The Hole in our Gospel by Richard Stearns: Book Review

What does it mean to be a Christian? Is it just about going to church, studying the Bible and avoiding the worst sins? Or does God expect more from us? “Have we settled for the whole gospel or a gospel with a hole in it?”(Back cover) The Hole in Our Gospel is about the needs of the people created in God’s own image; the sick, the poor, the hungry, the fatherless and the broken-hearted, and how we as “the wealthiest church in history” (pg. 216) need to do something about it. This powerful book addresses the spiders of the complicated web of poverty such as the HIV and AIDS pandemic, clean water shortages, drought, and rebel armies. This then causes children to not be able to go to school because they need to be finding food and water and caring for sick family members, or being the parents themselves. And so, the cycle continues. This book is amazing and empowering as Richard Stearns gives his testimony of how he came to know Christ and later became the president of World Vision USA; he opens our eyes to the true needs of the poor and the needy in our world, and then calls us to action.

The testimony of Richard Stearns was very amazing and powerful because it told how he went from being an atheist to being a Christian, and also going from being a corporate CEO of a Parker Brother Games to being the president of World Vision. Richard Stearns grew up in a very broken home. He said “I can remember the night when I realized my parents could not help me” (pg. 74). Because of this, he learned to be very self-reliant. This all changed when, in college he met a girl named Renee (who he later married) who got him thinking about Jesus because she was a Christian. He had always said to her that he would never become a Christian. Until one day in his drunken father’s apartment he found a Basic Christianity book. Richard Stearns said, “Remarkably, I found that I couldn’t put it down, and seven hours later, at four in the morning, I had finished and sat trembling in my bed. What I had read had shaken me quite deeply” (pg. 80). This was the turning point in his testimony because he had just started to believe in Jesus. This shows that it was amazing and powerful because a boy from a broken home, and a huge skeptic of God realized that God was real. The story of how Richard Stearns became a Christian is amazing because God leading him to read that one book made him become a Christian. He then later made the crazy decision to step down as CEO of Parker Brothers and become the president of World Vision, to help millions of people. “God does not call the equipped. He equips the called.” (pg.91)

Opening my eyes to the true needs of the poorest people in the world made the book very intense because it was hard for me to realize that we as Americans are so rich compared to the rest of the world, yet we still consider ourselves poor because there are people in our neighborhood that have a little bit more than we have. For example, Americans make at least 100 times more than 15% of the world’s people. This is very sad because that was only the average of the income per day of Americans and there are one billion people living on less than one dollar everyday. So, you don’t believe me? Let me put this into perspective for you.” The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for just 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of the world’s income.”(pg.122) and, “the top 20 percent of the world’s population consumes 86 percent of the world’s goods.”(pg.122). Those two examples show that we are so rich and we do not even know it. It is not like those people living on one and two dollars a day are living comfortably, but they just don’t have a Wii or the latest video game. No, they have nothing, not even food! Take this, “One out of four children in developing counties is underweight and some 350 to 400 million children are hungry. Worse, it is estimated that a child dies every five seconds from hunger related causes.”(pg. 134) Think about this, every five seconds a child dies from hunger alone. That adds up to about 25,000 children dying each day from hunger. The poor people in our world are living without food and water every day and we can just go to the fridge and grab a soda whenever we want. As a person from Kenya said “Water is life and because we have no water, life is miserable” (pg.135). Reading all of these statistics and facts have really made me sad, but also made me want to do something about these people who have nothing.

This book made me want to act on this problem, not just be sad about it, but make a difference in this problem. In the Hole in Our Gospel, I really enjoyed the call to action in the end of the book because it told us, as the “wealthiest church in history”,(pg.216) to help these people in need. One great example of the call to action in this book is when Richard Stearns said, “We may not be clear on just how God wants to use us. But that’s no excuse for doing nothing. Just jump in, and start doing” (pg.273). This example shows that we can use our unique, “Time, Talent and Treasure” (pg 257) that God has given to each of us to make a difference. Every follower of God has been called by Him to do something; He can use you for great things you just need to be open to Him. One example of God using someone who you would not think could be a big help is Austin Gutwein who started Hoops for Hope by shooting some basketballs. As I said earlier, “God does not call the equipped. He equips the called”(pg.91). Just because you yourself cannot stop poverty does not mean that you cannot have a hand in stopping it. “Don’t fail to do something because you can’t do everything”.(pg.152) This quote from the book shows that it is a great call to action because God can do great things through all of us even if we cannot do anything great. Go, and use your time, talent and treasure given to you from God and help people!

Overall, this book was amazing. I loved how it really let me see the needs of the people in the world and how I need to do something about it. My favorite part of this book was the end of the book because it called the reader to make a difference, to “move a mountain of mustard seeds” (pg.274) for the poor. I honestly do not think that any parts of this book were bad. This book was very well written and it had many Bible verses and quotes to reinforce what he was writing. I believe that everyone in America should read this book, even though it would take many of us out of our comfort zone. I think that people who have an interest in serving God and doing what He wants you to do would enjoy this book. Out of all the books I have read, this book will make a lasting difference in my life, my relationship, and my service to God.

What will you do?