Life Goes On

I was sent a copy of this book by B & B Media Group in exchange for my review. I'm a fan of Malcolm Gladwell!  In his inimitable style, he has taken the Biblical epic battle between David, the shepherd boy and the giant Goliath and used it as a template for examining how  underdogs and misfits overcome in the battles of life.  In the process he challenges popular thought regarding  so-called handicaps, be they physical, emotional or mental.  One brief passage from the book sums up the over all scope of his premise. "If you take away the gift of reading, you create the gift of listening.  If you bomb a city, you leave behind death and destruction, but you create a community of remote misses.  If you take away a mother or father, you cause suffering and despair.  But one time in ten, out of that despair rises an indomitable force.  You see the giant and the shepherd in the Valley of Elah and your eye is drawn to the man with the sword and shield and the glittering armor.  

I had recently put on my "to-do" list a reminder to enlist some outreach teams and to get our secretary prepare a list of recent visitors to the church.  The plan was to set up a weekly outreach to follow-up on recent guests in our services.  As I prepared to do this, there was a nagging thought in the back of my mind trying to wedge its way to the front.  That thought was one that I have had for years, but had pushed back into the netherworld of my brain simply because it did not mesh with the prevailing trend among evangelical churches.  Let me share my thought for your perusal and hopefully for your response. The Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) was never designed to be a program, but was to typify the lifestyle of all Christ followers.  Simply put it means that each of us who follows Christ will, as we are going about, are to be in the process of making disciples.  Making disciples begins with sharing the gospel and giving people an opportunity to accept the free gift o