Zoradi - Made for these times: a start-up guide to calling, character, and work that matters

If you want to come alive, if you truly want to live a life of purpose and meaning, you need to read this book. It was made for such a time as this.

JEFF GOINS, bestselling author, The Art of Work

The books I love, the books that change me, are the books written by someone who has lived faithfully and with integrity to the story they have written. Thats why I love this book. Justin has lived every page in this book by giving his life to work that matters and allowing himself to be changed through the change he is trying to make in the world. Today there are so many people young and old dying on the inside, crushed by a culture of consumption and selfish ambition, but it doesnt have to be this way. Justin gives us a roadmap to break out of whats expected and to reorder, reinvent, and reimagine how your life can change the world, and he honestly shows us how God changes us in the process. Thoughtfully written through a life well lived, I am giving this book to my college-age sons because I believe it will help them discover what they were made to do, and I know it will do the same for you.

RICK MCKINLEY, lead pastor, Imago Dei Community, Portland; author, This Beautiful Mess and Faith for This Moment

Despite the challenges in the world today, Justin Zoradi helps us remember who we are: bearers of light, called by God to risk, build, and inspire. Let this powerful book guide you on your own journey toward doing work that matters.

JENA LEE NARDELLA, Partner at Praxis; author, One Thousand Wells

As we become more connected than ever, the problems in the world loom large and close, causing many of us to check out and attempt to survive the chaos. Justins story and this book will help inspire and equip you in your journey of finding your place and making a true impact. In time such as these, Made for These Times will encourage you to not just survive but thrive.

LIZ FORKIN BOHANNON, founder and CEO, Sseko Designs

A powerful message of living for a grander and greater purpose, Made for These Times will ignite your heart to love more deeply and respond more fully to the world around you. Justins sage advice and vulnerability will equip you to lead a life of sustained service and outrageous love.

PETER GREER, president and CEO, HOPE International; coauthor, Rooting for Rivals

Have you ever been overwhelmed thinking about how one person can ease the worlds suffering? Confused by what, exactly, God is calling you to? If so, you could ask for no better guide than Justin Zoradi. He has devoted his career, and this book, to exploring how to fulfill our insatiable desire to matter by using our unique gifts to serve other people. Justin writes with great humility about the joy of self-forgetfulness in service of others.

LAURA TURNER, writer and journalist; contributor, The Atlantic, Politco, The Washington Post, Slate, and Buzzfeed

When Donald Miller and I launched the Mentoring Project, Don insisted, We must hire Justin Zoradi. Hes a beast. Don was right. Justin is a visionary leader, a creative starter with tireless work ethic, enthusiasm, and wisdom. Our explosive success growing the Mentoring Project from twenty mentors into a national movement is largely because of Justins fire and skill. He can start anything and make it great. Read this book, and learn from one of the best.

JOHN SOWERS, president, the Mentoring Project; author, Fatherless Generation and The Heroic Path

With wit and wisdom, Justin Zoradi shows us practical ways to help and heal a broken world. Hes an important voice for our generation to hear.

SARAH THEBARGE, author; The Invisible Girls and WELL

How do you fuel the spark Gods given you to change the world without burning out in the process? Justin is a trusted guide, whose wise insight can help you excel not only in what you are doing but, perhaps more importantly, who you are becoming.

JOSHUA RYAN BUTLER, author, The Skeletons in Gods Closet and The Pursuing God

I met Justin when I was nineteen, and he shaped the way I understand justice, vocation, and leadership. Im so glad he packed all of his wisdom and experience on how to build, empower, and even let go of work that matters. This book will flip your life upside-down in the best way possible.

BRANDEN HARVEY, founder, the Goodnewspaper; host, Sounds Good Podcast

I see a generation that wants to live on purpose, with purpose, for a purpose. And with Made for These Times we have a rallying cry and a field manual from a leader in Justin Zoradi who hasnt just written these words on doing work that matters; hes lived each one of them. Thats not an overstatement. Justin is the real deal, and so is this book. Read it and be inspired.

PAUL ANGONE, author, 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties: (and lets be honest, your thirties too)

These days it feels as if fearful and cynical are our default settings, but Made for These Times is an urgent reminder that God put us here and now for a reason. Justin Zoradis story will inspire you, and his fantastic book will point you toward a life of purpose. Give it to the graduates in your life, and everyone else.

CHAD GIBBS, author, Love Thy Rival, God & Football, and Jesus Without Borders

ZONDERVAN

Made for These Times

Copyright 2018 by Justin Zoradi

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Epub Edition July 2018 9780310351108

ISBN 978-0-310-35107-8 (softcover)

ISBN 978-0-310-35539-7 (audio)

ISBN 978-0-310-35110-8 (ebook)

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked The Message are taken from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in association with D. C. Jacobson & Associates LLC, an Author Management Company www.dcjacobson.com.

Art direction: Curt Diepenhorst

Interior design: Denise Froehlich

First printing June 2018 / Printed in the United States of America

OPEN

YOUR EYES AND

SEE

WHAT YOU CAN

WITH THEM,

before they close

FOREVER.

ANTHONY DOERR

W hen Justin and I first met, in 2004, I was a twenty-year-old studying communications at Calvin College, and Justin and I both worked in the Student Activities Office under the mentorship of Ken Heffner. That year, Justin and I spent a lot of time helping to plan concerts and talking with students about the spiritual dimensions of pop culture. Soon into our friendship, I sensed that Justin would go on to do something big for the kingdom. He had already displayed great courage simply by moving from sunny California to the snow heaps of West Michigan. He was passionate about justice and believed that real-world problems and suffering required real-world action from Gods people. As a sheltered Midwesterner cushioned by privilege, I had never experienced real injustice, but in conversation, Justin helped me to see it all around me. Further, he took the time to develop friendships in the office and outside of it. Even though Justin is only a few years older than I am, as a student I wanted to be like him when I grew up. (Im not sure if that's happened yet.)