A Hole in our Gospel

http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Our-Gospel-Thomas-Nelson/dp/0785229183

I am reading "A Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns while here in the Dominican Republic. Monique read it last year before coming to the DR and loved the book. Here are a few quotes from the book that might prompt you to consider reading this book. I recommend it to you. So far it is very engaging and challenging.

What I have discovered in my travels to more than forty countries with World Vision is that almost all poverty is fundamentally the result of a lack of options. It is not that the poor are lazier, less intelligent, or unwilling to make efforts to change their condition. Rather, it is that they are trapped by circumstances beyond their power to change.
-Richard Stearns, p. 118

Here I want to make a key point: it is not our fault that people are poor, but it is our responsibility to do something about it. God says that we are guilty if we allow people to remain deprived when we have the means to help them.
-Richard Stearns, p. 123

Bob Pierce once said, "Don't fail to do something just because you can't do everything." These are wise words to anyone overwhelmed with the magnitude of human suffering in our world. We are not asked to help all of them at once, just one at a time.
-Richard Stearns, p. 152

Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand.
-Leo Durocher, p. 169

If we in the Church are truly dedicated to the Great Commission, then we will first have to do something about the "Great Omission." We will never effectively demonstrate Christ's love to the world, if we cannot first demonstrate it to the Church-the whole Church, and that includes those struggling just to survive.
-Richard Stearns, p. 187

If charity cost nothing, the world would be full of philanthropists.
-Jewish proverb, p. 210