"Live Sent" book review

Live Sent, by Jason C. Dukes, pastor of Westpoint Church in central Florida, is a fairly new book published by Wheat Mark out of Tucson. The title sums up the theme pretty well. Dukes writes to encourage believers to see themselves as letters from God to the world around them. He wants them to see the church as more than just a weekly gathering, but as a people sent on mission into the world with a message from God.

The idea of a letter is carried consistently throughout the book. Dukes builds on it as he writes about junk mail, destination, postal routes, etc. Sometimes he changes the analogy to electronic forms of communication like email, but makes the same basic point – you are a letter sent from God and you need to live that way.

The author seems to think that the main hindrance to “living sent” is not thinking very highly of self. So he spends some time arguing that you are not junk mail and that you were worth dying for. He finishes the chapter about junk mail by stating you are “intended to live sent to a world who desperately needs to know they aren’t junk mail either.” He carries that idea forward into the next chapter, “When mail gets blocked,” where he writes; “People simply do not feel like they are worth enough to live sent…God thinks you are worth dying for.”

The book has a chapter on moving away from the idea of discipleship (programmatic church idea) to disciple-making (biblical concept modeled by Jesus). While there is not a great deal of detail about this needed exhortation, it is a good starting point to encourage a more biblical concept of the Great Commission.

I thought that the main thesis of the book is an important and needed subject to explore. In an increasingly anti-institutional culture and at a time when attractional evangelism is becoming less and less effective, the church body needs to have a paradigm shift. Believers need to move from a “come and see” mindset to a missional “go and tell” attitude. Or as the author says it, we need to “live sent.”

Having said that, I found myself struggling to finish reading the book even though it is relatively short. I was somewhat put off in the beginning by the grammar. Run-on sentences interspersed with incomplete sentences made it hard for me to follow the line of thought at times. It seemed to me that the book was a transcription of what the author might have said rather than what he could have written. If you aren’t as anal about that sort of thing, you might enjoy the book more than I did.

For me, the book also lacked in the way of personal application. I finished wishing I had been given more practical ideas on carrying through with the concepts presented.

If you want to get a copy for yourself you can find one at the Tulsa Mardel Christian book stores, or at the Lifeway store.  A copy can also be purchased through Amazon.