God wants to use your life to change the world, but I’ve learned that this will not happen without courage. The trouble is that there is a lot of confusion over just what it is.

One second I was talking with my dad and Valery (one of Steiger’s Ukrainian missionaries), and an instant later, it felt as though a bomb had gone off. Stunned and covered in debris, it was hard to process what had just happened. We were on tour in Brazil with No Longer Music, and our driver had gotten into a lane not intended for the height of our bus. Traveling at well over 60 miles per hour, we smashed into a horizontal steel beam, knocking our air conditioning unit clean off the bus’s roof.

I had never experienced a more violent moment in my whole life.

Living radically for Jesus has never been easy. Throughout this blog series, I have unpacked some specific obstacles for millennials entering into a life of radical obedience to Christ. I will try to wrap things up by addressing a barrier that is arguably the most problematic of them all, and it’s this: many millennials fail to follow Jesus radically because they are unwilling to submit to institutions and the leaders that run them.

God desires to use Millennials to change the world, but as with every generation, they face unique roadblocks to living in radical obedience, and they seem to experience a particular difficulty in entering the mission field. In my previous blog posts in this series, I addressed two significant reasons why: fear of commitment and the need to instantly specialize.

In this post, I would like to look at a more fundamental barrier - the fear of the very title itself.

I am passionate about challenging millennials to get outside of the church and boldly share the Gospel. Each generation faces unique barriers to following God in a radical way. In every age, we are called to subvert the values of secular culture and confront the idols that are destroying people. There is perhaps no greater idol today than ourselves.

The first time I heard about Nabeel Qureshi was when someone handed me a copy of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. I was on tour with No Longer Music, and I flew through the book on the two-day journey from Germany to Portugal.

I have had the privilege of sharing the Gospel in many countries with predominantly Muslim populations, including Northern Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey, and Nabeel’s story was inspiring and incredibly helpful. I was profoundly affected by his remarkable testimony, and was struck by how difficult it is for a Muslim to convert to Christianity.

I am a full-time missionary and have been for seven years. I work for Steiger International, an organization dedicated to reaching young people outside the church, and helping them grow in their relationship with Jesus.

Working in music and the arts, I interact mostly with twenty-somethings. And although stepping into full-time ministry holds its challenges for everyone, I’ve noticed some unique barriers that the millennial generation is facing. I have found that for this demographic, the chasm between inspiration and action tends to be perilous and sadly, few manage to successfully navigate it.

This summer will be my eleventh consecutive summer touring with No Longer Music. I have spent quite a number of years of my life on the road performing. Despite late nights and long van drives, sleeping on church floors, and living out of a suitcase, I am more grateful than ever to do what I do.

Come&Live! artist, No Longer Music, is on a tour of Europe

Check out their latest tour report:

I am part of a unique band called No Longer Music, and last summer marked my tenth straight year of touring with them. In NLM, we use music and theater to present a clear Gospel message outside the church.

Over the years, I have been in many intense situations, and it hasn’t always been safe. I’ve had rocks thrown at me, fled from a riot in Lebanon, been followed by the secret police, and had our power cut just as we started to play. One time, a guy threw a cell phone at my head while I was preaching!