Book Review: THE HOLE IN OUR GOSPEL by Richard Stearns

This book is extremely hard to sum up in 200 words or less. It has opened my eyes and made me think about the children that I have sponsored in a whole new way. Richard Stearns challenges his readers to take poverty, hunger, lack of healthcare, etc. as a personal problem that CAN be fixed and changed by us....everyday people that God desires to use.

He speaks about the sin of omission and how sometimes we would rather "bury our head in the sand" so-to-speak than to deal with the problems going on in the world. Sometimes we do this purposefully, but many Americans do this because they are too busy with their own lives to care about what happens to tens of millions of children in the different parts of the world. Too often our eyes are on what we want/need instead of how we can help a child change the course of their life and to change history for their family.

I spoke this past week on how I was challenged to take my sponsored children personally as God intentionally used the timing of a letter from our child in Uganda to prove to me the point that Richard Stearns was making in his book. I will never think of my kiddos again as just someone else's child. They have become more personal to our family.

I'm so glad that I read this book because it has opened up my eyes to ways in which I can help more and has encouraged me with my desire for missions. I don't feel God has called me directly to the mission field, but He has called me to encourage and help out missionaries and those trying to reach the ones that I cannot. I've always had a heart for missions, so I'm glad to have read this book, for the statistics alone are eye-raising. To know that Christian Americans are less likely to help a child with AIDS because of the stigma shocked me. We should be the first to help. Why are we the last? So many questions were raised in this book and so many challenging answers to not just say we believe, but to live as though we believe. God has commissioned us, but so often we ignore it. I challenge you to read this book and not be moved or changed because of it. If you do read it, share your opinions!