Kerby Anderson

Much has been written about the millennial generation, but the most readable and interesting is the book by Grant Skeldon, The Passion Generation. He has been a regular participant on the Point of View radio talk show “millennial roundtable” and brings lots of insight into this generation. He is the founder of the Initiative Network which seeks to train millennials to be Christ-loving, city-changing, church-investing, disciple-making, local missionaries.

Although the book focuses on millennials, it is really about discipleship. His argument is that the critical component missing is discipleship. He explains that we don’t have a millennial problem. Instead, we have a discipleship problem. Our culture is feeling the result of a mentorless, fatherless generation.

As you open the book you will also discover that it is very different from most other books. There are lots of diagrams and pictures that drive home his key points. When Grant Skeldon was on my radio program, he explained that the idea came to him when an artist on a whiteboard started drawing and diagramming his message while he was giving it. He thought it would be good to include such visual aids inside the book.

You will also notice a device icon while reading through the book. This is a key that instructs you to pull up videos on a website that illustrate and supplement the material in that section of the book. And even the acknowledgements section is different because it features line drawings of the people who were influential in Grant’s life.

You can read the book as an individual, but I think its greatest power can be found in studying it with others. Discipleship is more than merely the transfer of information. It involves life change that takes place when we are intimately involved in each other’s life. This book can be a catalyst for discipleship.