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By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of Read the Spirit magazine

Here’s why the Rev. Dr. George A. Mason—author of the new book Word Made Fresh—is nationally celebrated as a prophet among preachers: Like the great prophets of old in Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, George Mason carries his faith into the real world and shares the Good News he finds there every week. Mason’s parish truly is the whole world.

This week, he’s taking all of us—via a video feature you can see below—to the Sunday Service at the 4DWN skateboard park in South Dallas. The moment we saw the headline on this new video episode in George’s ongoing podcast series—titled “A Different Kind of Sunday Service”—we guessed that George would show us some kind of trendy evangelical worship service with a rock band and a casually attired speaker maybe spouting skater slang in his sermon.

No!

And that’s why George’s latest video is our magazine Cover Story this week. This is a story from one small corner of Dallas that the world needs to know about. George’s mission for many years—at his own home church, Wilshire Baptist and in his book The Word Made Fresh—has been sharing a vision of what “church” can become in our increasingly diverse world.

The Sunday Service in the video, below, is a very compelling vision, indeed.

The big surprise in this video is that it’s a weekly congregation of people who 4DWN co-founder Rob Cahill lovingly describes as “weirdos”—as in: “If you come here on a Sunday and look at all these people working on sorting and packaging food, you wonder: Who are all these weirdos who come together on a Sunday to give their time to this? A lot of these people are lawyers, doctors, movers and shakers—but they come here and they are working side by side with people, some of whom don’t even have a home. What unites these people are the values we share.”

Remember our recent Cover Story by Duncan Newcomer about Braver Angels, another small group that is making a big difference in bridging America’s dangerous divides? Well, this week, George is bringing us another innovative idea from an at-risk neighborhood in Texas. We are covering these stories for our national audience because the world will be a better place if more people learn from these examples—and perhaps try something like these ideas in their own communities.

Come on! Right now, you could share this story across your social media or via email—and perhaps that idea will spring to life in another community.

Here’s the video from Dallas!

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Care to Learn More?

First, order your own copy of George’s book—and consider ordering a second copy to give to a friend. Amazon offers both hardcover and paperback editions for gift giving.

Connect with George yourself via www.GeorgeAMason.com—which is a gateway both to his new book and to all of George’s ongoing work now that he has moved to emeritus status with Wilshire. When you first visit, sign up for his free email updates. (It’s easy to cancel anytime, but we doubt you’ll want to cancel.) Then, the website also makes it easy to Contact George, if you’re interested in an invitation to speak or have other questions.