What Does a Teen Know?

College Freshman Pens Bible Study with Dad

Few students can say they graduated from high school as a published author. Most students cringe when their teachers assign their class an extended writing project. But Luke Harper has serious experience putting pen to paper. Harper, who recently began his first semester at Boyce College in Louisville, Ky., wrote the Josiah Road Bible study curriculum with his father Harold.

In high school, his father made a practice of meeting with him regularly so the two could dive into God's Word for study and discipleship, focusing particularly on the lives of men and women God used to impact their culture. After all the time spent together studying, one remarkable individual in the Bible continued to intrigue Luke: Josiah from 2 Kings 23 and 2 Chronicles 34.

The Josiah Road material, which includes both a student guide and leader's guide published by NavPress, focuses on the young king's journey of faith that prompted him to stand up to a society that had rejected God. Instead of going with the flow, Josiah, as the teenage ruler of Judah in the seventh century B.C., boldly instituted God-honoring reforms aimed at restoring the nation's spiritual and moral foundation. While Luke didn't plan to write a book with his dad, he admitted that the more he learned about how a teenager single-handedly transformed a culture that had worshiped idols into one that worshiped the one true God he was compelled to tell others the incredible story of Josiah. Luke said reaction to the Josiah Road material has been affirming. He related numerous occasions where students were stepping out to go above and beyond in their service to the Lord. The book calls students to "exceed expectations," a characteristic of King Josiah himself, Luke noted.

The Bible makes clear that age is not a restriction on people doing great things for God, he said. Luke's heart desire is to see students rising up and changing the nation in the same way Josiah did, by calling people back to God. He hopes the Josiah Road material plays at least a small role in encouraging students to get serious about living out their faith. The books feature several students who are doing just that.

Find out more about the Josiah Road curriculum.