"The Hole in Our Gospel 10th Anniversary Edition" by Richard Stearns is a Christian Living book. Richard Stearns has been the president of World Vision since 1989. He is the President of World Vision and responsible for U.S. operations, which include fund raising, advocacy, and program development. He has seen so many difficult situations in our world. He also sees the stance Christians take to the difficult situations. He realizes we get comfortable and do not want to help or support these difficult situations. He challenges us to be open to the areas that are like holes in our lives and be willing to change. He shares personal stories of the difficult situations He has seen in the world. He shares statistics as well of the poverty, illness in our world. It is really hard for us to grasp the difficulties in our world. The stories He shares make the difficult situations more real and makes us think about our need to be part of those who are helping to bring God's love to these people. The book is convicting and personal. I was given this book to read and review and the opinions are my own. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. I will be posting my review on netgalley , Goodreads, my blog, Amazon, for the church staff. and facebook.

It's a good reminder of our need to be aware of what's going on in our world and being part of helping. I appreciated his honest talk about his struggle to go with World Vision. I am aware that many Believers are not aware of what's happening in our world and see the need for this book.
I received this book free from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

When this book came out I as a district manager with the largest Christian retail chain in the US. I still remember meeting Richard briefly. His passion to save lives was evident. For years I sold this book, led life groups through this book, led missions teams through it in preparation for missions trips. And more.
This book challenged my view of missions but also added language to the passion of my heart.
Now it has been updated for a new generation.
If you have not been on a missions trip then this book will connect you with the stories.
If you have been on a missions trip it will add speech and terminology to your passions.
This is a book that you gift, you teach through and you challenge everyone you know to help save the airplane full of children.

Thanks to the publisher for providing a free ebook to review.

I never read the book the first time it was released, but since recently hearing about it, decided to read it. Although God gives everyone an assignment, and while I'm glad the author is passionate about his, not everyone is assigned to his particular assignment. The book felt like he was trying to pressure people to that particular organization, when truth be told, there are hurting and starving children right here in the US. And does Flint Michigan have clean water yet, because it's all good to make sure others have clean water, but there are a lot of things that we need to work on at home.. Just my personal observation and opinion.

I read this book (1st Edition) about 8yrs ago... the content was very important to me then, as it is now, but a lot of things have changed. This new edition remind me about the hole and all the things I consider "important" and they are not. Hopefully, my children will read this later because I think those are topics every family must discuss. It is not common to think about others, and that is what Gospel is all about. Hope this book will bring many healthy and radical discussions with our family and friends.

The author makes the point that modern Christianity, for most people, has gotten very far away from the way that Jesus interacted with people, as depicted in the Gospels. Rather than showing love and offering help to poor and suffering people, Christians in wealthy nations tend to pursue their own interests and act charitably only in certain approved ways. For instance, evangelical Christians considered AIDS a punishment for sinners, so in one survey, 52% said they would definitely not help children whose parents had died from HIV/AIDS. Clearly, there is something missing--the "hole in our Gospel."

Stearns repeatedly visited Africa and became convinced that his calling was to help the people he met--orphans, widows, natural disaster victims. He went from being a wealthy CEO of Lenox housewares to the CEO of World Vision US, part of the larger World Vision Church, an experience which he details at length. He gives an honest appraisal of how Christianity has lost its good "brand"--appearing judgmental and hypocritical to non-believers. (This section of the book in particular feels made for fellow Christians.) The author offers an appendix with ideas for action, including World Vision's child-sponsoring program. I was waiting for discussion of the downside of aid--the destabilization of local economies, the collaborations with warlords and corrupt dictators, the racism inherent in many programs--but the limited discussion doesn't come until Appendix 2, circa page 281, where the author acknowledges that some harm has been done by "well-meaning amateurs" (under the heading "Solving Poverty is Rocket Science.") For more insight, interested readers might want to check out the book "Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits," edited by Kenyan journalist Rasna Warah, or "Reinventing Foreign Aid" by William Easterly.

This is a 10-year reissue, although it hasn't been modernized to include the crises much closer to home--immigration. It does include a concordance of Biblical scriptures relating to social justice and poverty, a study guide for book groups, and 6 pages at the beginning containing praise for the previous edition by various church leaders, and also Bono.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the digital ARC for this review.