MPC Library

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Below is the introduction from Amazon:

Is our faith just about going to church, studying the Bible and avoiding the most serious sins-or does God expect more? Have we embraced the whole gospel or a gospel with a hole in it? Ten years ago, Richard Stearns came face-to-face with that question as he sat in amud hut in Rakai, Uganda, listening to the heart-breaking story of an orphaned child. Stearns’ journey there took much more than a long flight to Africa. It took answering God’s call on his life, a call that tore him out of his corner office at one of America’s most prestigious corporations—to walk with the poorest of the poor in our world. The Hole in Our Gospel is the compelling true story of a corporate CEO who set aside worldly success for something far more significant, and discovered the full power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to change his own life. He uses his journey to demonstrate how the gospel—the whole gospel—was always meant to be a world changing social revolution, a revolution that begins with us.

Walking the Bible—A Journey by Land through the Five Books of Moses by Bruce Feiler. Following is the introduction of this book from Amazon.com:

Both a heart-racing adventure and an uplifting quest, Walking the Bible presents one man’s epic journey—by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel—through the greatest stories ever told. From crossing the Red Sea to climbing Mount Sinai to touching the burning bush, Bruce Feiler’s inspiring odyssey will forever change your view of history’s most legendary events. The stories in the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah, come alive as Feiler searches across three continents for the stories and heroes shared by Christians and Jews. You’ll visit the slopes of Mount Ararat, where Noah’s ark landed, trek to the desert outpost where Abraham first heard the words of God, and scale the summit where Moses received the Ten Commandments. A once-in-a-lifetime journey, Walking the Bible offers new insights into the roots of our common faith and uncovers fresh answers to the most profound questions of the human spirit. Bruce Feiler is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including Walking the Bible. He is also a frequent contributor to NPR and is a contributing editor at Gourmet and Parade.

Alex Kotlowitz’s There Are No Children Here was more than a bestseller; it was a national event. His beautifully narrated, heartbreaking non-fiction account of two black boys struggling to grow up in a Chicago public housing complex spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, was a made-for-television movie starring and produced by Oprah Winfrey, won many distinguished awards, and sparked a continuing national debate on the lives of inner-city children.

In The Other Side of the River, his eagerly awaited new book, Kotlowitz takes us to southern Michigan. Here, separated by the St. Joseph River, are two towns, St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. Geographically close, they are worlds apart, a living metaphor for America’s racial divisions: St. Joseph is a prosperous lake shore community and ninety-five percent white, while Benton Harbor is impoverished and ninety-two percent black. When the body of a black teenaged boy from Benton Harbor is found in the river, unhealed wounds and suspicions between the two towns’ populations surface as well. The investigation into the young man’s death becomes, inevitably, a screen on which each town projects their resentments and fears.

The Other Side of the River sensitively portrays the lives and hopes of the towns’ citizens as they wrestle with this mystery—and reveals the attitudes and misperceptions that undermine race relations throughout America. In this gripping and ultimately profound book, Alex Kotlowitz proves why he is one of this country’s foremost writers on the ever explosive issue of race.