Week 1: Introduction — "Wrecked"

1.Katie uses the word "wrecked" to describe what Jesus did to her life — and says that the wreckage was the best thing that ever happened to her. What do you think she means by that? Does that framing attract you, unsettle you, or both?

2.Before reading this book, what was your mental image of a missionary or someone who does overseas humanitarian work? How does Katie's background — homecoming queen, college-bound, comfortable suburban life — fit or challenge that image?

3.The foreword frames Katie's story as one of radical obedience to Jesus. In your own life, what does obedience to Jesus typically look like? Is it mostly comfortable, mostly costly, or somewhere in between?

4.Katie describes leaving behind her "little yellow convertible," designer clothes, her college plans, and her boyfriend. Which of those sacrifices strikes you as hardest? What equivalent things in your own life would be most difficult to release?

5.Luke 9:24 says, "Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." How does the introduction to this book illustrate that verse? Where have you seen it illustrated in your own experience?

6.What do you hope to gain — or be challenged about — through reading this book and working through this study guide? Take a moment to write down one honest expectation and one honest fear about what this book might ask of you.