Hungry For Life - by Dave Blundell

My thoughts:

I have a bit of a unique perspective on this book and it's author as he and I have been good friends for many years and I now work for him at Hungry For Life International. 

Dave and I met at Bible college and have stayed friends throughout the years. He came to me about nine years ago and said that he had this desire to start a relief and development organization. As I sat and listened to his reasoning of how and why he wanted to start this I became more and more convinced that these were not just musings that had no valid basis in reality, but that it was God's voice whispering to him all the things that He had in store. I told Dave at the end of our dinner that I would come and work for him if he ever got it up and running. And here I am after having worked at Hungry For Life for the past four years and could happily make this my life's work. 

All of that to say that this book is a hard copy of all that is in Dave's heart and mind. This is the garden of his life and you can see all of the seeds that God has planted growing and coming to life on the pages before you. From the stories that he tells of himself as a child selling lemonade in an attempt to end cancer to meeting Dr. Job in India, or the harsh statistics that keep him working to make a change in this world, to the final "so what?" of this book, all of it, each word drips with his blood sweat and tears. I love this book and try to live my life by it's call because the call of this book is also the same call that God spoke into my ear many years ago when I chose to follow Him wherever He choose to lead me, even to the not so pleasant ends of the earth.

Thanks Dave for this book! 

Here is a book that might interest you. In Hungry For Life Canadian author Dave Blundell takes a unique approach to world missions by not offering a prescription for behaviour modification. Instead, he offers a call for renovation of the heart, building on the premise that a deeper global commitment is the by-product of deeper spirituality.

 

In explaining that the spiritual poverty of the Church affects global issues, Blundell states “There is a clear link between the spiritual health of God’s people and the social health of the poor. Throughout Scripture, when God’s people lost their first love, they failed to tangibly love those in need around them. God constantly points to social injustice as evidence of misplaced spiritual affection.” Noting that there are a number of books on social justice being released, Blundell saw the need for a resource for Christian leaders that would not simply criticize or condemn the Church, but one that would provide motivation and encouragement. Hungry For Lifeidentifies three priorities: first, identifying what is broken (global imbalance); secondly, an examination of what our world should look like (the biblical vision of a compassionate church); and thirdly, identifying how the Church can help right the imbalance through making strategic changes. Blundell firmly believes that “The Church has all the spiritual resources, through the Holy Spirit, and all the physical resources to transform the world – but most of us simply don’t know where to start or how to get strategically involved for long term impact.”  Encouraging churches to engage in global development as by-product of deeper spirituality.

Check out chapters 2&3 here on Google books.

Find Dave's website here and read about his other adventures and thoughts.