Get Off Your Donkey

Finished reading Reggie McNeal's latest book.  Reggie is one my favorite writers and speakers, and his books were one of the main catalysts for helping Hillcrest strive to be a church that the community would miss if we were no longer a church.  There's some similarities between this recent book and his others, but overall a good read.  Some takeaways:

• What all this means is that a bunch of people on the planet are engaged in kingdom activity- even if they are unaware of it.  It also means that those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus reflect his heart only if we are joining in these religious efforts.
• The willingness of the church to tolerate poverty, hunger, and illiteracy has contributed to the persistence of these conditions.  We don’t have to wait for anybody to fix our country.  We- you and I- should fix it.
• (when serving others) people expect you and me to have some sort of belief system.  They just don’t want us to cram it down their throats.