Ambition isn't bad; it just does bad things.In a culture that too often prizes leadership uncritically and unreflectively, a faith that calls us to take up crosses, lay down lives and otherwise submit ourselves to something outside ourselves simply sounds like a bad idea. Nevertheless, this is the faith that we find Jesus talking about.Scott Bessenecker has learned from new friar communities, from the history of Christianity and from the mouth of Jesus that there's something wonderfully subversive about saying no to ourselves every now and then, something that could even change the world.

Scott Bessenecker is associate director for missions for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and author of several books, including The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World´s Poor. He sends more than two thousand students each year on short-term mission experiences in a number of urban poor locations around the world. Scott's blog, The Least of These, is at urbana.org/blogs/least-these.