Dangerous Faith: Growing in God and Service to the World

by Joel Vestal

Worship. Prayer. Simplicity. Compassion. Justice. Pursue any one of these and your spiritual life will deepen. Pursue them all together and you've entered the dangerous front lines of God's work.In... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1600061974
• ISBN13: 9781600061974
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: NavPress Publishing Group
• Length: 227 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

must read

Joel has a great way of weaving stories, personal testimony, and important information in a such a way that you can't not be changed. You will fly through the pages and wish there was more.

Beyond Missional

Timely. As Christians we talk a lot about integrating our faith into our daily lives, and yet, we wonder how things like missions and spiritual disciplines fit into our weekly schedules. By weaving together adventures of past and present missionaries, suggestions for spiritual formation, and statistics of injustice, Dangerous Faith invites us to consider tangible ways to follow Jesus. Throughout the book, amazing stories of struggle and triumph are interspersed with specific challenges to grow - in faith and prayer, knowledge of the Word, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. As you journey with Vestal and his friends and partners around the world, you are encouraged to ask new questions of yourself and your community. We have much to learn from our brothers and sisters in other cultures and this book helped me see that cross-cultural interdependence is not only possible it is beautiful. Joel's personal testimonies of preaching and traveling as a young person, will both challenge and encourage future generations to go and comfort the afflicted. Dangerous Faith challenged me to look at my priorities of comfort and efficiency. As it created space for the Holy Spirit to convict, it also provided possible `next steps' and encouragements to draw nearer to Jesus.

Being the Church

Excellent. As followers of Christ one of the most powerful ways that we can bring glory to His name is by telling our story, our experience of how Jesus has worked through our life. Joel Vestal has invested his life moment by moment in the pursuit of what it means to "be" the church rather than what I know I am guilty of which is simply to do church. We often think that when the bible talks of the gates of Hell not prevailing against the church that it is Hell that is the proactive party, but the biblical text is infact telling us the opposite. We, the church, are to be the proactive party, pushing back darkness and injustice wherever we find it and as the text promises us, Hell will not prevail. This is a book that tells the story of a man's life as he takes personal ownership of what it means to "Be the Church" and bring love and hope to some of the most hopeless corners of the world. If you are looking for encouragment, inspiration, challenge and insight into what it means to live out Christianity or if you are praying about mission work whether that be locally or globally, this book is well worth a read and perhaps a good companion would be Erwin McMannus "Barbarian Way out of Civilization."

Larry Tajiri

I would highly recommend this book for a few reasons. Joel Vestal didn't just write some amazing stories about his experiences or provide a guide on how to love and serve others. This book does provide all that, but it is derived from the perspective that if you want to experience the love of Christ more and more fully, then love and serve others and we will find Christ in that experience and we will be transformed. Plus, the chapter that focused on fear being one of the largest barriers in our lives was quite impacting for me, by showing the analogies of how Jesus addressed the fear of the disciple

Dangerous Faith

The topics of justice and holistic mission are often ignored by the church today. Joel Vestal reminds us that instead of being ignored, these issues must be central as they are the very heartbeat of God. Through stories of his travels and work with ServLife International Joel takes the reader on a journey of what it means to care for the oppressed, to have compassion for the suffering, and to live a life that makes a difference for those suffering around the world. This is an important book covering critical topics. The best review I can offer is this -- Joel isn't just writing these things, these are stories he has lived and an invitation to the reader to live these stories alongside him. If you have ever wondered how you can make a difference for the most marginalized peoples of the world, check out this book and check out what Joel and ServLife are doing in places like Thailand, Africa, and India.