Lukas Naugle is the Director of Resource Strategies at Desiring God.

Seth Johnson has completed an internship this year with Desiring God's media department and what a blessing to the ministry he's been. His final project is now online.

We partnered with 1031sermonjams and produced a sermon jam video. The Don't Waste Your Life Tour is using it this summer to kick off each concert.

And speaking of the Don't Waste Your Life Tour, LeCrae's music video for the song "Don't Waste Your Life" is now available for purchase in iTunes.

The Don't Waste Your Life Tour is coming to Minneapolis at Club 3 Degrees on May 30th. If you are planning to attend, please order in advance as we are expecting a sell out crowd of over 1,200 people.

If do not live near Minneapolis, the tour is nationwide, so check out Reach Records for more information.

Over the past year we have been working with our friends from 10:31 Sermon Jams on a new album that is based on the themes of John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life. At their website you can now pre order "Don't Waste Your Life: Sermon Jams" and listen to the album's first single called "Treasuring Him."

For those who are unfamiliar with sermon jams, they are basically short bytes of preaching put to beats. This album is priced for outreach, and can be especially helpful in reaching young people who are not interested in reading or listening to preaching.

Reach Records and Desiring God are partnering this summer to spread Don't Waste Your Life in urban centers around the country. We would encourage you to check out the upcoming DWYL Tour 09 for details and to see seven satirical promotional videos we produced for them.

Desiring God also produced the music video for LeCrae's single, Don't Waste Your Life, from his latest album, Rebel (Amazon iTunes):

Update: DWYL Song Lyrics

Hook (Cam)

Don't wanna waste my life

Verse 1 (LeCrae)

I know a lot of people out there scared they gone die/
couple of em thinking they'll be livin' in the sky/
but while I'm here livin' man I gotta ask why,
what am here fo I gotta figure out/
waste my life?/ no I gotta make it count/
if Christ is real then what am I gone do about/
everything in Luke 12:15 down to 21/
you really oughta go and check it out/

Paul said if Christ ain't resurrect then we wasted our lives/
well that implies that our life's built around Jesus being alive/
everyday I'm living tryin' show the world why/
Christ is more than everything you'll ever try/
better than pretty women and sinning and living
to get a minute of any women and men that you admire/

ain't no lie/ We created for Him/
outta the dust he made us for Him/
Elects us and he saves us for Him/
Jesus comes and raises for Him/
Magnify the Father why bother with something lesser/
he made us so we could bless Him
and to the world we confess him/
resurrects him/

so I know I got life/
matter fact better man I know I got Christ/
if you don't' see His ways in my days and nights/
you can hit my brakes you can stop my lights/
man I lost my rights/
I lost my life/
forget the money cars and toss that ice/
the cost is Christ/
and they could never offer me anything on the planet that'll cost that price.

Verse 2 (Dwayne Tryumph)
(Note: verse 2 is not part of the music video)

Armed and dangerous
So the devil jus can't handle us
Christian youth them a stand wid us
Livin' n driven/ given a vision/ fullfillin the commission he handed us

London to Los Angeles
Da rap evangelist
Ma daddy wouldn't abandon us
"I gotta back pack fulla tracts plus I keep a Johnny Mac"
So are you ready to jam with us

So lets go, gimme the word an lets go
Persecution lets go
Tribulation lets go
Across the nation lets go
Procrastination bes go

Hung on the cross in the cold
Died for da young and the old
Can't say you never know
Heaven knows
How many souls are going to hell or to heaven so we gotta go in and get em

Verse 3 (LeCrae)

Suffer/ Yeah do it for Christ
if you trying to figure what to do with your life/
if you making a lot money hope you doing it right
because the money is Gods you better steward it right/

stay focused
if you ain't got no ride/
your life ain't wrapped up in what you drive/
the clothes you wear
the job you work/
the color your skin naw you Christian first/

people living life for a job/
make a lil money start living for a car/
get em a house a wife kids and a dog/
when they retire they living high on the hog/
but guess what they didn't ever really live at all/
to live is Christ yeah that's Paul I recall/ to die is gain
so for Christ we give it all/
he's the treasure you'll never find in a mall/

Your money your singleness, marriage, talents, your time/
they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine/
that's why it's Christ in my rhymes/
That's why it's Christ all the time/
see my whole world is built around him He's the life in my lines/

I refuse to waste my life/
he's too true ta chase that ice/
here's my gifts and time cause I'm constantly trying to be used to praise the Christ/
If he's truly raised to life/
then this news should change your life/
and by his grace you can put your faith in place that rules your days and nights.

Al Mohler's March 27 radio program addressed the issue of retirement, its historical novelty, today's financial pressures, and how we as Christians should think about it. If you'd like to listen to this program, the relevant section begins 11.5 minutes in.

Related resources from John Piper:

• Rethinking Retirement (booklet)
• Getting Old for the Glory of God (conference message)

My friend Tyler Johnson, a pastor at East Valley Bible Church in Gilbert, AZ, made my day today. He told me about a new music project called Page CXVI.

With music for modern ears, they are seeking to make hymns more accessible and known to the church again.

They are sharing their recent recordings for free to bless the wider church. You can listen and download them at their site.

(For those curious, I'm told that CXVI is the page number where Aslan sings Narnia into being.)

In this interview, Thabiti Anyabwile reflects on what he calls "holy hip hop" and its connection to the resurgence of Reformed Theology in African-American and urban churches.

Some of us at Desiring God wrote and produced a short film, entitled "James 3: A Story," for our national conference.

By request, we have made this film available for free and encourage you to use it in your church, small group, class, or wherever you think it would be helpful.

Along with the above YouTube version, we've posted HD and iPod versions through our 2008 National Conference iTunes Podcast.

We would love to hear what you think of it, and perhaps we will make more.

27 million people worldwide are victims of modern-day slavery. They are forced into the sex trade or back-breaking labor. Most of the victims lured into this criminal world are innocent children.

A new documentary in theaters this week, Call + Response, explores the injustices that are taking place in this underground society.

These atrocities are not only happening in other parts of the world, but also in the United States.

My good friend, Ben Patterson, who helped produce this documentary, encourages me by his example to move toward need and not comfort.

See this movie if you want to learn more and help support modern-day abolitionists. It is only in theaters for a limited time, so I would encourage you to attend one of the showings around the country this week. Check to see if it is in your city.

In some recent reading I have found C.S. Lewis and John Piper especially illuminating on the necessity of risk and courage.

C.S. Lewis wrote on courage in The Screwtape Letters:

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality.

A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions.

Pilate was merciful till it became risky. (137-8)

And John Piper wrote on risk in Don’t Waste Your Life:

Risk is right. And the reason is not because God promises success to all our ventures in his cause. There is no promise that every effort for the cause of God will succeed, at least not in the short run. John the Baptist risked calling King Herod an adulterer when he divorced his own wife in order to take his brother’s wife. For this John got his head chopped off. And he had done right to risk his life for the cause of God and truth. Jesus had no criticism for him, only the highest praise (Matthew 11:11).

Paul risked going up to Jerusalem to complete his ministry to the poor. He was beaten and thrown in prison for two years and then shipped off to Rome and executed there two years later. And he did right to risk his life for the cause of Christ. How many graves are there in Africa and Asia because thousands of young missionaries were freed by the power of the Holy Spirit from the enchantment of security and then risked their lives to make much of Christ among the unreached peoples of the world!

And now what about you? Are you caught in the enchantment of security, paralyzed from taking any risks for the cause of God? Or have you been freed by the power of the Holy Spirit from the mirage of Egyptian safety and comfort? Do you men ever say with Joab, “For the sake of the name, I’ll try it! And may the Lord do what seems good to him”? Do you women ever say with Esther, “For the sake of Christ, I’ll try it! And if I perish, I perish”? (89-90)

We also do not have to go far to know the mind of God on risk and courage. One example of many is Hebrews 11:35-39:

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,

Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Would you join me in praying for those in your family, friends, church, and brothers and sisters around the world who have need of courage today in the face of much risk?

For 12 months, the Resource Strategies department at DG has been testing whether our Don’t Waste Your Life T-shirts (charcoal, blue, pink) can be used as effective gospel-spreading tools. After receiving numerous unsolicited testimonies from people around the world about the T-shirt opening doors for gospel conversations at airports, coffee shops, etc., we've decided to begin offering them online.

They're specifically designed to be a tool for spreading. When I went for a walk through downtown Minneapolis a couple weeks ago wearing a DWYL T-shirt, I was approached by three very different people about it.

An African American man in his 30s asked where I bought the shirt. Later a white lady in her 50s walked up and said she loved it. And then a transient man in a park suggested we trade shirts right on the spot. (I really wanted to, but he had a sweaty Harley Davidson shirt so I passed on the offer.)

The shirt design is an effective tool to provoke conversations because it taps into a universal desire within us all. But be warned! If you wear the shirt be ready to speak the truth in love. For those of you who decide to take the challenge, we have a special message for you inside the shirt.

Join us at Bethlehem Baptist Church's North Campus this weekend (Sep 12-13) as John Piper teaches the seminar "Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning."

We have invited musical guests The Glorious Unseen to lead us in song. Stay for a special extended worship session after the session on Friday night.

About the Seminar:

The indispensable, defining heart of worship is the experience of being satisfied with God. Whether we are worshiping God by singing a hymn or visiting a prisoner, the impulse is the same: a thirst for God—a desire to experience as much satisfaction in God as we can.

In this seminar for The Bethlehem Institute, John Piper applies this heart of worship to how people meet God at church on Sunday mornings.

Details:

• Teaching: John Piper
• Musical Guests: The Glorious Unseen
• Date: September 12-13, 2008
• Location: Bethlehem Baptist Church North Campus, 5151 Program Avenue, Mounds View, MN 55112
• Cost: Free to the public
• Seating: General admission

Schedule:

Friday, September 12

• 6:00 pm - Doors open
• 6:30-7:00 pm - The Glorious Unseen leads in worship
• 7:15-9:00 pm - John Piper teaches
• 9:20-10:30 pm - The Glorious Unseen leads in worship

Saturday, September 13

• 8:30-9:00 am - The Glorious Unseen leads in worship
• 9:00-12:00 pm - John Piper teaches

“Serving the Voices” is the tag line for a new ministry that I've enjoyed getting to know over the past months. The RYFO Network seeks to holistically care for the unique physical and spiritual needs of touring musicians.

Knowing about our mission to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples and our commitment to give resources away, RYFO asked Desiring God to join them in serving this influential group of young people.

One example of this partnership occurred this July at the Cornerstone Festival where RYFO's founder Nick Greenwood and others gave away a few hundred resources backstage to many of the musicians.

If you are interested in praying for musicians, RYFO is starting a prayer support network that you can check out at their website.

What will your small group be doing this fall? The John Piper Small Group Series is one way to center your small group around the Bible as you pursue Christian maturity together.

Desiring God has designed these resources to be flexible so that each group can use the videos, study guides, and books according to what best fits their context.

Seth Godin, one of today’s best marketing minds, wrote a blog post last week entitled “Is it worthy?”

Godin reflects on whether any of his efforts are worth the investments and sacrifices of others, or whether someone else could have done better with the resources that he has been given.

Godin concludes his reflection:

The object isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all.

There is much to affirm here. Yes, we fail and fail often. Yes, we should participate in something unimaginably big. And, no, the fear of failure should not keep us from continuing in this pursuit.

Godin’s remarks also raise two questions for me:

1. Is searching for “something bigger than we can imagine” enough, or do we need to find something, too?

The seeking is essential, but only because what we find is so wonderful. The asking is important and valuable because of the answers.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed….
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:4-6, 10)

2. Can we be set free from the fear of failure by telling ourselves that it is in our nature to fail?

In part, yes, but for the Christian there is far more. The fear of failure is ultimately conquered through Christ. We need to…

• …own up to our sin—the real failure. We fall short of and belittle the glory of God by pursuing our own greatness. (Romans 1:18-23;3:23)
• …change our goal. In faith, we should pursue the glory of Christ, the perfect one, rather than our own perfection. (Galatians 5:1-5)
• …trust in Christ for our perfection, because we are judged according to his righteousness as he intercedes on our behalf continually before God, the Father. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Recently Desiring God has been working with ReachLife Ministries. I've asked Trip Lee of Reach Records to tell us some of what God is doing through their work and our partnership.

*               *               *

Too many youth today are wasting their lives. Our culture promotes it: "Buy this, wear that, drive this." Some cultures pride themselves on that very message. This is particularly true in the hip hop culture.

Unfortunately, many today believe the hip hop culture is unredeemable, better left to itself. Hip-hop is rarely thought of as a culture that ought to be invaded with the truth of Jesus Christ. Truth is, there's a desperate need of Christians who are willing to spend their lives in order to reach it and say with Paul, “I am not ashamed of the gospel” (Romans 1:16).

Reach Records and ReachLife Ministries are devoted to doing just that; reaching the hip-hop culture for the glory of God. We embrace the truth that all cultures are wicked and sinful—that is, until people within that culture are confronted with the truth of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to be used by God for this very purpose.

Reach Records creates music that is relevant to the culture and is packed full of biblical truth. This platform has proven to be an incredible tool, both to introduce people to Jesus Christ, as well as help others go deeper in their faith. Through our music, we have the opportunity to reach a culture that otherwise would have no interest in what we have to say.

As a result of the music, it became apparent that many in this culture lacked solid biblical tools and resources to disciple them in the Christian life. Therefore, we created ReachLife ministries, a non-profit organization which produces Christ-centered tools and resources for urban churches and ministries to provide what music is not designed to do, disciple.

This summer, we are very excited about the opportunity to travel the country for our first official concert tour. The “Unashamed Tour” will hit around 25 cities in the US and the UK. It will be an incredible opportunity to encourage young believers all over the globe to not waste their lives and to be unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Each of us at ReachLife has been deeply impacted by the ministry of Desiring God and we are excited about the recent partnership with them. They have agreed to donate 10,000 copies of the book Don't Waste Your Life, which will be distributed free at our concerts this summer.

These books will be placed in the hands of urban youth across the country who have never been exposed to Desiring God or the teachings of John Piper. I cannot express the excitement I feel when I see young hip-hoppers not only hearing about the glory of Christ through our concert, but also leaving with resources that will help them to continue in that excitement.

Please join us in praying that the Lord will use both the tour and the books to glorify himself as he calls this generation to live unashamed.

Last week my wife found our mini-van window shattered and our stereo missing. Honestly, my first reaction was not biblically informed. My thoughts ran to Murphy's Law and the irony that I had just replaced our broken stereo with a new one two weeks earlier.

As with all shallow adages, Murphy's Law did not really help me make sense of my world.

Then my mind fled to Jesus’ words,

…lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,... where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-20)

Now, a week later, I am thankful that God conspires against my sin to keep me from loving things, and I'm contemplating not shelling out more money to replace the stereo.

I think I want to leave that big hole in the middle of my dashboard. What better way to remind myself and my family that our treasure is in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal?

In 1797, William Wilberforce wrote A Practical View of Christianity in which he addressed the defective nature of the Christianity many middle and upper class people in England professed. Here is an excerpt that sounds as if it could have been written about today. It makes plain that affluence has a consistent effect on Christians in every age.

Yet thus life rolls away with too many of us in a course of shapeless idleness. Its recreations constitute its chief business…amusements are multiplied, and combined, and varied, to fill up the void of a listless and languid life; and by the judicious use of these different resources, there is often a kind of sober settled plan of domestic dissipation, in which with all imaginable decency year after year wears away in unprofitable vacancy. Even old age often finds us pacing in the same round of amusements which our early youth had tracked out. (99)

Individually, let’s pray, plan, and live in such a way that no one could use his words to describe our lives:

• “shapeless idleness”
• “listless and languid”
• “domestic dissipation”
• “unprofitable vacancy”

Collectively, let’s pray, plan, and live so that affluent American Christianity does not devolve into

a system of decent selfishness…a system scarcely more to be abjured for its impiety, than to be abhorred for its cold insensibility to the opportunities of diffusing happiness. (99)

We love adoption, especially when it is done in a way that reflects our Heavenly Father’s adoption of us.

Dan Cruver with the Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency is a wonderful partner in gospel-centered adoption. Recently, we were able to send a cameraman and a camera with him on a trip to Ethiopia to help bring attention to the situation of orphans there.

Dan has written a great testimony of how something as simple as Marty, the cameraman, sitting down with the kids showed people Jesus. He writes:

The director of the orphanage ... told us that many professional cameramen come through their particular village (a village with 20,000+ known cases of AIDS) to capture footage, but he had never seen any of them sit on the floor to film. They always film while standing in order to protect their health. The orphanage director then went on to say that he was deeply moved that Marty did not hesitate to sit on the floor to film these beautiful children.

Along with capturing footage of their trip, we also have the opportunity to join with Carolina Hope at their benefit concert later this month. This event is to help with the launch of their new adoption ministry in Ethiopia. It's with Caedmon’s Call and is on February 29, 2008 in Greenville, SC.

We will be at the concert with a Don’t Waste Your Life table and a video message from John Piper. If you are interested in attending, tickets can be purchased online (and aren't that expensive, either). If you come, stop by our table and say hi.

As I was reflecting on the latest DWYL Podcast, featuring Joshua Project and its focus on world evangelization, I was drawn back to read about this unfinished task in the book, Don’t Waste Your Life.

For its own soul the church [and me too] needs to be involved in missions. We will not know God in his full majesty until we know him moving triumphantly among the nations. We will not admire and praise him as we ought until we see him gathering a company of worshipers for himself from every people group on earth—including all the Muslim and Hindu and Buddhist peoples. Nothing enlarges our vision of God’s triumphant grace like the scope of his saving work in history. (pg. 172-3)

Many Christmas celebrations, stories, gatherings, devotionals, etc. seem to focus simply on the baby in the manger, and often they don't leave the manger.

If I never leave the manger in my Christmas meditations, I miss the scope and depth of Christmas. The baby Jesus left the manger, increased in wisdom and stature, showed us true righteousness, and gave his life to ransom a people from the many peoples of the world.

For a meaningful Christmas season—and a meaningful life—it is essential to see that Christ was undertaking a global mission when he became a little baby in a manger.

We've just released two new videos on the Don’t Waste Your Life Podcast of John Piper encouraging baby boomers to not waste their retirement. If retirement is a long way off for you, you may find these videos a great reminder that life is not about trying to pack money away so that you can avoid hardships at the end of life.

(If you would like to use these videos for larger groups you can download the hi-resolution videos found in iTunes.)

Here's the gist of the message you will hear in these videos:

Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who “took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.” At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life. (Don't Waste Your Life, 45-46)

“The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is.” John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, pg. 122

At Desiring God, it is our passion that as many people as possible will embrace this greatest cause for their life’s work. To that end, we hope you will be encouraged by a few new things at dontwasteyourlife.com.

• Released the 27th DWYL podcast, which is the beginning of a 4 part interview with the rock band Mainstay. We hope that you will be encouraged to hear how they seek to not waste their lives.
  
  
• Redesigned dontwasteyourlife.com with better navigation, a cleaner look, and a few more ways to get connected and spread the message.

What does a young, cash-strapped, spreading-oriented Christian Hedonist do when he is going to pick up his first son in Addis Ababa? He researches a church that he could encourage and emails DG with a proposal. His idea went something like this.

I have found a Sovereign Grace church in Addis Ababa. I would like to find the pastor and deliver DG resources to him. If you can donate some resources to me, I have 5 lbs of room in my suitcase.

We received the following update and photo from Dustin:

They were ear-to-ear smiles with thankfulness for the generosity of Desiring God. They were humbled by the gift and thankful to have the resources to use to further the Gospel in Ethiopia. The pastor wrote out a thank you, and here it is word for word:

"Dear Desiring God Ministries: Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless you for your kindness in sending all the books and DVD materials. They will be a great help for advancing the Gospel here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Sincerely, Molalign (Mo) Senior Pastor, Covenant Life Church, Addis Ababa"