The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns (president of world vision USA)

Have you ever turned the TV channels and thought, "another needy person in a foreign country"? Have you ever watched the commercials and wondered "how many ministries help small children with food, and how do I know if they can be trusted?" Ever found yourself arguing over "where you will eat out again tonight" while rarely spending time thinking of ways to help the less fortunate? Most of us, whether we would like to publicly acknowledge or not, have had these same thoughts. We can go through many weeks and months of our busy lives and think little about those who are least, lonely, and lost. Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision since June 1998 writes, The Hole In Our Gospel, to make us wrestle with the tension of millions of starving children, thousands of villages without clothing, tons of communities/small countries without clean water, all the while you and I -(if we make over 25K a year) live in the top 5% of richest people in the world.
Over the last few months I have been slowly reading this book. One of the reasons I have been taking my time is too responsibly digest the hard truths and challenges from the author. Secondly, too ask God where I can immediately begin to play my part in relieving the injustices of this world.
Using his own life example, Richard Stearns, of being a CEO of the huge fine dining/eating ware company LENOX and then transition to being the President of World Vision. Richard Stearns is extremely transparent about his desire to gain more and more wealth before he left LENOX, his younger years calling to be a vocational missionary and running from that desire, to his willingness to lead an organization that he frankly new nothing about. Probably the most intriguing parts of the book are the hands on experiences and life stories that are told from all across the world. Stearns continues to be honest about his own family's desire to seek after an affluent lifestyle in Seattle to wanting their children who are now young adults to love those who are poor, naked, and hungry.
I'm giving this book a really high mark and recommendation because Stearns refuses to cut corners, let us off the hook with excuses, and yet presents the biblical challenge with grace and truth. If you need to read a book to expose you to the rest of the world, take a few months to read "The Hole In Our Gospel". -casey cariker part of: http://brb.thomasnelson.com/ bloggers