A Stone's Throw

A while back, I signed up to review this book and place that review on my blog.  I received the book in the mail a couple of weeks ago and I have read it, but am just now getting around to writing the review.

I was really excited to begin reading the book, because Mark Batterson’s first book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day was a huge book in my pilgrimage.  I read it all in one sitting…in the middle of the night.  His style is very similar to his writing style on his blog, which I read all of the time on my RSS reader.

The Billing:

Back Cover–
Our Generation needs a reformation.  But a single person won’t lead it…A single event won’t define it.
Our reformation will be a movement of reformers living compassionately, creatively, courageously for the cause of Christ.
This reformation will not be born of a new discovery.  It will be the rediscovery of something old, something ancient.  Something Primal.

What would your Christianity look like if it was stripped down to the simplest, rawest, purest faith possible? You would have more, not less.  You would have the beginning of a new reformation–in your generation, your church, your won soul.  You would have primal Christianity.

This book is an invitation to become part of a reformation movement.  It is an invitation to rediscover the compassion, wonder, curiosity, and energy that turned the world upside down two thousand years ago. It is an invitation to be astonished again.

Front Dust Cover–
Be Astonished Again.
We have a tendency to complicate Christianity. Jesus simplified it: Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we are to live out the essence of Christianity, we must commit to being great at this Great Commandment.

In Primal, Mark Batterson explores the four elements of Great Commandment Christianity: compassion, wonder, curiosity, and power. Along the way, he calls you to be a part of God’s reformation, starting in your own life.

As Mark writes, “Is there a place in your past where you met God and God met you? A place where your heart broke for the things that break the heart of God? Maybe it was a sermon that became more than a sermon. Maybe it was a mission trip or retreat. Maybe it was a vow you made at an altar. In that moment, God birthed something supernatural in your spirit. You knew you’d never be the same again. My prayer is that this book would take you back to that burning bush—and reignite a primal faith.”

Primal will help you live in light of what matters most and discover what it means to love God. It will help you become great at the Great Commandment.

The Review:

I think, honestly, I was looking for this book to be like “In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day.”  That book was very influential to me when I read it in one sitting.  I am draw to Mark Batterson because he is a church planter and he talks about his time spent at college at Central Bible College in my home town of Springfield, MO.

He sets out on a “quest” for authentic, or “primal” Christianity.  Jesus explained the primal tenet of Christianity in the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30). The problem, though, with the modern church, Batterson writes is that we aren’t doing the Great Commandment.  He writes, “My answer is simply this: we’re not great at the Great Commandment.  In too many instance, we’re not even good at it….That, I believe, is our primal problem.  That is the lost soul of Christianity.”  He continues “The quest for the lost soul of Christianity begins with rediscovering what it mean to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Jesus used those four kaleidoscopic words to describe four dimensions of love.”

The book is then laid out by further discussion of each of these four “primal elements” in the Great Commandment:

The heart of Christianity is primal compassion.
The soul of Christianity is primal wonder.
The mind of Christianity is primal curiosity.
And the strength of Christianity is primal energy. (Italics mine)

No, the book did not make as large an impact as Batterson’s first book, but it is definitely worth the read.  My copy has a lot of “dog-eared” pages, highlighted passages, and notes scribbled in the margins…a good sign of a good book (in my own humble opinion.) I really enjoy Batterson’s writing style as well as his illustrations along the way.  He is a very widely read person and that shows on the variety of the illustrations and thoughts he has in the book.

I would recommend this book to anyone in our church.  I think I am going to recommend this book to our Life Groups as well.  So, if you have any gift cards for books, make sure you go and get this book! It is also available on my beloved Kindle, on December 29th!

We are studying The DNA of Relationships by Smalley in our LifeGroup on Sunday nights.  It has been a whole lot of fun learning that we are driven by our fears.  It is totally freeing to understand that the fight is often not about the thing we are fighting about. It is actually about a “fear button” that was pushed by the other person and we reacted to that button being pushed (Smalley’s concepts).  I am really excited about the positive things that we all are learning from this study in our group.

I ran across this post from Mark Batterson about fearlessness.  He says that there are only two fears we are born with as a baby…the rest are “learned.”  Man there is some freedom to know that we can learn, through Christ, how to be free from those fears!

I know for a fact that this nugget of truth and promise from God’s word can save us from a whole lot of heartache and pain when we allow the enemy to continue to scare us to death with our fears. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15 ESV)

According to psychologists we’re only born with two fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. That means that every other fear is learned. Which means that every other fear can be unlearned. Here’s a definition of faith: the process of unlearning ungodly fears.

The enemy is a fear monger. He wants to scare the heaven out of you. But I John 4:18 says: “Perfect love casts out all fear.” In other words, as we grow in a love relationship with God we unlearn our fears until the only fear we have is the only healthy and holy fear: the fear of God. And when you fear God you don’t have to fear anything else! Perfect love results in fearlessness.

Evotional.com.

Mark Batterson has a new book coming out later this year called “Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity.” His book “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” was an extremely influential book in my personal leadership and spiritual pilgrimage. I read it all the way through in the middle of the night…I couldn’t put the book down.  It came at a time in my life when I was extremely open to the concepts and I really did take some risks that I felt God was calling me to do.

I am currently reading through his second book, “Wild Goose Chase” on my Kindle 2.  Really enjoying his book on the Holy Spirit along with a companion book, “Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit” by Francis Chan.  I have been studying and learning about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit lately.

The publisher, Waterbrook-Multnomah is giving away 500 copies of Primal to bloggers who would review the book.  I would hardly call myself a blogger of any significance. However, I love books…and Mark Batterson books…and Batterson lived in SGF for a while in college…and I lived in SGF for a long time–and college too!  Anyway, a guy can hope for a free book, can’t he?

Amazon.com: Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity (9781601421319): Mark Batterson: Books.