I wouldn't make a good politician - I prefer to state things plainly, not dress them up. So, when Mac Schneider, AIM's board chairman, challenged me to write up a short summary of AIM's vision to share at a reception we're having in Atlanta tonight, I put it off till the last minute. I just put these four paragraphs together. Tell me what you think.

The AIM elevator speech
Our mission is to raise up a generation of radical disciples of Jesus Christ. Young people are leaving the church in droves. Researchers like George Barna have told us that we can expect the church in America to go the way of the European church within a few decades where just 5% of the general population follows Christ. But we believe there is great cause for hope. We're seeing that a remnant of radical believers is waiting to be called and sent out. And as we challenge them to leave all and follow Jesus, they're responding by the thousands.

Our method is not to give them more information, but to show them Jesus in the world's slums and dumps. Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." We look for those who are willing to follow Christ's call to the widow and the orphan and we send them to the world's dark places. Countries like Moldova where 90% of the young people leave the country and a quarter of them are trafficked. Cities like Manila and Phnom Penh, where hundreds work in the garbage heaps. We send them to Swaziland where AIDS afflicts 44% of the adult population and the orphan population is skyrocketing.

And as they go, we disciple them relationally, helping them to discover what it means to walk out their faith in a complicated and harsh world. We help them to discover their identity in Christ and to risk all for the dream of establishing his kingdom.

It's counter-cultural, but it's not new. Our methods are Jesus' own. They aren't based on a curriculum or a program, but on listening to his voice and moving out in obedience. We dream of a generation that will live to see the glory of God cover the earth and we walk out that dream one relationship at a time.