You can accomplish a lot by age 33. Just look at Jesus.
By that point in his earthly life, the Son of Man had turned water into wine, raised people from the dead, healed the lame, preached the Good News to unknown thousands, and sparked a religious and political revolution throughout first-century Palestine. Though some scholars recently noted Christ was probably 37 or 38 when he was crucified and resurrected, 33—or your "Jesus year"—has become a contemporary benchmark of maturity. Even secular folks and Jews (like Benyamin Cohen in 2009's My Jesus Year) are picking up on the trend.
The 33 people in this month's cover package have done a lot for Jesus, all by or before their Jesus year. Just take the three folks on our cover: One has prayed with the President; one has helped to shutter Planned Parenthoods across the country; and one has rapped the gospel to John Piper's satisfaction. They and the others featured in "33 Under 33" (p. 34) undermine the trope that millennials don't care about institutional faith and are too busy taking selfies to do any earthly good.
Of course, our list is by no means exhaustive. If you know young believers leading the church in key ways, let us know at cteditor@christianitytoday.com or on Twitter @CTmagazine, using the hashtag #Under33.
One young believer leading the church is the editor behind the cover story, Kate Shellnutt. Her foray into journalism came at age 16, when she wrote a column for The Virginian-Pilot called—wait for it—"Life in a Shellnutt." Since then her journalistic service to the church has blossomed, in her oversight of Her.meneutics (CT's women's site) and our social media presence. Kate notes,
The breadth of our audience is remarkable. I've caught tweets in foreign languages: French, Polish, Chinese. We recently reported on Southern Baptist baptisms and used a public domain photo. A Facebook commenter recognized it from his church and told us about the people baptized that day. . . . There's something exciting about knowing that no matter the developments, we Christians will embrace new means to communicate news and Good News, truth and capital-T Truth.
Of course, new doesn't always mean good, and we're grateful for the examples in this issue of Christians communicating the Good News in timeless ways: walking alongside an elderly parent (p. 56) or bereaved strangers (p. 96), building rich community for the lonely (p. 52) or the mentally disturbed (p. 27). That said, we're also pretty jazzed about the new faces and ministries spotlighted in "33 Under 33." And we can't wait to see what they do once they're older than Jesus.
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Follow Katelyn Beaty on Twitter @KatelynBeaty
