Fan, or Follower: That is the Question

We as a team have been reading a book that recently came out. You may have heard of it. It's called Not a Fan, by Kyle Idleman.
Sometimes there are books that are simply a fad, the thing to buy to be a 'cool' Christian. But my friend's mother recommended this book to me, telling me she had just finished using it as the base for their small group Bible study. This intrigued me, since I'm used to Bible study that includes thick doctrinal books with study guides and deadlines. As far as I knew, this was a streamlined softcover book barely the thickness of a stick of gum. So why so much enthusiasm?

I'm also a bit of a critic when it comes to content, so when I finally got my copy (a gift from my sister) and cracked the first few pages, I was prepared for anything...Almost. The one thing I wasn't expecting was to be shaken by what I read. Deeply shaken. And it's not only because the author is a dynamic writer, which he is. Not because it keeps our interest, which it does. But because what he presents in this book challenges the core of American Christendom.

Not A Fan chronicles the life of two types of Christians: Fans, and Followers of Jesus Christ. It quickly becomes clear what the author's driving point is: Which one are you? Sounds like an easy choice. A follower, I automatically replied, and kept reading...but the twist of the story is what makes the book so startlingly convicting. Most Christians fall into one of the categories... and it may not be the one you expect.


 I've almost finished with the last chapter... I'll let you know how it turns out.

~Emily

Drake and Picture Update

Hey everyone. My family and I are up in Chicago, helping at Head Quarters. Mr. Gothard asked us to help with a new hotel that he is purchasing. So, we've been up here since the end of Sept or the beginning of Oct (can't remember!) working. They were planning on having the Christmas Conference here, but the Lord had other plans. There are a lot of legal things that they are working through to completely own the building. Praise the Lord that He's opening the doors in His timing. Nearly every day, we've been cleaning and organizing the Drake. I don't have time to say much more, but I can post a few pics of the crazy times we've had!

~Kim

When I was a teen girl, I would look up the church women around me, and most of the young ones a few years older than me who I looked up to as an example, seemed…not very concerned about being attractive, not very fashionable, not bubbly or enthusiastic, their hair unkept,  not exciting in conversation, kind of blah-type of girls. This has nothing to do with modesty and has nothing to do with going to a conservative church or being around conservative people because they weren't. It was just an overall sloppy, unkept appearance that generalized the girls around me. I started thinking...if that’s what being a young Christian girl is, no thanks! I’ll pass. Hand me a Cosmo magazine and I'll follow after these little hotties until I am old and fat and actually can’t do anything about it! haha (Just kidding. Not really. Ok, you know what I mean!)

This false mentality led me to make many choices that were unwise and downright wrong, but I felt like I had to make a choice between looking like those beautiful women or these frumpy ones.  

THEN I met some girls who were SO beautiful (like real-life Barbies) and more beautiful in fact than the girls I loved in the magazines. They had a glow about them, they we're so sweet and nice, and so enthusiastic and just fun! And guess what, they had a love for God that completely inspired me!! In my mind they sure one-upped those magazine girls (who were beautiful but probably and mean snobby in real life). Girls like THEM are what has kept me loving Jesus and more excited about living for Him because I realize He loves making things beautiful! He doesn't ask me to give that up to follow Him. If He is the author of beauty, and we're supposed to be reflectors of that, then Christian girls should be the most beautiful ones out there!! 

Lately I have been reading about amazing, world-changing, out-of-the-box, beautiful, and gorgeous, Christ-honoring women of days gone by.  I came to realize that great women who excluded enchanting beauty can be found all throughout the pages of history. And should be found. As girls we need role models and after hours of pouring over magazines, its scary how quickly those girls become our role models as we unconsciously take on their attitudes and perspectives about womanhood and life and our role in it.

There’s a common thread here I noticed in that these great women I’ve been reading about were women who rejected the empty feminine charm of the world and embraced an altogether different kind of beauty–the way-more-exciting and amazing beauty of Jesus Christ. They showcased femininity as God intended it to be in all its elegance, grace, nobility, and lasting loveliness (tons better than what we got today, think Kate Middleton vs. Lady Gaga).

Here are just a handful of my favorite examples. Notice that the following phrases are what people, fellow contemporaries, said of such women (which makes this even cooler):

Said of Lottie Moon (young, single missionary girl to China):

“A pretty woman, with lovely soft features, kind eyes and dark hair, she was never angry, never impatient, never resentful, she patiently wore away prejudices and hatred by her gentle, gracious presence and her blameless life.”

And here’s my favorite last line about her… “She had all the firmness of a man, and yet a more gentle and womanly woman it would be hard to find.”  That’s what I’m talking about! 

Said of Narcissa Whitman (young, married missionary girl to the Native American Indians):

“She seemed endowed with a peculiar magnetism when you were in her presence so that you could not help thinking yourself in the presence of a being much higher than the ordinary run of humanity…” (Precisely how I feel about Christianna Reed  “She was always gentle and kind to the Indians, as she was to everyone else. She took an interest in every one at the mission, especially the children. Everyone loved her, because to see her was to love her.”

And one similar to what I would like said about me…was what Jonathan Edwards said of his wife Sara Edwards before he was even married to her. His observation of her yet while she was still single:

“They say there is a a young lady in new Haven who is beloved of that great Being who made and rules the world. They say that He fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight. They say that she hardly cares for anything except to meditate on Him. If you present all the world to her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it. She is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has singular purity in her affections. You could not persuade her to compromise her true Love even if you were to give her all the world. She possesses a wonderful sweetness, calmness, and kindness to those around her. She will sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly. She seems to be always full of joy and pleasure, and no one knows exactly why. She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have Someone invisible always conversing with her. “