So I’m doing this thing this summer…

I just want to warn you right off the bat that this post is probably going to be a little longer than usual.  But that’s because I have some really exciting news to share with all of you.

Two weeks ago, I found out I didn’t get a job that I was really hoping for.  Like really hoping for.  After this news, I had no idea where to go.  I made four resumes and started looking for any jobs I could that were in sports information, the church or broadcast television.  I made a Word document of almost three pages of links and started fine-tuning resumes to fit each one.  It was a busy, stressful and crazy week.  And then I got a text.

“Let me know if you’re seriously interested in coming with me at all this summer…”

That means nothing to you at this point, so let me clue you in.  The text came from a friend of mine, Heather.  We interned together at Cross Point Church this past summer in Nashville.  She wrote a blog post while we were in Nashville, and it blew up.  Basically, the gist of it is that the Church is not keeping 20-somethings connected.  Only 20% of 20-somethings stay involved in the Church, and Heather wrote about it.

After the blog post got a lot of attention, Heather started to realize a few things.  She realized that churches need a resource to help them keep 20-somethings involved.  More importantly, though, she realized she had a passion for exactly what churches needed.

Heather’s an incredible writer, so she let her dream grow.  She decided to go on a cross-country trip to talk to leaders at churches that are doing a good job keeping this group involved.  Here‘s a look at the journey in her words.

She’s found a publisher and sponsors, and she is going to 17 cities and over 20 churches this summer.  Heather and I have talked about her trip and project many times, and we had talked about documenting the journey through video.  It was half of a joke, until I got that text two weeks ago.

“Let me know if you’re seriously interested in coming with me at all this summer…”

I started to think, and I began to have idea after idea.  I shared my ideas with Heather, and she was as excited as I was.

So here’s what my summer is going to look like.  I’m going to travel to 17 cities and over 20 churches over the course of 10 weeks.  I’ll be producing videos of people we meet in the church and in the community, videos of us talking about what we learned at each church we visit and daily blog and social media updates of what we’re learning and experiencing.

I’m going to be creating a multimedia experience for people to follow our trip, as well as go more in-depth with the leaders we meet and things we learn.  It’s an incredible opportunity that God has put in my path, and I could not be more excited.  This project has the capability to be an amazing asset for local churches who want to engage young adults in the community.  We have the opportunity to learn from the best in the country and then share what we learn with every church in America.

Heather has an itinerary and a budget.  We have friends who want to join us for different legs of the trip.  Everything is slowly coming together.

Every time I talk about this, I feel like I tell the story of what’s going on a little differently, so I would love to talk to you about it if you’re interested.  There’s a link to my email, as well as all of my social media accounts to the left.  If you want to know more, just contact me through any of those, and I would love to talk.

I would love your support in this, whether it be through talking with me, finances or prayers.  Please get in touch if there’s anything you want to know about this project.  I’m so excited to take this journey and more importantly to help equip the church with resources that can help them reach the 20-somethings in their community.

Here are some links if you want to learn more and/or support the project:

Kickstarter — https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/256986231/the-church-and-the-twenty-something-triage

Heather’s Blog — http://heatherstevens1.wordpress.com/