031 - Starving Jesus

     Starving Jesus was an excellent book that takes a look at the practice of Christian fasting. It examines the issue from a modern perspective and looks at whether or not it accomplishes anything. Furthermore, the book does an excellent job challenging the church to get “off the pew” and do something. The book takes a look at how many Christians go to church on Sunday but don’t live any different the other days of the week. The book is well written and could be a great read for any Christian looking for some ideas for how to rejuvenate their spiritual life. The book also includes some insight into the lives of the authors and offers a bit of an autobiographical feel to it as well.

     This book wasn’t anything spectacular, but was still a decent read. If you enjoy biographies or need to jump start your Christian life then check this book out. It might be right up your alley.

030 - Already Gone

Already Gone has plenty of incredibly interesting statistics. Ken Ham had a survey conducted of 1,000 young adults (20-somethings) and had some shocking results. Those results inspired this book to solve the problems uncovered. His statistics are incredible, but his answer to those statistics are fairly strange. Ham almost uses this survey to justify his organization and claims that a stronger emphasis on teaching Genesis 1-11 will keep people in church in the long run. Honestly, I wonder how accurate that idea is. I wonder if people are really leaving our churches because they weren’t taught Genesis 1-11 or if they are leaving because they have been hurt by Christians who say one thing and do another.

I would recommend this book to anyone who teaches Sunday school or volunteers with young people at a church. The most incredible statistic that was uncovered through this research is that students who attend Sunday school are more likely to leave church than those who just attend the main service each week. Perhaps the research in this book should inspire the church to revaluate their programs. The research is great, but the answer Ham proposes doesn’t seem like it will solve the problem.