I recently took a Marketing position and have learned much in my first 4 months. One word that constantly gets tossed around the office is “brand.” Thanks to people like Seth Godin, the term has also gained increasing popularity around blogs and the rest of the web.

Now, I tend to avoid and shun overused terms like “brand” as much as possible. But sometimes, a buzzword actually gets the job done, and in this case, I think it is quite necessary.

What is a Brand?

The best definition I’ve heard comes from Richard Branson, founder of Virgin. He says, “Your brand or your name is simply your reputation, you have to fight in life to protect that as it means everything.” Continue Reading…

I (Brian) am a youth pastor to hundreds of amazing students in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.  Our student community lives out this post. Although written specifically to other youth pastors, I think anyone interested in following Jesus can find it helpful.

Let’s be honest, the role of youth pastor is a tough gig. Coming from one side is  pressure to increase the size of your ministry, and pushing in from another is the expectation of your students to be a ministry that is “awesome,” “fun,” and worthy of their time. It’s no wonder so few leaders last more than a year in the same church.

In an effort to overcome the pressure, many youth pastors spend hours trying to plan and produce fun events to attract students. More times than not, the focus of these events is evangelism, hoping that while non-Christian students are drawn inside the church building, they might also be drawn to receive Christ. The mindset becomes “I’ll create a fun atmosphere so lost students will want to attend, hear the Gospel, and hopefully put their faith in Jesus.”

As a youth pastor for the last five and a half years, I have come to understand that my primary job is NOT to create attractive environments for non-Christian students. Yet, I’m more convinced than ever that our youth events should be incredibly attractive, dare I say the most attractive places for students to spend their time. What’s the big difference? Discipleship. Continue Reading…

From the outside looking in, my life was great during my Junior Year of High School. I made good grades, was well liked, my girlfriend was on homecoming court, I was a leader at church, and had a very close group of friends. 

But then one day, during class, a rather heavy lump planted itself somewhere between my stomach and chest and refused to leave. I had a feeling of anxiety that I couldn’t shake, and I had no idea what was causing it. I walked with it for days, and the feeling came and went without warning. Continue Reading…

Let’s face it, we all have good times, and then we all have bad ones. The trouble is, those good times can be really hard to remember during the bad ones.

During the dark moments, we tend to doubt God. I’ve personally struggled over illness, job loss, and the death of loved ones; others have experienced far greater trials. Those times can cause us to question, “Is God good? Is He even real?” In our pain we easily forget the incredible promises God offers us and often exchange them for temporary pleasures of this world. Continue Reading…

If you have ever thought that you are too young to make a difference I would challenge you to rethink that assumption. Consider the story of the As We Go Project. 

In 2010 a group of four college students taking seriously the phrase, “If you can dream it, you can do it” decided to walk from Milledgeville to Snellville in what has come to be called “The Walk Home”. They took on this arduous journey just to see if it was possible. It seemed such an outlandish idea, but that was the draw of it.

At a screening of the documentary made about this walk a friend asked, “Would you ever consider doing this for a cause?” The answer was yes, but nothing came of it.

In the summer of 2011 a young man named Danny Montenegro was having a conversation with a friend about Danny’s freshman year of college. He described the journey his friends had taken and the friend submitted the idea of Tiny Hands International as a possible cause to pursue. This organization had a project in the works that would build border patrol stations on the border of Nepal and India to help prevent the trafficking of over 10,000 young girls across that border each year.

That fall, The As We Go Project was born. Danny brought the idea to the attention of his friends and a team was assembled to plan the first official As We Go walk. After a semester of planning, the first walk came to fruition during Georgia College and State University’s winter break. Twenty-one walkers, seventy miles, four days.

The group set out from GCSU’s front campus headed to the arches at UGA’s campus in Athens, GA. Three churches from three different denominations hosted the team as they made their way through Eatonton, Madison, and Bishop. Multiple cars stopped to ask what they were doing along with three local papers. A group of friends and family received the tired walkers at the arches four long days after the outset of this journey. Over $2,000 was raised toward the border patrol station project.

The Passion Conference that same December fully funded the border patrol station project, which left the team without their original cause. After everyone returned from summer break, the team reassembled to plan the next walk. It has taken a few months, but next walk is right around the corner. On December 8-11 the second annual As We Go Project walk will take place from Athens to Atlanta.

The reason for the new route is to create a sense of continuity between last year’s walk and this year’s walk. The journey ended in Athens and the task will be taken up where it was laid down last December. The team is walking to Atlanta because they are partnering with Night Light International, which is based in Atlanta, and because of the severity of the sex trade industry in that city.

We want to see sex trafficking end in our own town. This is a call for all of us. If you think you are too young to make something out of nothing, to break down walls that others see as immovable, to bring a dream into reality, you’re wrong. Jesus promised the most abundant life and that is the only life for someone who follows him. If you can dream it, you can do it. Therefore, Go.

Written by: Sean Mooney, As We Go team member