I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

by Vince Antonucci

Overview

Many people find themselves asking, "Is this it?"
"We all read about the life Jesus describes and are painfully aware that our lives don't match his words," says Vince Antonucci, a disarmingly funny and edgy pastor. Raised by a Jewish mother and abandoned by his professional poker-playing father, Antonucci found Jesus at age twenty after studying the New Testament. When he finally went to church, he was disappointed to discover a "boring, stale religion."
Through provocative storytelling and raw honesty, Antonucci unearths the life Jesus lived and wants us to experience, challenging us to move past spiritual boredom into a faith that's exciting, beautiful, and powerful. Recommended for all Christians thirsty for a fresh perspective on Christianity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441200440
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/01/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Vince Antonucci is the founder and lead pastor of Verve, an innovative church plant for the unchurched near the Las Vegas strip. Vince's passion is creatively communicating biblical truth to help people find God, and he also serves with the Emerging Leadership Initiative (ELI). He is the author of I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt and Guerrilla Lovers.
Vince Antonucci is the founder and lead pastor of Verve, an innovative church plant for the unchurched near the Las Vegas strip. Vince's passion is creatively communicating biblical truth to help people find God. He also blogs at vinceantonucci.com, and speaks and coaches for Auxano.com. He is the author of I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt and Guerrilla Lovers.

Read an Excerpt

I don't think people who lived in the Bible times had it easy, but at least when Jesus said, "Follow me" they could see the guy. You knew whether you were following him or not because … "Whoa, there goes Jesus!" He'd be off somewhere and you'd still be eating your cheese fries (because chili cheese fries hadn't been invented yet—man, they had it rough) and you'd realize, "Whoops, I guess I didn't follow." I think in many ways those of us who live today have it easier, but following an invisible guy can be tricky. . . . . I decided to look at the original followers of Jesus in the Bible. I was still a little annoyed with them, because they had the advantage of getting the non-invisible Jesus, but I hoped maybe I could learn something. What did it look like for them to follow Jesus? Did following Jesus lead them to obedience and morality? Yes. But was it more than that? Way more. It's wacky. People follow Jesus into a storm your momma would have made you come in from. People give up everything and leave their jobs to follow Jesus. . . . Jesus says that to follow is to serve. . . . People stop following Jesus in droves because it's too weird, or too scary. . . . Everywhere I looked, it seemed like following Jesus led people to be astonished and afraid. . . . Jesus was constantly on the move. He had an agenda. And following him meant you would be going where he was going and doing what he was doing. Following Jesus is a long obedience in all different directions.

Table of Contents

Digress: I Came, I Saw, I Bought the T-Shirt
In     11
Emily     16
Alive     24
Undress: Taking Off the Shirt
Abide     31
AKA     37
Hungry     50
Follow     65
Glow     77
Monk     91
Progress: New Life, New Shirt
Abound     107
Speed     113
Naked     124
Die     137
Touch     153
Mission     166
Regress: When You're Wearing the Old T-Shirt
Questions     185
Whisper     192
Acknowledgments     201
Notes     202

Editorial Reviews

In this ultimately disappointing book, Antonucci, a Virginia-based pastor, criticizes the superficial subculture of American Christianity. Antonucci's working assumption is that many Christians are actually disenchanted by their spiritual lives and wonder why they don't have the abundant life Jesus promised. The solution to this deadening state of affairs? Christians need to shake loose the trite trappings of Christian-speak and get back to the "adventure" of faith. Antonucci takes aim at some of the beloved shibboleths of evangelicalism, suggesting, for example, that instead of talking about having a relationship with Jesus, Christians should worry about whether (as per John 15) they "abide" in Jesus. Some of his turns of phrase are thought provoking, as when he urges readers to "be the good news" before they worry about sharing it. But his autobiographical vignettes go on too long, and his message-that the Bible asks us not to behave well or even to believe in Jesus, but to follow him-is not greatly different from many Christian-living books. Too often, Antonucci replaces the clichés he disdains with more platitudes. On prayer: "spending large quantities of quality time with God-face-to-face" will make believers "glow." In short, this book promises more than it delivers. (Feb.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly