When I was a kid growing up in Clear Lake City (just outside of Houston, TX) I went to University Baptist Church. UBC grew rapidly under the leadership of an awesome pastor named Henry Adrion III and his equally awesome wife, Pat. It was easy to pay attention to the passionate sermons Brother Henry gave every Sunday. But that was before Kathy Covington joined the church with her sister, Kayla, and her parents, Mary Lou and Clarke.

Like all the other grade school boys who were distracted by Kathy, I was pretty certain she was the most perfect girl ever to walk the face of the Earth. But she kept getting a little more perfect every year. By the end of high school, things just got downright ridiculous. She was star of the senior play, homecoming queen, senior class favorite, senior class president, a top 15 student (of around 3300) and, of course, she was voted “most beautiful.”

So when I met Kathy’s husband at my ten-year high school reunion in 1993, I wasn’t too surprised that he had a lot going for him, too. Good-looking, intelligent, and athletic, I was also unsurprised that John Burke was a pastor. Kathy had always been a very religious (and spiritual) girl and a fine example to everyone at Clear Lake High School.

Fourteen years after meeting John, I got a copy of his book in the mail. My mom sent it to me so I figured I had better read it. Otherwise, I feared I would risk not getting any brownies or chocolate cookies when I come home for Christmas this year. I was less-than-enthusiastic about adding to an already over-sized “to read” list. However, when I finished John’s book, I quickly realized that I had just read the second truly outstanding book among the several dozen I’ve polished off in 2007 - the other being Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller.

John Burke, the man who married the perfect girl, wrote No Perfect People Allowed with a deep sense of sympathy for those who are suffering in the wake of what he calls a “three-decade binge on self” which has the country “vomiting up the consequences” in the early part of the 21st Century.

One of the most disturbing aspects of this national binge on self has been the widespread neglect of children. But Burke points out that there has been much more than mere neglect of children in recent years in America. There is a disdain for children who are all-too-often seen as obstacles to self-fulfillment for status-oriented Americans. If you aren’t convinced, note how children were depicted in such an innocent fashion in decades past and contrast that with the way children are often portrayed as evil in Hollywood today.

Before the sexual revolution of the sixties, making “evil child” horror films would have been unthinkable. But, since the onset of the sixties, that has certainly changed.

Consider the following movies: Children of the Damned (1964), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), It’s Alive! (1974), Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby (1976), The Omen (1976), Carrie (1976), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), It Lives Again (1978), Damian: Omen II (1978), Halloween (1978), The Children (1980), The Final Conflict (1981), Halloween II (1981), Firestarter (1984), Children of the Corn (1984), and so on.

Given that we have so dramatically turned our backs on our children in recent years, it is unsurprising that so many are experiencing a crisis of trust when it comes to social institutions such as the church. I am convinced that this is nothing more than a basic transference of distrust. Individuals who have torn relationships with their earthly fathers will have a much harder time placing trust in their Heavenly Father.

John Burke understands this. That’s why he goes to great lengths to ensure that seekers and doubters are welcomed in his church. We should all do the same. Remember that it was after John the Baptist met and baptized Jesus that he sent someone from prison to ask Jesus whether he was really the One or whether the people should expect another (see Matthew 11:2-3). If John the Baptist could have doubt because he did not understand why Jesus was doing things exactly the way he was then what does that say about us? Continued...