Some of you may remember that last March I posted about our church being visited by the "eBay Atheist", aka Hemant Mehta. Hemant is a young atheist from Chicago that decided to explore Christianity and publicize his exploration by selling the chance to send him to church on eBay. He was hired by Off the Map, an online ministry that asked him to blog about his experiences. We had a great time getting to know him when he came out to experience and review our little baby church plant, and he gave our church an especially positive review. (Of course, we were only two months old at that point. It'd be interesting to see what he thinks of us now.)

Anyhow, Hemant went on to get a publishing deal to visit 15 more churches and write about them for his book entitled, no kidding, I Sold My Soul on eBay. It will be released this coming April. However, the publishers actually just sent me an advance manuscript so I could do a back cover endorsement for the book. I've been reading it, and I have to say, it's really good. I mean, it's not great literature or anything, but it's well written, fun to read, and very, very intriguing for any Christian who has ever wondered what it's like to experience church as a complete outsider. (As someone who grew up as a Christian, I've never really had that experience.) This book is really a must read for anyone who wants to learn how we can do church better - i.e. in a way that wouldn't scare off people like Hemant.

Anyhow, I told the publishers that I'd wait until closer to the release date to write a full review. I don't want to pique your interest too much and then make you wait for months and months before you can actually buy the book. So stay tuned. I'll post a real review sometime in early April.

Labels: atheism