Dear friend,

We live in a fearful time. 

There are many reasons to be afraid — changing political landscapes, the economic crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic, just to name a few. But Jesus calls us to stand with courage, even in a time like 2020. 

Real gospel courage, though, doesn’t look or feel like you might think it does. 

Standing with gospel courage isn’t about escaping your fear. It’s about embracing it. 

I wrote my new book, The Courage to Stand, to call Christians to a new kind of Christ-empowered courage — a courage that is dramatically different from the bravado of our age. In fact, the call to gospel courage is terrifying because it is a call to be crucified. 

Through this book, I want to encourage Christians to find real freedom from fear through the way of the cross. This freedom means integrity through brokenness, community through loneliness, power through weakness, and a future through irrelevance.

As we embrace the reality that we are afraid, we can rest in the good news that God isn’t. Courage isn’t about being brave enough to change things — it’s about embracing our fears and giving them to a Creator who can. 

That’s the kind of courage we all need. 

For the Kingdom,