CS: There are startling statistics about the number of young people that leave church after high school and either never come back or don’t come back until they’re married with children. Why do you think this happens, and how can we start to change it?

AH: Well, a huge problem in the American Church today is the high number of nominal Christians, especially among its youth. Many teens have a very poor understanding of the Gospel and God’s Word, which ties back to the last question. But besides that, they often have a soft and lazy faith. It’s not true, saving faith. They come to church, pray and read their Bibles, but they’re only doing it because it’s easier to “go along to get along” with their family and people at church than it would be to live for what they really care about. Once they leave that culturally supportive environment, all of their “going through the motions” stops. That’s where doing hard things comes in – because the mark of genuine transformation is doing what is right, even when it costs you. Our book is written to a Christian audience, but in a very real way, it’s an evangelistic tool, because it challenges young people to an active, self-sacrificing faith. That’s needed.

CS: Studies have also shown that there continue to be more women in church than men. As young adult men, do you have any advice for church leaders as to how they can combat this trend?

BH: Call men to come and die. In our experience, a lot of churches emphasize emotion over doctrine, and relationships over action. Emotion and relationships are important, but when we lose the other two, we begin to lose the men — or at minimum, we start to feminize them. Churches need to cultivate mature, intelligent, love-to-the-point-of-death masculinity in their men, both young and old alike.

CS: Does the “do hard things” message resonate with all age groups?

AH: This message is resonating with all age groups, from tweens to grandparents. We speak and write to teens because we’re teens ourselves and because the teen years are a crucial time to put these ideas into practice. But at the same time, the growth that happens when a person chooses to do hard things is not limited to teens, or even to young people. It’s God’s truth for how we’ve been made to grow. So we’ve had parents who have read the book tell us that they needed it as much as their young person did, college students and 20-somethings who have been inspired to stop coasting and buckle down. It’s never too late to do hard things, and it’s always worth it.

CS: You’ve accomplished much at a young age. What influence has your family and upbringing had in preparing you for these accomplishments?

AH: We have been so blessed to be able to stand on the shoulders of our parents and older siblings in everything we’re doing. As the dedication of “Do Hard Things” says, our book is the message of our parents’ lives. They raised us to do hard things, even though those weren’t the words they used. Our father [Gregg Harris] is a brilliant man, first as a pioneer in the homeschooling movement, reforming education and the family, now as a pastor reforming the local church. He could answer many of these questions you’ve asked us far better than we have been able to. Our mother is a gifted writer and speaker, but most of all, she loves God and her family. She cares more about our souls than our success. Our oldest brother, Josh, is a very successful author, senior pastor and mentor to us in what we’re doing now. And our second oldest brother, Joel, is an incredible worship leader – attending Bible college this fall – who leads worship on tour with us. So everything we’re doing is a whole family affair, including our three younger siblings, who do a huge amount of the behind-the-scenes work for the ministry and conferences. We don’t want to pretend that our family is perfect, because it’s not, but we certainly would not be doing the things we’re doing today without their support and involvement.

CS: We get the feeling you guys are just being yourselves and doing what you feel led to do in living radical lives for Christ. If so, how does it feel to gain media attention for something you see as the norm?

BH: We appreciate the media attention, but only because it provides a platform to spread truth. Alex and I are not anything extraordinary. We’re just two normal guys who started a blog. It’s true that some of the things we’ve accomplished are unusual, but that’s only because the way we live is unusual. We can’t take credit for it. Like Alex said, we’ve grown up in a family that encouraged us to do hard things. But we can encourage other teens to join us, and we know that they’ll grow stronger when they do.

AH: And that’s why we share so many stories of real-life teens in “Do Hard Things.” We want our readers to realize that these young people are just like them, with fears and obstacles and varying levels of gifting, but by choosing to live a different way, they’re making a huge impact right now. They’re fighting slavery, feeding the homeless, drilling wells in Africa, and spreading the Gospel. They aren’t the exception. By God’s grace, they’ll become the new rule. G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found lacking, it has been found difficult and left untried.” Our prayer is that our generation would be the generation that finds it difficult and yet still tries.