U.S. Lifestyles and Mainline Churches: A Key to Reaching People in the 90's

Rating:
Summary: Sample is so great I'm buying a copy after having read it.
Review: Tex Sample's U.S. Lifestyles and Mainline Churches is packed, page for page, with more information than I've ever read between two covers. I just read the copy I borrowed from a church library and found it so important that I'm buying another copy to keep for myself. In a world of churches where pastors are torn between alienating the stable parishioners who have built their parishes and drawing in newer people who don't like many of the old ways, Sample injects information we can use: ways to understand different groups and their needs, how to see the common ground between the cultural left, the middle, the right, how to appreciate the values cultivated by differing human needs, and, especially, ways to speak the truths we need to convey in a language that worshippers can hear. I loved the book, and when I get my own copy, I will highlight it until it's soggy with yellow ink!