Book Review: Take Your Best Shot

At a conference last year, I met Austin Gutwein, a 15-year-old with a God-sized passion and vision for AIDS orphans in Africa. The amazing thing was that God had birthed this vision when Austin was only nine! Take Your Best Shot: Do Something Bigger Than Yourself details his journey. While watching a World Vision video about Maggie, an AIDS orphan in Zambia, Austin realized she wasn’t any different from him except she was suffering. Austin felt God calling him to help orphans like Maggie using something he loved – basketball. On World AIDS Day in 2004, he shot 2,057 free throws, one basket for every child who would be orphaned during the hours that he was in school. With friends and family sponsoring him, Austin raised $3,000. Those funds were used by World Vision to assist eight orphaned children.  But Austin didn’t stop there. He founded Hoops of Hope to inspire and mobilize other kids to act on behalf of orphans.

Take Your Best Shot reinforces the idea that God uses young people, even children, in his kingdom. The book is perfect for tweens and teens who are seeking to serve in ways that express their passion and utilize the gifts God has give them. Each chapter closes with a scripture passage, questions, online experience, and a take action activity. Written by Austin Gutwein with Todd Hillard (Thomas Nelson, 2009), the book is available from Thomas Nelson or Amazon.com.