The Hole in Our Gospel 10th Anniversary Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

by Richard Stearns

Overview

This tenth-anniversary edition of The Hole in Our Gospel features a new chapter and updated statistics, along with full-color photo and infographic inserts, a study guide, a concordance of scripture on poverty and justice, and personal accounts from readers whose perspectives have been changed by The Hole in Our Gospel.

Is our faith only about going to church, studying the Bible, and avoiding the most serious sins? Or does God expect more? Have we embraced the whole gospel or a gospel with a hole in it?

More than twenty years ago, Rich Stearns came face-to-face with that question as he sat in a mud hut in Rakai, Uganda, listening to the heartbreaking story of an orphaned child. Stearns’s journey took much more than a long flight to Africa. It took answering God’s call on his life, a call that tore him out of his corner office at one of America’s most prestigious corporations, to walk with the poorest of the poor in our world.

Stearns’s compelling story demonstrates that the whole gospel was always meant to be a world-changing social revolution, a revolution that begins with each one of us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780785228677
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Edition description:	10th Anniversary Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Richard Stearns went from success to significance when he left the corporate world behind to become president of World Vision U.S. in 1998. After 20 years as the longest-serving CEO of the Christian relief and development organization, he plans to retire in January 2019. Stearns holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. His professional career included leadership roles at Gillette, Parker Brothers Games, The Franklin Mint, and Lenox Inc., where he became president and chief executive officer in 1995. Stearns brought corporate best practices to World Vision, where he inspired a culture of outcome-focused management. His lasting legacy is his leadership in calling on the Church in America to respond to some of the greatest needs of our time, notably the HIV and AIDS pandemic and the global refugee crisis. Stearns and his wife, Reneé, have five children and five grandchildren and live in Bellevue, Washington.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xv

Foreword Gabe Lyons xix

Introduction xxi

Prologue xxvii

Part 1 The Hole in my gospel-and Maybe yours

Chapter 1 A Hole in the Whole 3

Chapter 2 A Coward for God 13

Chapter 3 You Lack One Thing 23

Part 2 The hole Gets deeper

Chapter 4 The Towering Pillars of Compassion and Justice 41

Chapter 5 The Three Greatest Commandments 52

Chapter 6 A Hole in Me 60

Chapter 7 The Stick in Your Hand 74

Part 3 A Hole in the World

Chapter 8 The Greatest Challenge of the New Millennium 83

Chapter 9 One Hundred Crashing Airplanes 92

Chapter 10 What's Wrong with This Picture? 100

Chapter 11 Caught in the Web 111

Chapter 12 The Horsemen of the Apocalypse 117

Chapter 13 Spiders, Spiders, and More Spiders 135

Chapter 14 Finally, the Good News 144

Part 4 A Hole in the Church

Chapter 15 A Tale of Two Churches 155

Chapter 16 The Great Omission 165

Chapter 17 AWOL for the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis of All Time 173

Chapter 18 Putting the American Dream to Death 186

Chapter 19 Two Percent of Two Percent 193

Chapter 20 A Letter to the Church in America 203

Chapter 21 Why We're Not So Popular Anymore 208

Chapter 22 A Tale of Two Real Churches 213

Part 5 Repairing the Hole

Chapter 23 What Are You Going to Do About It? 225

Chapter 24 How Many Loaves Do You Have? 232

Chapter 25 Time, Talent, and Treasure 239

Chapter 26 A Mountain of Mustard Seeds 255

Epilogue 261

Appendix 1 Q&A with Renee Stearns 273

Appendix 2 Take Action 279

Can Poverty Be Defeated? 279

Solving Poverty Is Rocket Science 282

What Are You Going to Do About It? 287

Study Guide 299

Notes 307

Poverty and Justice Concordance 321

Scripture Index 343

General Index 347

About World Vision 357

About the Author 359

Bonus Material: Introduction from Unfinished: Filling the Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns 361

Editorial Reviews

'World Vision plays a strategic role on our globe. As the largest relief organization in the history of the world, they initiate care and respond to crisis. Rich Stearns navigates this mercy mission with great skill. His book urges us to think again about the opportunity to love our neighbor and comfort the afflicted. His message is timely and needed. May God bless him, the mission of World Vision and all who embrace it.' —Max Lucado, author of 3:16—The Numbers of Hope, Minister of Writing and Preaching, Oak Hills Church, San Antonio, TX

'Read this compelling story and urgent call for change—Richard Stearns is a contemporary Amos crying 'let justice roll down like waters....' Justice is a serious gospel-prophetic mandate. Far too many American Christians for too long a time have left the cause to 'others.' Read it as an altar call.' —Eugene H. Peterson, translator of The Message, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, BC

'Rich Stearns calls us to exhilarating obedience to God's life-altering, world-changing command to reflect his love to our neighbors at home and globally. The Hole in Our Gospel is imbued with the hope of what is possible when God's people are transformed to live radically in light of his great love.' —Gary Haugen, President and & CEO, International Justice Mission

'Rich Stearns has given us a book that makes absolutely clear what God hopes for and expects from each of us.... He reminded me of my personal responsibilities and the priority I must give them and also where life's true rewards and fulfillment are to be found.' —Jim Morris, former executive director, United Nations World Food Program

'Richard Stearns is quite simply one of the finest leaders I have ever known.... When he became president of World Vision I had a front row seat to witness the way God used his mind and heart to inspire thousands.... His new book, The Hole In Our Gospel will call you to a higher level of discipleship.... Now is the time...Richard Stearns has the strategy...your move!' —Bill Hybels, Founding and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL

'With passionate urging and earnestness, Rich Stearns challenges Christians to embrace the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ by embracing the neediest and most vulnerable among us. After reading the moving stories, the compelling facts and figures, and Stearns' excellent application of scripture and his own experiences at World Vision, you will no doubt be asking yourself: What should I do?' —Chuck Colson, Founder, Prison Fellowship

From the Publisher