Hey y’all!

My name is Alex Gebert and I am excited to start writing for Christian of Tomorrow!I am 24 years old and I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministry from Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina, currently I am working on earning my Masters of Divinity at Asbury Theological Seminary. I was in the Navy for six years and am married to the wonderful Katie Gebert. I’m a good old boy from South Carolina that grew up in the mountains and walking around the woods, if you can imagine an opposite to that it is my wife. I spend almost all of my time with my head in some theology book trying to learn more about who God is and how I can best serve him. If you have any questions or want me to cover something specific feel free to ask! I am beyond excited to give you some theological topics to chew on and keep you up at night like they do me, and I think that it is going to be a lot of fun for both you the reader and me as we journey through life together.

For 40 years, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness. Then they made it to Jericho. This wasn’t what God actually promised to THEM specifically. God promised Jericho to the generation before those who made it. This was a new generation, but it was the same promise from the same God.

Have you ever heard people talk about those praying grandmas from church? There are those spirit filled praying grandmas that change lives, even when we don’t know it. People have been praying for you since before you knew it. People are praying for you now, and you don’t know it. Your life is changing, because somebody has been praying for you. You may even be reading this right now, because someone prayed that this very message would speak to your heart.

Just as those grandma prayers are answered in time and just as the Israelites made it to Jericho in time, your prayers will be answered and God’s promise will be kept.

But here’s the problem: most of us don’t know what we’re praying for. The Israelites prayed for the Promised Land and they received it. What is your Jericho? What is the dream in your heart? What is the goal in your life? What is it that you want in your life that only God can do for you? That is your Jericho. Something that seems so far away and impossible, but God can give it to you. God can’t be intimidated by your dreams. He’s the one who put them in your heart in the first place, so do not fear.

God wants you to voice your wants to Him. This is not because He doesn’t know what you want, but because He wants YOU to know what you want. In Luke 18, Jesus was coming to – you guessed it – Jericho. Outside of the walls sat a blind man who called out to Jesus. This man was blind and it was pretty obvious what he needed, but in verse 41 Jesus asked him “What do you want me to do for you?” We need to make ourselves clear not only to God, but to ourselves when we pray. The blind man said he wanted to see, and Jesus healed him and gave him sight.

Are you voicing your needs? Are you walking circles around your Jericho? Are you praying about your wants, needs, and dreams? This takes time and prayer. Remember, they circled Jericho for 7 days without talking. This took time and obedience, but God gave them their promise and miracle.

It’s okay to dream. It’s good to dream. It’s good to circle those dreams and goals for your life in prayer. Pray with your whole heart; it is never something you will regret. God will ALWAYS answer your prayers. It may not always be the answer you want, but when you’re in such deep prayer with God, you only want what He wants for you anyway.

Keep dreaming and keep praying. Those walls will come down. It’s a promise from God, and God never breaks a promise.

By Allison Myers

Saturday night, some of us from our young adults bible study were gathered.
We were talking about this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week in American history. We began discussing what it would look like for us to really take up arms against racism, to really fight hard. What would it look like if we named it, called it out, condemned it. What would it look like for our generation to say, “Nope. Not on our watch.”

Our convictions: What about our lives besides our Facebook profile says that we really believe that #BlackLivesMatter? How are we serving and valuing our brothers and sisters in law enforcement? What would it look like to make justice bigger than a hashtag. To make it more than a change in profile picture or a fiery comment on a stranger’s blog.
We talked about the good in social media. How it unites people. How it informs people. How it starts dialogue and conversation and how, yes, it’s a good place to be publicly supportive of this or of that. But it cannot stay there. It cannot start and end with a brief, self-important status update of “thoughts and prayers” for the victims of the latest tragedy we’ve become numb to, while we are otherwise silent as racial tension continues to boil over and kill our brothers and sisters.

Can a community, a nation made up of people from different races really come together to unite against hate? Does that look like a “colorblind” world where we refuse to acknowledge race at all? I don’t think so. I think it looks more like, seeing a person of a different color and not hating them for it. Not being afraid of them for it. Not believing they are inferior for it. Not making fun of them for it. Not laughing at other people who make fun of them for it. (Your racist jokes are setting us back, just so ya know, so, could you not?) I think it looks like reaching out and saying, “I’m here to listen. I want to hear about your life and your grief and your pain as a person with a different experience than me. A different ‘normal’ than me. Different fears than me.”
And of course, that’s all easier said than done. As it takes years of repition to learn something, so does it to unlearn. We are unlearning. I am unlearning. Every day, I am unlearning. And as we unlearn, we undo. Little by little, we undo an establishment of indifference and of blind privilege. An establishment that’s told us that different is synonymous with bad. Be patient with one another.
It’s so easy to paint people with broad brushes — ”Thugs,” “Cops,” “Minorites,” “Whites,” “Muslims,” “Black Lives Matter ‘Punks,’” as one former congressman so eloquently put it. It’s so easy to run to extremes when we’re scared. It’s so easy to politicize tragedies when we’re watching from behind our 5″ screens instead of going and actually mourning with those who are heartbroken. It’s so easy to strip someone of their humanity and publicly rip apart their character when you don’t have to look into the bloodshot eyes of the weeping parents who just lost their child. And Christians: isn’t it so easy to forget how bad we are, when we’re looking at someone whom the world deems “worse”? As if we’re not all a lost cause without Christ’s grace. It’s easy to forget the sweetness of that grace as we spew venom into the abyss that is a Facebook comment section.

We asked: How do we combat racism in our community? What are some of the conversations that need to take place? With whom? How do we start them? Is it going to be hard? Probably. Is it necessary? Definitely.
Plainly, we’re not sure what to do. It’s overwhelming. But as with most problems, it starts internally. As Pastor Todd Wagner said, we’ve first got to draw a circle around ourselves and remember that apart from Christ, there’s nothing good in any of us. You don’t eradicate something so deep-seeded overnight. But I think we can start where we are. We can start here. We can stop sweeping the issue of race under the rug as if it doesn’t exist. And we can continue to serve and love and faithfully share the gospel of a just God who promises to one day make all things right.

Ann Voskamp said, “The world needs prayer warriors who don’t see prayer as the least we can do but the most we can do. And then get on knees and pray us through.”
Pray that we will continue to unlearn and undo, to grow in compassion and empathy. Pray that God will be made much of. We know that any solution other than Christ is just an empty coping mechanism.
If you have suggestions or answers to some of the above questions, please feel free to chime in. It’s a terrible thing to feel helpless and tiny in the face of something scary and big. But the good news is that though we’re fighting something bigger than us, we have a God who is bigger than it. Though the media, the politicians and gray-haired, middle-aged dudes on Facebook tell us not to, we’re holding fast to a conviction and a belief that God is raising up a generation of helpers. Of lovers. Of fighters. Of light chasers and justice seekers. Of not just hearers, but doers of the Word.

By Jared duBois

Growing up, I always wanted to be the best man I could ever be. I wanted to have a beautiful wife one day, raise children, have money to take care of my family, and to be “macho.” My view of what a man was was relatively normal from what I hear most other guys my age describe as what they want to be in this life. But the ideas of how to become this person were horribly twisted and confused by the society I was raised in. In America, we tend to believe that in order to be as manly as possible you have to have tons of facial hair, huge muscles, women surrounding you at all times, money, fast and loud cars, etc. I wanted to have these things so badly when I was growing from my teenage years into my early adult years. This destroyed definition of what a real man is caused a lot of pain in my life; rebellion against my parents, leading a romantic relationship in the wrong direction, and ultimately leaving me feeling helpless. It wasn’t until the end of my first year in college when Jesus took hold my heart and my life, and me surrendering myself to His calling, that I truly began to see that what I thought it took to be a man was all wrong. It took an extra year after that, though, to really make the changes in my own life.

A book that helped me tremendously – one that I will recommend for all of you young men to read – is Kingdom Man by Tony Evans. All of my non-biblical references in this post will be from this book, as well. Dr. Evans does a number of ministerial things in the Dallas area, as well as serves as the team chaplain for the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Cowboys. In this book he delivers a very powerful message as to why we see so many single mothers, hungry children, mentally disturbed individuals, and how men play a role in those statistics. He really helped me in my journey to realize God’s calling not only for me, but for all men.

What is a man, exactly? To understand this, let’s take a look at the very first man to ever live on the earth – Adam. God didn’t create Adam first out of incident. When Adam was created, God put it up to him to name all of the animals and creatures of the land, and gave him the first command He would ever give to any human. Adam had a very big responsibility in the garden: to never eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:15-17) Now, the Lord God saw that Adam needed a helper, and so of Adam, He created a woman. This already gives us an idea of what a relationship between a man and a woman should look like. The woman is of the man, and so the man is given immediate responsibility, while the woman is there to aid and encourage him. However, the two should work in one-ness as Genesis 2:24 tells us. This is a Kingdom calling for men to lead their relationships, and as we see from the fall of Adam and Eve, for men to take on the responsibility of keeping those within his sphere of influence in accordance with God’s Word.

In the world we live in, the cry of Kingdom Men to rise and take charge is loud. In Tony Evans’ book he puts it, “It is everywhere. It is loud. It is in the heartbeat of every child born or raised without a father, every woman’s dream drowned by an irresponsible or neglectful man, every hope snuffed out by confusing circumstances, every lonely soul of a single woman searching for someone worthy to marry, and every sanctuary and community devoid of significant contributions.” It is clearly evident in our world that there is a lack of men who can lead their homes and communities in a positive direction. This is because, since the fall of man, we have tuned our ears to a different calling than that of what our Lord has delivered to us. When Satan approached Eve in the garden, we see our Creator referred to as just “God” instead of “Lord God.” Doing this, Satan stripped the title of master and absolute ruler from God’s name, using this subtle twist to effectively undermine God’s divine and absolute authority. This has caused a heck of a lot of confusion as to what a man is supposed to be, because instead of looking to God’s unchanging and final definition, we begin to create our own.

There are only two answers to every question, including how a man should live and rule; God’s answer and everyone else’s. Men are making decisions based on their own thoughts, beliefs, or values – such as Adam did – rather than basing them on what God has to say as Ruler. We are choosing to rule ourselves. This sounds all fine and dandy but then you get the world that we live in today with all of the broken homes and families that we see around us. Psalm 1:1-3 tells us that the man who delights himself in the law of the Lord is sturdy, producing fruits of the Spirit, and prospers. 119:9-13 of Psalm tells us that in order to keep our ways pure we must guard our hearts according to the Word of God and to declare His rules. God will establish our steps when we delight in His way, and even when we stumble, we will not be cast headlong. (Psalm 37:23) So, we are told all of the wonderful things that come with following God’s calling, so why don’t we do it?

Something that was the breakthrough point for me in my relationship with God and allowing Him to develop me into a Kingdom Man was to let go of my worldly pride. It’s not much of a secret that men are prideful. We have grown men flaunting their status, fighting other men to establish dominance, and bragging about their sexual ventures. In a world that tells us that all of these things are pleasing a good, why would be let go of them? That’s between you and the Holy Spirit. I would have never let go of my pride if it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit keeping me in a constant restlessness. It takes this conviction by the Holy Spirit for us to wake up to what God is trying to tell us. The next step to heeding God’s call as a Kingdom Man is to put Him before yourself in everything about your life. This is the meekness described in the Bible that men should have. Meekness is not weakness or timidity. Meekness is submitting yourself before God and His commands and ruling within your sphere of influence with the authority that our Lord has described to you. This is what we call the Headship of Christ.

Just as Christ is the head of the church, He should also be the head of our lives as men, keeping His word so that we may judge and guide our own lives by it. This concept of headship is beautifully illustrated in Ephesians 5:22-33. Here we see that a woman should submit to her husband, for the husband is the head of the marriage as Christ is the head of the church. This is a pretty touchy subject for many people, and that is because our idea of what rule is has been horribly manipulated. “The biblical concept of dominion, or rule, is neither a dictatorship nor a posture of domination, but rather it entails exercising legitimate authority under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Legitimate authority entails all that God provides for and permits a man to do, but not all that a man WISHES to do.” (Kingdom Man, pp. 26) Headship doesn’t determine or reflect a lack of equality. It is not a blanket ticket for male domination; rather this is a hierarchical structure for the home and for the church. The husband has authority over a woman only as long as it is consistent with the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 and Ephesians 5:25-33, as mentioned above, gives us a great look at what the Word of God tells us.

So, men, heed the call for Kingdom Men to step up and take charge. Submit yourself before our LORD God in meekness, meditating on His Word so that you may rule within your sphere of influence in a righteous way. Be the head of your relationship, marriage, and family, as Christ is the head of the church. This authority is not an excuse to do as you please, recklessly leading your girlfriend or wife and family. It is the ability to use what our Lord God has instructed us to do to lead your family into a life of submission to His Love, repentance, and diligence to do what is right in His eyes. Hold Ephesians 5:22-33 close to your heart. Be the man God created you to be. Be a Kingdom Man.

By Brandon Upton

As I sit here at Palace Coffee, I am reflecting on my story and how I came to Christian leadership. Growing up, I knew that I had no intention of being the center of attention for anything. I avoided it like the plague! This mindset began to unwind, and morph into something worthwhile. I began to serve in children’s ministry at my home church, and began to question where God was leading me in the realm of leadership. I continued to serve in the children’s ministry for a while longer, and then God lead me to Ceta Canyon Camp and Retreat Center. This place holds a special place in my heart, as this place was where I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.

My prayer life took root here, and the seed was planted for mentoring. I began to see the importance of mentoring and the power of prayer. I remember coming back every summer in awe of what God was doing. Transitioning forward, I started at West Texas A & M University in August of 2008. I went in excited and ready to get involved with the WT Wesley Foundation. I started to really take ownership of my faith, and really learned the importance of sitting in the presence of God. I served in a variety of different positions: Intern, Event Team Leader, Drama Team Leader, FNT Leader etc.

In my second year at WT, Beau Niewoehner approached me. Looking inward, Beau Niewoehner saw something in me that I didn’t see at the time. He saw potential.  He approached me and said “your relationship with God is authentic, and you have potential to really make strides in the kingdom”. I thank God for Beau every chance that I get. In my times with Beau, we journeyed together through many different leadership texts and through some books of the bible. My potential began to be realized, and we went further faster because of my mentor Beau. I began to mentor a couple of guys, and began to actively practice spiritual disciplines. I found out quickly that mentoring is the most rewarding, and the most challenging, thing you can ever do. Beau was obedient to where the Spirit was leading, and took that leap of faith.

Have you ever had that feeling that you were meant for something more? Have you ever taken the plunge, and served in some type of leadership? Do you possess the willingness to learn? I want to challenge you to continue to seek the Lord, and continue to pray. I promise you that Christ will lead someone to you!

By Kimber Harrison

Nothing is quite as scary as the prospect of “missing your calling.” Before, when sons entered into their father’s professions and daughters married and started families, when doing what you wanted didn’t matter so much as doing what needed to be done, this wasn’t a problem. With the world more at our fingertips that at any point in history before—where the sky is no longer a limit—we have encountered a new issue. That is, we can be anybody, so who do we be?

I’ve heard sermons preached about following your passions and sermons about how your passions misguide you; about going on mission trips and not going on mission trips; fighting for the promotion and being happy with the job. It seems like there isn’t a clear answer as to what and who we are all supposed to be. We are more educated, with more opportunity, and yet we are more lost than ever. For the first time ever, more 18-34 year olds live with their parents than those who don’t. We may have the ability, but clearly we don’t have the direction.

The last thing I would claim to do is solve this riddle. But I do think we can find a balance between “following your heart” and “pulling up your boot straps.” A middle ground that hopefully reaches across denominations and tendencies, and pulls us all into a place where we can follow the Lord faithfully—in ALL he calls us to.

The fact of the matter is God doesn’t leave us hanging on what we are called to do—he makes it quite clear in fact. We are called to spread the gospel, act like Christ, love God and love our neighbors. He has spoken to us as loudly and clearly as one could hope; He literally wrote us a book. So, let’s stop pretending like he hasn’t given us direction. He has.

Before digging into what the next step of your life is going to be, take a minute and examine what you’ve done with the moment you’re in right now. In the job you hate, where you are unsatisfied and unhappy, who have you loved? Who have you shared Christ with? What kind of work have you been doing? In your classrooms and bus rides and school trips—who has seen the light of Jesus in you? As you experience normal life, God has called you to an extraordinary purpose, one full of wonder and vision. So maybe his plan for you is to go to Africa or Southeast Asia and work in orphanages and teach the locals Bible stories and save souls—what an amazing calling. But until that day when you are wondering through a jungle, what is your purpose right now?

Because truly, wherever you are, that’s where he’s called you.

I think we forget that God uses ordinary. That God makes miracles happen in the day-to-day grind. So don’t miss out on your extraordinary purpose because you wish it looked better on Instagram. Glorify God in all you do. God smiles down on us when we make our boss and co-workers look amazing through our work, when we treat people with love and kindness. When you do that, I think you’ll find a purpose that is grander than you could imagine. Stop looking for the burning bush when he’s put in front of you so many people who don’t love Jesus—people who need a miracle through you. In some ways, God has made YOU the burning bush, placed right in the middle of an ordinary field.

I think so much of this issue is wrapped up in us wanting to be remarkable. We want to change the world and have our names in history books. Our egos get in the way of our calling more often than not. We like to flatter ourselves and think that there is something we could do to get in the way of God’s plan. As if he’s tied up in us alone, as if he couldn’t do it without us. God chooses to use you for you. Because it is an amazing gift to be welcomed along on this journey, and he is a loving and gracious God—not because he needs us.

And so, if you’re battling over which college God wants you to go to, or what job he wants you to take, I’d offer a three-step program for decision making.

1. Consult the Bible. Does it comment directly on the issue? If so, then there’s your answer. If not, then…

1. Consult wisdom. Is this a stupid decision? If no comment, then move forward to step three.

1. DO WHAT YOU WANT. Because doing what you want, even when it ended up being the wrong decision, NEVER got in the way of God’s plans coming about.

If he wants you to be an artist, that’s what you’ll be, even if you decided to get a Business degree instead of Art degree. If he wants you to work in this or that field, talk with so-and-so, build certain relationships, then you can’t make a decision that will inhibit him from making those things happen.

God has placed in you specific desires, hopes, dreams, passions, and I think he expects us to pursue those. I wasn’t made to love reading for no reason, and LeBron James wasn’t made 6’ 7” for no reason. Just live your life with Christ in mind. He’s going to get his work done! It is in his interest to use a broken people to make miracles happen—nothing you can do or would do would stop that from happening. So take the pressure off. Pursue God, love him and love his people. Talk to Jesus regularly, consult him on decisions, and make known to him your worries and feelings. But don’t feel like you have to know everything right now to be useful.

See, I think God ends up leaving us in the dark on purpose. He told Abraham to go to a land, without saying what the land was. And so Abraham went. Why would we expect anymore of our Father for us? So follow the gifts he’s given you, the people he’s put in your life to love, the places that capture your heart, and follow them to the glory of God.  Test your intentions. Look deep into your heart for sin. Navigate this world knowing you are still a sin filled human, but don’t let that control you.

Tempered by wisdom, carried out with faith, and approached with a degree of skepticism, we can trust that every one of our decisions will turn out for good. I think the Lord made us intentionally for certain purposes. Purposes that you can’t mess up, or get wrong, or miss out on. No matter your qualifications, no matter how much or little you’ve prepared, no matter how much you feel like you’re just “missing something.” You aren’t. Pay attention, pray, listen, and he’ll put you where he wants you.

By Allison Myers

“…they broke [tortillas] in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts…” -Acts 2:46 

There’s just something about gathering around the table with people you care about that builds a unique bond. Tonight, I gathered around the table with some folks from my young adult group. They invited us into their home and fed us and invested in our lives in the simplest, most organic, but impactful way. I think one of the best ways to love people is to feed them.

Around this time last year, my roommate and I befriended some Mormon missionaries. I was taking a shortcut on the way home one day and ran into them in an alley (still not sure why they were there) but they asked if they could come by the house sometime. It was my birthday, and I was feeling extra loved and chipper that day so I said that of course they could. I also thought that there was a good chance that as Mormon missionaries, they would run into some really rude people, and I didn’t want to be one of them. We exchanged semi-awkward introductions and I proceeded to take the little postcard picture of Jesus that they offered me, as well as a couple of cards with their phone numbers and a copy of the Book of Mormon. I got home and quickly tucked the items away somewhere to collect dust. I thought briefly about the girls and how I would probably never see them again, but I was glad to run into some kind folks on my birthday.

A few days later, they showed up at our door. I still don’t think that I actually ever gave them our address and concluded that they must’ve knocked on several doors in order to finally find ours. Tenacity (something I genuinely admire Mormons for) at its finest and truest. There it was. It was time to decide. Was I going to open up the door and let them in and hear their spiel, or brush them off and tell them I didn’t have time?

I’ve never been good at turning people away.

We sat and listened to their teachings and heard a whole lot about what they think about the Bible, God, Jesus, and this guy named Joseph Smith. After that, we talked for a long time about what I think about the Bible, God, Jesus, and this guy named Joseph Smith. Throughout our time together that day I was a strange combination of offended, confused and surprised, and at the end of the conversation I had to make a quick decision: Because I disagreed with these people, should this be it? Should we call it quits right here? I didn’t have much of an interest in creating a relationship with these girls. After all, there’s really no way to truly be friends with people who think differently than you. It’s too difficult and there are too many opportunities to hurt feelings and step on toes and to be challenged in your own views. No one really wants that, so let’s just cut it off right here. That’s what I decided.

But then I reconsidered.

Because I don’t think that’s what Jesus would do. I think He would lean in. I think He would lean in to the questions and the difficulties and the conflict. I think He would forego sarcasm and sass and rudeness and I think He’d have raw conversation. I think He’d see a couple of people on the couch across from Him, who were trying to live out their own convictions in the best and most loving way that they knew how.

So I invited them over again. And we fed them. And we continued to do that about twice a week for the rest of the semester. We continued our hard conversations over sweet tea and tacos, and for some reason, that changed everything. I learned about their families and their hobbies and their hometowns. I learned about their dreams and aspirations and why we all have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. It’s almost like we became friends or something.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that Jesus was often eating with people when teaching and ministering to them. In Luke, Jesus is basically always eating – so much so that He was accused of being “a glutton and a drunkard” by His critics. Meals were a recurring theme, and seemed to be central to His mission. I think that was an example set for us to follow. When we eat together, we’re sitting in our humanity, we’re admitting our dependence and we’re accepting a unique form of grace from God. In the simplest way, similar to sleeping, we’re acknowledging that we have physical, external needs that cannot be fulfilled from within ourselves. Our humanness is on display.

If you’re looking to build a deeper, more intimate community with people in your circle, I say, start by breaking bread (or tortillas) together. You don’t have to be a professional chef. It doesn’t have to be a five-course, five-star event. You don’t have to have a big, fancy house or an opulent kitchen with a gourmet, organic, free-range menu. You can break out the paper plates and the store-bought cookies. You can gather your people in your tiny IKEA-furnished apartment, butts on barstools and kitchen counters and living room floors. You can stop worrying about your less-than-eloquent prayers and remember that God prefers our feeble, authentic attempts and that He delights in drenching us in grace. So do it. Gather your home team, laugh, share, and embrace your humanity together knowing that God often does some of His best work over fajitas and Dr Pepper.