Rebecca Grace
AFA Journal staff writer
April 2008 – During summer 2005, Alex and Brett Harris’ father put them on a strict reading regimen that included books on everything from quantum physics to globalization to historical biographies. Not a teenager’s ideal summer.
The regimen wasn’t because his 16-year-old sons were geniuses. Rather, they were in a state of limbo wanting to serve God and make a difference in the lives of others, but not knowing how.
“As we read these books, our minds were really opened to the world and to what God was doing in it,” Brett explained. “Our minds were awakened to the fact that our generation had some serious problems and was facing some serious challenges.”
The reading prompted the Harris brothers to think about what they could do differently to avoid some of the pending challenges and free teenagers from the myths of adolescence by encouraging them to rebel against society’s low expectations.
Their thoughts led to what the guys call a “rebelution.” Now, three years later, Alex and Brett are continuing to redefine what it means to be a teenager. Here’s their story and a look at their ministry:
AFA Journal: What is The Rebelution?
Alex Harris: The Rebelution is defined as the teenage rebellion against low expectations. The message [of it] is [to] really challenge young people to rethink the way our culture views the teen years. Our culture tends to view the teen years as a vacation from responsibility, time to goof off and have fun.
But historically and Biblically, the teen years have been understood as really the launching pad of life, [a time] to start shouldering more responsibility and preparing themselves for a life of effectiveness and competence. That’s been lost in the culture today.
So The Rebelution is a reformation, a revolution in a certain sense of the word, and it’s calling young people back to the teen years as a time when they really should be looking for and tackling big, glorious things for God. The battle cry of The Rebelution is to do hard things.
AFAJ: How did you put your thoughts into action?
Brett Harris: [The message of The Rebelution didn’t spring forth immediately.] We decided we needed somewhere to write down our thoughts and work through this. So we decided to start a blog [an online log of personal ideas and reflections]. There was nothing special about [it], except that we just started writing these articles that were really challenging common notions of what teenagers were about.
AFAJ: What kind of response did you receive to these articles?
BH: Within almost a week, we were getting more traffic than some of our friends who had been blogging for six months. We just hit a nerve. We had young people who were saying, “This is exactly what I’ve been feeling ever since I became a teenager.” Or “You’re putting into words what I have been thinking, but just didn’t know how to express.” We didn’t start out with this plan to have a book and movement. We just started a blog as 16-year-old twin teens, and God has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams.
AFAJ: Why are today’s teens so far from a Biblical and historical understanding of the teenage years?
AH: It’s a combination of a lot of things. Around the turn of the 20th century, there were a lot of labor reforms and school laws that were being passed to protect young people from the very harsh factory conditions. But the unintended consequence of those laws is that it completely removed young people from the workplace and mandated school attendance through high school.
What became of that change was a shift from before being primarily contributors and producers in society to being primarily consumers in society. And the whole media consumer culture and youth culture really are a vicious cycle of lowering expectations and creating new norms of behavior that are immature and foolish.
It’s also ultimately the fact that as people we are fallen; we’re lazy and sinful. We like to be able to get away with doing things we know we shouldn’t, and we like to be able to get away with not doing things we know we should. The view of the teen years is a vacation from responsibility. All of that definitely gives opportunity for teens to put into practice their natural laziness and sinfulness.
AFAJ: Define the phrase “hard things.” from your book title.
AH: There are these certain types of hard things. Hard things take you out of your comfort zone, go beyond what’s expected or required, are too big for you to do by yourself, don’t pay off right away, and go against the crowd. And all of those things are different. You have the big hard things and then you also have those small hard things. The small hard things are the building blocks that prepare you to be strong enough to lift something heavy when it really matters. God’s Word says he who is faithful over little will be put over much.
AFAJ: How do you do hard things?
BH: Doing hard things is really in the mindset that everything is a muscle. We are able to read grown-up books, not because we have some special ability, but it’s because we have exercised that muscle. If we are able to do big things, it’s not necessarily because we have something that other people don’t have; it’s because we have been doing hard things for our entire lives. It’s not about the exceptional person, but normal young people who believe that everything is a muscle, that they can grow stronger by exerting themselves, that God will strengthen them. He is the one in the end who will do the work.
AFAJ: Why do hard things?
AH: What we tell young people is that [if they don’t do hard things] they really are missing out on what is their best life. It’s not their easiest life but it is the most fulfilling and the one God has called them to. Our culture makes it sound like you can do what you want now and flip a switch and be on fire for God and get serious about religion and flip off the switch of drugs and other dangerous habits, just like that. It’s a lie and our culture acts like its giving our teens something, but really it’s robbing them. The truth of the matter is that you only gain responsibility by exercising responsibility. You don’t become an adult be simply becoming older.
AFAJ: Does your message apply to adults?
BH: The same thing we are telling young people needs to be said to adults. Erase this distinction between teen truth and adult truth. We know that if something is true for teens, it’s true for all of life.
AFAJ: How can youth pastors play a role in this movement?
BH: Youth pastors need to challenge their young people to do hard things. We hope our book and conferences will really light that spark in youth pastors’ hearts. We have hundreds of youth pastors who visit our site and use our materials in their youth groups. We hope that the culture of thousands upon thousands of youth groups will be changed through this message.
AFAJ: Explain the conferences you lead.
BH: The conferences are really an opportunity for teens to hear from Alex and me and our father, Greg Harris. We are bringing it to seven cities across the country. It’s just a one-day event. The sole purpose is just to change the way you view the teen years and start living the life God has you to live. We have a pay-what-you-can policy because we don’t want to turn anyone away for lack of funds. If people want to find out more, it’s all on our Web site.
AFAJ: How does The Rebelution help foster a change of heart?
AH: The largest mission field in America today is right in the church [because] a lot of young people in the church who have grown up in Christian homes and who claim to be believers are not truly saved. Oftentimes what’s going on ties right into the whole idea of doing hard things. It’s easier for them to pretend like they are Christians with their family and friends. Once they get to college and away from the environment that encourages them to act like Christians, suddenly those actions disappear. A lot of times the fruit other people might see in a young person is just the fruit of pleasant circumstances and not the fruit of a changed heart.
So we challenge young people [by asking]: Do you read the Bible because you believe it’s the Word of God and not just because your mom is going to ask if you did? Do you pray to God because you believe He hears you and not when other people hear you? Do you obey God just because you trust that He is wise and good and not because your mom and dad are watching?
That is really powerful to a lot of young people because they realize that they are not doing hard things, not demonstrating the fruit of a changed heart and not persevering when it costs them something. Doing hard things causes young people to examine their hearts and figure out if they are really living for God or if they are just getting by for now. 
Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris
The most popular Christian teen writers on the Web have put their thoughts on paper and written Do Hard Things – A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations (Multnomah Books, April 2008).
In Do Hard Things, Alex and Brett Harris, 19, sons of home-school pioneer Gregg Harris and younger brothers of best-selling author Joshua Harris, present a revolutionary message about how teens can reach their fullest potential and have an eternal impact on the world by refusing to conform to society’s low expectations. The Harris brothers weave together Biblical insights, history, modern examples and humorous anecdotes in an attempt to explain how the teen years should be viewed as a launching pad for life rather than a vacation from responsibility.
