Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential
Smith, Gordon T.
InterVarsity Press, 2011, 203 pp., $15

Courage and Calling by Gordon T. Smith  is a great tool for youth pastors to use with their seniors and recent graduates. This book captures many of the commonly asked questions by students in transition. Who am I created to be? Am I called to something specific?  Where do I look to begin my life’s work?

This book easily provides a basis for a 4- to 5-week study on purpose and calling for the senior high student, although I believe the real strength of this book is mined when a student walks through it in a mentoring/discipling situation. In this setting, a student could begin crafting powerful life goals and bring focus to his or her next step.
–Kristen McHargue

Courage and Calling provides valuable insight and guidance for those with questions or concerns about their place in the workforce and God’s kingdom. Courage and Calling may be challenging read for a teen group, but this work could be valuable in a small group setting for college graduates and career-changers. With an emphasis on faithfulness in witness and work, Smith displays a helpful guide toward living with purpose.
–Larrin Robertson, Teen Ministry Lead, Metropolitan Baptist Church

Courage and Calling has some fantastic messages about how to seek God in one’s direction for a vocation and how to utilize that vocation for His glory, but it is not an easy read. While there are some great principles that would benefit older high school — or more college students — I don’t see this as a resource to be widely used by a youth pastor. I would gladly recommend this book to any student who came to me wanting to find direction in his or her life beyond high school or college or one who wanted to know how he or she could best be used by God in a work environment.
–Mark Cornelison, Pastor of Pursuit Student Ministries, Faith Bible Church, The Woodlands, Texas

Courage and Calling offers a good introduction to one perspective on the understanding of Christian calling, vocation and work. Smith should be commended in his attempt to encourage readers as they experience transitions in life and struggle with how to understand these changes related to vocation and careers. He also provides a well-rounded approach, not just discussing the tasks of vocation, but also the character necessary to live out the callings God has for His people.

Courage and Calling offers some good insights that will be helpful for youth workers with their groups. As older teenagers wrestle with what they are going to do with their lives’ issues of calling, vocation and work arise. Smith provides a simple way to explain these concepts to youth. For example, Smith describes the calling of God as the general call (the call to follow Jesus), the specific call (a vocation that is unique to a person) and the immediate responsibilities (the tasks and duties God calls us to complete today). This helps students be future-oriented but not neglect their present lives. This book also helps youth workers have a balanced approach to teaching about these issues. There is a strong emphasis on stewardship and character development that often are neglected when discussing calling.

Finally, Smith provides some examples of how his understanding of calling and vocation work related to four different careers (business, the arts, education and religious leadership). Though Courage and Calling is helpful for working with youth, it may be better for youth workers who are struggling with vocation and the changing stages of their lives as adults. I would recommend this book along with a good mentor for those who are facing this period of life, especially those who are wondering if they can or should continue reaching and ministering to youth.
–Jonathan Grenz, Associate Professor of Ministry Leadership Studies, Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, Florida

Gordon Smith’s Courage and Calling is a thought-provoking book that will challenge your assumptions about what it means to be called. Smith goes deep into what calling or vocation really means and how it applies not only to what we do for a living but how it shapes and is shaped by all the other parts of our lives. After spending some time with C&C, I was blessed by some of the ideas in it and now have a new perspective on my own calling. I think this book is a must-read for all youth workers, especially those working with senior high and college students. However, Smith’s book is a dense book with deep ideas that will take some time for anyone to work through and might not work well in a typical youth group or Bible study setting. This might be a book for a small discipleship group in which students or young adults really want to explore this topic and are dedicated to working through the material. It’s a challenging book, but absolutely worth working through.
–Danny Cruz, youth coordinator for Truth Exists Youth Group, Living Waters Fellowship, Brooklyn, New York

Courage and Calling was a very timely book for me as I am wrestling with what God has for me. I enjoyed and appreciated the way the author broke down and explained the different ways God calls us (from His overall plan for us to the things we are to do each day). I also appreciated how he was clear about the different ways people use the term vocation. I enjoyed the scriptural support he gave for the principles he presented. I have highlights and underlines throughout the book and plan to spend some time re-reading sections. It was a challenging and encouraging book. This book would be great for youth leaders to read and could be used to read and discuss in a small group of older senior high or college students.
–Wayne Wrzesinski, Junior High Director, Columbia Heights Assembly of God, Longview, Washington

In Courage and Calling, Gordon T. Smith has written a book that is sure to be useful and perhaps even critical to youth workers who seek an introduction or clarification to their calling. Smith draws us back to the truth that God has created us uniquely and lovingly for His glory and His purpose, a significant insight we often lose in the busyness and daily routine of youth ministry. We are called to live out His will in our lives through a deeper understanding of how He has gifted us as individuals and as the body of Christ. Courage and Calling should be read not only for greater direction in regard to career choices, but also to discover the freedom we have to live out our vocation as God’s creative children.
–David Clem, Youth Director, First Presbyterian Church, South Charleston, Ohio

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