the orphaned generation by scott wilcher

I came across this book, the orphaned generation, and it just stood out to me.

Something about it was just calling my name.

Maybe it was the subtitle, The Father's Heart for Connecting Youth and Young Adults to Your Church.


After all, lately I have had a heavy burden for young people who are shaky at best in the faith they once professed strongly. I guess because that young person was me once. I grew up in church, had an amazing youth group experience, and even a substantial early college Bible study group experience.

Still---I wandered. Better yet, I ran. At some vivid point in my later college years, I just hit the figurative church doors running---rushing out to see and experience the world I thought I deserved to partake in and thought I had so missed out on.

Fast forward several years and I am now on a whole new level with my faith in God and my walk with Him as well as with others in my world around me. I am not perfect. As a matter of fact, that is just the point. I am real. I now see the world through others' eyes like I may never have before.

Because of my experience, I have a heavy burden to help people of all ages but especially young people to be more real with God, more real with each other, and to learn to see the world from each others' eyes so that we value and understand each other more.

So, as I read the orphaned generation, author Scott Wilcher hit the nail on the head more times than I can count. He didn't just hit the nail; he pounded it in. He truly has a unique perspective on young people in the church, as he was a youth pastor for many years and now "serves as a consultant to churches that hope to reach young people more effectively."

Wilcher not only engagingly discusses his central theme of genuinely reaching young people and helping them become connected in the church. He also throws a bit of a curve ball in when he begins to break down old, long-held mental pictures that we Christians have in our mind of the gospel message. He cleverly and accurately dissects several thought processes and illustrations we have practiced over the years in considering and discussing what Jesus did for us. I must say, God through Wilcher in this book reorganized my thinking. I will never see Christ's work on the cross the same way again. I will never again explain it to others the same way.

Honestly, whether I was interested in engaging the young people of the church or not, this book would have spoken to me on so many levels (as it truly did) that I could not help but be changed by it---young people or not.

But truly, the young people are the theme. And for very good reason. Much like that which I described earlier. And Wilcher does a fantastic job of getting on-the-level with the us as readers and then calling us to step up to a whole new level. We can't just be readers; our young people and our world need leaders---now, today. Not leaders who look down, belittle, and judge. Servant leaders who imitate Christ and come alongside those who need them most.

Please consider this unique and excellent book the orphaned generation by Scott Wilcher. You may relate more than you realize. Even if you don't see yourself as the leader-type, this book will revolutionize your thinking and actions in a very positive, Biblical way.

Young people or not---you need this reimaging of the mind. 
I sure did!

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Scott Wilcher. No other compensation was received. The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.