IT'S NOT ABOUT POWER
Andy Crouch: The church of the first centuries grew dramatically because Christians did what came naturally to followers of the crucified, resurrected Son of God. Stark acknowledges the importance of elites—in fact, he devotes a chapter to showing that the early Christian movement was anything but uniformly poor. It's just that what changed pagan elites' minds was neither political overthrow nor artful persuasion. It was knowing followers of Christ personally and watching their response to disaster. Cultural transformation resulted from the Christian community simply being itself.

In the face of Hurricane Katrina, government officials were hapless. Hollywood stars, normally so magnetic, looked foolish and overmatched in their borrowed motorboats. But countless churches like Parkway Baptist stepped up and redefined "normal."