"Don't Call It A Comeback"

A great book edited by Kevin DeYoung and has eighteen other contributing authors. I just purchased it today and have only read one of DeYoung's chapters; already I'm a bit excited about the rest. The book is focused on doctrine (half the chapters on this issue) and putting this doctrine in practice (the other chapters deal with this matter). Sound doctrine results in Christ honoring living- definitely my kind of literature. The following are some appetizing quotes:

"I don’t know whose fault it was, if it was anyone’s, but I remember staying awake into the wee hours thinking “I can’t articulate what I believe and why I believe it.” I felt a bit embarrassed that after all those years I still didn’t have a good grasp on some of the most foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. Looking back, I wish I had been challenged more (or had challenged myself more) to really understand Christian doctrine when I was younger. The catechism was being phased out of the curriculum by the time I was going through the later years of Sunday school, and the youth group messages seemed to end with the predictable refrain of asking Jesus into our hearts. I was probably one of the best Bible students in our church, and yet I could barely articulate basic Christian theology past “Jesus died on the cross for our sins.” And if I couldn’t articulate the basics after seventeen solid, earnest years in the church, what must the predicament be for the seventeen-year-old just converting to Christianity, or for the thirty-four-year-old who’s getting serious about her faith for the first time?" Kevin DeYoung


"People don’t need a lecture or an oration or a discussion from the pulpit on Sunday morning. They need to hear of the mighty deeds of God. And they need to hear the message from someone who not only understands it but has been captured by it." Kevin DeYoung 



"My congregation needs me to be humble before they need me to be smart. They need me to be honest more than they need me to be a dynamic leader. They need me to be teachable more than they need me to teach at conferences. If your walk matches your talk, if your faith costs you something, if being a Christian is more than a cultural garb, they will listen to you." Kevin DeYoung

"The one indispensable requirement for producing godly, mature Christians is godly, mature Christians." Kevin DeYoung

"In the church-growth heyday, scholars and pastors were wrestling with how to reach out without dumbing down. Today I would argue that we reach out precisely by not dumbing down" Kevin DeYoung


"Church people are not stupid. They are not incapable of learning. For the most part, they simply haven’t been taught. No one has challenged them to think a deep thought or read a difficult book. No one has asked them to articulate their faith in biblical and theological categories. We have expected almost nothing out of our young people, so that’s what we get." Kevin DeYoung


"Challenging the next generation with truth starts with honest self-examination. We must ask, Do I know the plotline of the Bible? Do I know Christian theology? Do I read any meaty Christian books? Do I know anything about justification, redemption, original sin, propitiation, and progressive sanctification? Do I really understand the gospel? We cannot challenge others until we have first challenged ourselves. That’s one of the driving passions behind this book. I want the “average” churchgoer to think more deeply about his faith. I want Christians to realize, like I did that night in college, that they have a lot more to learn." Kevin DeYoung

"The gospel is not a message about what we need to do for God, but about what God has done for us. So get them with the good news about who God is and what he has done for us." Kevin DeYoung

What a great book and I'm glad to have it in my library. Soli Deo Gloria!

For His Glory,
Fernando