Open-Hearted People, Soul-Connected Church
How Courageous Authenticity Can Transform Your Relationships, Your Community, and Your Life
About
Ask most anyone and they would say they desire honest, authentic, "real" relationships. Yet few of us experience the soul-level connection we long for with other human beings, let alone God. Fear and pride drive us to mask our truest selves, leaving us perpetually disconnected, hidden, and lonely.
God made us for something profoundly better: an open-hearted, courageous honesty that liberates us from a life of guardedness and self-protection and has the power to radically transform our approach to Christian community. In fact, it's those things about ourselves we're most afraid to reveal that lead to the kind of love and acceptance we yearn for.
This book is your call to embrace and practice heart-level honesty and authenticity in this age of artificiality. As you learn to engage your world with your soul wide open, you'll discover deeper connections--with yourself, others, and God--and open avenues for other lonely and disconnected souls to join you there.
Endorsements
"We live in the era of 'bowling alone.' Loneliness causes not only relational but also substantial health issues. Many have experienced community more deeply in a 12-step program or therapy than in church. It is not enough to decry our current morass; we need to recover what is most potent about faithful, honest, life-changing connection in the community of God. Tom Bennardo has prepared an lavish feast of truth that can change an individual's heart and the momentum of a group to nourish one another with the bread and wine of the coming banquet. Indulge your thirst for intimacy and joy in communion with others, and take in this brilliant book."
Dr. Dan B. Allender, professor of counseling psychology and founding president, The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology
"I'd read this wonderfully instructive book before I opened to the first page. I'd read it because, more than twenty years ago, our family worshiped in the church it is dedicated to. In those transformative years, Tom taught us to risk the honest response to God's Word he details in this book. If you're tired of 'playing church' and ready to experience God's steadfast love for the screwed-up and barely sane, this book is the primer on Christian community you can't do without."
Jen Pollock Michel, author of A Habit Called Faith and In Good Time
"Tom Bennardo's new book, Open-Hearted People, Soul-Connected Church, peels away methodology and programs and speaks to our hearts. It unpacks the Great Commandment and artfully applies it where we live. In the end, all we have will be relationships, and this book ratchets us back to that which is most important--and most eternal. Don't miss it."
Dr. Wayne Cordeiro, pastor and author
"In Open-Hearted People, Soul-Connected Church, Tom sheds a spotlight on a dimension that the church--especially in North America--seems to be missing. Authentic community is more than something we all long for. It is what we are made for. When we live fully open with Jesus, it doesn't change his relationship with us; it transforms every part of how we relate to him. It frees us to be his body, serving a world that is desperate for that level of relationship. This book is a powerful resource that puts into words what I am praying for all our churches."
Rocky Rocholl, president, Fellowship of Evangelical Churches
"Tom Bennardo had me when explaining the three levels of honesty. I never knew there was a deeper level than trust and vulnerability, but sure enough 'level 3 honesty' is exactly what we've been missing in our churches. The 'last 10 percent' of our true thoughts and feelings is the type of honesty we need with trusted others, and it is the type King David had with God in Psalm 139:23, when he said, 'Search me, God, and know my heart.'"
Dr. Jay Forseth, former General Superintendent, The Evangelical Church
"Words like authenticity and vulnerability can be deeply beneficial, but in today's culture they can also quickly devolve into pithy buzzwords that hold little meaning. However, Tom's thoughtful, practical, and hopeful perspective breathes life back into these important words. Reading this book will require you to press into wisdom, courage, and patience, but here's the good news: it's completely worth the effort. If you long to live your life with authenticity and vulnerability--and not merely talk about it--this book will help you do just that."
J. R. Briggs, author of The Sacred Overlap and Fail and founder, Kairos Partnerships
"Just when you thought you had read enough on friendships, community, and the church, Tom Bennardo's latest offering ups the ante by providing a rich, biblical evaluation of one of the keys to relationships: honest vulnerability. Readers will be challenged and galvanized for a life of community in their local church. I highly recommend."
Jonathan D. Holmes, executive director, Fieldstone Counseling
"Great relationships come with great risk and even greater reward. Tom Bennardo brilliantly unpacks God's invitation to experience great relationships in Open-Hearted People, Soul-Connected Church. Rather than promoting the 'try harder' or 'do better' approach, Tom invites us to first sit with our Savior and experience his amazing grace in full view of our brokenness and to then let his healing grace flow through us into the lives of others. If the idea of opening your true self to others invokes apprehension or even fear, this book will help you. The risk is well worth the reward."
Robert Watson, pastor and author of Simply Following Jesus
"Open-Hearted People, Soul-Connected Church by Tom Bennardo is an important and super helpful book. Read it if you want to understand the deeper levels of our human experience and of Christian fellowship. Bennardo shows us the fellowship God intends for us that too few Christians in our churches experience. This is a great book for everyone but especially for church leaders who need guidance on how to get to deeper levels of heart transparency."
Dr. Bobby Harrington, pastor, author, and CEO, Discipleship.org and Renew.org
"Tom Bennardo invites, challenges, and guides the reader into a warm, soul-searching quest to discover and revel in relational authenticity with Jesus and others. His illustrations and descriptions are delightfully colorful as they beckon the reader to venture from the safety of the shallows into deeper waters of authenticity. This book offers a pathway from culturally instilled pretense to liberation of the soul and the freedom to be the real you that Christ desires."
Randall A. Bach, ambassador to denominations, National Association of Evangelicals
"If you accept Tom Bennardo's bold invitation to live in the light as Christ is in the light, the experience itself will profoundly transform the dark places of your life. Living in the light only happens in authentic, beyond-the-mask relationships. So read Open-Hearted People, Soul-Connected Church with a friend or two, and walk into the stunning light of a hundred different freedoms you could not have imagined the Trinity had waiting for you."
Dr. Bruce McNicol, president emeritus, Trueface, coauthor of The Cure, Bo's Cafe, and The Ascent of a Leader
"In recent years, much has been written about the growing awareness of a cultural hunger for authenticity and real community. With this book, Tom Bennardo goes beyond describing the need and honestly addresses how we as individuals and faith communities can live out our God-inspired call to abundant living. This volume is a must-read for those who are honestly seeking a biblical foundation and practical next steps to open their hearts to genuine Christian community."
Dr. Carl P. Greene, executive director, Seventh Day Baptist General Conference of USA and Canada; adjunct instructor, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
"Being able to lead from the heart is of utmost importance for those leading ministries today. Possessing a force of personality, organizing efficient structures, and setting up reliable systems all have a place in good leadership, but apart from the Holy Spirit, they are not enough to be of true benefit to those we lead. Tom gets that and boldly envisions a leader who authentically abides with Jesus and genuinely connects with people. Open-Hearted People is both a testament for leaders who love Jesus and a textbook for how the Holy Spirit forms the leader."
Todd Fetters, bishop, Church of the United Brethren in Christ
"When I began reading Open-Hearted People, Soul-Connected Church, I was confident that I would be excited to share it as a very helpful resource and tool for the spiritual journeys of those whom I strive to come alongside and encourage. Not only did it greatly exceed this hope but I also found Tom's practical, biblical insights to be stimulating, refreshing, and concretely helpful in my own walk with our Savior. Tom leaves me even more eager for deeper spiritual growth as he gently urges us to open our hearts to experience and receive what Christ amazingly offers to each of us."
Steve Adriansen, director, Behind the Scenes Ministries
"This book provides practical steps and ideas for a church to become an authentic community where people share a common faith in the Lord and a common trust in each other. The author delves into the benefits of soul-level connectivity and helps people understand the nature of true biblical koinonia. Tom Bennardo makes it clear that it's worth the risk to venture into this level of faithful trust with other believers."
Ron Hamilton, conference minister, Conservative Congregational Christian Conference
The Author
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Lindsey Bennardo Tom Bennardo
Tom Bennardo is a four-decade veteran of ministry and spiritual formation. His experience spans the spectrum--church planter, lead pastor, mentor and coach, conference speaker, author, and denominational leader. He holds an MDiv from Grace Theological Seminary...
Continue reading about Tom Bennardo