On a cold January night in 1986 I walked down a sidewalk in Fort Worth, Texas, with a group of young men who stood at a turning point in all of our lives. We were concluding our final preparation for the entrance exam to pursue the PhD at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
All the guys I had studied with passed. We now serve in various ways from pastor to professor. There is a bond you share, a sort of “band of brothers” mentality, when you do something as significant (and hard) as a PhD together.
I have remained friends with many from those days, but I wanted to let you know about two books written by two of these men I recently received. Both books I find to be extremely timely for where we are today.
John Avant has been one of my best friends on earth from those early days of PhD preparation till now. We have walked a lot of the same paths and shared much ministry together. John has been an effective pastor for many years and served our North American Mission Board for a season as head of evangelism. He has also seen significant revival in his ministry in addition to traveling all over the world. He will never be confused with someone who lives for the status quo.
Avant’s book If God Were Real (Howard Books) asks just that question: What if God were real in every part of our lives? If you believe the church in general and your life in particular needs to change you will love this book. If you are weary with the call for change and love things as they are you will hate it. But you will not be indifferent. An example: “I am giving up on Christianity as a religion, an institution, and as the system that it has largely become. This kind of Christianity is a fraud and a failure–because this is not what the Christian movement was meant to be!” (p. 28)
Avant interacts with contemporary atheists, including Lauren Sandler whom he has come to know personally. He also involves Ed Stetzer in his discussion, who described a study by Lifeway that revealed many Christians “live as though God is not real.” (37) Only 36% surveyed said God was first priority in their lives, and only 28 percent believed a Christian should deny himself to serve Christ.
Avant also recognizes the problem of the “Christian” subculture that rails against Hollywood and everything from Teletubbies to Harry Potter while giving little attention to genocide, HIV issues, and starvation. Or even better, the Great Commission.
Still, Avant is hopeful, as I am. He notes that great spiritual revivals came out of times of spiritual deadness the likes of which we often see today. He does not just whine about the state of Christianity today–that is too easy. He instead offers encouraging, hopeful, passionate counsel on what life could look like—if God were real.
I commend this book to anyone young or old who is sick and tired of being sick and tired with where you are in your faith or where you see the church today. Read it and think. And then change.
Rodney Woo wrote The Color of Church: A Biblical and Practical Paradigm for Multiracial Churches (B&H). Rodney is well qualified on both the biblical and practical fronts: he earned his PhD in New Testament, and has served for 17 years now at the Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, a church with members from 44 countries. Further, Rodney grew up as a minority: in his middle school of 1500, he and 19 others were the only students who were not African-American. Rodney’s dad was half-Chinese, and his wife is Hispanic. His family and his church illustrate the reality that is urban America.
When I taught at Houston Baptist University from 1992-95 Rodney and his family lived down the street as our neighbors. Our boys played together, and I preached at Wilcrest for him. I keep on my desk a sweet note from a young lady won to Christ through the efforts of both Rodney and me to this day. I was there when he led the church to call its first African American staff member.
In the book Woo weaves a fascinating story his own growth and leadership as a pastor with significant biblical texts relating to ethnicity. You will find in its pages brutal honesty, as Woo regularly depicts both victories in the church’s journey as well as some misfires along the way. As of 2008 his church had gone on mission trips to 31 nations, and ministered well to its own community. She had moved from a predominately Anglo congregation to a remarkable diversity: in 2003 the church was 42% white, 30% Hispanic, 23% African American, African, and Caribbean, 4% Asian, and 1% other.
I commend Woo’s book to anyone grappling with issues of multiethnicity, urbanism, or for that matter, anyone who seeks to be effective for the gospel in our day. We are a nation of nations, and Woo can help us grow in our understanding of ministry in this context.
