I take the Bible seriously.

Society has shifted and changed to accommodate the size and preferences of each generation in its own time. What changes are on the horizon as the baby boomers grow older and, along with other generations, exert their influence?

If the changes that have taken place thus far are the equivalent of small ripples, the alterations to come are of giant wave proportions. Three giant waves are already on the way. We need not wait for the elephants to run.

Nazoomers

Raised as a Jehovah's Witness, I ran from this religion when I went to college in 1969. I became a hippie, experimenting with everything—alcohol, drugs, and sex. Then in 1979, I gave my heart to Jesus. I was so excited I told everyone how He had changed my life and could change theirs. I started learning how to effectively share my faith at home with my six kids. Then I started telling their friends—the neighborhood kids who filled our backyard, our skateboard ramp, and our trampoline—about Jesus.

"Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil. With this silver I've bought your soul, I ransomed you from fear and hatred, and now I give you back to God."

I had to learn the hard way. When I went to the Philippines as a missionary educator, I was fresh out of graduate study. I was eager to share my biblical and theological knowledge with my Asian students who were preparing for ministry. But I soon discovered some of the "answers" I gave them didn't connect to their questions or to the questions of the people to whom they ministered. They wondered things like: What does the Bible teach about suffering and oppression? What do we tell people who are afraid of evil spiritual powers? Is it wrong to honor our ancestors?

I had the special opportunity to participate with members of my church in a Work and Witness trip to Kisvarda, Hungary. This was my first trip to Eastern Europe and it was overwhelming to meet brothers and sisters in Christ who are working to help a nation with such a rich heritage in both Catholic and Reformed Christianity emerge after several decades of dark struggle during the Nazi and Communist occupations.

Young adulthood has changed. No longer have most graduating college seniors successfully negotiated the journey of identity formation, knowing who they are and what they want to do for the rest of their lives. At the same time, college-aged (18-25) people are more removed from "adulthood" than perhaps ever before in history.

Four twenty-somethings from Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) in Nampa, Idaho, give us their thoughts on growing up and the church.

No two people witness events in the same light. Ask any police officer about accident reports—five witnesses will tell five different versions of the same event. The five groups of Palm Sunday witnesses 2,000 years ago had different perceptions when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. The whole city asked: "Who is this man?" Each group had its own answer to the question (Matthew 21:10).

My dog loves to play fetch. She will go get whatever you throw for her—balls, sticks, ropes, just about anything! She loves to run and retrieve these things and bring them back to me, but then she does this very human thing—something we often try to do with God—she plays tug-of-war with whatever it is she has brought to me, not wanting to fully relinquish possession of her hard-earned item.

Irving "Doc" Laird and his wife, Beverly, reside in Nampa, Idaho, near Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) where he taught religious education and special ministries for 30 years.