03/29/06

In Chapter 10, Wells brings back the idea of the five act play. He does this in part because he is summarizing part 2 of the book since Chapter 10 is the last chapter of part 2 (planting). He asks two main questions. The first addresses how overaccepting (a very important, overarching idea presented in chapter 9) can be utilized by the church (us) in everyday life and in everyday decisions, practically. The second question addresses the idea of dealing with evil and dealing with the past poor decisions made by the church. To answer these questions, Wells uses a road. This road represents the past and future church. When a road is dug, there is a lot of debris to the side of the road. Similarly, when a sculpture is carved, there is a lot of discarded marble. These are the marginalized in society – the losers (in the church and society as a whole) and oppressed minorities and races, to name a couple. Wells says that these are the people in the heart of God’s story – Act IV. In fact, Jesus mentions the meek as the ones who will inherit the earth. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. It all makes sense. It is almost like the debris cast to the side of the road becomes a road in itself. Wells says, “The church has got to get used to the faces of the poor, because it will see them on thrones in Act V.” This is all biblical. Enough said. Wells finishes that section talking about that same subject in different contexts.

Wells then brings about the idea of reincorporation. Reincorporation makes a story flow and not come to an abrupt end. If some part of a story is forgotten, that makes its reincorporation more significant. Likewise, if someone has fallen from God’s story, their reincorporation into the story is very significant. Wells points out the story of Joseph – his loss of status and eventual high placement – as significant reincorporation. He also exemplifies the calling of the disciples.

Wells ends the chapter with a very touching and inspirational story. Bill was a moderately successful man with a family and everything seemed to be going alright. Eventually, Bill lost his job and his wife was left to provide for the family. The family would have to sell the house. Bill was trying to fix up the house to look good for potential buyers, but messed some things up. His wife blew up at him. Bill just took each blow. Then came the turn of events. The daughter, who was 11 years old, came up and said, “He’s a good dad.” Such a small phrase changed everything. It put everything in perspective and reincorporated what was important. Wells abruptly ends the chapter here, leaving the reader with that final comment – very impactful.