3 Big Questions That Shape Your Future: A 60-Day Exploration of Who You Were Made to Be

by Kara Powell, Kristel Acevedo, Brad M. Griffin

Sometimes life gives you way more questions than answers. And yet it seems like everyone expects you to just figure it all out! Whether you're looking toward your future or wrestling to get through today, it doesn't have to be so stressful. Just three big questions will help you find clarity about all the

· Who am I?
· Where do I fit?
· What difference can I make?

This 60-day exploration breaks down those big questions into manageable pieces and helps you embrace God's best answers for you. Backed by Scripture and informed by years of research with teens just like you, this book does more than help you figure out what to do with your life; it will help you understand what your life means to the world--no matter who your friends are, what career you end up with, what kind of family you come from or will have in the future, what obstacles you may face, or what doubts trouble you along the way.

YOU are one-of-a-kind, and you can find faithful answers to life's biggest questions.

264 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 6, 2022

About the author

Dr. Kara Powell is the Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI), a faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary, and Fuller's Chief of Leadership Formation. Named by Christianity Today as one of “50 Women You Should Know,” Kara serves as a Youth and Family Strategist for Orange, and also speaks regularly at parenting and leadership conferences. Kara is the author or coauthor of a number of books, including 3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager, Growing Young, Growing With, The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family, Sticky Faith Curriculum, Can I Ask That?, Deep Justice Journeys, Deep Justice in a Broken World, Deep Ministry in a Shallow World, and the Good Sex Youth Ministry Curriculum. Kara lives with her husband Dave and their three teenage and young adult children, Nathan, Krista, and Jessica, in Southern California.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Youth Pastor’s Review: Decent book with a few questionable things inside.

3 Big Questions is a book that is so close to being great. It’s structured well enough, it’s theology for the most part is fine, but there were some serious issues I had with it. For example on page 105 it reads, “God is described in multiple ways int he Bible - Lord, Almighty, Creator, Protector, Father, Mother, Spirit.” I’m sorry but scripture never outright says, “God is our Mother” or calls God ‘Mother’. God is described as having feminine-like qualities, but only is He ever described as ‘Father.’ There is also a questionable formulation of the trinity on page 117 which says, “God is one in essence (so far so good) expressed in three persons (this isn’t the best way to phrase it, as it seems to lend a possible modalist interpretation). The rest of that chapter uses accurate trinitarian language, so I’ll grant that this instance just wasn’t well thought out. The authors’ heart for touching on race is admirable (like they did with chapter 54 on George Floyd), but the chapter could have handled the topic better. It’s going to leave readers think the authors might have a political biased towards George’s death and their view of America as a primarily negative one. As a Youth Pastor I was asked by my boss to read the book and check it for its theology before we passed them out to our senior class. Although it’s an okay read, and much of the book really is just fine, I can’t recommend it. If you’re looking to give your graduating senior a book this year, look for another one.

[Anna Burden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kara, Kristel, and Brad write in an approachable manner for teenagers and remind me of many of the same questions I had as a teen. As a youth worker, I have used some of these chapters in a large group setting because I find the personal stories (from the authors and from young people they interviewed) to be very helpful! Each chapter also has "something to try". These are practices that relate to the scripture that the chapter discusses and encourage the reader to take a further step in living out faith and not just thinking about it. I think the "something to try" section sets this book above some other devotional resources I've seen and I really appreciate it!

FYI does an amazing job of taking solid research and making accessible resources from it. This book is written in an ecumenical manner that I find very helpful and it could work well for students who aren't totally sure about faith.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a practice book and one I will use bits and pieces of in different settings. It would be good as a supplement to family devotion discussions with 6-10 grade students. I can see tweaking it to work with older students and adult groups as well.

[Grief · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good devotional. I like how most of the posts for the most part do their best to tie with the three big questions.

I didn't find some of the posts in the last section to be as thought provoking or meaningful as the earlier ones but I still got some things out of it