Required Reading
All kinds of preparations over the last couple of months, getting everything ready for our mission trip ... especially getting OURSELVES ready, in heart in mind, for what we know lies ahead ... and for what we don't know lies ahead.
Our preparation has included some 'required reading' in the form of Richard Stearns' book, "The Hole in Our Gospel." Published in 2009, the book offers a firsthand account of how Stearns became president of World Vision U.S.
"What does God expect of us," the book asks. "Is our faith just about going to church, studying the Bible and avoiding the most serious sins - or does God expect more? Have we embraced the whole gospel or a gospel with a hole in it?"
"Ten years ago," we read, "Rich Stearns came face-to-face with that question as he sat in a mud hut in Rakai, Uganda, listening to the heartbreaking story of an orphaned child. Stearns' journey there took much more than a long flight to Africa. It took answering God's call on his life, a call that tore him out of his corner office at one of America's most prestigious corporations - to walk with the poorest of the poor. in our world."
It's a good book and a compelling read ... but it is also challenging ... you can't help but return again and again to that question,"what does God expect of us?" ... asking yourself, "what does God expect of ME?" ... then giving some serious, thoughtful, prayerful consideration to the answer.
No surprise, really, that the book has SEVERAL endorsements from a wide variety of individuals active in one way or another in changing the world for the better ... International Justice Mission President/CEO Gary Haugen, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford, musician and activist Bono and best-selling author, West Texas' own Max Lucado ... just to name a few.
GOT QUESTIONS?
Is there something you'd like to ask any of our mission team members, or our pastor?
No comments:
Post a Comment