For the last 6 months or so, as Stephen and I have started initial preparations to become church-planters in Italy, we have begun to try to define what it really takes to make a church. During this time, the Lord has been showing us that many of the things we take for granted in our modern, American worship setting, while not bad in and of themselves, are not necessary for a growing, Christ-centered, Bible-based church. God has continued to speak to us about this theme, so when I got an email a couple of months ago offering a free booklet entitled “The Radical Question” that addressed that very topic, I filled out the form and then promptly forgot about it.
A couple of days before our vacation, the booklet arrived in the mail and thinking it might be nice to read while kicked back at the beach, I tossed it in with my other reading material for the trip. Satan was not happy about that and he made quite a fuss. I will not bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that he did everything in his power to make our trip miserable. We knew that something was up and that God must have a purpose in our vacation, but didn’t realize that it had to do with the little orange booklet riding along with my magazines.
On Monday night we were cozy in our hotel room and since the fam was playing Scrabble, I decided to pull out the booklet and see what it had to say. I read half of it that night and the Lord woke me before 6 am the next morning to read the rest. (For those of you who know me well, you know that I am not a morning person, especially on vacation, so this was a little out of the ordinary.) The booklet was an excerpt from the book “Radical”. It challenged me in ways I have only begun to process as the author compared Biblical Christianity with our watered-down American version. It affected me so much that I got up while the rest of my family was still sleeping and went to Barnes and Noble to buy the book. Effective marketing strategy, right? You may believe that, but I know that God brought this book to my attention for a reason.
Over the last week, Stephen and I have devoured this book. In fact, we’ve fought over it, not wanting the other person to get ahead. This book has impacted me more than anything I’ve ever read with the exception of the Word of God itself. You want to know why? This book has made me ask some really hard questions. Questions about the American church in general, our church in particular, and most of all, myself. Quite honestly, I haven’t liked some of the answers. Even though I suspected a lot of the things talked about in the book, in reading it I came face-to-face with hard evidence straight from the Word about what God expects of His followers and I can assure you that it is not the “Christian spin on the American dream” that most of us are living now.
Now that God has brought this to my attention, I cannot stand by and do nothing. So, I am issuing a challenge to everyone reading this. If you visit www.radicalthebook.com, you can get a PDF of the first chapter from “Radical”. I DARE you to read it and begin to ask yourself some hard questions. Better yet, let’s take it a step further. I TRIPLE DOG DARE you to run, not walk, to the nearest bookstore, buy this book, read it from cover to cover and see if it doesn’t change the Christian that you have become. It certainly has changed me.
Please understand that, for me, this is not about promoting a book. It is about seeing the global purposes of God fulfilled by His church. On the whole, the church in America is not doing its job. However, I’m just crazy enough to think we can change that. Will you join me?
P.S. Stephen and I are planning to start a Bible study to delve deeper into what the Word says about the issues raised in “Radical”. Let me know if you’re interested in joining us.
6 comments:
You convinced me! I'm going on Amazon to order it tonight!
I'm so glad! You will not be sorry! If I had lots of money I would buy this book for everyone I know!
Just read the first chapter and can't wait to pick up the book! Funny timing on reading your blog and hearing about this book. Yesterday, we went to a megachurch near Chicago, and I was looking at their expensive building, automated touch screen child check-in system, lighting including fog and 7 screen video system for the modern service, and I had a weird reaction. I started to cry. I wondered what God thought of the extravagance of this modern American worship. I was even more mortified to find out that this church was giving nothing to missions. I may have reacted this way because we had just recieved a few mission rejections from churches that didn't want to give to our mission because they wanted to buy a piece of land or had TV ad expenses to cover. So sad.
Another preacher that speaks to this topic is Francis Chan. He has some incredible video sermons. He just stepped down from his megachurch for some of the same reasons as in "Radical" and is wanting to simplify and take his family into the mission field. Check him out this sermon at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBhqrtMqrv8
Gen, I will definitely check out the video of Francis Chan. I can totally understand your reaction to the church you attended, especially since they were not giving anything to missions. I know that the heart of the Father is greived by that.
As you know, Stephen and I not only attend, but also work for a mega-church. God has really been challenging us with some things through this book. However, one thing we know for sure is that the heart's cry of our senior pastors is to see the entire world reached with the gospel of Christ. They are accomplishing that through a multitude of ways and although we aren't where we should be, God is doing great things through our church. We hope that the Lord will use us to begin to influence other staff and church members to ask some hard questions about their lives and ministry so that our church can become an example for other churches to follow.
Once you've read the book, I would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe we can set up a Skype call!
Hi Brandy! I found your blog through Facebook, and am so inspired and challenged by your posts. Our pastor has been talking about this book for months, so I bought it for my husband for Christmas so that we could both read it. It's sat untouched on our nightstand ever since, and we've both acknowledged that we're afraid to read it. That makes it all the more interesting, so we're going to start going through it, one chapter at a time, together. We're praying for you and your family as you journey to Italy, and will love keeping up with you on your blog! God bless you!
Thanks so much, Tara! From your profile, it looks like you are from NC. Ironically, we are in NC for 2 weeks attending a training! Funny, huh?
I can totally understand being afraid to read the book! You cannot read it and stay the same. It will make you ask some hard questions of yourself, but isn't that what Christ would want us to do? Also, taking it one chapter at a time is very wise! It will take a little while to digest each one! :) Please let me know what you think as you go through the book. I would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for your prayers!
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