INSANE

a Biblical thought...
"Don't stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he's not an enemy, he's an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice. (Mark 8:39-41)

a Book thought...
There seem to be plenty of Christians who will hand out a tract or hold a street sign saying "Jesus is the only way," but not many who build friendships and trust people to dialogue about what that means. (p167 Kimball)

a Dave thought...
Today I got the first copy of INSANE - the stories of crazy Salvos who changed the world into my hand. This book was co-authored by Nealson Munn & myself and includes 10 of the best SA stories ever told. Joseph Perry (pictured above) is one such man who headed up the limelight department and produced the first feature film in Australia, Soldiers of the Cross.

Here is a part of the introduction...

But let us instead begin with a word about the title—Insane: The Stories of Crazy Salvos Who Changed the World. This says something about both the book and its subject. What you are reading is a collection of stories, all of which have been told before, but none, we believe, in quite this way. Until now they have existed primarily in dusty volumes with obscure titles like The Heavenly Witch or Booth-Tucker: Sadhu and Saint. Without such works this one would never have come into being; but, while acknowledging our debt to these classics, we recognise that few modern readers are willing to plod through a Booth biography of War and Peace dimensions, especially one written in prose that proclaims its 19th century vintage with every phrase. Our aim, then, is to preserve and promote The Salvation Army’s heritage of innovation by retelling its classic stories in a manner that will interest and inspire contemporary Salvationists.
These stories concern two things: (1) crazy Salvos, and (2) their innovations. The mildly provocative title Insane is a description applied to many Salvationists, correctly or incorrectly, as well as a kind of acronym—INSANE: INnovative SAlvationists’ NEtwork (a bit of a stretch, granted, but we think it works). What sort of ‘network’ is this? It is one that extends backwards to The Salvation Army’s founders, William and Catherine Booth, and forwards, as it is carried into the future by Salvationists of today. Its members include evangelists, reformers, renegades, journalists, renegade journalists, magistrates-turned-beggars, reformed prostitutes, entrepreneurs, nurses, doughnut dealers and pop stars. It comprises teenagers and octogenarians, men and women, westerners and easterners—with surnames ranging from Booth and Tucker to Weerasooriya and Garabedian.
This book charts the development of INSANE from the founding of The Christian Mission (later to become The Salvation Army) in 1865 to the emergence of The Joystrings, the first Salvationist rock group, 100 years later. Most of what we recount occurred before 1900—the Army’s first few decades were too explosive to short-change. With a bit more scholarly acumen, however, one could easily compile a companion volume doing justice to Salvation Army innovations in the 20th century and beyond. In fact, we believe that the greater part of the INSANE story has yet to be written. This book has as much to do with your life as it has to do with Salvation Army history. That is why we added an ‘INSANE Challenge’ at the end of every chapter—to make explicit the challenge that the life of each Salvo innovator implicitly offers us.

For those that are interested in getting hold of a copy it will be available from Salvation Army Supplies (Melbourne) next week at a cost of around the $10 mark or order through insanesalvos.com

Just a thought.