The name of the book is: it
The author is: Craig Groeschel
The content is phenomenal.
It is a "church growth" book, but not your typical church growth book.
What I like the most about it is that Craig doesn't give us his secret to success, or his formula to build a church.
He simply talks about churches that have "it", and how you know if you are in a church that has "it".
What's great about this book is that it drives you into the word of God, it drives you into a deeper relationship with Jesus, it drives you to a deeper prayer life.
I'm not a book reviewer, that would be my lovely wife. You can check out her blog here: http://deenasbooks.blogspot.com/
But I know if I like a book, and this one is keeper. It has yellow highlighter all over the page. It avoids the cookie-cutter approach to church growth, which I like because the last thing we need is more "McChurches" in our country. He writes that one of the things that a church needs to have in order to have "it", is a desire to reach the lost. Craig says that his church will do anything short of sin to reach the lost. Just imagine if every church, if every believer lived their life in this way! Imagine the difference we could make!
This is why I beleive that even though this book is directed towars pastors, it should be read by every one who wants to leave a spiritual leagcy. It needs to be read by everyone who claims the name of Christ.
We are in the process of ordaining three men as decons in our church, and this book will be required reading for each one of them.
I could not think of just one portion of the book to quote from in this blog. This is the AM/PM of church growth books, there is just "too much good stuf" in this little book. So, I will leave one little quote from the book. In trying to explain what "it" is, Craig says this:
"The best explanation i can give you is this: "it" is what God does through a rare combination of thse qualities found in his people:
* Passion for His presence
* A deep craving to reach the lost
* Sincere integrity
* Spirit-filled faith
* Down-to-earth humility
* Brokenness"
While reading I began to realize how many of these 6 points are missing in a lot of churches. I began to realize how many of them are missing in my church. I began to realize how many of them are missing in my life! I began to weep, and shout and pray as never before. Without a doubt, this little book (it is only 188 pages long)has impacted my life in a huge way.
What else can I say? Do you have it? Does your church have it? If not, then go out and buy "it" by Craig Groeschel...and read "it" and then live "it"!
Ok, that's it for now (pun intended)
Pastor Dave
