Biting the hand that continues to feed you (for love of the hand)

It's odd, the books that become bestsellers. Some I have read and enjoyed. I've started into others that looked promising, only to discover they were about as exciting as watching slug races. Then there are the countless others I've altogether avoided: any involving pasty vampires; hardcovers selling for $29.95, emerging from someone's fifteen minutes of fame, and in fact mostly written by the person whose name appears in much smaller print underneath; and generally, any with the title written in pink cursive.

But some books are surprising bestsellers for other reasons. For instance, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream by David Platt. Now, bestsellers from megachurch pastors are nothing new. But bestsellers from megachurch pastors who take issue with the whole megachurch model don't come along every day. And it's even more puzzling when a prominent secular Jewish columnist sings its praises.

Platt writes - uncomfortably - about being called "the youngest megachurch pastor in history" when he began at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama and then becoming increasingly uneasy upon realizing that while he was living the "American church dream," Jesus, the man he was claiming to follow, had eschewed just about every indicator of what is currently considered a healthy, "successful" church - or faith, for that matter.

This book is a rethinking of everything while remaining in the middle of it. He's still the pastor there, and by "American church dream" standards he's still a success. But he's not content with that.

I find it telling that he repeatedly highlights two particularly overwhelming statistics and argues they both reveal how the church - seduced as she has been by the American dream of wealth, security and comfort - has failed to be faithful to Christ. He cites the 4.5 billion people who are without Christ and the 26,500 children who die every day of preventable causes, none of whom can afford the American dream many of us take for granted and enjoy. It's a wakeup call that all of us who claim the name of Christ need to take seriously. Do our lifestyles, choices, and prayer habits demonstrate genuine concern for those 4.5 billion and 26,500? Or do they demonstrate, rather, an obsession with holding onto the American dream (the fruits of which look an awful lot like what the prophet Ezekiel describes as the sin of Sodom)? These questions are particularly poignant for those of us, like me, who are part of megachurches that spend millions on buildings in the suburbs but appear bewilderingly impotent in the face of suffering (of all sorts) even in our own backyard, much less in the slums and brothels and factories and fields of our world, many of which have no Christian witness or service in their midst.

For these reasons I'm grateful for Platt and his book. I'm especially grateful that he writes from within. It's easy to cast stones at anything big or "successful" from the outside, simply assuming the worst and being content to walk away from those "hypocrites" or "bigots" towards some undefined ideal. It's another matter entirely to come to terms with the failings of someone dear and to lovingly, sacrificially call her and lead her to a better way.