I See You - by Terence Lester (Paperback)

About the Book

It can be easy to overlook the poor and homeless. But truly seeing leads us to act with compassion and justice. Sharing personal encounters and real-life stories, Terence Lester calls us to see the invisible people around us through God's eyes, restoring their dignity and helping them flourish. And when we recognize our own inner spiritual poverty, we have greater empathy for others, no matter their circumstances.

Book Synopsis

• 2020 American Express NGen Leadership Award

We don't care about what we don't see.Countless people are invisible to us. We overlook the poor and homeless, partly because we don't share much space with them. More seriously, we often choose not to see the realities around us. We hold misconceptions about who is deserving or not, or make false assumptions about people's poverty being their own fault.Terence Lester calls us to see the invisible people around us. His personal encounters and real-life stories challenge Christians to become more informed about poverty and homelessness, and to see the poor as Jesus does. When we see people through God's eyes and hear their stories, we restore their dignity and help them flourish. And when we recognize our own inner spiritual poverty, we have greater empathy for others, no matter their circumstances.Let love open your eyes. Discover how seeing leads us to act with compassion and justice--as God intends.

Review Quotes

"I See You is bursting with spirit and challenge. In clear and vulnerable prose, Terence truly shares his heart with us about the urgent call to love those who are impoverished. Privilege has a way of blinding us to the realities faced by those society has made invisible, and in true incarnational fashion, Terence takes us with him on a journey to uncover the true experiences of our most vulnerable neighbors. I pray folks will approach this book with a heart open to the call of Christ to love our neighbors as ourselves and with eyes open to see others for the divine image they inherently bear."

--Chad Wright-Pittman, associate pastor of congregational care and community outreach, First Presbyterian Church, Anderson, SC

"In I See You, Terence Lester calls us back to the heart of our humanity and reminds readers that this heart was designed to beat for God and for neighbor. Lester has followed the Spirit into abandoned buildings, under highway bridges, and into homeless shelters to find community among forgotten and abandoned populations. His stirring narratives and powerful commentary reveal that homelessness is a symptom and a symbol of a nation entangled in greed, gentrification, arrogance, racism, and a sheer lack of consideration for all of its citizens. In a fashion that invokes the prophetic fire of Martin Luther King Jr. and the compassionate solidarity of Jesus Christ, Lester centralizes love as the key factor to dismantling evil and creating a more equal world."

--Neichelle R. Guidry, Dean of the Chapel, Spelman College, creator, shepreaches

"Terence Lester hits a grand slam with his first book spotlighting the dire plight of our nation's poor. I See You is a riveting, robust, and revealing read by this dynamic young activist. Lester's concern and commitment 'to the least of these' echoes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with his personal and purposeful Poor People's Campaign."

--Maynard Eaton, national communications director, Southern Christian Leadership Conference

"Terence Lester uses his own humbling experiences and relationships to put faces and names to the challenges of homelessness and calls for accountability to overcome fear of the unknown. Readers are provoked to see the value that God has given to every person based solely on his image in which they've been created. I See You shines a light on the effect we can have collectively on poverty when we take action and reject fear of the unknown. This book is for those who are ready to boldly love those that society has taught us to fear."

--Anna Ferguson, director of operations for REMERGE

"Terence Lester's I See You is far more than an informative text on people experiencing homelessness. He aims and succeeds at humanizing people's experiences, and the featured narratives amplify a wide variety of human experiences. All the while, Lester encourages the reader to examine their biases and prejudices when it comes to people living in poverty and provides actionable steps and insights to change our way of thinking and support those in need."

--Liz Kleinrock, diversity, equity, and inclusion coordinator at Citizens of the World Charter Schools

"Terence Lester's writing in I See You is clearly inspired by life-changing experiences and Scripture. Each chapter seamlessly moves the reader from just receiving information to accepting an open invitation to become the hands and feet of our God and see the most vulnerable in our world. This book illuminates with such compassion what we already know--that suffering is not an isolated event that happens to 'them over there.' Suffering belongs to us as much as any other life experience. Each word I've read has changed me and challenged me. I pray you will allow I See You to do the same for you."

--Casey J, Christian songwriter and storyteller

"This is one of the realest books I've ever read. Honest, heroic, and humbling, I See You affirms we are still not where we could be in providing dignity, which is intrinsic to every person, and gives keen insight into how we are to respond to this truth. We aren't without hope, but in achieving this reality we must do our part to love our neighbor as our selves. Buy it, read it, tweet about it, and then read it again. Only after we digest real truth such as this, can we truly began to love those whom the world has chosen to ignore."

--Tedashii, hip-hop artist, writer, public speaker

About the Author

Terence Lester is a minister, speaker, community activist, author, and founder of Love Beyond Walls, a not-for-profit organization focused on poverty awareness and community mobilization. His campaigns on behalf of the poor have been featured in USA Today and Black Enterprise and have been viewed by millions of people globally on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS News, NBC, Upworthy, and "The Bright Side" with Katie Couric.