Toward Higher Expectations

Recently on The Meeting House, I had the opportunity to interview brothers Alex and Brett Harris. These guys are the sons of Gregg Harris, who is known as a homeschooling pioneer and someone that brings challenging messages to families. Their brother is Josh Harris, author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye and now a pastor of a Sovereign Grace Ministries church in Maryland. So there is a great pedigree here.

I was thrilled to learn that the brothers Harris had served, at the age of 16, as interns in the office of Justice Tom Parker of the Alabama Supreme Court. They had attracted the attention of a staff member at Justice Parker's office as a result of the website they had launched called, "The Rebelution", and were brought on board. They made clear that no considerations were given to them based on their age - the expectation level was not compromised just because of their youth.

In their conversation with me, Alex and Brett recounted how their father had brought home some books, which helped to expand their horizons and begin to think about raising their level of expectation.

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They learned quite a bit from their experience in Montgomery, Alabama, and teens are being impacted by the Rebelution website. They continue to challenge teenagers to make this time period known as adolescence a time to seize opportunities and "do hard things", and have written a book called, Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations. Here, Alex discusses what they term "the myth of adolescence".

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Well, I'm on board with this one...I think parents can be motivated to help our teens live productive lives, even during the junior high and senior high school years. This is especially relevant with the summer months coming up - what grand opportunities young people to work on their spiritual lives and to allow God to use them doing acts of service - it sure develops their character and spirit much better than watching TV, playing video games, or catching rays by the pool all summer long.

So, it was a pleasure to talk with Alex and Brett and to be inspired by 2 young men who have definitely risen to a challenge and are working to motivate teens all across America to passionately serve God!

The full interview is available at the Intersection Download Center at the Meeting House website...check out www.meetinghouseonline.info/download.