Danny Franks - People Are the Mission: How Churches Can Welcome Guests Without Compromising the Gospel

What does hospitality look like? This is where Danny Frankss new book People Are the Mission helps us! Danny reminds us that people want to feel respected, honored. They dont want shock and awe, and they dont want to be an afterthought. They just want to know you care, for real. If youre a leader in a church or business and you want to improve your culture of hospitality, then youll love Dannys new book. Its a must-read!

DAN T. CATHY, Chairman and CEO of Chick-fil-A

When Danny leads, I follow him. When he writes, I read it. So should you.

JASON YOUNG, Director of Guest Services, North Point Ministries, Atlanta, GA

The gospel is like a song. It has both lyrics and a musical score. Those who water down the lyrics to make the song more palatable may gain a crowd. But theyll inevitably lose the gospel. In the same way, those who allow the gospel to be presented in a lame, unwelcoming, or culturally out-of-touch environment end up singing true words that nobody listens to. Danny Franks has written a helpful and balanced book that corrects the pendulum swing between these two extremes and connects the dots between staying true to the gospel message and adapting to the culture we live in. If you desire a guest-friendly, gospel-centric ministry, this is a book you need to read.

LARRY OSBORNE, pastor and author, North Coast Church

Writing from a heart captivated by the gospel, Danny Franks has delivered a powerful, impressive work that church leadersregardless of positionwill find tremendously helpful in establishing a culture of hospitality throughout their church and ministry areas.

People Are the Mission balances a keen intellectual understanding of the nuts and bolts of hospitality with a gospel-centered foundation. This compelling combination comes from Dannys practical, lived-out, and loved-through leadership with hundreds of leaders at his own church and across the country.

Using his razor-sharp wit, Danny makes his point, driving right to the heart of the matter with a balance of aw-shucks genuineness wrapped up in instantly applicable lessons you will immediately grasp. People Are the Mission will become one of your most-used and most often referred-to training helps for years to come. Pick up a copy today, start reading it tonight, and begin applying it tomorrow.

BOB ADAMS, Guest Experience Navigator, Auxano, Houston, TX

Evangelism and discipleship, two oars attached to one boat, are essential to carrying out the Great Commission. In People Are the Mission, Danny Franks shows us the importance of attracting people, without compromising the gospel message, to empower them for ministry. I am grateful for Dannys approach of helping move people from being consumers to commissioned partners in ministry.

ROBBY GALLATY, pastor, Long Hollow Baptist Church; author, Growing Up and The Forgotten Jesus

In People Are the Mission, my friend Danny moves beyond excellent technique with weekend crowds to the transformation of Gods grace in an individuals journey. When Danny writes of truth, he does so with deep conviction. When he speaks of grace, he does so with personal compassion. And when he uses humor (and he does), watch outyoure either about to be knocked off balance by his sucker-punch challenge or hes giving you a chance to recover respectfully, because that spot right between your eyes still hurts. Dannys conviction, compassion, and challenge are motivated by his belief that people matter to God, and people will believe they do, when we make loving them our sole mission, or our soul mission. For their sake and God's honor, read this book.

MARK WALTZ, author of First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences in Your Church; trainer, LifePlan Coach, Because People Matter, LLC

ZONDERVAN

People Are the Mission

Copyright 2018 by Danny Franks

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ePub Edition February 2018: ISBN 978-0-310-53868-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Franks, Danny (Pastor), author.

Title: People are the mission : how churches can welcome guests without compromising the gospel / Danny Franks.

Description: Grand Rapids, MI : Zondervan, [2018]

Identifiers: LCCN 2017046473 | ISBN 9780310538677 (softcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Church membership. | Choice of church.

Classification: LCC BV820 .F73 2018 | DDC 253--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017046473

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version). Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. HCSB is a federally registered trademark of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Unmarked Scripture quotations are the authors paraphrase.

Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc. ) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design: Thinkpen Design

Interior design: Kait Lamphere

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 / DHV / 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

To Merriem (of course).

Thank you for encouraging me to write this stuff down.