It has been several years now since I have known R. York Moore and we have managed to keep in touch since finishing our Graduate work at Fuller Seminary. We were placed in the same cohort of about twenty other students in a program that allowed us, even required us, to be in full time vocational ministry. I was a youth pastor at the time and York was and still is a leader, speaker and the National Evangelist for InterVarsity, USA. I remember thinking to myself when I first met him, “InterVarsity has its own evangelist?” I didn’t even know someone like that existed outside of the church or missions work. It makes sense, InterVarsity is a christian movement geared toward college age young adults whose goal is to train and equip missionaries whether at home or abroad. His testimony is astounding, how Jesus literally showed himself to York. If you ask him who brought him to Christ, he would answer emphatically, “Jesus did!” His parents were atheist and went out of their way to indoctrinate him against God. When he met Jesus, it all clicked, God had set York apart to understand the position and heart of those who reject God and is able to communicate the experience of a miraculous conversion experience to Christ. When he speaks, he truly is speaking from the depths of his soul because it is always his story that resonates in his words no matter what form they take. If you have ever attended Urbana, InterVarsity’s Global Missions Conference that occurs every three years, he is always there preaching the call to young adults.
This book could not be more timely for me. In his call to do something beautiful, that is exactly what I am trying to do with my life and the stories that are in it. It’s a way of rephrasing my message to teenagers which is to be world changers. Where my message fails is that some people hear the word “world” and it is overwhelming. How can I change the world? York has provided a first step for everyone who wants to find God’s place for this in this life. How can you be a world changer, start with doing something beautiful. You can never go wrong when you place Jesus first, and therein lies the beauty that the world misses that York brings to light. If we are God’s workmanship, his work of art as some people describe from Ephesians chapter 2, then doing something beautiful is exactly the heart of our father. It says we were created in Christ Jesus to do good works, our beauty is directly connected to Jesus. The two are inseparable.
I was able to read two chapters for review and I can not wait to read the book in full. Get this book on June 26, open your heart, allow yourself to experience love, hope and joy. These are essential to the despair found in our culture. The love, hope and joy found in Jesus is our answer and York will help you understand that. Hear his writing as the evangelist that he is, calling you to do something you might see as impossible. It is more than a call that he gives, he is the coach who is grabbing your hand pulling you toward him giving you the encouragement that you can do it. York’s words always come with assistance, it’s never “you need to go,” it’s a “let’s go,” “we can do this.” You are not alone, York is not talking at you he is a father on his knees talking to you with care.
If I can leave you with this quote I was blessed to read in his introduction, York describes how beauty is contrasted with it’s opposite. We don’t fully recognize beauty until we see the darkness of humanity. He even talks about going to Cambodia for an “anti-trafficking” campaign; which is exactly where I am planting seeds with the teenagers I work with at Northwest Christian School. Cambodia has some of the worst in humanity, it’s one of the darkest places both culturally and spiritually.
York says, “We see the glory of God best in times of darkness, above the dirty, common, ugly conditions of the world” (Moore, 22).
York is going to walk us through beauty not by a fluffy cloud of good feelings and well intended sayings. He is going to walk us to beauty through the pain of suffering, evil, sin and into the answer of everything which is found in Christ.
If I had more than two thumbs, I would put those ones up too. I’ll go ahead and raise your thumbs up for you so we can make it four thumbs up for “Do Something Beautiful,” by R. York Moore available now by Pre-Order through Amazon , to be released by Moody Publishers on June 26. For more information go to tellthestory.net or follow him @yorkmoore
In Truth & Love,
Matthew Diaz
Follow me on
