Dedication and Leadership

I first read this book 25 years ago in college and pulled it out of my bookshelf to re-read and realized how timeless Hyde's writing and perspective holds true regarding the zeal, passion, vision (albeit misguided) of the communists and how their example serves as a stinging indictment of a Christian church that has the true hope of the world and yet pales in terms of its passion, dedication, and sacrifice. Hyde's own years in the communist party and his conversion to Christianity serve as a highly insightful look into the motives and drives of the young communist and how perhaps the church can take note and perhaps even mimic or call our own people to something higher. As a pastor, I was humbled by how little I've come to expect of my congregants and how so many of us have settled for a half-hearted, compromised faith when others, who hold to a doctrine that has real flaws and shortcomings, are still giving their lives to something and making huge changes because they really believe they can change the world. This little book serves as a wake up call to a sleeping church that needs to challenge its own rank and file to a vision as high as the Gospel and as grand as the love of Jesus Christ.