My 19th Birthday Challenge.. (The Radical Experiment)

A year ago on my 18th birthday, one of the gifts my boyfriend got me was the book Radical by David Platt. Since I am the kind of girl that will read several books at once, I was reading too many to start Radical right away. In October my mentor and I started reading Radical and we just finished it recently. At the end of the book Platt gives readers 5 challenges to fulfill:

1. Pray for the entire world
2. Read through the entire Word
3. Sacrifice my money for a specific purpose
4. Spend time in another context
5. Commit my life to a multiplying community

I thought what better way then to start this challenge on my 19th birthday (February 23rd) and be transformed in my last teenage year in a radical way for God!

For challenge #1 I'm getting this awesome One Year Woman's Study Bible for my birthday. This One Year Bible consists of daily Old Testament readings, New Testament readings, Psalms, and Proverbs.

As suggested by my mentor and Platt in Radical, I will be praying daily for the world using a book called Operation World for challenge #2. This prayer book is laid out to pray for different countries daily. It consists of information about each country such as how many Christians live there, the dominant religion, economic stance, major needs and  other informative details.

For challenge #3, I will be sending a monthly donation to Voice of the Martyrs.. to support persecuted Christians throughout the world.

I will be going to Kenya on June 7-18 2012, so challenge #4 is going to be covered! Check out my Kenya blog... click here!

For challenge #5, I feel like I am already doing that with church and Engage Ministry, which is a college ministry at my church. However, I can always be more involved then I currently am. I think it would be wonderful to mentor a younger girl or be involved in a woman's small group or bible study that would help me commit to this challenge.

Overall, I am so very excited to begin this on my 19th birthday! I am looking forward to seeing what God will do with me in a year. Radical is an amazing book that truly changed my whole perspective on God's call for His followers and opened my eyes to a lot of truths. I am so excited to grow and learn.