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What happens when you take 84 teenagers who are relative strangers and give them the responsibility of running a conference for 5,000+ people? The answer: the realization that teenagers are capable of much more than we give them credit for. 

Welcome to the Truth & Peace Student Leadership Conference 2008. The conference kicked off Wednesday July 9 at FWBBC in Nashville, Tennessee. Students from all over the country (and even all over the world) came together to be trained in the ways of godly leadership. 

On Friday July 18, the students and staff left Nashville and headed to Charleston, West Virginia to help run the National Association of Free Will Baptists. 

Throughout the 2 weeks, there were plenty of tears from both laughing and crying. New BFFs were created in an instant and in the blink of an eye it seemed like it was already time to say goodbye. 

However, more importantly, God met with the those who were involved at the conference. Lives were changed and forever will be changed because of what happened during those 2 weeks.

I would love to tell you about everything, but I’d rather you hear it from the students involved. I want them to post on here and give their lasting memories, lessons learned, “LOL” moments, and everything in between.

Not sure what Truth & Peace is? Don’t worry. I have a feeling you’ll get a glimpse of the heart of the conference from the perspectives of the students. Btw…it IS more than just opening doors!

So…we are now open for comments. Can’t wait to hear from T&Pers. However, I’d also love to hear from T&P alumni, parents, and maybe people who were in West Virginia and observed the students in action.

(Sidenote: I’m heading out of the country on a cruise from Saturday-Thursday. It may take several days to get your comments approved…but it will happen!)

Truth & Peace videos are also available on YouTube. You can check out one below and find the others by typing in a combination of search words, such as “Truth and Peace, leadership, FWB” and others. Enjoy!

“The Truth and Peace Student Leadership Conference exists to train, motivate, and encourage High School Students to impact their world through Biblical leadership.”

This Wednesday kicks off the 25th year of the Truth and Peace Leadership Conference. The conference was established in 1984 and has been equipping teenagers to boldly serve Christ and His Church since its foundation.

I was privileged to take part in the conference during 3 years of high school. I am also privileged to serve on staff with Truth and Peace this year. Our meetings begin tonight. I ask that you pray for the 84 students who will be involved with this leadership conference as well as the 9 staff members. 

I will be blogging occasionally from the conference (maybe even daily) so be sure to check in and see what’s going. If you’re in T&P, your parents can stay updated on what’s going on thru the blog (since you only get 1 phone call home a week!)

If you’re in high school or about to enter high school and you’re curious about applying for Truth and Peace or wondering what it is, check out the T&P web site by clicking here.

Any shout outs from alumni???

What were you doing when you were 16? Let me guess: worrying about acne, struggling with a dating life (or lack of), wondering when you would get a car, and trying to decide if it was more important to study for History or hangout with your friends? Thought so. Imagine you decided to put all of those worries behind you and started a website that helped millions of teenagers around the globe.

What were you doing at 18? Let me go out on a limb and guess still struggling with acne, questioning “Do I love her?” when you’ve never even spoken to her, wondering how long your 1976 hooptie would hold up, and trying to decide about college? 2 for 2! What if, after seeing your website have major success, you decided to take things a step further and write a book?

Well, welcome to the life of Alex and Brett Harris. At the age of 16, these twins developed TheRebelution.com, an online portal that encourages teenagers to rebel against the low expectations of society. Thousands of teens pour through the site everyday and talk about life and how they can rise about the “you’re too young to do anything” attitude of society.

At 18, Alex and Brett decided to get the word out to a higher degree by writing Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations. 

To be honest, since the book was written by 18 year olds, I expected it to be shallow fluff Read more…

Well, before I get into this post, let me thank everyone who commented and viewed my page yesterday. My hits doubled from Monday, even though I didn’t post anything. Also, it was the most hits I’ve ever received in a single day, so thank you! I guess controversy brings publicity! Anyway, I wanna share a thought that has been bouncing around in my head. I don’t have answers; actually I have more questions. Hopefully I don’t confuse anyone…here we go:

I am a very rational thinker. In everything I do, I have to “play it by the book.” I probably missed my generational calling for a few years. I have a modernist mind working in a postmodern generation. Everything I do is based around logic. In my mind, everything must make sense. My girlfriend likes to kid me about this because she is the complete opposite. While I do not make decisions based on emotion or feelings, she is prone to make up her mind based on what she wants, likes, or feels. For example, when I bought a TV, I got a subscription to Consumer Reports and did hours of research trying to find the right TV. After I narrowed my choices down, I did hours of research trying to find the best prices. One month later, I found a TV. My girlfriend mentioned that if she were the one buying the TV, she would have gone to one store only, saw a TV she liked, purchased, and never thought a thing. Meanwhile, I’m still wondering if I could have saved $3.47 by waiting another month.

I think both sets of thinking are good. I wish I had the emotional type of thinking a little bit more. The issue that has really been boggling my mind concerns how the Church is dealing with the tension between these two types of thinking/personalities as it relates to salvation and spiritual growth.

In many respects, I think the Church has taken the rational approach in these regards. Confused? Think about this: If someone asked you how to “be saved” or “how to find salvation,” what would you say? Most of us would go to a 4-step program explaining the exact steps needed for salvation. Much like putting a bookshelf together, we would offer up the blueprints for salvation: “Step 1: Confess your sins. Step 2: Confess Jesus as Lord. Step 3: Ask God to save you. Step 4: That’s all you need. Here’s your guaranteed ticket to heaven.” Okay, so I’m exaggerating that last step a little bit…or am I? Read more…