Rev. Roger De Young liked Timothy Keller’s book The Reason for God so much that he gave copies to “a few” of his neighbors. This fall, with help from members of his church, De Young passed out 500 copies.
De Young is pastor of Hope Christian Reformed Church in Houston, Texas, where the church has NASA for a neighbor.
With the Johnson Space Center just 3.5 miles away, church members hoped that those who received copies of the book would return for the corresponding six-week sermon series, which began Sept. 11.
A billboard advertises the sermon series based on Timothy Keller’s book.
“We are around the NASA area, so we have a concentration of people from there around our church. We are finding people in our community to give [the book] to who just might be interested in the questions it addresses,” De Young said.
Hope CRC assembled a team of 14 members to plan and implement small-group discussions as part of the series. Jeannie Van Horn is on the team and also works as a scientist for NASA. She gave her testimony on the first Sunday of the series.
“When I read the book, I got really excited for a number of reasons,” said Van Horn. “This book addressed some of the commonly expressed objections to Christianity that I was hearing amongst the scientists in the workplace. At Johnson Space Center, I just coast along thinking that I’ll witness to others by my walk with Christ. This book demonstrated a way I can be more intentional about sharing my faith with skeptics in the workplace.”
De Young said the response to the book has been positive so far. “I’ve been getting very positive emails and comments. Attendance on the first Sunday was up by 10 percent,” he said.
The book give-away and a related road sign were made possible with a grant from the local Home Missions committee.
