and complacency, this idea of the teen years being a training ground for life, and many other topics. Mainly I want to draw your attention to this excellent resource for reclaiming the generation. Keep checking back, I will definitely be talking more about the Rebelution and the specific ideas behind it.
What hard things are you doing?
(Photo Credit: http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2009/07/last-saturday-at-moody-church/)
