Joseph Tate BaylyRezensionen

I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY is Joseph Bayly's honest diary of the joy, the questions, and the faith he finds in teaching Sunday school today.

Why would a guy transfer from a big-name college to this crummy little school in the boondocks? Only thing we have that they don't is a flight school

What ever happened to ol' Herb Gooley?

This is a well written account of the Rebel uprising in the Congo in 1964, focused on the experience of white missionaries and Congolese Christians as they were arrested, harassed, tortured, and many of them murdered during this time of unrest.
Based on journal entries, interviews, and discussions with the missionaries themselves, this is an account of what they experienced and how they reacted to it. It is never preachy or sensational, and it is never boring. He provides good context for the continent, the country, and many of the people. The book provides a good view of how historical acts and atrocities leave long-lasting affects. And how personal responsibility also plays a part. The release of countries from colonialism can be a time of upheaval, and the timing of doing so, with training and preparing the nationals after a period of paternalism, can be difficult to navigate. The Congo is one example of this struggle.
Short enough to read in an afternoon, but with enough food for thought for a long time. Sure, 1964 seems like it was a long time ago, but this book deals with issues that are timeless.

The Gospel Blimp would bring the Word of God - or as much as would fit on an aerial sign - to new hundreds or thousands, an airborne witness on an incredible scale. Inspired by this vision, an enthusiastic group of Christian businessmen set to work to make the Gospel Blimp a reality, and find themselves on a long road paved with good intentions. This book is an embarrassingly accurate commentary on the feverish futility of too many sincere but pathetically misguided evangelical Christians.

This is a book about horoscopes and the unseen world for the ordinary person. It answers the questions, "Is there anything to the claim that some people can read minds and predict the future?" But it also answers a lot of other questions as it surveys psychic phenomena and arcane practices... from a witches' coven on Long Island to the Church of Satan in San Francisco... from the beginnings of the zodiac five thousand years ago in Mesopotamia to Jeane Dixon's horoscopes column in today's Chicago Tribune.... from King Saul's seance with the Witch of Endor to Bishops Pike's session with medium Arthur Ford on the Canadian Television Network... from seventeenth-century witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, to jet-set Sybil Leek's practice of witchcraft in Melbourne Beach, Florida. Demon possession, voodoo, experiments in extrasensory perception, the strange predictions of Nostradamus 400 years ago: these are some of the subjects considered in this book. This book is not a mere collection of information; it examines the life style in contemporary America that may have produced this flowering of interest in the unseen spirit world. This could be its greatest value.

The Gospel Blimp is a modern-day parable about consumer-driven evangelism and how Christians often exchange friendship-evangelism to live in their secure Christian bubble. This was written in 1960 and still speaks to Christians today who are stuck in their Christian circles and who are not engaging the world for Christ with Christ Himself.

Religious education - Teachers

About half of this book is the parable 'The Gospel Blimp'. The other half is a series of short vignettes by Bayly, some of which are excellent, others not so. 'The Gospel Blimp' itself, however, is a 5 star effort. It is a stinging indictment of the evangelical community in the United States,probably even more so in our time than in the time it was written. The piece was written over 40 years ago and in that space of time thousands of 'gospel blimps' have been launched in the form of mega-churches and other 'ministries' where far more attention is payed to the facilities, personnel and assets of the ministry than to the proclamation of the gospel. As with Jesus' parables, this one is designed to prick the heart of certain hearers. I think every pastor and ministry leader should read it and ask themselves: 'is my focus the correct one or am I merely a blimp pilot'.½

Just as Jesus used parables, Bayly's stories can cut right to the heart of the matter. The Gospel Blimp is a great story of how we concentrate too much on the blimp an dnot about the business of God. This book is a quick read but truly makes the reader think in ech chapter. It would make a great gift as well.