Customer Reviews

Outsider Interviews, The: A New Generation Speaks Out on Christianity

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

(Please note: The book comes with a DVD (you don't need to buy the separate dvd unless you just want another copy of that)

Straight up, if you work with or are curious about 16-19 year olds; if you read David Kinnaman's book "UnChristian" and were intrigued by what you read; if you care about the future of the Church in America...you need to go get this book/dvd combo and spend a little time with it. You can learn more in a couple of hours with this material than you would get in an entire year of coursework and reading other stuff. I'm not kidding.

I'll also admit up front that these three authors (four, if you count David Kinnaman, who wrote the introduction and whose book inspired this one) are dear friends of mine, and for the past few years, co-laborers at a number of speaking events around the country. In fact, I was part of the speaking lineup at all four of the events where these interviews were held. However, I probably wouldn't have bought the book and read it or watched the dvd had Craig not sent me a free copy. I mean, I was there. I heard all the interviews live. I have read everything Jim and Todd have written, and heard them speak dozens of times in various venues. I have a stack of books I have to get read already sitting on my shelf. I didn't need to read or watch this stuff again.

But of course, I did (a free copy is hard to not crack open). It was like a whole new experience for me, thanks to the amazing work of Craig Spinks on the video piece. The book portion was a quick read, mostly narrative and dialogue between my three amigos as they processed these interviews and reflected on what they heard. This is sort of interesting if you like knowing how these guys work and play, but frankly I found some of it a little tedious and overworked at times (sorry fellas). There are some really great nuggets from each of them, but this book isn't their best work, in my opinion. Craig's part of the text was, of course, fresh (he's a new author) and surprisingly vulnerable, in particular his chapter on his relationship with his dad. And there were some interesting insights offered by all three authors on the interviews, sort of postscript-style. But overall the book part was about a B- for me. You may like it far better, of course.

The DVD (produced by Craig Spinks) was worth the price of admission, however. Beautifully filmed and edited, each segment was filled with nuggets of insight and moments of inspiration. There are four separate panel interviews in four cities (Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, and Kansas City) in four different churches. The interviews were staged like a television show (think Oprah or Dr. Phil), hosted by Jim and Todd in each case. Of the four "outsiders" (a term borrowed from David Kinnaman's book) at each venue, two were Christians and two were not. You would be hard pressed without inside information to tell which were which in most cases, because they ALL felt like outsiders when it came to church. So you get 16 outsiders, all in their 20's, sharing what their experience of church and Christianity in general has been like, all on one DVD. It's honest. It's real. It's painful at times. And it's message is stunning in it's consistency, no matter what city the interview is in.

Craig also spent a lot of time filming each participant after the panel interview to find more of their back story. Snippets of these were interspersed throughout each group interview to give us more insight into their comments, but then Craig used this additional footage to compile what can only be described as "special features" menu under each city's interview segment, offering short backstage commentary from each participant on various topics. These are short and fascinating and intensely personal glimpses into the lives of the outsiders.

There were a ton of "moments" for me in this. As I said, watching this on DVD, in the way Craig put it all together, was like an entirely new experience for me. I heard things and noticed things I didn't remember from when I was actually there. Maybe it's because of the way it's organized. And, of course, I was not privy to all the individual interviews, so those pieces really added color and meaning to each person, and offered, for me at least, a few very touching and moving moments.

I could tell you what I gleaned from these interviews, but I think it would wreck the experience for you. Read the book. Watch the DVD. It doesn't matter which you do first, by the way. But don't ignore the incredible gift this work offers to those who care about the future of the Church in America.

It only requires that we watch and listen...carefully. What you do with it once you hear is up to you, but it could change your whole map of the future.

Jim hit the nail on the head with this one. I enjoyed but the read and the DVD. To hear the voices of those "outside" the church is extremely important for those "inside" the church to hear. Many insiders think they understand what those outside the church desire - but they truly have no idea. This book is a key yo helping insiders figure it all out - or at least give them a place to start. I will say, to truly get the most out of this book you will need to view the DVD and I would say that Graig did a wonderful job in bringing the conversations to life - and inviting those being interviewed to be as open as they desired. One Great Book.

John C O'Keefe, Author of Boneyard: creatives will change the way we lead in the church

I concur wholeheartedly with the review written by Randy Siever. I was touched by the portion written by Craig Spinks, since the relationship he describes with his father is similar to what I share with some of my Christian relatives.

The writing style found in other chapters can grow somewhat tedious. The interviews, however, are excellent, and provide plenty to think about. I watched some of them twice.

The Outsider Interviews is a very engaging book with DVD format. I appreciate the burden of the book that the body of Christ needs to listen to the very people it is seeking to reach. Too often the outsiders reject not Jesus but the brand of Jesus that some Christians present. Good book and DVD. Would recommend to anyone who is interesting in getting a better handle on what those outside of the body of Christ may be thinking.

The Outsider Interviews is a DVB. It's a DVD/Book. "Watch the book, read the story," said Jim Henderson, one of the co-authors of the book. "We wrote a book in response to the stories on the DVD," he explained. "There is no other book like this on the market where you can see and hear it. You don't just read it; you watch it."

I read the book first. It's a quick read. The book is framed around panel interviews of people who are not currently involved to a Christian church, aka The Outsiders. Jim's co-authors, Todd Hunter and Craig Spinks, traveled together to a handful of cities around the country to host small conferences on themes of Christiantiy, culture and relevance. Each gathering featured a LIVE panel discussion of people who had been recruited to come share their thoughts and views about their experiences and perspectives on Christianity. Like a woman named Rio, who in the Denver gathering, openly spoke of her struggle of reconciling her Christian spirituality with her sexual orientation as a lesbian. '

Other panelists in other cities included atheists, disenfranchised Christians, non-religious people, people of different races and backgrounds...yet they all had one thing in common: they are all young people primarily under 30 years of age.

The Outsider Interviews, says Jim and Todd, is their response to the staggering statistics provided by best selling book, Unchristian, which reports that statistically speaking, young people have a negative view of Christianity. (Those of us living in the Pacific Northwest don't need a book report to know this; here in Portland, the label Christian carries so much baggage that many people now opt to describe themselves as Christ followers)

The Outsider Interviews, as a response to unChristians's overwhelming statistical research that young people are at odds with the Christian faith, is a kind of What's-the-Story-behind-those-statistics kind of book. Unchrisitan has the bones of the stats; Outsiders has the flesh of the stories of the people behind those stats.

Back to the DVB packaging of the book... ok, I wasn't interested in watching the DVD. I want to skim and read a book, not watch it. I figured just reading it would be enough, but it was not. The book feels fragmented at times and has several gaps that confused me with my reading. Only later, when Iinterviewed Jim Henderson, did I understand that the DVD is an integral part of the reading experience of this book. The book is more of a response to the interviews gathered and filmed.

I don't want to get bogged down reviewing the packaging, which, super quick, I give their publisher, Baker, a BIG THUMBS UP for taking the risk to try something innovative. In the digital revolution publishers ned to work hard to find creative avenues for the media of books to evolve into. This is one such innovation. It did not work for me as a 46-year old reader, but it very well may work brilliantly for others, such as small groups, church planting teams, evangelists, and most of all Christian Parents of Wayward Adult Children.

The book and DVD would be extremely helpful for those moms and dads who raised their child(ren) in a Christian home only to have their sons and daughters flee the pew as soon as they are of age and beyond the prodding reach of mom, dad and youth pastor. The content of the interviews and how they are framed within the book will inform angsty Christian parents and youth pastors of what is going on in the minds and hearts of today's American young adult. It's not as bad as you'd think, and America's emerging adults are not as antagonistic towards God as one might be led to believe by the startling data of reports such as unChristian and other media reports.

The content of the writing is easy to read, conversational in tone as one might expect from a book framed around informal interviews. A book authored by three writers presents challenges in how will the authors combine their voices without confusing the reader. Henderson, Hunter, and Spinks solve this by each of them writing in first person with clear authorship established. I always knew who was saying what in each chapter.

I enjoyed some of the insights offered by the authors as they processed how the various interview panelists affected them. In one chapter, it was noted that most of the pastors they were trying to partner with could not find Outsiders for the guys to film and interview. This is a sad commentary about clergy who have become disconnected from the larger culture around us. (though it is somewhat glaring that the authors did not delve into their own social networks to find willing interviewees!!!)

The Outsider Interviews provides various microcosms of varying worldviews and perspectives from a wonderfully diverse group of young adults. This is the strength of the takeaway of the DVB (dvd/book).

Best chapter in the whole book drives home how crucial this book can be for Christian parents of young adults. Chapter seven, written by film maker Craig Spinks, the youngest of the three authors and the videographer of the interviews, writes with tender respect of the conflict he has endured with his father over things like homosexuality. His father, clearly a Boomer with a modernistic worldview, is at odds with post-modern minded Millennial son who says he still follows Jesus, but seems to have problems with church. It's a portrait of a father and son who very much love each other, and yet are baffled by one another's perspectives on issues of faith, church and values.


"...Why do you have such a problem with the church?"
For some reason this question made me realize that most of our conversations of late have been focused on hot-button issues, and we've never really talked broadly about my journey of recycling my faith, so I took this opportunity to share a bit of that with him. It was a long answer to a simple question, but I eventually got back on track. "I don't have a problem with church, nor do I think it's a waste of time, but the traditional expressions of church just don't work for me the way they used to." page 125

My Bottom Line:

For those who are bewildered by the exodus of young people out the doors of the church, this book together with it's companion DVD, can help provide some context as to why so many are leaving the fold, but not the faith. It is a great primer for parents, youth pastors, missional practioners and church planters who are trying to understand the mindset of young people who have rejected traditional forms of forms of church and concepts of God for a variety of reasons. The Outsider Interviews can be a helpful tool in bridging the gap between older church folk and disenchanted young folk. The design of the book with the DVD makes a perfect set-up for small groups to read and watch together.

This book and the related Interview Project was inspired by the book by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity, and Why it Matters.

The book comes with a DVD of the personal and public group interviews with several non-Christians or non-traditional Christians, background on the project and discussion of the issues. These three authors organized interview-dialogue sessions in three US venues with people outside the church, to get their perceptions on Christians and the organized churches of America.

This is very enlightening and can be instructive to churches and individual Christians who are really serious about understand and communicating with the people around them today. The interviews are open, undefensive, respectful and practical.

Interviews were arranged in three metro areas of the US, with the purpose of filming before a live audience of active Christians. This gives this representative Christian audience a personal opportunity to hear the discussion and perspectives of a variety of people, most unbelievers, but some believers but outside the formal church.

On the DVD we get to sit in on some of the planning sessions where the project leaders sat down with the dialogue participants to go over questions and general intent and preview the format of the sessions. The actual filmed dialogue sessions included a question and answer period at the end, allowing interaction with the local Christian audience who observed the dialogue session. The dialogues themselves are simply conversations, and appear to be rather natural and free-form, though all the participants previewed the overall structure ahead of time.

The book is about the background of the project, an introduction to the participants in each session, and a journal of the production team. We are privy to their preparations and discussions, including early misgivings and uncertainties about the project. We benefit from some of the producers' own questioning reflections, their debriefing after each filmed interview sessions and the suggestions they garner from the interviews for the church at large.

The DVD sessions include a pre-interview with each participant in each of the filmed public dialogue sessions, as well as some after-session comments. This whole project and the published Digital Video Book (DVB) is thoughtful, well-researched and prepared, sensitive but direct and well-produced. Believers and non-believers alike will find substance here.

quick ship, the item was exactly as described, I will do repeat business with this store, im happy shopping amazon

This is the first Book/DVD combo that I have ever purchased. The concept sounded interesting when I first heard about the book and I found that the footage on the DVD was well integrated and benefitted most of the chapters. The format would work great with a small group, home church or Sunday school class.

I found the topics and interviews featured in the book very thought provoking and engaging. I think most people interested in "post-modern christianity" or the evolution of evangelism will find this a worthwhile read - regardless of whether they have or haven't read UnChristian by David Kinnaman.

I was a little let down by this book. It seemed like a old person trying to be "hip and with it" just a little too hard. I think the concept, hearing what outsiders say about Christianity so that we can care for them and understand them better, was solid but the execution was week. There was really not that much diversity. The interviews were short and very edited. The writing, while trying to be a narrative, was disjointed and left me thinking the whole book was just an afterthought. i.e. "Glancing at his text messages, Craig kept talking."

Had potential but fell way short.