Watch Jarrod McKenna’s entire sermon from Wednesday night of National Youth Conference, where he coins the Dunker Punks label and challenges the Youth of the Church of the Brethren to accept and live up to that label by making a commitment to radically follow Jesus. Or, read a summary of the sermon below.
Summary
On the evening of Wednesday, July 23, 2014, Jarrod McKenna challenged those gathered for worship at the Church of the Brethren National Youth Conference to embrace their spiritual heritage by engaging in a “Mustard Seed Revolution” that heralded to the genesis of the Church of the Brethren and Christ’s plan to plant the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth.
His challenge is not one to be taken lightly. It requires nothing less than a full commitment to living the radical love displayed by Jesus. In fact, Jarrod said while introducing the challenge that he would be grateful if just eight people out of 2300 felt able to step forward and fully commit their lives to the Mustard Seed Revolution. When he asked if anyone was willing, hundreds of youth scrambled forward.
Though overjoyed to see so many youth passionate about becoming deep, radical followers of Jesus and ambassadors of his love, Jarrod still worried that not everyone in the crowd fully understood what they were doing. He commended those who remained sitting, saying that perhaps they understood what he was asking better than those standing. To those standing, he reminded that this is not going to be easy. It requires passion, diligence, and maturity, and faith.
Jarrod invited each person standing to embrace the ones next to him, and reminded us that one value that makes us Brethren is our focus on togetherness. A journey as radical and challenging as the Mustard Seed Revolution requires that those journeying together support one another. Jarrod asked that each person standing find two friends to update regularly on their progress, to keep one another accountable and true to the task, and to pray with for courage and guidance.
So that we can keep one another accountable and offer one another encouragement and support, dunkerpunks.com wants to hear what you have to say! What is it that God is calling you to do? If you stood up during worship, tell us why. If you’re just now deciding to join the revolution, tell us why! Show that you understand the commitment that you are making and that you plan to honor it. Allow your fellow brothers and sisters of the Church of the Brethren to encourage you and keep track of your progress.
Dunker Punks 