Customer Reviews

Peppermint-Filled Piñatas: Breaking Through Tolerance and Embracing Love

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Eric Bryant did a wonderful job showing, explaining, and encouraging the reader to love those and our neighbors we tend to overlook on a daily basis. He even shows us how to show love to those we might even dislike. And how we are to befriend everyone so we can help them to discover and experience what a true relationship with God is all about.

Isn't this what Jesus did? Isn't this Jesus' call to all of us?

Eric used first-hand accounts throughout his life and in his leadership role at Mosaic in Los Angeles to help the reader to show love and grace and to understand how to build relationships with those who hold radically different beliefs from dispite what their race or religious background may be.

I highly recommend this book.

Most churches don't react well to diversity. The inclination is to turn inward and preserve what is familiar.

But is that the right way to react to those people that are different?

Not according to the author, a staff leader at Mosaic, an LA church known for its diversity. Using humor and personal stories, Eric re-introduces a better way, one that originated with a humble Carpenter over two thousand years ago.


People need to be seen as unique individuals, important in their own right. Love is the strongest apologetic there is, but has been lost in the plethora of programs and rules. Outdated ways that no longer work in this more diverse world.

But this new, yet not new, way is risky. Relationship building takes time. Stepping out of one's comfort zone is a frightening prospect for many. Pain can be the result when one's attempts at friendship are rejected. Most people are content to remain within the familiar, under the sometimes false assumption it is a safer place to be.

Eric speaks from experience. As a BWG (bald white guy) he's experienced rejection and criticism based on his looks and others' assumptions. But he hasn't allowed those experiences to make him bitter or cynical. Instead, he reacts with humor and grace, telling us of a better way to live and interact with those around us. This is a book that has a home on my keeper shelf.

I highly recommend this book. Eric does a masterful job of reinforcing Jesus' call to love others, in a very practical way. He also reveals some of the "secrets" he has learned in his life and leadership role at Mosaic in LA that have helped people connect with Christ despite of ethnic, religious, political, and even moral differences. This book encourages us to love the people we might normally overlook or even dislike, befriending them and helping them to discover a true relationship with God.

Eric Bryant has written a great first-hand account of going beyond tolerance to love in living out the gospel in his LA community. Filled with Scripture, biblical insights, and authentic experiences, Eric weaves a story of love, grace and hope for the world we find ourselves in. Robert McKee has written, "Storytelling is the creative demonstration of truth. A story is the living proof of an idea, the conversion of idea to action." Eric lives the story and so proves the idea of the life-changing, life-engaging gospel.

Approaching this publication with a non-critical mindset, I found it honest and direct. Peppermint filled pinatas genuinely approaches the importance of relationships with intentionality and humility. Eric displays humanity as God sees it, a beautiful thing in all its diversity. The later chapters brilliantly tie together God's heart for his church. Be intentional to complete the entire book. This truly is a must read for all those who call themselves Christ followers.

Eric Bryant's Peppermint-Filled Pinatas at 211 pages is a surprisingly easy read with a powerful punch! Eric's conversational style makes this book feel like sitting down to a conversation with Eric himself over coffee. At first, his non-threatening, conversational style lured me in and finally hit me between the eyes with the reality that I have failed to love those different from me, and has helped to birth a desire deep inside to see others as God sees them. This book is a call to a radical kind of lifestyle that is ignorant of the ethnic, racial, social, or economic backgrounds of those we meet. Eric advocates for a type of discipleship that begins at meeting people, regardless of who they are, or where they are, and showing them the kind of love that Christ would. Peppermint-Filled Pinatas advocates moving beyond simply tolerating people who are different to engaging them, loving them as an expression of the love of Jesus.

This book is divided into two sections. Part 1: People Matter Most, is a call to get out of the house and find ways to engage people. It essentially is a framework for why people matter and deserve our attention. Part 2: Love Is The New Apologetic, spells out the how. While Part 1 is the why, Part 2 explains that through practice and engaging others, we truly can have a positive influence on those far from Christ. Since Eric is based in the diverse city of Los Angeles, he realizes that most people will not decide to follow Jesus simply based on intellectual arguments alone. Rather, actions are necessary to break through the stereotypes that non-Christians often have of Christians. He advocates for building relationships that allow for belonging before believing.

Here are a few great quotes from the book:
- Our personal relationships often betray our feelings for the world as well. Rather than befriending and loving those who do not yet follow Christ, it seems that the longer we follow Christ, the fewer people we actually know who believe differently than the way we believe. (21)
- Some of our churches have so consistently become a refuge for Christians from the world that we fail to become communities that go out into the world, or even communities where seekers feel free to come and explore the possibility of a God who loves them and has a plan for their lives. (22)
- The greatest apologetic (argument for the truth of Christianity) is love. (32)
- We think others are willing to connect with us, even though what we offer is cheap and unsatisfying. We offer peppermints when the world wants Gobstoppers, Airheads, and Reese's Peanut butter cups. We offer something sweet to believe; they want a new life that helps change the world.
- Throughout history, Christians have been at the forefront of caring for the marginalized and overlooked... sadly, at the same time, many churches have moved away from poverty-stricken neighborhoods and especially out of the cities. Most of evangelical america tends to be hunkered down in the suburbs, just beyond the reach of the city. (139)

I could go on and on with challenging and thought-provoking quotes, but suffice it to say that this book is a call to love blacks, whites, hispanics, gays, straight people, Muslims, Hindus, and any other type of person you could even imagine. God has used Eric's words through this book to challenge me to stop playing safe Christianity in my little bubble and get out and meet people where they are. It's going to require some big changes in my heart and life, but reading Eric's journey as a true practicioner of what he preaches gives me hope. I encourage you to read Peppermint-Filled Pinatas and take the journey toward an exciting, scary, engaging, loving life yourself!

Breaking down barriers is certainly something we need to do more of in the world, and we can all start with the barrier around our heart. Peppermint-Filled Pinatas provides us with the road map that will allow each of us to open our hearts to those that are different from us. Eric Bryant brilliantly shows us how by sharing his real-life experiences with those that are different. He makes it real, he makes it funny, and he makes it achievable. Imagine moving into a new neighborhood and making cookies for your neighbors. This book is hard to put down once you start it. So get a copy and start reading today. Bravo! Eric.

Some of the most important things are the simple things. Living in L.A. as a part of diverse community, Eric has written a book that helps us move closer to the people living around us by reminding us that love is at the center of what should define those who follow Jesus.

The audio version is well done and compliments the conversational style in which Eric writes. It made for a great road trip with lively conversations sparked by Eric's honest discussion of some of the places in society that he sees the impact of intolerance.

I recommend the book for anyone who wants to move beyond trying to "fit in" towards being a revolutionary to make the world a better place.

Peppermint Filled Pinatas breaks many conventions by suggesting that God's desire is the love of all people, and that by extension, that's how we are to desire and love. God's love reaches across deep boundary lines, and Bryant suggests ways of creating and sustaining such community. It's not cheap grace; rather it is difficult, intentional, life-changing work and mission. In light of current cultural impressions, especially held by gen-y and younger of "christians," bryant presents another way that has seemingly been fruitful at Mosaic.

I have given a number of copies of "Pinatas" away to others.

Ever since reading the title of this book, it had my attention. The title alone made me wonder what laid waiting for me just underneath the cover. My curiosity to find out what exactly a "peppermint-filled piñata" was kept me wanting to make this a part of my reading list but it was the subtext to the title that made me dig in: breaking through tolerance and embracing love.

Interesting.

Tolerance is a big deal in our society- from the political to the personal; from our culture to our faith. But what on earth could this mean? What does love have to do with tolerance? How could this really make a difference in how we view others and our world?

So I gave it a go.

Diving into PFP, Eric quickly sets the tone of what he was about to unfold for the rest of the book. He immediately identifies the struggles and challenges that anyone who calls themselves a Christian faces along with all the stereotypes and intolerance of the Christian culture that has seemingly isolated itself from reality for far too long. Eric then gets to heart of the matter by challenging his reader with this thought, "deep down, we long to be a part of a loving and diverse community." He asks us to learn and embrace "the art of woo." Woo, as Eric describes it, is "winning others over." Eric smartly identifies that "none of us truly long to be tolerated; we all long to be loved. Tolerance allows us to survive; love allows us to thrive."

Peppermint-filled Piñatas is a journey towards learning to love well. It tells the tale of what a loving, caring person of faith looks like as lived out by the successes and failures of Eric's own life. All throughout the book, Eric is giving us glimpses of a world that exists much different to our own while being rooted in our reality. He paints a picture of a world that no longer sees racial, economical, political, "ethnical" or cultural boundaries but rather strives to see all people as Jesus did; as humans who ultimately desire to be loved. He calls us to create this new world and live in it as humans who are willing to move toward other humans offering our friendship and love to each other because of Jesus' love for us. Through the anecdotes of his life, Eric is showing us the love of Jesus and what an authentic Christ-follower's life should look like.

If you are a Christ-follower, you need to read this book. If you are just checking out faith, I encourage you to read this book so that you too can see what following Jesus really looks like.