About a month ago, the senior pastor at our church introduced this book to us, and Bill and I both started reading it. It was so compelling, I finished it in a few days. Now, there are not many books that I would say "everybody has to read", but I think this is one of those books. I would go so far as to suggest that if you really want to be a relevant Christian - and impact today's culture - you need to read it. (Now, if you don't read it, I'm not going to think that you are lax in your faith - I just think it is a provocative book). Based on studies done by the Barna Group, the author, David Kinnaman, addresses the six major perceptions that our culture has of Christians. To pique your interest, the research showed that the majority of people considered Christians to be:
1) Hypocritical
2) Only interested in "getting people saved"
3) Anti homosexual
4) Sheltered
5) Too political
6) Judgmental
Now, you can agree or not agree with his suggestions on how to address these perceptions, but you can't argue with the statistics. Which is why I think it is so beneficial to read this book. If we say we are Christian, then for many people, the aforementioned six subjects are what they believe our faith to be. Personally, I found this book to be convicting and challenging! Pick it up - and then let me know what you think!
