Reviewed by Deborah A. Yarnall

I don't know what the other reviewer is thinking - he obviously didn't read this book carefully. This book is ALL ABOUT Jesus and just how big and compelling the gospel really is. It is easy to criticize the church these days, but the author only spends 2 two chapters on critique and the rest of the book explores the relationship between the church and the kingdom of God. I cannot recommend it more highly for believers and unbelievers alike! I recommend Mike Erre's other books as well!

Entertainment-oriented. Hypocritical. Idolatrous. Consumerist. A mess. These are only some of the terms Erre uses to describe the plight of the church in contemporary American culture. A teaching pastor at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa, Calif., and author of The Jesus of Suburbia, Erre delves into the Bible and church history to make the case that the church needs to recover its communal, subversive, confrontational, countercultural truth-telling mission of incarnating the upside-down way of the kingdom of God.

Entertainment-oriented. Hypocritical. Idolatrous. Consumerist. A mess. These are only some of the terms author Mike Erre uses to describe the plight of the church in contemporary American culture. The author takes a very provocative look at today's church scene and brings together issues that it is facing along with solutions on how we can be a better witness. He definitely thinks outside the box.

Reviewed by Marc_W_

My wife and I read Mike's book and we cannot recommend it - especially for new believers.

This book complicates the Gospel. The focus of this book is neither on grace, Jesus' finished work on the cross nor the ascended Christ.

This book proposes that the renewal of our physical natural world is equal to (or better than) our redemption from hell. This message suggests that through our efforts, we alone can bring the Kingdom of God here to earth.