Ethnic Blends: Mixing Diversity into Your Local Church (Leadership Network Innovation Series)
"Ethnic Blends describes what effective local churches in the twenty-first century will look like, and shows us how to create them, together as one, beyond race and class distinctions." --Miles McPherson, Senior Pastor, The Rock Church, San Diego"Maybe more than any pastor in America, Mark DeYmaz knows what it will take for the church to find real reconciliation in our generation. The quilt of the gospel is made with people of varying ethnicities, cultures, and tongues. Ethnic Blends gives us a better glimpse at that quilt." --Matt Carter, Lead Pastor, Austin Stone Community Church"God scatters by language at Babel, and then we see men and women from `every tongue, tribe, and nation' in Revelation. Something remarkable happens between the two events. The gospel unites and builds bridges to, and then among, the `nations'--ethnolinguistic people groups of all varieties. There have been few practical works to help Christians prepare for a multicultural eternity by reflecting the kingdom in a multicultural church. Ethnic Blends helps fill that void. DeYmaz and Li have provided a gift to churches that desire to reflect the kingdom where cultures are valued, but also bridged, for God's glory." --Ed Stetzer, President, LifeWay Research"Mark DeYmaz is a man raised up for such a time as this, a time when churches need a greater perspective of what Christ expects from his church. This book will help every church broaden its horizon of outreach, love, and care for its city. Acts 1:8 commands us to reach out to the uttermost parts of the earth. In 2010, the `uttermost parts' can many times be found within a few miles of where you live. God called us to reach people, love people, and help people grow in Christ, no matter what their background is. Mark's book helps us to recapture that vision in a powerful way." --Jonathan Falwell, Pastor, Thomas Road Baptist ChurchEthnic Blends is a prophetic, Christ-centered road map that offers practical, pastoral wisdom on how to form multi-ethnic congregations. Mark DeYmaz and Harry Li are redemptive voices crying out in a wilderness of homogeneity for the church in all its ethnic diversity to be one as God is one. I thank God for their biblical vision and mission and firmly believe that Christ's church will bear more authentic witness to the world that God has sent his Son the more we heed the authors' multi-ethnic church claims.  --Paul Louis Metzger, PhD, Multnomah Biblical Seminary, author ofConsuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church