A Book That Captures the Stories of God Inspired Influence

This book changed my life. Little did I know I would be accepting a Kingdom Assignment at my church. I read the book and opened my mind and heart and blessed 7 homeless men with a night to remember (i.e., Limousine ride, steak dinner and hockey game). We made a two page feature in the Houston Chronicle (4th largest market in the U.S) and my guys are now my band of brothers. I have since had a chance to meet the authors who have been on Oprah and featured in other national media showcases. The challenge of The Kindgom Assignment is phenomenal. Do a Google Search to see what I mean. Warning! This book will change the way you view your Godly influence and how you manage your talents, treasures and time!

"The Kingdom Assignment"

I loved this book! "The Kingdom Assignment" is an incredible book that has stretched me out of my comfort zone and given me the more abundant life that Jesus promised us. It reminded me God can use me even more mightily than I could ever have imagined if I just let Him. It showed me how I can use the resources I've got to make an eternal impact on the world, and for that I am grateful! Every Christian should read this book to see how much more they can do to positively impact their world. TWO THUMBS UP!!

Jesus didn't "pay it forward", He paid it all!

The authors, with the sincerest of intentions, have mostly misunderstood the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, thus leading to a clever but misguided handling of financial resources. Handing out thousands of dollars at church meetings betrays impoverished hermeneutics. Why? The Parable of the Talents is not about money!!! Even the book admits this. The Talent in the Parable was a symbol for ALL that God assigns to us, and all that we entrust to Him and do with and for Him in our lives. It's about faithfulness, loyalty, spiritual gifts, availability, prayer, teachability and holiness (among other aspects). Not just money. Make the Talents into real money and you've turned the symbol upside down. Handing people a $100 bill and telling them, "We'll track you down!" might be humorous, but it's not a biblical lesson in stewardship. The distribution of money as if to be complying with the Parable strains the Parable beyond its meaning. It overly values the function of money in the Kingdom. Peter said, "Silver or gold have I none, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, walk!" The Kingdom of God consists in the power of the Holy Spirit. When money is flaunted and tossed around in church, I think it betrays a lack of creativity. Preachers who need to toss around 100 spots in church are preachers who have run out of material to preach on. They need a gimmick. Nobody in the Bible, particularly the New Testament church handed out money. The Reformers didn't and nobody did this until Denny Bellesi came along after 2000 years of church history. Does Mr. Bellesi have a new and exclusive revelation from God? Furthermore, God should not be put to the test to multiply the money. The end does not justify the means. "Kingdom Assignment" is bad hermeneutics. The Kingdom is expanded simply when Christians are faithful with all that God entrusts to us, especially preaching, teaching, and making disciples. Churches need to identify people's gifts and follow that up by assigning people tasks in the body of Christ, in the church. I've had pastors come to me and ask me to lead Sunday School classes and participate in evangelistic projects. But they never came to me with 100 dollar bills. Until now. And Jesus never handed out money to His disciples, even though He had all the resources of the whole world at His disposal. That should be instructive. Jesus didn't "pay it forward" or teach us to pay it forward, as in the cute movie we all enjoyed. No, He paid it all! Our task as His followers is to teach people this fantastic truth. It's not about money. It's all about God!