Living Sent

Wow!
Just finished a great book called Live Sent (as you can see to your left). The author (Jason Dukes) talks about what it means to be a letter, sent by God to this world.
Frankly, I've tried to convey this concept to a lot of people over the past 20 years and have never heard (or read) it spoken like this nor have I been able to articulate it so well. I really appreciate what Jason has to say and the heart that he obviously has in letting us know how to be a letter as well as ensuring that we are a letter sent to those whom God intends.
As a pastor, I find it quite frustrating that the "letters" in our church seem to be happy to sit in the "post office" called Bayridge Alliance Church. I know there are people who attend our church who are living sent and I hear their stories and am encouraged but the fact is that a large number of attendees are perfectly happy to stay in the pew on Sunday and let that be their single expression of God's love to the world.
I took a risk last Sunday and quoted a quote Jason gives in one of his last chapters from George Barna. It was about how the church is content to expend some energy in religious activities such as attending church and reading the Bible, and they are willing to throw some money in the offering basket but we don't want God messing with the image we work so hard to produce and cause us to be seen as "odd" somehow - especially if we get really radical and allow God's love to flow through us to everyone we meet and interact with each day. I'm not sure how well it was received but I trust and pray that as God's love and "mission" is lived and talked about that it will filter out of our heads and into our hearts and become a way of life for all of us. 
This book is a must read for everyone.