My pastor recommended the book
Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. Cymbala is the pastor of the sizable congregation of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, an inner city church that had nearly collapsed due to apathy some 30 years ago. As a young man with no church leadership background and no specialized theological training, he found himself reluctantly taking over a church in its death throes. Since that time, he and his wife have overseen what amounts to an impressive revival in that place. Now with over 10,000 members and multiple campuses around the world, the Brooklyn Tabernacle is a notable success story. In this book, Cymbala, in his humble and measured approach, shares with the enthusiastic and empassioned spirit of a man who has come out of the other side of the tunnel of testing with a deep and fully refined faith. There is no evidence of jaded behavior, of going through the motions, of a
"Groundhog Day" sameness to his daily mission.
In
Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, subtitled
"What happens when God's Spirit invades the hearts of his people", the author shares his convictions that God wants to renew the spirit of his people. He desires nothing more than to call us back from our rote approach to a tepid and lifeless form of worship. Whether we trudge to a boring sermon that passes without hearing a word, whether we jump from church to church to re-energize our need for new-ness, or whether we have found a church that we go to because they put on a great show, those living with a lukewarm faith are missing out on a rich and fulfilling life with our Savior. He makes us see what we have become and embraced, and how it is a pale shadow of what a life devoted to God should be and could be. A nice book to accompany your daily devotional time.
