There are two reasons why this is a bad idea. First of all, Jesus never used guilt to motivate people. As a result, people in the New Testament never followed Jesus out of a sense of guilt. You’ll never find a verse that says, “And Peter looked upon the Lord and felt guilty and began to follow him.” The people who followed Jesus were motivated by

For years I was completely upside down about guilt. The crazy thing is that while this was going on I could give you a detailed, theologically accurate account of Christ’s atoning work on the cross. I sang songs about the love of God. I wrote songs about the love of God. I even went to seminary and wrote papers on salvation by grace. But when all

He was following Jesus in a new way. That new way led Josh out of the church and into the city—out of the comfort zone and into the chaos zone where things are messy.

Discussion Questions 1. What experience have you had with a neighborhood like Capitol View? 2. What do you think about the “hot dogs and prayers” idea? Have you heard of, or been involved in, similar outreaches? 3. What did you find particularly disturbing about Rita’s story? 4. How is Paris’s story different from Rita’s? How is it the same? 5.

For those of you who might prefer something other than the dice method, we can talk about the age-old principle called “follow the energy.” This is based on the idea that God sometimes directs us through our desires. It suggests that if he wants you to get involved with special-needs kids, he will get you excited about special-needs kids.

Discussion Questions 1. What role has guilt played in your life? 2. Have you encountered legalistic teaching before? What effect did it have on you? 3. Do you agree with the author’s comparison between guilt and physical pain? Why or why not? 4. Have you ever “inoculated” yourself by allowing a diluted experience to discourage you from the real

Discussion Questions 1. When you think of Pakistan, what comes to mind? What kind of country do you envision? 2. Do you feel as if we Western Christians have a fair and balanced view of the Muslim world? Why or why not? 3. Do you know anyone who lives in a place where it’s dangerous to be a Christian? What’s his or her story? 4. Most Muslims

One last thing about being a change agent: We are only the agents of change. It is God who does the changing. We are just the people through whom he moves. Apparently, he’s not picky about whom he chooses. One time he used a prostitute named Rahab. Another time he used a murderer and adulterer named David. One time he actually used a donkey (see

In fact, I’m starting to think that if our only motives for moving toward the mess are that we feel we should go or ought to go, maybe it would be better if we didn’t go at all. I believe Jesus alluded to this when he said it is better to be cold than lukewarm.