Published: May 08, 2008 10:33 pm         

Wake-up call

Beckley author takes to task ‘The Yawning Church’

Saturday, part of a blessing his dying father spoke over him will come true for Dr. Rick Metrick.

The Beckley therapist and owner of Total Life Counseling will do a book signing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Christian Music and More in Crossroads Mall.

“When my dad was dying in 1973, the last thing he said to me was, ‘Son, I believe the Lord has some special things He wants you to accomplish. Don’t miss out on them.’ It’s very special to me that this book-signing falls on his birthday,” Metrick said.

The book itself, “The Yawning Church: A Survival Guide for the Church of the Twenty-first Century,” came through a long spiritual process for Metrick, senior pastor of Jones Memorial Baptist Church in Beckley.

A former teacher and representative of the American Association of Christian Schools International, Metrick found himself in New York in the late 1990s doing a series of seminars for teachers.

A woman approached him and said, “You are going to have a national impact.” She turned and walked away. Puzzled, he soon forgot about the incident until a few years back when he found himself reading Revelation Chapter 3.

“After I finished reading the last paragraph of that chapter, I closed my Bible and realized I could quote that paragraph from memory. It contains a description of the church in the last days. When I began reflecting on that description, my heart became burdened that this is a message members of the Christian faith need to hear,” Metrick said.

The passage contains a message from Jesus Christ describing the Laodicean church as “being neither cold nor hot.” The Lord tells them because they are lukewarm, He would “spit them out of His mouth.”

“I have pictures of Jesus praying. I have pictures of Jesus with children on His lap. I have pictures of Jesus holding a lamb. I have never seen a picture of Jesus hunched over and throwing up, and yet, that’s how He expresses how He feels about a church that has lost its passion for God,” Metrick said.

“The Church,” used as a metaphor for all Christian denominations, has become apathetic and indifferent, Metrick said, explaining the book’s title.

“It’s a yawning church with a lopsided faith. Jesus describes the church of the last days as ‘wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.’ As a therapist, I know we live in an age where people don’t want to know the answers. They want someone to do for them what they should be doing for themselves. This book is about the need for Christians to take responsibility for their own actions,” Metrick said.

Churches have become so concerned with programs, agendas and issues, they’ve lost sight of the central mission given by their Founder, Jesus Christ, Metrick said.

“We have mutated Jesus right out of the church. He’s on the outside, not on the inside any more.”

He hopes the book will motivate Christians to rediscover their passion for the Lord and begin to focus on the right priorities — repentance, faith and spiritual revival.

“I hope people will see the need for revival within themselves and carry that into their churches,” Metrick said.

The 337-page book is written in conversational style with short chapters. “Each chapter is only about three pages long,” Metrick said. “People will want to stop at the end of a chapter and digest what they’ve read; at least that is my hope.”

The book is available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Waldenbooks, and copies will be available Saturday at the book signing.

— E-mail:

bdavis@register-herald.com