Just finished reading Vince Antonucci's I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt. It was a good read, for the most part - having a flight to Phoenix in the middle of reading it certainly helped as it gave me some extended time to get through it. Vince is the pastor of Forefront, a church he and his wife planted in Virginia Beach 10 years ago.

The things that struck me while reading Lousy T-Shirt were:

• Some authors try too hard - to make a point, to seem funny, etc. While the humor in the book was enjoyable a portion of the time, there were as many times when it felt like he was trying too hard. Kind of like sitting through the last Indiana Jones movie and literally looking at the guy I went to see it with and laughing because of the cheesiness factor at times.
• I'm tired of 'sermon' books. Seems like there are too many of these in the market these days. Not sure why. I seldom hear a sermon series or talk to others who's lives have been dramatically impacted by them. Not to say that they weren't challenging - just that when you look back several years later most of us can only remember a handful of things a pastor preached that sunk into the deep level of our hearts. I don't know much about Forefront, but I'm willing to bet it is one of those "planted knowing nobody 10 years ago and now is insanely big" churches because it seems like that tends to be much of the qualifications these days to write these kinds of books.
• Not every pastor should write 'sermon' books. If this were a sermon series, I would have left mildly impressed at the message and the deliverer. Craig Groeschel can write a sermon book. Andy Stanley can write a sermon book. Vince Antonucci should concentrate on preaching the sermons and not write another book.
• There are diamonds in the rough in most books. Putting my negative impressions aside, I'm glad I read Lousy T-Shirt for the simple reason that God almost always speaks to me even in the midst of a bad book (or bad sermon, for that matter) because He is not dependent on the deliverer. There were several things that weighed in heavily and left God's imprint on me through the book. Unfortunately, though, those diamonds were too few. I use a small Moleskine to write my thoughts and impressions while reading books. With my last read, The Passionate Church, I have 33 pages of notes. This one? 2.

Now, it's not as bad as I've probably painted it to be. I think I'm just a little disappointed because it felt too surface-level for most of the book and there are too many other good books out there worth investing my limited time reading. Actually, it's too bad that they don't make Cliff Notes versions of books like this (hmmm... possible business idea?) - where you could gleam the nuggets without investing too much of your time - as that would allow you to gain the highlights without going through the rest.