Embody the Revolution of Good Tidings

Richard Stearns is not known for abusing his platform position in verbose publications. Yet, having steered the globally revered World Vision organization for years in its multi-faceted assault on world hunger, death, depravity and darkness with a mantra of active faith, living hope and radiant love - he certainly has earned the right. The Hole In Our Gospel represents a powerful charge to followers of Christ world-wide.

Following a long line of saints who have blown the horn for a faith-style that is far more than intellectual assents and regulated living (Willard, Wright, McDowell, Compolo, Hybels, Warren) - Stearns astutely provides a stirring flashback to the vivid and cutting reality of the Gospel we are recipients and stewards of. With lines like "we are called to proclaim and embody the Gospel" and "it is to be demonstrated not dictated...spread, not via coercion" he lays a theological foundation for repositioning the need for active faith in the context of the original revolution launched by Jesus. Certainly, his charge is well warranted since a vast majority of Christendom is a far cry from an incarnational revolution of good tidings to the world!

This book is moving. This book is well-framed, well-stated and clearly bubbling up from the heart of a man who has been moved to a life of surrendered and emboldened by years of seeing an unpleasant reality of global proportions. This is a necessary book for the Church to read. It's a battle cry that needs to be resounded regularly throughout communities of Christ-followers perpetually. I applaud Stearns for reviving a message of remembrance in the line of Jesus with poignance, grace and gusto.

Review: Buckingham's "Truth About You"

Marcus Buckingham is an English stud of a thinker and performance coach who has risen to world-wide recognition due greatly to his "strengths-based" ideals. Buckingham was the first guru I ever heard effectively distill the tension between strengths and weaknesses to draw actionable axioms that span workplace, ministry team, home/parental and even personal contexts. His latest installment, The Truth About You, is really a continuation of his conceptual stream of consciousness.

Frankly, this publication offers little in the way of distinctively new ideas or vantage points. What it instead seems to achieve is a process-promoting package whereby readers are encouraged to engage in an introspective journey using the book, DVD and even a quaint memo pad to delve into their own make-up. In that sense, it takes his previous works and puts some sticky tape to the key points. If you are new to Buckingham, then this is probably a great entry point into the body of his works. If you're a veteran, this may seem a bit redundant due to the overlapping nature of content. Certainly it's a great reminder to free up the energy associated with maximizing core strengths over belaboring intrinsic weaknesses or deficiencies (morals and spiritual fruits aside, of course!). The illustrations, battle-cries to operate out of objective principles ("first figure out the what then the how") and encouragement to see individuality as an asset versus hindrance are refreshingly witty.