A SEARCH FOR THE SPIRITUAL
INTRODUCTION:
A Search for the Spiritual was written by Dr. James Emery White and published in 1998 by Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516.
Dr. White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, which started in October of 1992 and is often cited as one of the fastest growing church starts in the United States, experiencing over 80 percent of its growth from the unchurched. He holds the B.S. degree in public relations and business from Appalachian State University, and the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was awarded a Garrett Teaching Fellowship in both New Testament and theology. He is currently adjunctive professor of Christian theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and serves on the president’s advisory council of Union University.
Dr. White has taken on the challenge of assisting those who wish to explore the Christian faith as their potential destination of the
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Emery White explained that many seekers know what they need to satisfy the spiritual dimension of their lives, but they never enter into an active search mode. He suggested that perhaps by examining the benefits of being a seeker, they can begin to do something about it. Afterward, the author lists and explains four benefits of being an active seeker: (1) You pay attention to your spiritual life. You remember that the whole aim of your search is to fill that “God-shaped” void in your life — nothing else will do. (2) Seeking helps you keep an open mind. Seeking with a closed mind is not actually seeking. (3) You find out why you believe what you believe. This gives you solid grounds for holding on to what you believe in. (4) When you seek, you can find. You find that if you truly want to know something, it is important that you search for it. Also, you will find, that Matthew 7:7-8 is true — “…seek, and you will