Finalist, Fourth Annual Outreach Resource of the Year (2006) Vows—exclusive promises or commitments—are almost unheard of these days. They're considered a quaint relic of times past when open options were not such highly regarded virtues. But many people in this commitment-averse culture are begging for someone to set the bar higher, to call them to higher levels of devotion. Across the ages God has consistently attracted a few in every crowd who would make and keep vows, and called them to stick out, act out and speak out. In The New Friars Scott Bessenecker profiles young Christians who have voluntarily removed themselves from the status quo in order to seek justice and mercy with the poorest of the world's poor. These new friars are carrying on the work of the monastic tradition, the spirit of Francis and Clare of Assisi, St. Patrick and St. Brigid, the Jesuits and Nestorians and Moravians. The New Friars will show you that with God all things—even uncommon acts of courageous faith—are possible.
Scott A. Bessenecker (1963 - )
Scott Bessenecker was born in Iowa and attended Iowa State University where he graduated in Business Administration after a failed attempt at a Engineering degree. "Iowa State is where I met Jesus and Janine," Scott says about his faith and his wife, "Only, Jesus liked me right away. It took Janine a while. But that's because I was an obnoxious Freshman trying desperately to impress her."
Shortly after his graduation in 1985, Scott began working for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, an interdenominational university student ministry. It was there that he grew in his love for the world, for the poor, and for university students. "The arrogant and the broken need each other," he says of students and the poor. "They have things to learn from one another and we need to find ways to get then into relationship with each other with minimal power dynamics." To that end he created the Global Urban Trek - a summer immersion for students to sojourn with those living in slum communities of the developing world.
Scott got his Masters degree in International Development from William Carey International University and is Associate Director of Missions for InterVarsity, overseeing their domestic and international short-term programs. He lives in Madison, WI with his wife Janine who teaches art. They have three children, Hannah, Philip and Laura, and usually have a variety of young people living in their home.
