The Hole in Our Gospel

What Does God Expect of Us?

By: Richard Stearns

Narrated by: Tommy Cresswell

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

The answer that changed a life and might just change the world....

It's 1998 and Richard Stearns' heart is breaking as he sits in a mud hut and listens to the story of an orphaned child in Rakai, Uganda.

His journey to this place took more than a long flight from the United States to Africa. It took answering God's call on his life, a call that hurtled him out of his presidential corner office at Lenox - America's finest tableware company - to this humble corner of Uganda.

This is a story of how a corporate CEO faced his own struggle to obey God whatever the cost, and his passionate call for Christians to change the world by actively living out their faith. Using his own journey as an example, Stearns explores the hole that exists in our understanding of the Gospel.

Two thousand years ago, 12 people changed the world. Stearns believes it can happen again.

©2009 Thomas Nelson (P)2009 Thomas Nelson

Compelling

The author causes the reader to rethink their perspectives. How can we be satisfied as church goer's?

Life changing

This is a second time I read this book. Its one of the most convicting and life changing books you will read. Highly recommended.

This book changed the course of my life!

Are you, like Ghandi, disgusted with Christians who are so unlike their Christ? Rich Stearns shows the hole in our body of stagnant believers for what it is and sounds an echoing call for reform... no — revolution.

The Hole in Our Gospel

A must-read for Christians and non-Christians alike who believe we hold the keys to providing basic needs—water, food, medical aid, education, a means to earn a living—to the world’s hungry and forgotten people.

Must Have for Mission Work

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This book has changed my life on the way we serve in the Mission field. A must read.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

This book was written for me

There were parts of this book that seemed like they were written especially for me. I identified significantly with Mr. Stearn's personal story. I work at company that is frequently found at the top of Forbes Best Places to Work and on the side my family runs a non-profit that provides access to clean water to communities in need. I often wonder if I would follow if God asked me to leave the former to do the latter full time. Listening to Mr. Stearns' story was like listening to my own.

The middle of the book drug on a little for maybe because I am intimately aware of the issues related to global poverty.

I appreciated the end of the book and its practicality.

I will say that theologically I may not be 100% in line with Mr. Stearns, but we are pretty close. Close enough that I could listen to the book with my own beliefs in mind and connect what he was saying to what I believe.

This is definitely worth the listen.

This book will rock your world!

I read The Hole in Our Gospel this summer, starting right before I went to Africa and then finishing up after arriving home. After seeing the poverty in Uganda first hand, this book rocked my world. The trip and The Hole have changed my perspective forever! Now to “pick up my shovel” and go to work!

Your Christian life may not be the same...

This book is actually two volumes woven together: the first volume is the account of urgent global needs and a call to respond to those needs as followers of Jesus Christ. The second volume is the testimony of Richard Sterns, and how God dramatically called him from a very successful, lucrative corporate career to assume the leadership of World Vision. The first volume is compelling, though it does get bogged down in details that are more informational than inspirational. The second volume however, is priceless. It was this section of this book that moved me deeply, learning how one man could sacrifice his "successful Christian life" to make a true difference in the world. The true path to greatness in the kingdom of God is found not by climbing up a ladder of success, but by climbing down a ladder of service. Richard Sterns illustrates that truth vividly here. I recommend this book highly -- just be warned, your Christian life may not be the same again.

Eye opening

this book is eye opening about the widespread poverty around the world and the responsibility those who call themselves christ followers have to steward what God has given them responsibly .

A Must Read

Every follower of Christ should read this book. Excellent and moving, I was touched deeply to the core of my soul.