Youthanize by Rob Cook ~ Something for ANYONE who wants to reach out to others

Wow. God had me read Brave Moms, Brave Kids by Lee Niehuis.  Then I did I Am Loved Bible Study (thanks Proverbs 31 Online Bible Studies) by Wendy Blight.  I also read If You Only Knew by Jamie Ivey.  I am finishing up Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer.

I was trying to figure out what to read next. I am a huge book "collector" not always having time to read, but desperately wanting to. (Put me on the beach and ahhhhh......)

So I grabbed Youthanize by Rob Cook off my shelf.

I will get to my review soon but perhaps a story is in order.

We love to go to Creation Northeast.  We have started a tradition of going with our older children.  That's a whole 'nother blog post on how to go to Creation and do it "well".  ("Well" to my standards!)

The kids love to play "Bigger and Better". Bigger and Better is when you take something from your campsite and head off to other campsites to trade for something bigger and better. Our crew took a (popular at the time) fidget spinner. Off they went.  Always trading what they got for something bigger and better.

Eventually they came back with a book. They decided this was their "better" and they were keeping it.  They started reading it. Mostly out loud at the campsite.  We loved it.  Added expression as they read only made it better.  Then my friend had a bullhorn she had brought along. Reading the book with the bullhorn was priceless.

At one point some of the crew realized they had seen the man who gave them THE book and realized he was the author! Wow! Someone famous! They tracked him down and invited him back to our campsite.

Mind you at Creation there are thousands of campsites.

Finally, the author walked in. We were soon getting ready for supper and it was my night to cook, but we quickly realized this was a moment to sit down and listen.  We were so excited. He had someone else with him but we had no clue who he was!

So, Rob Cook started to share. He shared a little of his story and listened to one of our crew read his book with the bullhorn.

  My son and friend with Rob Cook along with his two devotionals. Regener8 and Illumin8

Then....we realized the person he had with him had OPENED on the main stage at Creation NE and he just maybe was a bigger deal than Rob Cook. Just maybe.  But I think to our group we were just blessed to have BOTH of them there!  We just listened to Rob and Jordan Coppas for quite a time! And we were blessed.

Now onto my review!

I picked up this book at just the right time. Just after reading Jamie Ivey's story of how she group up in the church but did not follow Christ in the church.  Then Youthanize which shares of how to reach out to the unchurched!! Unfortunately, as Rob shares, the methods we've used the last 100 years are NOT working. Something needs to change!

Rob challenges you in this book. Are your current outreach methods working? What would happen if you actually went outside the church  to reach people for Jesus? What would that look like? Would it make you uncomfortable? What would happen if they came to church? Would you need to them to "conform to church" or can you love them in the name of Jesus. I appreciate that Rob shares just how to do it!

In this book, Rob gives practical insight on how to reach the lost for Jesus. Rob says it like it is. This book is written with those working with youth in mind, however,  I would suggest anyone with a call to reach the lost read it. It can be adapted for any ministry.  Who would that be with a call to reach the lost? Why, that would be the entire church!

Rob shares samples lessons at the end which are a great resource as well.  He also shares lessons he has learned from what went wrong!

I found out that I had to have my highlighter with me since there was so much good insight in this book!

Most books I read I have been given a free copy to provide an honest review. This book however, I proudly bought  and will be buying more to hand out!