I’ll have to admit that I am a reader of trends. I try to keep up with what direction something is “trending”. For instance, the NBA is trending upward. After Michael Jordan re-retired, the NBA took a tremendous hit and the the ratings began to plummet. But, recently it has been gaining momentum and it is trending upward.

What does that have to do with a book review? Everything. The Disappearance of God, by Dr. Albert Mohler, is a teaching on trends, and where the church in America is headed if we aren’t careful. He goes into detail on such topics as, the emergent church movement, why don’t preachers preach about hell anymore, what happened to church discipline, is sin still sin, and are churches pandering to the their members in order to survive. (Plus more)

I enjoyed this book very much. Dr. Mohler is a brilliant theologian and an excellent writer, and it shows. The book is deep, I won’t lie to you. Have a thesaurus and a dictionary near by, unless you are much smarter than me –which isn’t hard, to be honest.

I’ve noticed something in my short 36 years here on earth. We, as Americans, can learn a lot about our future just by watching Europe. Europe was once this great beacon of Christian principles and morals but than it began to tank, and look at it now. To be a true Christian in Europe, you are in the minority, not the majority. If the trend is accurate, and if we aren’t careful, America will follow this pattern.

I recommend this book to anyone who believes that America is headed for trouble, if churches don’t stay true to the word of God.

You can purchase this book here, at Random House.

Eyes Wide Open

As believers, we’ve all struggled somewhere, sometime with our identity. I mean come on, who hasn’t wondered whether or not God can truly love them after all of the junk they’ve done? Maybe you, like many, have looked in the mirror of your soul and been worried that maybe, just maybe, you were beyond God’s grace. If so, than this book is definitely for you. From page one, it hit me right between the eyes that God loved me before I ever even acknowledged Him, and He will never, ever leave me nor forsake me.

Summary

I had it all backwards. The main thing was not my love for God, but his love for me. And from that love I respond to God as one deeply flawed, yet loved. I’m not looking to prove my worth. I’m not searching for acceptance. I’m living out of the worth God already declares I have. I’m embracing his view of me and in the process discovering the person he created me to be.

In Eyes Wide Open, Jud Wilhite invites you to discover the real you. Not the you who pretends to be perfect to satisfy everyone’s expectations. Not the you who always feels guilty before God. Not the you who secretly feels God forgives everyone else but only tolerates you. Not the you who looks in the mirror and sees a failure. The real you, loved and forgiven by God, living out of your identity in Christ.

A travel guide through real spirituality from one incomplete person to another, Eyes Wide Open is a book of stories about following God in the messes of life, about broken pasts and our lifelong need for grace. It is a book about seeing ourselves and God with new eyes–eyes wide open to a God of love.

You can purchase the book here, at Random House.

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Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart by Chuck Black

Sir Dalton, a knight in training, seems to have everything going for him. Young, well-liked, and a natural leader, he has earned the respect and admiration of his fellow knights, and especially the beautiful Lady Brynn.

But something is amiss at the training camp. Their new trainer is popular but lacks the passion to inspire them to true service to the King and the Prince. Besides this, the knights are too busy enjoying a season of good times to be concerned with a disturbing report that many of their fellow Knights have mysteriously vanished.

When Sir Dalton is sent on a mission, he encounters strange attacks, especially when he is alone. As his commitment wanes, the attacks grow in intensity until he is captured by Lord Drox, a massive Shadow Warrior. Bruised and beaten, Dalton refuses to submit to evil and initiates a daring escape with only one of two outcomes–life or death. But what will become of the hundreds of knights he’ll leave behind? In a kingdom of peril, Dalton thinks he is on his own, but two faithful friends have not abandoned him, and neither has a strange old hermit who seems to know much about the Prince. But can Dalton face the evil Shadow Warrior again and survive?

You can purchase the book here, at Random House.

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This book was different; not in a bad way, just different.

It was essentially about us, as believers, listening to each other and not getting hung up on our personal agendas. Believe me, we all have them.

Don’t believe me? Look at this election…Palin is adored by us southerners because she stands for all of the right things: she’s against abortion and gay marriage. As soon as we heard that we were happy.

Before you go crazy, the reverse is true as well. There are people here in the south and else where who will vote for Obama because he is against the war, not caring that he is pro-abortion and for gay marriage, even though they are personally against it.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is something to be said for letting your morals determine your candidate, but we tend to get hung up on things and ignore stuff that is just as important.

This book talks about some really hard stuff. It is a book of interviews: interviews with people on the street, interviews with famous people, interviews with controversial people. One of the interviews is with a transvestite nun.

I found this book fascinating because even though the writer is a believer, rarely does he give his opinion. He conducts interviews and expects us readers to make up our own minds about how to process the information we just read.

Here in the south it seems, at times, that you can beat your wife and kids, not pay taxes and shoot someone, and as long as you are against abortion and gay marriage then you’re fine. I am exaggerating, but not by much. We tend to lose focus on all of the other ‘sins’ that are committed by people. We prioritize sin; and as long as it isn’t one of the two biggies then hey, it will work out.

Lord Save Us From Your Followers was a book that forced me to reevaluate how I look at certain things. Am I caught up in the right vs wrong (republican vs democrat) mentality? The left coast seems to be convinced that Republicans are racist, backwards, uneducated, money-hungry, step on poor people, wife-beaters. All of us in the south assume Democrats are liberal, trees-are-more-important-than-people, baby killing, free sex for all, there is no such thing as sin, weirdos. And I’m talking about inside the church.

True story. Eight years ago, when Bush was running against Gore, I saw a car that had two bumper stickers on it, “Bush/Cheney” and “God is My Co-Pilot”. In the front yard, where the car was, was a Bush/Cheney sign. I talked with the lady next door, who had a Gore/Lieberman sign out front, and she said, “no self-respecting Methodist would ever vote for a Republican.”

Now explain to me how two “Christians,” who I assume are strong believers, can be so diametrically opposed to each other when it comes to politics? I understand a believer and non-believer being on opposite ends. But what makes the terms Republican and Democrat send people over the edge. Bible believing, God-fearing people.

Shouldn’t we as “Christians” be above that mess? Do all Methodists vote for Democrats only? If so, why? Do all Baptists vote Republican? Again, if so, why?

This actually leads me to another Book I have been asked to review. It is called How Would Jesus Vote and will be out soon, if it isn’t already. I can’t wait to read it and get their perspective on all of this.

My fascination this election isn’t with Obama vs McCain, but with the Democratic Christian vs the Republican Christian. Who will win?

As for the book, I would recommend it. It is both thought-provoking and infuriating at times. Read it, like the last one I talked about, with an open mind. Open to understanding how someone thinks and why.

As for the Christian vs Christian battle: I guess we’ll see in November.

I can see why believers are up in arms about him and this book. He says things that, if you aren’t reading with an open mind, will get traditional Christians hot. And when I say open mind that isn’t a liberal, everything is alright open mind, but an open mind that reads things through before commenting. An open mind that doesn’t take one sentence, most often out of context, and crucify someone for it.

My background: I believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. I believe there is absolute truth in this world and that is comes from God. I do not believe that every human who has their own version of truth is right. I believe Jesus was born of a virgin, died on a cross for our sins and rose again 3 days later. I believe He is coming back for His bride, all believers. I not only believe He is the way, the truth and the light, but He is the ONLY way. So, with that said I still can read a book like Velvet Elvis, Blue Like Jazz or Searching For God Knows What and not lose my religion or salvation.

But not only do I believe in all of the above, I am a conservative from the deep deep south: South Carolina to be exact. And if you’ve ever read any of the books I mentioned you know that I am one level below the anti-christ.

Now that you know my background, let me say this: I think Velvet Elvis is one of the best books I’ve read in recent memory and here’s why: Velvet Elvis is about setting aside all of the religious ceremonies we all do (Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, Presbyterian, etc…) and getting back to the root of our faith, Jesus Christ. Rob Bell is obviously anti-institutional – ironic because he has a giant church. Velvet Elvis strips off the facade of churchianity and makes us look at our motives; are we looking for the approval of men or Jesus?

I know Rob Bell says things that will make your skin crawl, but that doesn’t make him a wolf in sheep’s clothing, as he was called on website I read somewhere (I would post it but I don’t remember where it was). It makes him controversial. And if you know anything about writers or publicists that isn’t a bad thing; it is how they sell a million books instead of a couple thousand. I am all for stirring up a hornet’s nest if it is done to get people talking and moving towards truth. But if it is done just for the sake of controversy then there is a problem.

Velvet Elvis is not for everyone. It is not for those who get offended easily and aren’t sure what they believe or why. It is, in my opinion, not for new believers. This book has to be, as he states on the back, weighed and studied. Don’t just take it at face value. Look at it from the Bible’s standpoint. If you strip away all of the things he says just to push people’s buttons you’ll find a book that has some awesome truth in it.

Our culture is evolving, but God’s word isn’t. The truths that God set forth in the beginning are just as relevant today. What is changing, or in some cases isn’t changing, is the “church’s” attitudes towards our culture. It seems we, as believers, have two choices: we can either hide in our churches and hope the world out there doesn’t get us, or we can dive in head first and bring light to a dark world.

The churches that are taking it to the street are growing exponentially. The ones that are scared to get  little dirty are dying… and soon will be irrelevant.

Is Velvet Elvis walking that line between absolute truth and tolerance, yes, but don’t miss the forest for the trees. Read it and weigh it.

Here are my thoughts, right or wrong.

The Emerging Church is simply what the “church body” as a whole is becoming, and how they are communicating the Gospel to the people. Every generation has, or is, an Emerging Church. Think back to the 70′s; what we now call a “contemporary church” was an Emerging Church. Styles and churches will always, hopefully, be emerging.

The Emergent Church on the other hand is a little different. It refers to a movement that is specifically targeting a group of people that have become disenfranchised with church as usual, or have no background at all in Christianity. Call it postmodern, post-Christian, post-whatever, we are in a society that has a generation of people who don’t know what “sanctification” is or what it means to be saved. Saved from what? Most traditional, and I don’t mean just music style, churches use language that requires a PhD in Churchese in order to understand what is going on. The Emergent Church, at its core, is about reaching people where they are, through methods that may seem unorthodox to traditionalists.

I think the reason the Emergent Church is getting so much negative press is because not every Emergent Church looks and believes the same way. It is very loosely defined and there are some in the movement that have put a bad taste in peoples mouths. There is a strong concern from traditional denominations that the E.C. (I’ll abbreviate because I hate typing) is watering down the Gospel to a point where sin is no longer preached on. They are afraid that the E.C. is putting so much emphasis on relationship that the fruit of that relationship is overlooked.

I belong to a traditional denomination and can understand their concerns. If the E.C. is concerned more about just getting people in the door than they are about them being viable believers than I think there is a serious problem. But from what I’ve seen and read most E.C.s aren’t watering down the Gospel to make it fit society, they are simply starting with the basics and presenting it in a way that non-traditionalists can relate. Look at this way. If a mainline denomination wants to preach on salvation they do it assuming everyone in there understands certain things. But what if they don’t? What if those assumptions are wrong? Then what happens is even though the message was basic it never hit its mark because the people that needed to hear it the most were lost from the beginning. In that sense I think the E.C. is doing a heck of a job.

But what happens if they (new believers at the E.C.) are only taught to start the relationship but are never taught or encouraged to grow and nurture that relationship? You’ll have a church full of believers whose faith is built on a weak foundation and they will resort back to what is familiar when things get tough. Same thing happens in marriages. Walking down the aisle is great and needed, but it takes time for the relationship to mature to a point where it can withstand a storm.

If the E.C. is going to make it they have to find a way to mix the style with strong discipleship and not be scared to say the hard things. It is a loving pastor who can preach on the hard things, knowing that he is going to offend some people. But they have to. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that they were to pursue holiness. Meaning they were to line up their lives with what God was telling them. In Ephesians, Paul encourages them (vss 17-32) to walk out their faith a certain way. He was clear that they, and we, were to be set apart from the world (or sin).

I think the Emergent Church has a gotten a bad rap at times. Some of the leaders have some really freaky theology, but that doesn’t mean the whole movement is heretical. We, as the whole church body, are having a hard time engaging those in their 20′s and 30′s. If a church can present the Gospel, all of it, in a way that reaches them where they are then I don’t see the problem.

So, is the service we are starting going to be a Traditional, Emerging, or Emergent Church?

The answer is . . . yes.

Here is a description of the Emerging Church by Rick McKinley, the pastor at Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon. I don’t know much about his ministry but he explains the E.C. in an easily understandable way.
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