Hitting the book shelves of the bookstores and the market place on the Internet is Mark Batterson's book Wild Goose Chase. This is an awesome book to follow In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Mark's first book.
You can follow Wild Goose Chase and also see Mark's "10 Steps to Setting Life Goals" at www.chasethegoose.com.
BOOK REVIEW (of sorts)
I really enjoy Mark Batterson's style and find him easy to read and understand. At the same time I find myself challenged as a Christ follower and as a church leader. The reader is reminded that life is intended, from God, to be an adventure and not boring.
Mark talks about six cages that hold Christians back from being who God intends for us to be. They are: the cage of responsibility, the cage of routine, the cage of assumptions, the cage of guilt, the cage of failure, and the cage of fear. Each one opens up some pretty deep questions for us to think through and to get out of.
Maybe the greatest question for me in the book was one that we rarely ask but have to deal with. Do we cage Christians through our church? Or do we loose them to be on an adventure with God? Not an easy question. Not an easy answer either.
The situations in this book are great along with the stories that come directly from the pages of Scripture. Mark Batterson does a tremendous job of getting Christians to think about the lives we are living and the Wild Goose we may or may not be chasing. I would highly recommend Wild Goose Chase to church leaders. We have got to take our role as leaders seriously and stop putting our precious people in the proverbial cage. It is time to help those people around us head out on the adventure that will consume their lives and ours until Jesus returns.
"When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things? God wants to send us to dangerous places to do difficult things...So live with some good old-fashioned guts. Quit playing defense and start playing offense!" (pages 149 and 162)
Start chasing the Wild Goose with me and so many others.
Want to get a free copy of Wild Goose Chase? Comment on this blog with your thoughts on this brand new book after you go take look at www.chasethegoose.com (you have 12 hours from the time it is posted).
BUY THE BOOK AT ONE OF THESE RETAILERS
Summary of the book:
Most of us have no idea where we're going most of the time. Perfect.
"Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit–An Geadh-Glas, or 'the Wild Goose.' The name hints at mystery. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious, I cannot think of a better description of what it's like to follow the Spirit through life. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something….Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure." --from the introduction.
Author Bio:
Author Bio:
Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of Washington, DC's National Community Church, widely recognized as one of America's most innovative churches. NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the city, as well as in a church-owned coffee house near Union Station. More than seventy percent of NCC'ers are single twentysomethings who live or work on Capitol Hill. Mark is the author of the best-selling In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and a widely read blogger (www.markbatterson.com). He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Lora, and their three children.
Comments
I read the exerpt that is available and can't wait to read the book...whether I win the copy or not.
I think all churches will fall in the cage trap unless you are intentional about avoiding them. The six cages that Batterson identifies are things that EVERY Christian, every human, struggles with to different degrees and at different times.
For me personally, being trapped has an incredibly negative connotation and just the thought triggers the fight-or-flight reaction. Could it be that cages are one reason why the church as a whole has so much infighting?
I read the exerpt that is available and can't wait to read the book...whether I win the copy or not.
I think all churches will fall in the cage trap unless you are intentional about avoiding them. The six cages that Batterson identifies are things that EVERY Christian, every human, struggles with to different degrees and at different times.
For me personally, being trapped has an incredibly negative connotation and just the thought triggers the fight-or-flight reaction. Could it be that cages are one reason why the church as a whole has so much infighting?