Comments on: Hidden Heroes

By: Carol Hall

Carol Hall — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:56:42 +0000

Dear Mr. Yancy, I read with such awe and (to be truthful) delight, your comment in your Bio that you had been ‘searching for a faith that makes the followers larger, not smaller” …and took courage to write the following:
I’ve walked with Jesus for several decades in both pulpit and pew, and want to raise a painful question unspoken by many…”If I am so valuable and important to God how can I be so insignificant to the ‘church”? Do we propagate two divergent ideas to the faithful, creating absolute confusion for them (us)? Is our only importance here statistical? Are we courted for gifts and potentials that will enhance and advance the local objectives? Will we only be the ‘flavor of the month’ until a greater possibility eclipses what we have to offer?
I know this sounds cynical – but cynical is where I have come from and I raise the above on behalf of all those who sadly accept that they’re ‘not important’ based on shallow and superficial ‘christian’ behaviors that have nothing to do with Jesus, and all to do with the ‘We Are The Favored Few’ dogma of the world.
What a gift you have – and what dedication to pursue it for our sakes…thank you.

Very good questions, Carol. It seems to me that one of the challenges of ministry is to convey that sense of importance and significance to the “ordinary people” in the pew, to convince us that no one is ordinary. In the process, ministry becomes a kind of sacrifice for the sake of others, and often in a boomerang effect it’s the minister who feels unimportant and insignificant. Keep raising those questions; keep providing answers with your life.
Philip

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:02:51 +0000

If you have read ‘What’s so Amazing about Grace’, I recommend another tome entitled
‘When a Nation Forgets God’ by Erwin W. Lutzer. It’s 140 pages of some of the best time you could ever spend.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:24:28 +0000

In reply to Hoss, I just wonder, how many of Yancey’s books have you read? Would you call him unreflective of Christ’s Love, would you call him turning the grace of God into lasciviousness? Or would you say, in a world of ungrace where so many like yourself judge another without walking in their moccasin, there is one like Yancey, who is bold enough to speak his mind and to show God’s love in a way he knows how, not trying to judge another but just spreading the message of hope, love, joy and peace. Remember Christ came for the sinners and not for the pharisaical ones……which are you?

An Avid Yancey Fan,
Kim

By: Dani Nogueira

Dani Nogueira — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:52:50 +0000

Hi mr. Yancey!

What a beautiful post this one!

It is really amazing! Here in Brazil I know some works like that, and for sure I would like to be in this Conference!

Hugs,

Dani Nogueira

By: Mary Dueitt

Mary Dueitt — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:50:53 +0000

I have recently become an avid reader of your books, having read What’s So Amazing About Grace (4 times in succession), The Jesus I Never Knew and presently, Where is God When It Hurts. Because of the subject matter in Grace, it is more uplifting than Where is God… . It reminds me of Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled versus People of the Lie. Have you published a book dealing with parental grief in the death of a child? My youngest son was killed in an automobile accident four years ago and I know that as long as I live, nothing worse can happen to me. It is like living with a gaping hole or sore that never scabs over. I realize it would be difficult for you to write on this subject without having experienced it because only another parent can understand how I feel, but with your depth of feeling, it is certainly possible. If you haven’t done so, will you please give consideration to it? Thank you for allowing me to comment.

Interesting comparison on the themes of Scott Peck’s books–I see what you mean. Two other books I’ve written that touch on such issues are “Disappointment with God” and the more recent “What Good Is God?” Like you, I believe such books as you describe should be written by those who have gone through the experience. I would recommend Gerald Sittser’s “Grace Disguised”; a teacher at Whitworth College, he lost three generations of family members in an accident. I believe, with you, that losing a child is the worst pain on earth. Bless you for writing, and I will take your suggestion very seriously.
Philip

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:41:22 +0000

I would just like to address two words to Mr. Andrew Cattell’s words ……”Baseless and preposterous!!!” In my mind nobody reflects Christ in his writing more than Mr. Philip Yancey does in these current times…..enough said I think.

Just me,
An Avid Yancey Fan (Kim)

By: Adam Forrest

Adam Forrest — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:29:18 +0000

Mr. Yancey, thank you for sharing the stories of Mr. Nikkel and the PFI volunteers. Your accounts of their ministry inspired me to write a piece on Zondervan Blog (http://zndr.vn/qnX3wJ). I was especially intrigued by your observation about all the prisoners that appear in the story of the gospel. I’m still thinking about this – it seems significant. Thanks for sharing,
Adam (For the sake of full disclosure, I’m a Zondervan Employee)

I like your blog–and am glad I had a part in bringing up this new area of interest for you.

Philip

By: jim filer

jim filer — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:36:45 +0000

I think I own about every book you have ever written, having first discovered you via “The Jesus I Never Knew”. Christ came into my life 39 years ago, me void of any and all prior knowledge of what being “saved” meant, a small old-time “holiness” church my introduction to Him, and the journey therein convincing me along the way that the ecclesiastical instituion, as a whole, is “God’s obstacle course; survive twenty years and you’re ready for Heaven!” Regardless of how that might sound, I am glad for the experience, thankful for three daughters who, with their families, are now very faithful to Christ and active within the church. You, sir, have been instrumental to me as a source of sanity, an oasis (along with the Holy Ghost) to which I have returned again and again. The last decade, ministering at a local Youth Detention Center and a nearby rescue mission has fed my soul. Approaching 70 in October and technology not my best skill. It’s great to have finally located a place to experience more of your balanced theology!

Folks like you on the front lines are the real heroes. You’ve been faithful in so many ways, and I’m honored to hear that my writings have helped a bit along the way.
Philip

By: Mark Fitzgerald

Mark Fitzgerald — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:50:20 +0000

Hey Phillip,
thanks to your recommendation I just finished my first book by Shusaku Endo (Scandal) which I enjoyed though I found his writing style a little dry. Do you know if it was autobiographical? I also read The Idiot, Resurrection and Anna Karenina, the last now being my favourite book. The scope of my reading has increased greatly since I read Soul Survivor. Thankyou.
Mark.

I don’t know the answer to your question about Scandal. If you Google Shusaku Endo, though, you’ll find much biographical material. And congratulations for tackling the Russians! They’re so much better than anything being produced today. It gives me great pleasure to hear that readers go from my books to the original sources.
Philip

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:00:17 +0000

Hi Mr. Yancey.

I don’t know if you remember, but I wrote to you a while ago with a story attatchment, and you replied back saying that the attatchment had not opened, but that I could try again with a new address. (I believe it was your assistant’s address.) I tried again, but since then, there has not been a reply. If you didn’t mean to reply back and don’t mean to reply back, I do understand completely, you are still one of my favorite authors, and I’m sorry for taking up more time. But in the case that you did/do mean to reply, I wanted to let you know that I tried again today to send the attatchment to that address in the hope that you could honor me with your thoughts on it. Either way, thank you very much.