The Reviewer Missed the Whole Point
Monday, January 14th, 2008I just received the review (below) of my newest book, The Second Resurrection. The title of this post tells everything about what I think about the review. Like most mainline pastors, if a book doesn’t give out quick, one-size-fits all tips, it isn’t any good.
The problem with the mainline church today is it is totally brain and soul dead and no tips with suffice. There must be a spiritual resurrection before any tips will do any good and people need to wake up to that fact.
And when mainline don’t know what else to say they turn to the whipping boy- evangelism and call whatever is said about “narrow.” But I thought that was the point- narrow is the way that leads to life eternal? Didn’t I read that somewhere?
But alas, this major reviewer is still asleep. Sorry Van Meter, you missed the whole point.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Resurrection’ lacks practical tips
Eric Van Meter, Jan 11, 2008
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A Second Resurrection: Leading Your Congregation to New Life
Bill Easum
Abingdon Press, 2007
160 pages, paperbackBy Eric Van Meter
Special Contributor Most churches are dead, and dead people don’t need renewal or restoration—they need resurrection.
So insists renowned church consultant Bill Easum in A Second Resurrection.
The author brashly calls on Christians to reject the “members of the club” mentality in favor of a passionate pursuit of the Great Commission.
Dead churches, he argues, focus on meeting the needs of current participants, with almost no resources allocated to new conversions or deep spiritual growth.
Living churches, on the other hand, throw themselves outward, driven by the urgency that comes from believing that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Such churches grow through spiritually charged leadership, intentional mentoring and new worship services.
Mr. Easum preaches that a church’s turnaround must begin with new pastoral and lay leadership, or at least a new fire burning in the hearts of current leaders.
The book’s greatest strength, perhaps, lies in its potential to inspire leaders to stay the course of resurrection despite formidable—if predictable—obstacles.
But Mr. Easum’s message, for all its bluster, gets lost in a river of evangelistic zeal that is fast-moving but frighteningly narrow. His call to flee from death offers little practical guidance toward new life.
Despite its prophetic aims, this book remains an underdeveloped resource that would be of limited value to pastors and congregations.
The Rev. Van Meter is campus minister for the Wesley Foundation at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Ark.
