What's so BIG about Authenticity? Pt. 3

Many of you reading this may know that I'm writing a book on the idea of Authenticity. I've written over 60 pages on it and hope to dribble a little bit out on my blog here for all of you to see. I believe that this idea is GIGANTIC for our teens today and of tomorrow, thus my writing a whole book about it. It all started back in September of 2007, when I did a sermon series with my Sr. High teens about it and the response was incredible! I've seen our teens embrace this authentic lifestyle and choose into it. Here is an excerpt from my forward of the book...enjoy!

"...When put on a social network, we can be whoever we want to be, but the desire to be known still drives us. A lot of what is put on the social network is the true us, but there are altercations we choose to make, so we look better. However, I know that deep down inside each and every one of us (youth and adults) there is a desire for the true us to be known. When you think about it, we all realize that when someone likes the fake face of us, they are not accepting or even liking the real us.
This book is about how we as the church can be a place of authenticity and transparency. Authenticity is what the youth of today are crying for, a place where they can be known for who they are, the good, the bad and even the ugly. We as Christians in the past have had a rough time at being real. We hide our stuff better than the world, for fear of rejection. It’s time to rip off our masks both with God and each other so we can be real with our hidden junk, find love and acceptance and receive God’s forgiveness. For too long, we as the Christian sub-culture have been turning people away from God because we tend to portray ourselves as perfect and all put together, when in actuality there are people; teens and adults who are hurting inside, because they have hidden sin, hidden pieces of themselves, hidden doubts that they’ve NEVER been able to express due to the fear of exposing their true self.
God has a word about the fellowship of the brethren and the transparency we need to have in order to have authentic relationships both with God and men. This book takes those pieces of scripture and hands them to the reader to challenge us all to live Transparent!"
-By Marv Nelson, Transparent

*I will be posting more about Authenticity, and more excerpts from the book are forthcoming*