Jody Dean. Finding God in the Evening News. Revell. 2004.

Jody Dean is an Emmy award winning journalist. He was a journalist for thirty years. This book shows you how to hear today’s headlines and find God in the news. This is the most fascinating book I’ve read on faith and the workplace.

Dean begins each chapter with a suitable scripture reference. He then shares a story he wrote for the news. You’ll learn how he struggles to meet his employer’s expectations and still not deny his faith.

Dean covered the story of the murders at Wedgewood Baptist church in Fort Worth, Texas in 1999. He tells of how others covered the news and what was said by different people including the pastor of the church. He mentions that the pastor reminded people that 8 died, rather than the 7 being reported in the news. He was including the gunman himself because he followed the horrible murders by killing himself.

Dean says about this pastor:

In spite of the terrible evil that had been visited on his congregation, Al Meredith saw the carnage through the forgiving, loving eyes of Christ: There were eight who died. That humble Baptist minister put it more eloquently than I ever coujld. In the eyes of God, the Larry Gene Ashbrooks of the world are no less loved than the world’s most pious saints—and none of us is really worthy of that love. [Page 40.]

This entire book is full of stories like this. Dean shows how he found God behind the scenes of some of the most atrocious events possible. It is a reminder to us that God views the world differently then we do. Yes, you can really find God in the evening news if you are looking for Him.

Scott G. Wilkins. REACH: A Team Approach to Evangelism and Assimilation. BakerBooks. 2005.

REACH stands for: relational evangelism and cultivational hospitality. The author carefully defines each of these words in the introduction. One of his key premises is that families visit churches lokking for meaningful relationships. Some Christians feel that people outside the church are not interested in spiritual matters. Wilkins states:

That being said, most researchers in the area of church growth concur that the majority of the unchurched in America are actually interested in spiritual matters. We often think of the unchurched as those who possess little if any interest in the church or r4arely darken its doors. … [Page 19-20]

This book teaches a new way of evangelism. The congregation is encouraged to develop relationships with visitors to the church as a means to evangelize them, and bring them in by practicing hospitality. This evangelistic method provides what most people are seeking for in churches, meaningful relationships.

Recommendation

Both of the above books should be read by more people in the church today. The first one helps your congregation learn to find God in very negative or even very positive events that happen daily in our nation. Following news reports, depending on the severity of the tragedy, many people that haven’t visited church lately will seek out a local service to comfort them or give them some understanding of why the event occurred.

I can’t help but wonder what would have happened after 9/11 if all those visiting churches had visited congregations trained in the REACH evangelistic technique. Perhaps, instead of slowly drifting away again, those people would now be active participants in our local churches.

Copyrighted by Diana Pederson, 2005-2009