Discipleship Archives - Page 111 of 167

Renting Lacy

Renting Lacy is the story about a young girl who is caught up in the child-sex slave industry of Las Vegas. Though a “fictional” account, the book itself is not fiction. There are millions of children right here in the United States who are sold for sex each and every day. This book tells their story.

The book is very readable, but not easy to read. In other words, once you start reading, the book is hard to put down, but the horror you begin to feel at what is happening to these young girls makes the book difficult to read. Multiple times the book caused me to break out in tears. I included an excerpt from the book in a previous post called “I Want to be a Prostitute.”

The strength of the book is not only in the story that is told, but in the facts, statistics, and reports that the author includes at the end of each chapter. Linda Smith goes into great detail about how many children are enslaved, where they come from, how they are enslaved, what is being done to stop child sex slavery, and what organizations are out there that you and I can get involved with.

As a result, this is easily one of the best and worst books I have read in a long time. I highly recommend it, not so that you read it and put it on your shelf, but so that you read it and then get involved in helping rescue girls from forced prostitution in America.

To learn more about Human Trafficking and sex slavery, check out some of these posts:

Human Trafficking Posts

The Next Christians

By Jeremy Myers

5 Comments

Something new is going on in Christianity. There are various titles given to it, such as the Emergence, the Next Reformation, or even the Reformission. Millions of Christians are part of this movement, many of whom do not even realize a movement is going on. They just know that something is leading them in a direction that is different than where the traditional church is going. If you have been feeling some discontent with your church, or the things your church is doing, you may already be part of this movement.

Various leaders and church experts have tried to describe this change that is sweeping worldwide Christianity, but there is not a whole lot of consensus on what the central values or goals of this movement are. One book I recently read, however, seems to provide a good description and analysis of this movement. The book is The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons. His previous book, unChristian, painted a fairly dire portrait of modern Christianity. It was somewhat depressing. But this book holds out the hope and vision for the future of where Christianity is headed. If the old style of Christianity is dying, it is only because a new style is being born.

Here is one good description from the book of these next Christians:

They see themselves on a mission, partnering with God to breathe justice and mercy and peace and compassion and generosity into the world. …Instead of simply waiting for God to unveil the new heaven and new earth, [the Next Christians] give the world a taste of what God’s kingdom is all about — building up, repairing brokenness, showing mercy, reinstating hope, and generally adding value (pp. 59-60).

Gabe Lyons rightfully points out that although many traditional Christians accuse this new breed of Christians of abandoning the gospel for “social justice” issues, the exact opposite is true. First and foremost in the thinking of these Next Christians is the rediscovery that the gospel is not just about evangelism so people can receive eternal life and go to heaven when they die (cf. pp. 66, 192). The gospel is much broader and more far-reaching than that, involving truths and ideas which affect all areas of life. The Next Christians do not abandon the gospel; they embrace and live it to the fullest extent possible.

Based on this, Gabe spends the majority of the book exploring six areas where the Next Christians live out the gospel in the world. The Next Christians are:

Provoked, not offended
Creators, not critics
Called, not employed
Grounded, not distracted
In community, not alone
Countercultural, not “relevant”

I found his descriptions to be accurate, fair, and balanced. I also appreciated several tips for how you and I can move in the direction of being a Next Christian (cf. pg. 123ff).

The only criticism I have of the book is in the examples of Next Christians he chose to write about. Almost all of them are rich, powerful, and famous. They were CEOs of companies who chose to leave their business and start nonprofit organizations. They were at the top of their field in the music, art, or sports industry, and chose to put their skills and abilities toward the mission of God. They were megachurch pastors who led their thousands of people into more focused community service. What about the rest of us? What about the small, insignificant people? Isn’t that the central starting point of the gospel, that God uses the “nobodies” of the world?

Admittedly, he does say that he is

…not suggesting that every person’s calling is to start a nonprofit organization to a address huge global problem. For you, it probably doesn’t mean leaving your job or career at all. It simply means restoring right where you are (p. 126).

I agree, and I’m glad he said it, but I wish he had given us some examples. To say that, and then on the very next page begin talking about the “influential filmmaker” (p. 127) seems disingenuous. It makes it seem that Gabe is not really aware of any “normal” people like you and me who are trying to live the gospel among our neighbors and coworkers without millions of dollars and thousands of powerful contacts at our disposal.

But all in all, I loved the book and highly recommend it for anyone who wants to understand what God is doing in the church today.

Disclosure: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Plant a Church for $150

By Jeremy Myers

15 Comments

A few years ago I began the application process to become a church planter with a national church planting organization. I quit the process when I found out that I had to be willing to raise a minimum of $100,000 per year for three years.

Is it just me, or does that seem like a lot of money to plant a church?

I know, I know, that amount includes your personal income, advertising and equipment costs, and a place to rent. But still…$100,000? This is made worse when you realize that 70% of all church plants fail.

So I decided then and there that I was not going to plant a church “that way.” I wasn’t sure what way I would plant a church, but I could not, in good conscience, attempt that route. Besides, of the 30% of church planters that succeed, the vast majority are Type-A and extroverted. I am neither. Statistically, even if I had been able to raise $300,000, I probably would have been one of the 80% that fail.

During the last two years, I have been working toward planting a church using no money whatsoever. We have moved twice in that time, and have had to start over from square one each time.

But this week, I obtained $150 for my church planting efforts. I have a few ideas on how to spend this money, but first wanted to ask you what you think.

If you were planting a church, and only had $150 to do it, what you would buy? What would you do? How would you spend that money?

Here are the rules for this scenario:

You don’t have a sending church.
You don’t have a core group, unless you count your spouse and grade-school children.
You will not be getting more money.
You don’t know anyone within 20 miles, except a few of your neighbors, and all you really know of them is their name and their jobs.
You don’t have a building to meet in, other than the home you are renting, if you choose to meet there.

So, what do you think? How should I spend the $150?

Full Contact Christianity

By Jeremy Myers

4 Comments

I met with my friend and fellow blogger Tim Nichols last night. He writes over at Full Contact Christianity, and is a professor at Rocky Mountain Bible College & Seminary.

We talked about a variety of topics, but mostly about the process of redeeming culture in a missions environment. When a missionary takes the gospel into a foreign culture, it is not just a matter of transplanting American Christianity into this foreign setting, although this is the way it has most often been done. Most often, American missionaries take our hymns, buildings, clothing, and leadership structures and tried to get foreign believers in the new culture to adopt these customs.

This results in foreign churches that are dependent upon American churches and missionaries for most of the things related to Christian life and practice. This is extremely destructive and debilitating for these new Christians and new churches.

So Tim Nichols is working to develop a way of teaching foreign churches how to “find their own way,” and even, in a sense, develop their own theology. It is exciting what he is doing, and I cannot wait to hear more.

One of the things he said near the end of our conversation was something he finds himself praying as he gets involved in church practices that he doesn’t quite agree with. This is what he prays: “Lord, I believe this is wrong. Bless it anyway.”

I like that. I think I’m going to incorporate it into my philosophy of ministry. It may even be the key idea which eventually allows me to pursue ministry within a traditional church setting.

31 Million Sex Slaves

By Jeremy Myers

12 Comments

Today is Global Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Below, I suggest one simple step for you to get involved in stopping human trafficking. Please read on to find out what it is.

Worldwide, there are an estimated 31 million people trafficked as sex slaves every single year. Of that number, at least 3 million are children. Many of these children will be raped 30, 40, even 50 times per day. And yes, this happens right here in the United States. It happens in big cities and small towns. It probably happens within a few blocks of where you live.

How can we sit back and not be concerned?

Oh, I know. I’ve heard the excuses. I used them myself. The most common excuse is this: “The problem is so big, and it’s been going on forever. We can’t do anything to stop it.”

So does this mean we just let it happen? No! We must do something, however small. But what?

As I wrote this post, I looked down at a cardboard Starbucks coffee cup on my desk. On the side, in bold, green letters, it said, “Every cup can make a difference.” Starbucks is challenging us to recycle. But really, does recycling one cardboard cup make any difference in all the trash and lack of recycling worldwide? Of course not.

But over a lifetime, one person recycling does make a difference. And if a thousand people do it, even better. If a million…well, you get the picture.

The same goes for stopping human sex slavery. Maybe it’s true that we will never eradicate human trafficking. But with a few steps, you can help rescue one or two girls, and I guarantee that your efforts will matter to her.

But few of us are ready to actually go rescue a girl, and even if we wanted to, we don’t know how. So if you want to do something, you can start with something real simple: raise your awareness of the issue. That’s how my wife and I started. And here is what you can do: buy and read one or two of the following books.

Priceless by Tom Davis
Scared by Tom Davis
Renting Lacy by Linda Smith
More than Rice by Pamala Kennedy Chestnut

I have already posted a review of Priceless, and will posting reviews of Renting Lacy, and More than Rice in the near future. Reading a book is not much–about on the scale of recycling one cardboard cup–but it’s a start.

To learn more about Human Trafficking and sex slavery, check out some of these posts:

Renting Lacy

Human Trafficking Posts

The Next Christians

Disclosure: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Plant a Church for $150

Full Contact Christianity

31 Million Sex Slaves

Human Trafficking Posts

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Bible Study Archives

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