The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision U.S., is a powerful and compelling book. In it, Stearns illumines the state of the world today, both the good and the bad, and he urges us, particularly American Christians, to open our eyes and see the world and its people as God does. He includes facts, statistics and stories to help us discover what it is that God expects from us. Simply put, to be His hands and feet, to stand up for injustice, to do what we can to assist the poor, lonely, handicapped and diseased, and love and help our neighbor as ourselves.

Stearns is calling us to put aside our apathy and complacency, to embrace compassion and do more. He himself did just that when he left his CEO position with a major American company, to become president of World Vision at a significant decrease to his salary. But he shows us too, that by doing what God has called him to do, his is richer than ever in all the ways that count. Admittedly, no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Stearns clearly shows us that God has given us our time, talents and treasures to be used for His glory, not ours. That we are saved by faith for good works. In other words, we are saved to serve, not saved to sit.

This is an amazing book and a strong call to action. I highly recommend this book. It should be required reading for all Christians. It will challenge, overwhelm and inspire anyone with a heart. It offers hope and light to a hopeless and darkened world. Get it, share it, live it!

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The Hole in Our Gospel
By Richard Stearns

"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.