Yesterday I started teaching The Story (viewthestory.com) to about 70 young pros at our church. We talked about stories that we love, including a video collage of recent movies. Then I had the group turn and tell each other where they were on 9-11-2001. This was no movie, no fantasy. This real event shapes the personal stories of a millennial generation.
Some recalled being in middle school math class or english. I had just finished teaching and got the news from colleague Bruce Little before going to chapel. One in our class Sunday, a young pro who just began a life of following Christ, noted she watched one of the buildings come down from her front porch, and how she knew people who were lost that day.
Before that fateful day, in the 1990s, Usama bin Laden sat in a tent in the obscure mountains of Asia. He led no nation. He had no massive army. He had no cache of nuclear armaments. But he had a very creative mind, a desperate desire to challenge the status quo, and the ability to communicate that idea to others. And, he knew how to network.
One of the statements from the 9-11 Commission reported how our efforts to thwart terrorism failed to have the imagination necessary to concoct the sort of plot the radicals carried our for their leader.
No dirty bomb. No assassination plan. No military attack.
Instead, a group of young men—men who had been in the U.S. for years–changed the world. Some took piloting classes as preparation. They used no AK47s. They Just boarded aircrafts, took some box cutters, and the ability to fly jet liners into buildings.
Oh, and an idea. Do not forget the idea. These men knew they were going to die, and were willing to do so for their cause. People do not plan for years with such consequences without an idea they consider worth such sacrifice.
We all remember where we were on 9-11. We know the evil of terrorism. But do not miss the power of ideas and movements behind such events as the attacks a decade ago.
Ideas that challenge the status quo, especially when spread among people hungry for change, create movements that change the world. Some, like global terrorism, are evil. But not all movements are.
Think of the Civil Rights movement. Or the abolition of slavery.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ came with more than an idea. Gathering his own group of young men, he came not to kill, but to die; not to destroy, but to redeem. His death and resurrection gave his followers an idea, a message they would die for to deliver to the world.
The mission of God is the greatest idea we could ever know.
It is in fact the greatest idea in history, the Story that makes sense of our individual stories.
Those early followers had no elite standing in society. But they had an idea: one message, one Master. At the center of it is the gospel. They gave their lives, many physically, for their cause. But not as car bombers or hijackers. They gave their lives willingly for their Master who had given His life for the world.
Within a few centuries, Christianity changed the face of Rome.
And now it has changed the world. Oh yes, more than a few who profess Christ have lost the idea of the gospel in a world of moralism or ritual. But many still cling to the idea of the good news in Jesus Christ. If you do not know it, go to www.viewthestory.com to read more.
Do not lose the lesson learned from 9-11. One man can impact the whole world. One idea that challenges the status quo can affect many, either a sinister idea or a wonderful one.
Today a missional movement is encouraging many to impact the culture with the gospel. But it will take more than talk and a few new terms. It will take serious disciple-making, radical surrender, and a shift from living for ourselves to living for Christ and His Kingdom, and for one another who share the mission. It will take investment in a younger generation. After all, Jesus also gathered a group of young men around Himself, discipled them, and has changed the world as a result. We continue that movement.
I want to give my life to change the world through an idea of hope, forgiveness, and life. How about you?
(NOTE: the above is an expansion of my article for this week’s Wake Weekly, our local newspaper)
