Alex and Brett Harris

While still in their teens, these homeschooled twin brothers co-authored a book, gained widespread media attention, and inspired young people across the country. It all started at age 16 when their father handed them a copy of The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman. Upon reading it, they realized that the mentality of young people in America was in stark contrast with that of teens in other countries such as China and India.

Alex and Brett began a blog in August 2005 as “a teenage rebellion against low expectations.” By the following year it had expanded to become a website, TheRebelution.com. Since then, their site has received over 32 million hits, making the Harris twins among the most widely read teen writers on the internet. Their first book, Do Hard Things, was released on April 15, 2008, by Multnomah Books. In June 2007, Alex and Brett went on their first nationwide Rebelution Tour, hosting a series of one-day conferences for teens, young adults, and parents.

Alex and Brett were raised in a ministry family by Gregg and Sono Harris, pioneers in the Christian homeschooling movement and well-known seminar speakers from 1981 through the mid-1990s. Their older brother, Joshua Harris, began speaking at conferences when he was 17, and he even launched his own “New Attitude” seminars for young adults. So it only seems natural that Alex and Brett would also excel in public speaking. In fact, they received six national championships in high school speech and debate.

Inspired to think big, in the autumn of 2005 Alex and Brett applied for internships at the Alabama Supreme Court. The staff attorney in charge of the internship program successfully encouraged Justice Tom Parker to waive the age restriction. The two brothers were 16 at the time, making them the youngest Supreme Court interns on record in the state of Alabama. In spring 2006, at the age of 17, they also became the grassroots directors for four simultaneous statewide campaigns for the Alabama Supreme Court, including Justice Parker’s run for Chief Justice.

Alex and Brett are currently sophomores at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia. When they’re not at school or on tour they live with their parents and three younger siblings in Gresham, Oregon (near Portland), where they attend Household of Faith Community Church. Their older brother, Joshua, bestselling author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl, now serves as Senior Pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Besides serving as the main speakers for The Rebelution Tour conferences, Alex and Brett are frequent contributors to Focus on the Family’s Boundless webzine, and have been featured nationally on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, and The New York Times, as well as in publications like WORLD magazine, Breakaway, and Ignite Your Faith. In addition to their passion for God and for their generation, their personal interests include basketball, soccer, filmmaking, music, and politics.

Alex and Brett’s newest book, Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are, will be released on March 16, 2010.

Updated: May 20, 2011 — 10:26 am

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