My Current Read.

I should finish it over Christmas time when we are in Alleman at mom and dad's house. It's a good read that is messing with me.

Basically, Jim Henderson takes an atheist to church and asks him to comment on what he hears, sees, smells, tastes, and experiences. It's interesting stuff! The heart of the book is an outcry to our local churches across America to take into account that people walk into our buildings week after week and simply put, have never ever been in anything like what they are experiencing on a Sunday morning. We often don't do a great job of making them feel welcome or helping them understanding why we do what we do or even what we do on a Sunday morning. The assimilation process is fairly poor in most churches across America. I love what Bill Hybels and WillowCreek Church has done by developing a "seeker sensitive" model of a Sunday morning but in this book, the atheist reacts very differently than I expected him to as he experiences worship at one of the biggest churches in the midwest. He is fairly harsh. I must remember that the point of the excercise was for him to comment on the models of ministry that he experiences.

I have often dreamed of a local church that would be focused on a believer and yet reach out wholeheartedly to the missing. Those that are not part of the local body should be those that we greet and love on and help to understand why we do what we do.

God, that you would help West E. Free to develop into this local group of people that overflows with your amazing love for those that don't know you yet! Give us ears to hear and eyes to see those that need your touch through us on a Sunday morning and through every other day in the week!

By the way, if you are looking for an easy, intriguing read, I recommend this book. :)