Book Review: Love without Walls

Love without Walls was written by Laurie Beshore, leader of local and global outreach ministries at Mariners Church in Southern California. The book is part of Zondervan’s Leadership Network Innovation Series. It contains practical ideas for any church that desires to reach out beyond the four walls of their church building and change their communities and the world.

The book shares the journey Mariners Church has taken as their outreach ministry has grown over the past 25 years, allowing readers to learn from their mistakes and successes. According to the book, the foundation for effective outreach must be to understand the community and the culture being served and to develop positive relationships with those individuals. The book mentions that we must listen, learn and love. With that foundation, the world will take notice of the radical love they are experiencing as we seek to share the gospel. The world is need of Christians who truly listen, learn and love as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission. There are many people hungry to experience a true incarnation of God’s love and truth, and we must be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.

This week, our church has been hosting our annual Vacation Bible School for children in our community. We are a smaller church, but VBS is one of our major outreach events of the year. So many children are in need of positive relationships, knowing that someone cares enough to listen and to love them. But the benefits are mutual. The relationships built during VBS benefit both children and volunteers, and God’s love continues to spread to more and more people. Children too are being developed as leaders, as they learn to reach out with God’s love to their community.

One part of the book discussed developing volunteer leaders, a subject of interest to me. The journey of Mariners Church began with just one volunteer, but their team has since grown to more than 7,000. I was encouraged by how the book mentioned that it all still takes place “one relationship at a time.” Whether your ministry is to a single person or an entire community, you are still changing the world. Keep at it; the work must continue.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan as part of the Love without Walls blog tour.

Book Review: The Envy of Eve

The Envy of Eve: Finding Contentment in a Covetous World was written by Melissa B. Kruger. The book, geared for women, takes a closer look at the sin of coveting, one that I believe is often overlooked and misunderstood.

Coveting, like all sin, keeps us from truly loving God and our neighbors. With personal stories and biblical examples, the book describes what coveting is, the root of the problem, and how to overcome it in Christ. Several chapters are devoted to looking at different types of coveting as well as specific examples of coveting from the Scriptures. The book also includes questions for the reader to reflect on personally or discuss with a group.

As part of this blog tour, reviewers had the opportunity to ask the author a question related to the book. Below is my question to the author and her response.

Q:  Recently, we have been teaching the children at my church about the Ten Commandments. The children were not familiar with the term "covet." Do you have any suggestions on how best to explain this concept to children? 

A:  I love this question. I find that when I can explain something to a child, then I really understand it myself! I teach Children’s Church and usually find it easiest to teach using visual aids and asking questions. So, my lesson on coveting would probably go something like this:   

• Good morning children! I want to ask you to help me. I am going to pass out different flavored lollipops (or markers, pieces of colorful paper, or musical instruments if you didn’t want to use candy) to everyone in the class. Hold them in your hand and wait until everyone gets one.   
• Can someone show me what it looks like to whine and complain about the lollipop they received? (Usually, the children will have fun with this one!)  
• Now, can someone show me what it looks like to be content or happy with the lollipop they received? (Hopefully, they will say something like “thank you” as an example of contentment.)  
• Well, I want to teach you a new word today. Please repeat after me: COVET  
• Children, when we covet, we whine and complain about what we have and want what someone else has. Can everyone show me what a whiney face would look like again? Can everyone show me what a content face would look like?  
• And then I would tell the story of Achan in Joshua 7 as an example of someone in the Bible who coveted. At the end I would review the word and the definition.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from Christian Focus Publications as part of The Envy of Eve blog tour.