Shame On Us For Selling The Gospel

Beyond the Brand: A Prophetic Call to Reclaim the Church’s True Identity

Thirteen years ago, sitting in an ethics class in Divinity School, I encountered two books that would shape the course of my ministry and thinking in ways I couldn’t yet imagine: Kingdom Ethics by David Gushee and Glen Stassen and Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas. Both works are as urgent and prophetic today as they were then. They awakened in me a deep fascination with Christian ethics—a passion that only grew when later that semester I discovered Skye Jethani’s The Divine Commodity, a powerful critique of consumer-driven faith.

These influences—and many others—began to weave together in a research project for that class I titled The Rending of the Fabric of Faith. That project never truly left me. I’ve revised, expanded, and revisited it over the years. Its fingerprints are scattered through my blogs and books like Building for Legacy and Shepherds Among Us. On three separate occasions over the last two years, I believed the work was finished. Each time, I was wrong.

Until now.

Last month, after years of prayer, study, and reflection, this project reached its full maturity in my new book: Beyond the Brand: Restoring What the Church Forgot to Remember.

This work offers a clarion call to the Church to reclaim its sacred identity, recover its unity, and resist the commodification that has quietly but powerfully reshaped its mission. It is not just another critique of modern Christianity—it is a deeply pastoral, theologically rich, and ethically grounded vision for renewal.

Drawing from years of ministry, cultural analysis, and biblical reflection, I have tried to weave a compelling metaphor: the Church as a quilt—diverse, beautiful, and held together by the stitchings of grace. However, this fabric of faith is frayed and fraying in today's religious marketplace.

Each chapter explores a different strand of this unraveling: from church consumerism and celebrity culture to the commercialization of faith and the loss of sacred identity. My hope is to name these wounds with clarity, but even more importantly, to offer a vision of healing rooted in the teachings of Jesus. The “Twelve Ethical Threads” drawn from the life and words of Christ present a framework for individual and corporate transformation—principles like living humbly, denying oneself, valuing people over possessions, and rejecting religious performance.

What I think makes this book stand out is not just its diagnosis but its direction. Guided by Spurgeon’s words, “The Church may be faulty, but she is still the dearest place on earth to us… Woe to the man who finds comfort in pointing out her scars rather than helping to bind her wounds.”  My goal was not to leave the readers with a critique but to move them toward constructive hope.

With practical companion studies, reflection questions, group activities, and a clear-eyed look at both the early church and the modern one, I believe Beyond the Brand can equip pastors, leaders, and everyday believers to resist shallow religiosity and embrace deep discipleship.

This book is for church leaders wondering how to restore spiritual depth in a performance-driven culture or believers seeking a faith that goes beyond branding and back to the gospel.

Key Features:

   •       Clear theological critique of consumer-driven Christianity

   •       A practical framework of twelve ethical teachings from Jesus

   •       Reflection and discussion guides for each chapter

   •       Actionable steps for churches and small groups

I think you can see that Beyond the Brand is both a diagnosis and a blueprint. It will make you think deeply about what matters most, pray fervently, and act intentionally to become part of the restoration God desires for His Church.

The fabric may be frayed, but the Weaver is still at work in and through His people.