"Preach the Gospel always. Use words if necessary." - St. Francis of Assisi
It’s 1998 and Richard Stearns’ heart is breaking as he sits in a mud hut and listens to the story of an orphaned child in Rakai, Uganda. His journey to this place took more than a long flight from the United States to Africa. It took answering God’s call on his life, a call that hurtled him out of his presidential corner office at Lenox-America’s finest tableware company-to this humble corner of Uganda.
This is a story of how a corporate CEO faced his own struggle to obey God whatever the cost, and his passionate call for Christians to change the world by actively living out their faith. Using his own journey as an example, Stearns explores the hole that exists in our understanding of the Gospel.
Two thousand years ago, twelve people changed the world. Stearns believes it can happen again.
"Read this compelling story and urgent call for change-Richard Stearns is a contemporary Amos crying ’let justice roll down like waters….’ Justice is a serious gospel-prophetic mandate. Far too many American Christians for too long a time have left the cause to ’others.’ Read it as an altar call."
--Eugene H. Peterson, translator of The Message, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, BC
"Rich Stearns calls us to exhilarating obedience to God’s life-altering, world-changing command to reflect his love to our neighbors at home and globally. The Hole in Our Gospel is imbued with the hope of what is possible when God’s people are transformed to live radically in light of his great love."
--Gary Haugen, President & CEO, International Justice Mission
"Richard Stearns is quite simply one of the finest leaders I have ever known.... When he became president of World Vision I had a front row seat to witness the way God used his mind and heart to inspire thousands.... His new book, The Hole In Our Gospel will call you to a higher level of discipleship.... Now is the time...Richard Stearns has the strategy...your move!"
--Bill Hybels, Founding and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL
"Rich Stearns has given us a book that makes absolutely clear what God hopes for and expects from each of us.... He reminded me of my personal responsibilities and the priority I must give them and also where life’s true rewards and fulfillment are to be found."
--Jim Morris, former executive director, United Nations World Food Program
"World Vision plays a strategic role on our globe. As the largest relief organization in the history of the world, they initiate care and respond to crisis. Rich Stearns navigates this mercy mission with great skill. His book urges us to think again about the opportunity to love our neighbor and comfort the afflicted. His message is timely and needed. May God bless him, the mission of World Vision and all who embrace it."
--Max Lucado, author of 3:16-The Numbers of Hope, Minister of Writing and Preaching, Oak Hills Church, San Antonio, TX
"Rich Stearns has penned a passionate and persuasive book aimed at Christians who find themselves absorbed with their own existence, pursuing the American dream of health, wealth and happiness. Rich traces his own spiritual journey from having it all, to sacrificial living on behalf of those who have nothing. Not only is Rich eloquent, he’s right."
--Kay Warren, Executive Director HIV/AIDS Initiative at Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA
"An urgent, powerful summons to live like Jesus. Stearns weaves solid theology, moving stories, and his own journey of faith into a compelling call to live the whole Gospel. Highly recommended!"
--Ronald J. Sider, President, Evangelicals for Social Action, Author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger
"With passionate urging and earnestness, Rich Stearns challenges Christians to embrace the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ by embracing the neediest and most vulnerable among us. After reading the moving stories, the compelling facts and figures, and Stearns’ excellent application of scripture and his own experiences at World Vision, you will no doubt be asking yourself: What should I do?"
--Chuck Colson, Founder, Prison Fellowship
"This book is a clarion call for the church to arise and answer the question, "Who is my neighbor?"... If you read this book, you will be inspired, but if you do what this book is asking, you will be forever changed. Rich Stearns’ book is like a safari for hurting souls that cannot be written in the safety of an office suite.... If you have been feeling something missing or an aching emptiness inside, read The Hole in our Gospel. It will show you how to fill that void!"
--T.D. Jakes Sr., The Potter’s House of Dallas, Inc.
"Rich Stearns’ book is showing us through stories and examples how it is better to see a sermon rather than hear one. This is an important book for all of us!"
--Tony Hall, US Ambassador and former US Congressman
"This is much more than "just another book" from a Christian leader. It’s a message to Christendom that we all need."
--Dr. Tony Campolo, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University, author of Red Letter Christians
"This book represents a powerful personal story; face to face experiences with the poor which changed the author’s life, plus, an insightful scriptural commentary. As happened with Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision; Richard Stearns’ heart has been broken with the things that break the heart of God. Now, Stearns is using his considerable CEO skills to serve the poor and oppressed. I highly recommend this book."
--John M. Perkins, President, John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation & Development, Inc.
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 stars(5 out of 5 stars)
8 of 51 Reviews Showing:(View All Reviews)
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Mel's World with Melissa Mashburn (Sunny South Florida), November 17, 2009
I can hardly remember a time when I have been so profoundly impacted by a book. Literally these 279 pages has transformed my thinking and I could not stop telling everyone I know about this book.
What an incredible story of faith in action! It is an awesome reminder that having faith is so much more than just crossing that line and accepting Him as our Lord and Savior. Yes, that is fundamental, yes, that is the first step, but that it just it...it's the first step.
There is so much more that we can do for Him each and every day if we choose to listen to the call on our lives and be the hands and feet that He has commanded us in His Word.
This book is hitting a home run and I can't wait to see what happens when more and more people realize that there is a Hole in Our Gospel.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Peggy (Brainerd, MN), November 14, 2009
You get a hint of where Richard Stearns is taking you from the question and answer posed on the jacket of the book. Stearns asks “What does God expect of us?” and says the book contains “the answer that changed my life and might just change the world”.
I seldom run across a book that I cannot read straight through, often in a matter of hours after getting it. This was one of those books. I started easily enough as Stearns took us through his early life, corporate achievement and the challenge to his faith that came through recruitment as the new President of World Vision. As he began talking about his early experiences with World Vision and how it changed his outlook, I found myself being convicted about how I have failed to care sufficiently for “the least of these”. Reading the rest of the book was slower going and it made me evaluate my calling in the church. If Stearns goal was to make us grow in our faith and faithfulness, he certainly did so in me.
The hole he describes in our gospel is often seen in our single mindedness as to how we go about fulfilling the Great Commission. We are called to go and make disciples, but we often have differing ideas about what that means. It is more than bringing people to saving faith. It is also helping to meet their immediate needs and teaching them so they can meet their own needs and those of others in the future. The whole gospel as advocated by Stearns saves lives materially in this world and eternally in the next.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Amanda (Indiana), November 04, 2009
Oh wow...I didn't find this a slow read at all! I couldn't put it down! My husband and I have always had a heart for the poor and the hurting in our world. We have been to two third world countries in Africa and have looked into the peoples' eyes. This book not only makes people aware of the circumstances our world's people are in, but also emphasizes what it really means to take up your cross and follow Christ. It doesn't mean look the other way or justify why you don't have time to care...it means take action and let God lead you!
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Joann Wedin (Wonder Lake, IL), September 04, 2009
A 'must read' to all those who profess to following Christ and doing His will. The words bring the mission of Christ alive in a way rarely found today.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Dennis Muse (Kansas City, MO), September 01, 2009
The Hole In Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns, the President of World Vision published by Thomas Nelson, is a compelling call to Christ-followers to know and understand the whole gospel, and our obligation to take it to the world. This book is amazing; it is one of best books I have read in a long time. In this book we learn of Richard's personal story, his rise to not only CEO of World Vision but God's working in him to know and embrace the whole Gospel. We learn of Richard's ventures into the world, the world of poverty and need. As he states "Poverty, disease, and squalor had eyes and faces that stared back, I had to see and smell and touch the pain of the poor. We learn "The mission of God is now our mission, and the whole gospel is the good news". That the Kingdom which Christ spoke of was one in which the poor, sick, grieving, cripples, slaves, widows, orphans, lepers and aliens - the lest of these, were to be lifted up.
This subject is one of my passions, world hunger and living out the whole gospel, so this was preaching to the Choir for me, but helped fuel my passion for the need and for the church to get, know, embrace the whole gospel and do something with it. This book should be a must read for every Christian, in the pew of every church. A required reading for every pastor. Stearns tells a powerful and compelling story of how God transformed him from one who like most Christians believes the American dream is the gospel, Christianity lived out. To one changed by the real gospel, humbled and broken, giving it all up for Christ and to take the gospel to the world.
3 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Calvin Habig (Portland, OR), August 24, 2009
It seems that one of the prerequisites for heading a large Christian humanitarian and relief organization is to write a book detailing ones journey towards a deeper understanding of the issues of world pain and deprivation and the role that Christians need to play in alleviating that. The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World by Richard Stearns is no different.
Stearns details his journey from being an executive with Parker Brother Games and President/CEO of Lenox, Inc (known for their fine tableware and luxury-goods) to the head of World Vision, U.S. The move of Stearns from the world of business to the world of humanitarian relief, was not so much a change in direction as to a return to his roots. As a young believer, he and his wife Renee were committed to living out the gospel in a radical way. He was “determined not to become one of those hypocrites who talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk.”
But God had much for Stearns to experience before he was ready to head this organization with world-wide influence.
Stearns reviews the huge needs within our world and why the church has been so ineffective in fulfilling the entirety of the Gospel: thus the “hole” of the title.
Stearns writes:
“I believe that we have reduced the gospel from a dynamic and beautiful symphony of God’s love for and in the world to a bare and strident monotone. We have taken this amazing good news from God, originally presented in high definition and Dolby stereo, and reduced it to a grainy, black-and white, silent movie. In doing so, we have also stripped it of much of its power to change not only the human heart, but the world.”
While it is a bit of a slow read, Stearns’ emphasis is undeniably Christian and powerful. I believe it is worth your time.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Crystal Steimling (Malvern, PA), August 18, 2009
The Hole In Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns is a book unparalleled to any other in calling us to a deeper place of commitment & understanding of the Great Commission. One can talk about being fishers of men, one can get excited about making a difference and impacting the lives of fellow human beings, but until one TRULY understands the magnitude of need, and what making a difference REALLY looks like through the magnifying glass of the "whole gospel" we are hard pressed to get it right.
This book is a powerhouse of facts, real life examples lived out, and scripture, all woven together to create a masterpiece that brings the reader face to face with the Whole Gospel. Beware, it is radical and convicting! (In a great way).
If you are: compelled to greatness or desire accurate information, if you are moved with compassion and desire to be Christs hands extended, if you are affluent and self sufficient, if you are lukewarm and lack for not much of anything, if you sit in church week after week and don't really know why, or even if you love the Lord with all your heart mind and soul, this book is for you and a must read!
Whatever our views are, wherever our priorities lie, reading this book is sure to bring us one step closer (if not a hundred steps closer) to lining up with the "whole gospel".
4 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by wheniconsider@gmail.com (Howe, IN), August 10, 2009
No one life, whether tethered to evil or freed to fly, is ever abandoned by the far reaching love of God. The Gospel is proof of that: Jesus Christ’s bloody death, haunting burial, and powerful resurrection. “The Hole in Our Gospel” gives a powerful exposé of these facts. Richard Stearns captures the state of affairs in our gospel living by honestly portraying his heart and what changed it. He then leads us through stories and statistics (not his favorite thing) trying to help our eye capture the needs of our world. Concluding with a powerful and stirring call to arms, he inspires us to make a difference by living that difference. The message was truly one that must be read again and again. In the way of writing, I was a little overwhelmed with the middle section of the book. There were a lot of logistical facts and information, but the author did disclaim his use of such. I believe, in total, that all the data was in an attempt to give a bird’s eye view of the need. No matter the case, I laid the book down and was moved to act.
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