With the holiday break upon us I find an opportunity to either 1) veg out or 2) catchup on reading and re-reading that have become backlogged.

Because I am a book-a-holic I generally choose option 2 and this week is no different. I dove into an old favorite from an author that died far too soon (in ‘03 in a tragic car accident).

I read his book Dangerous Wonderin 1999 and became hooked on his writing. Although “Wonder” is my all time favorite book of his, Messy Spiritualityhas more direct application to the questions I’m facing right now.

I am becoming increasingly worn-down by Christians that focus on looking and acting good instead of pursuing an authentic and humble faith.

I feel like Yaconelli was on to something when he wrote about the silent majority that have some kind of inner sense that the church and Christianity is on the wrong track when it pursues perfection.

It takes some courage to even make it through Messy Spirituality, and I can assure you – you will be challenged by some of what he writes in the book. However, once you take your eyes off the page, take a long hard look at the mess you’re living in, you’ll get a sense that God used Yaconelli in a big way in writing this book.

In a way, many of the “blockbuster” books on spirituality in the past few years have seemed to me to be based in part or completely on Yaconelli’s ideas. Give it a read or re-read – I’d love to hear your thoughts on where you’re at in the mess!

The Externally Focused Church, by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson is a few years old now, but I’ve just recently discovered it. This book has some extremely challenging questions for the church today.

One of the best questions posed: If your church vanished would the community weep? Would anyone care? Would anyone notice.

Wow – what an indictment on the modern state of affairs where many churches chose to fade into the background of obscurity by becoming little more than a social club catering to the needs of only those that have been there all along.

There’s a term for never infusing new blood into life and it’s called inbreeding. Inbreeding leads to lower health as small problems are maximized over time and eventually reproduction becomes impossible anymore.

Perhaps the church needs to learn a lesson from God’s creation – new blood, new life is necessary for healthy, continued, and sustained reproduction.

Take a look at this book, you won’t be disappointed.

The Externally Focused Church By Rick Rusaw & Eric Swanson

I had a great time packing sacks of candy, oranges, and apples with our teams on Wednesday evening and traveling around our community sharing in carols with those who can’t get out much.

In all we packed 100 bags of traditional Christmas hard-candy, peanut clusters, peanut brittle, mixed nuts, and an apple and orange. The majority of these will go to our county’s homeless family ministry.

Then we divided into three teams that visited just over 30 home-bound or nursing home residents around our fair city bringing them the slightly out of tune cheer of the Christmas season!

I heard many stories from folks that the people they were singing for were in tears – out of such a simple act of kindness that took only a few minutes from the busy day. However many of our volunteers told about how meaningful it seemed to make the holidays when we remembered those that often get forgotten.

You’ve got 14 days left – how far will you go to tell the story of Jesus this season?

Adam and I created a short video to help you remember the great events coming up soon at Tecumseh’s First Baptist Church. Take a look below:

Sounds of Christmas – FBC HAS IT! (Promo) from Clark Frailey on Vimeo.