Mark Sentell
The Garage at Living Faith · Book One

Under the Hood

Why We Fix Cars, and Why That's Not Really the Point

Every car that comes through our doors is broken. So is every person who comes with it. That's not an insult. It's a diagnosis.

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Cover of Under the Hood

Why a church fixes cars for free

At The Garage at Living Faith, volunteers fix cars for free for people who need them to get to work, to get a child to school, to get to the doctor. Sooner or later, almost every customer asks the same question: why would you do this for nothing?

This book is the answer. It started with a man named Michael, fixing cars in his driveway because he believed people were worth it. It grew into a shop with thirty to forty volunteers and several hundred customers a year. But the machine that matters most, Mark writes, isn't in any of the bays.

Using the everyday language of the shop, from warning lights and diagnostics to work orders and road tests, Under the Hood explains what went wrong with us, who came to fix it, and what the repair looks like. No religious jargon, no assumption that you already believe. Just the truth, told as plainly as a good mechanic tells you what's wrong with your car.

This book will help you

  • Understand the heart of Christianity in plain language, without religious jargon
  • See your own warning lights as a gift instead of something to hide from
  • Grasp why the cross and the resurrection matter, through a bill someone else paid
  • Believe that no one is a total loss, including you
  • See how receiving grace turns into serving others with your own two hands

Includes a prayer for the broken, recommended reading, a Scripture index, and 48 discussion questions for personal reflection or group study.

From the book

“The machine that matters most isn't in any of our bays. It's you.”

“The warning lights are not suggestions. They are gifts.”

“The engineer got on the floor of the shop.”

“He doesn't use the insurance company's math.”

“You don't fix the car yourself. You hand over the keys.”

“We show up because God showed up.”

Inside the book

Four parts, twelve chapters

From the diagnosis to the road test. Each chapter is short, and each ends with questions you can think through alone or talk over with someone.

Part One: What's Wrong with the Car

We have drifted from a good original design. The law tells the truth about it, and we've learned to ignore the warning lights.

  1. 1Every Car That Comes Through Our DoorsEvery car and every person is broken, and saying so is a diagnosis, not an insult.Genesis 1:31
  2. 2The DiagnosticThe law fixes nothing, but it tells the truth, and truth is where every real repair begins.Romans 3:20
  3. 3Deferred MaintenanceYour conscience is a warning light, and warning lights are gifts.Romans 1:21

Part Two: Who's in the Shop

The Designer became human, came to our shop, and paid the bill himself.

  1. 4The Master MechanicJesus made the machine, and then he became it.John 1:1–3
  2. 5He Came to Our ShopGod didn't send a manual. He came himself.John 1:14
  3. 6The Bill Was PaidEven free repairs have a bill, and Jesus paid ours.Romans 5:8

Part Three: The Repair

Grace, faith, and repentance, and the lifetime of growth that follows.

  1. 7Total Loss… or Total Restoration?God doesn't use the insurance company's math.Ephesians 2:4–5
  2. 8The Work OrderFaith means handing over the keys. Repentance means changing direction.Romans 10:9
  3. 9Road TestThe Master Mechanic doesn't do half-repairs. What he starts, he finishes.Philippians 1:6

Part Four: Back on the Road

Grace overflows into practical love, gets passed on, and heads toward the day God makes all things new.

  1. 10Why We Do ThisThe Garage exists because of the gospel. Love gets off the couch.1 John 4:19
  2. 11Pass It OnThe fixed car doesn't stay in the garage. It goes somewhere.John 15:12–13
  3. 12The Road AheadGod is making all things new, and everyone is invited.Revelation 21:4–5
Articles

More on Under the Hood

All 15 articles on Under the Hood →

For ministries & groups

Made to be handed across the counter

Under the Hood was written to be given away: by a volunteer to a customer, by a friend to a friend who would never pick up a religious book. The back has four discussion questions for every chapter, so it works just as well for a small group or a newcomers' class.

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Mark Sentell is the Founding Pastor of Living Faith Church in Fombell, Pennsylvania, and the director of The Garage at Living Faith, a ministry that fixes cars for free. By day he runs companies.

More about Mark →
The Garage at Living Faith Series

Read the whole series

Four short books from a church that fixes cars for free: one for the people whose cars we fix, one for the volunteers who fix them, one for leaders who want to start something like it, and one for the pastor who does all of it with a day job. About the series →