A short, opinionated list. Not everything worth reading, just the things that keep coming up when people at a gathering ask what changed their mind.
Talks
Four of these links are verified. Two slots are deliberately empty — send us what belongs there.
John Piper
The “seashells” message. A retired couple collect shells in Florida, and Piper asks what they will say at the end. It is the sermon that sent a generation overseas, and it is worth arguing with as well as agreeing with.
Francis Chan
A rope across a stage. The red tape at one end is your life; the rest is everything after. Five minutes, and it reorders what you are anxious about.
Ralph D. Winter
The address that introduced “hidden peoples” and people-blindness, and changed how the church counted. Dense, and still the clearest argument for why proximity is not the same as access.
Lausanne Movement
Fifteen paragraphs that most of modern mission still runs on. Read it once and a lot of current argument becomes legible.
Billy GrahamTo add
Andrew wants a Graham message here. Tell us which one and we will add it with a proper link.
To add
One open slot. What is the talk you send people?
Books
John Piper
The seashells sermon, at book length.
John Piper
Why worship, not need, is the engine of mission.
Winter & Hawthorne, eds.
The standard reader. Heavy, and worth it.
Nik Ripken
What faith looks like where it costs everything.
David Platt
The American dream, examined from the other side.
Corbett & Fikkert
Read before you plan a trip, not after.
Duane Elmer
On going somewhere without taking over.
Sarah Lanier
Hot- and cold-climate cultures. Short, and it explains a hundred awkward dinners.
Richards & O'Brien
Especially if you grew up between two cultures and were taught by one.
Burnett & Evans
Where the Odyssey Plan below comes from.
Titles and authors as commonly published. We have not linked to a single retailer on purpose — buy them wherever you like, or borrow them.
An exercise
Most people have one plan and defend it. The exercise is to write three, five years each, and notice which one you cannot stop thinking about. It takes about forty minutes and you need paper, not a laptop.
Plan A
Five years of the life you are currently building. Promotions, moves, the obvious next step. Write it out properly rather than assuming you know it.
Plan B
Your field closes. The role stops existing. What would you do that still uses what you are good at? This is the one that surprises people.
Plan Z
Not a fantasy — a real plan you would be willing to start. Most people discover their actual calling here and then negotiate it back toward Plan A.
Scoring. Score each plan 1–5. Resources: do you have the time, money and skill? Energy: does it pull you? Confidence: how sure are you it could work? Coherence: does it fit who you say you are?
Source. Adapted from Designing Your Life, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (Stanford Life Design Lab).
The next one
We keep these small and personal, and tell people city by city. Tell us where you are and what you do. We will write when something is near you.
Next gatheringLos Angeles in Q4 2026, then Tokyo in Q1 2027. Tell us where you are. It helps us decide what comes after.