Casey Gerald, cofounder and, until very recently, CEO of MBAs Across America, is not yet 30 years old, yet is a powerful voice for our time. He’s asking some huge questions, like: Will the American dream survive another generation? What are we putting our faith and trust in to save us? With all the power that we hold in our hands, why are people still suffering so badly?
In his captivating TED2016 talk (see below), Casey Gerald calls us to question everything that we have held dear – everything that we have put our trust in to “save us” or make us whole.
His TED story begins on December 31, 1999, in the minutes before the dawn of a new millennium. From what he had been taught in his fundamentalist Baptist Church, he believed that these were the last minutes of life as he knew it. The Lord was coming to take the righteous to heaven. The “rapture” that he had heard about for so long was about to happen.
As the clock approached midnight, 12-year-old Casey was holding tightly to his beloved grandmother’s hand. She was the purest woman he knew, and he was sure that she would be taken to heaven that night. And he was convinced that if he held onto her hand tightly enough, surely he would be taken to heaven, too.
Yet midnight came and went. Casey and his grandmother and all of the other church members gathered around the altar rail of their church were still there. No one had been taken. The Lord had not come. And they all did their best in that moment to assure each other that it was alright.
Except for Casey. For Casey, it was not alright. He felt betrayed – “hoodwinked and bamboozled,” in his words.
Brilliant, articulate, and an extraordinary storyteller, Casey Gerald takes us on a powerful journey in this 18-minute talk. In the end, he explains his “Gospel of Doubt,” and invites us all to step fully into the uncertainty of today’s world, to find our safety and trust in ourselves, and to respond to the cries of a world in need.
If this is a topic that speaks to you, then set everything aside for a half hour, watch this video, and then give yourself a few minutes afterwards to take it all in.
Related Blog Posts:
- Where Do We Go From Here?
- And The World Goes Round – 3 Simple Truths That Can Help You Stay Centered and Grounded No Matter What
- What Do You Choose As Your Center?
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