Today, I want to talk about Jen Hatmaker's revised and expanded INTERRUPTED. As a disclosure, I was one of 250 bloggers to receive a copy of her book to read and review. Opinions will be all mine. :)
Here's what the back of the book says:
Have you ever felt like you are completely missing the point?
Are you one of the millions who crave a new direction in the church, fed up with religious games, empty promises, and cultural Christianity? You are not alone You are not crazy. Maybe Jesus is ready to interrupt your life.
In 7, Jen Hatmaker and her family started an experimental mutiny against excess. Interrupted is the prequel, the story before the story - when God stepped into their comfortable faith and called them to join Him in something greater. Walk with Jen into a transfomrational journey that began with one dangerous prayer: "Raise up in me a holy passion," and concluded with a life of service to the last, the least, the forgotten, and the forsaken. Transparent and imperfect, Jen will engage and inspire you to go beyond comfortable and answer for yourself the question she faced: is there more to faith than just safe and sequestered, predictable and boring?
God is moving and stirring our generation. Are you ready?
I started this book last week, and devoured the first two sections. And then I put it down, because I feared what the book's call to action might be. But that part of it never really showed up. Let me try to explain. :)
The first part of the book, Jen talks about how she and her husband were on their way up the comfortable Christian ladder. I think anyone who grew up in the church in the last 30 years, especially, knows what she's talking about: knowing the right things to say, knowing how to talk the talk and walk the walk and wear the T-shirt. Her husband, Brandon, was on staff with a growing church. They were making a good living, both ministering to the flock, but underneath it all was the "Isn't there more to it than this? I'm just not feeling FILLED." And so, Jen asked God, "God, raise up in me a holy passion."
Have you ever noticed that God's just WAITING for you to ask Him something like that? :D
The second half of the book talks about how our concept of church needs to change to reach the postmodern person in America. It talks about doing missional work where we live. It talks about how Brandon and Jen and Austin New Church all started, and there's a LOT of great information in here.
Jen writes the same way in her book as she does her blog (jenhatmaker.com), with a lot of love, a tiny bit of sarcasm, and a little flow-of-consciousness. :) She has SO much passion for this book, and for its themes. I, too, have been trying to find out how to live more as Jesus would. I think the best thing about this book is that Jen is honest in showing the steps she and Brandon went through - from asking the questions to how they walk it out. And perhaps, no matter how much *I* want it, the greatest things she's done in the book is NOT give us a checklist to work from on how to accomplish living a missional life. (And that is where the "call to action" became different from what I wanted/feared!!)
I really recommend you read Jen's blog post about Interrupted if I haven't convinced you to read it.
And to one person, I will send you a copy straight from Amazon.com! Just enter the Rafflecopter below. :) Have a wonderful day, my friend! Be BLESSED!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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