Skip to main content

The Hole in Our Gospel

When I was a student in middle school, my second biggest fear was that I would finish a big assignment, only to learn I had missed something. (My biggest fear was that I'd wake up and find myself running naked through the hallway just as all the classes were released.)

Imagine putting in weeks worth of work, staying up late, kissing any social life I never had good-bye and working countless hours, only to find out you had missed an important part of the assignment. Certainly you've felt that sinking feeling in your stomach that indicates hope has just left the building and he did not take his key with him.

Now imagine that fear applied to your entire life. Have you ever wondered if you had heard all the Bible stories and were still missing...something? If you have ever feared the reaction of an over-zealous teacher who had nothing better to do with her weekend than read your essays, imagine getting to the end of your life and hearing from God that you had missed the most important parts of His expectations.

I just recently read The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, an organization that finds new and creative ways to help those less fortunate. He introduces us to another side of his life. If you imagined that service organization presidents simply sprout up from a field of giving, then think again. Richard Stearns may not have been a (fill in the blank with your own worst version of a testimony), but he tells us of a comfortable Christian with a very good sense of business.

As he tells his story, it wasn't that he didn't care about those less fortunate. It wasn't even that he didn't help at his church and give as well. It was just that his heart wasn't truly broken by the things that break the heart of God. Through circumstances that can only be credited to God, Richard found himself in a position to lead World Vision in their efforts to make an authentic difference.

The rest of this book becomes a call to Christians everywhere to re-examine what's been missing from our gospel. It's more than simply talking about God who came down. I could go into more detail, but then this would become more book than book review.

This book comes complete with call to action as well as action steps. Perhaps the last book that was this complete became an all-time best seller.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl

Patience

I am more than halfway through the last year of dropping one of my children off at school. It's my eighth grade daughter, for anyone keeping track of my family.  See, next year she will be at the high school, and her brother will drive her. He says that it's not cool for seniors to drive their freshman sister to school, but I bet it's cooler than being dropped off by your mom in a minivan.  So rather than groan about this daily responsibility, I've been reminiscing about what the drop-off line used to look like, way back in elementary school. Once our children were about halfway through their elementary years, the drop-off line became a test of patience.  Do you know which group you do not want to get caught behind in the parent drop-off line at an elementary school? The kindergartners. These little ones are barely able to walk, but now we put them in the high-pressure situation of trying to unbuckle their seat-belt, grab their backpack (which might be as tall as they a

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his robe. I’d