"Churched: one kid's journey toward God despite a holy mess" /// a book review of sorts

churched by Matthew Paul Turner

I continue my journey through this work that has kept my attention. I love stories, and these stories often ring in my heart since in many cases "i've been there" in some way. Turner takes a real look at what church seems to be from the eyes of a kid. You see joy and heart ache. Questions and tradition. It moves through compelling accounts of relationships that lead this kid to finding what God is all about.

This is a real story told from a believable point because the author tells his story. Legalism has always been a marker of trouble and concern to me. Why? It is because I lived pieces of it as Turner did.

Each chapter gets to you with humor, humility and eye opening glimpses into the life of the traditional church. The old fundamental and well meaning leaders we've known in church for years, and even some people pretty close to home, sought to give us the best view of Jesus and God that they could give. Literally this book details the mess that humanity makes of Christianity.

Spend a few minutes with Churched, and you might see some of your childhood come alive. Better yet, you might learn from others how not to keep people of learning what God is all about.

Purchase the book at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400074711

Matthew Paul Turner is a blogger, speaker and author of The Coffeehouse Gospel, Provocative Faith, Beatitude: Relearning Jesus, the What You Didn't Learn from Your Parents About… series, and several other popular books. He has written for Relevant, HomeLife, Christian Single magazines and was the former editor of CCM magazine. Matthew and his wife, Jessica, live in Nashville, Tennessee. He can be found online at www.matthewpaulturner.com.

LAST THING ... want a free book? Here is your chance. All you have to do is share a story about how you realized what church is really all about. For me, I remember reading a book years ago, at my Christian school in 8th grade Bible class, that asked a question I have yet to get over: how can you be a Christian without being religious? Answer is: this life is about relationship, not religion. It is about Jesus with me every day. By the way, I read that book a few months before I asked Jesus into my heart, but I had gone to church all my life.

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