Wherever Here Is, Start Here

Brothers Alex and Brett Harris set the young adult world on fire with their first book entitled Do Hard Things in which they pushed the readers (and their leaders) out of their comfort zones and into the world of apprehending challenges for Christ. Their encouragement sparked the energy and interest of countless young people but lacked an outline for how to proceed. Not wanting to lose the momentum that has been stirred up, the Harris brothers bring their latest book Start Here with an encouraging guide for how to get going fanning the sparks of enthusiasm into a bonfire.

Start Here is a rousing call to get moving for all of us in whom God plants a seed for action, but it is especially geared toward young adults and teenagers. The twins combine numerous first-person accounts with a theme that winds its way through all of the pages; just because you’re a teenager doesn’t mean you can’t be taken seriously. When we are confronted daily with images of the supposed lost state of our young people, it is heartening to read the stories of those who are obviously not spending all of their time texting at the mall. In fact, a twinge of guilt might fly through the older reader as we realize we haven’t even attempted anything on the scale of what some of the youngsters have accomplished for God.

The book isn’t a manual filled with step-by-step instructions for accomplishing your objectives. Instead, the authors have created a looser, Q & A format that helps the Hard Thing doer to organize their own thinking at each step of the way. The inductive approach is perfect for the intended teen audience who might rebel at being told that they need to follow a set of specific steps in order to reach their goals. Instead, they encounter a number of approaches in each area, including the struggles the people ran into by following their own path and from the varied approaches they can select the one that best fits their style and circumstances.

While I’m a bit outside of the age group of the core audience for Start Here, it was a valuable read and I found the earnestness of the authors and contributors to be refreshing. Youth leaders, Pastors, and Parents should invest a couple of days in reading this book before slipping it to their teens. The spark that comes from turning to any of the sections and reading the experiences of other young people may be just the thing to bring your teenager off of the sidelines and into the service of the Lord.

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