Ben Stuart, pastor of Passion City Church in Washington DC paints some stunning pictures to inspire us to pass the faith on to the next generation.  First, Ben shares about hitting the wall in a marathon in college.  He wanted to quit but then he thought of his bible study leader Chris who had completed a marathon the year before in an icy rainstorm.  That image helped Ben sprint through the finish line shouting “I want to be like Chris!”  We need to inspire the next generation to run the marathon of life well by showing them how to do it.  Next in 2008 Starbucks was in a freefall, closing at least hundreds of stores.  They shut everything down and retrained their young workers.  That move turned Starbucks around.  And this is the hope of the church:  Inspiring and training the generation behind us in the truths of the gospel.

Then in the reboot of Star Wars, Batman, and in the film Kingdom of Heaven, Liam Neeson was the old wise mentor.  Hollywood gets what we sometimes miss:  Timothys are desperate for the training of Pauls!   Next Ben remembers pastor Thomas Nelson saying that he wanted 20 year old pall bearers at his funeral with tears running down their faces because he poured his life into them.  Then in early America William Tennant was a boring preacher with very few gifts.  But one thing knew was how to be faithful.  He trained young men in a log cabin school who caught the fire of the Holy Spirit and went on to spread the gospel throughout the land.  And finally imagine worshipping Jesus in the age to come with a group of younger people that you helped run their race well.  It’s what we can look forward to as we empower those who are coming up behind us! 

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