First-time author Jason C. Dukes has a heart and passion for the message he presents in his book *Live Sent: You Are a Letter. Jason challenges us to stop thinking about the Church as a particular time or meeting place. We are the Church, and Jesus told us to "go forth," not try to get everyone to come to us. Also, being the Church means doing so every minute of every day--meshing our lives with everyone around us, caring for each other, striking up conversations, doing life together. One of my favorite of Jason's metaphors compares some of us to e-mail drafts: "saved but not sent." That's challenging. What good is an unsent message?Although Jason's message is heart-felt and also extremely important, I imagine that his communication style is probably best in one-on-one conversation or in his teaching. I personally felt distracted by his overuse of quotation marks and very informal style of writing. It felt more like I was reading a blog or an e-mail. Of course, since the emphasis was on our being letters, maybe this was appropriate. Still, the grammatical errors, repetition, and asides made the book seem like it wasn't properly edited. Then again, we don't worry about all those things when we write or read letters and e-mails.
Overall, I liked this book, mostly because I feel strongly about the topic. I greatly appreciate Jason's heart and ministry, and I am encouraged and challenged by the practical suggestions and stories he shares in Live Sent. This book would be great for Small Groups to read and discuss together.
To order this book, visit bookschristian.com.
*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the product mentioned above for free by The Ooze Viral Bloggers in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
1 comment:
What a challenging message! In our church, this dilemma is presented by the little street signs that always point the way toward an Episcopal congregation - our signs say, "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You." It is a heartfelt message, but passive. How different would it be for church members to go out into their communities and take the hands of people who are hurting and searching and look them in the eye and say to them "God welcomes you, and so do we - come and see..." Thank you for blogging about this book and your reflections after reading it!
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