You Have Got To Read This Book

Last September I had the privilege of meeting Mark Driscoll, lead pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. (They have a podcast—I would highly recommend it!) It was an awesome experience to meet with this guy for two reasons…#1, he is the real deal, what you see (and hear) is what you get—he’s not a “Christian all-star celebrity”...and #2, I had been listening to his messages on-line for so long—it was cool to discover that this dude really did exist.

Mark has written a couple of books—but the one I want to talk about is his latest one, “Confessions of a Reformission Rev.” I know I say this a lot—but if you are a pastor—or you love and care for one—you have GOT TO READ THIS BOOK!!! (Here is the link if you want to order it!)

If you have ever listened to Mark preach then you know he is honest and straightforward. This guys main concern is not making sure people are happy and church politics—he preaches from the Bible and all he talks about is Jesus—which is an awesome thing.

Mark is VERY transparent in this book about his struggles as a pastor. Let me say this—if you are considering going into the ministry…READ THIS BOOK! Mark tells you some things that seminary will not teach you. He speaks of the sexual temptation, burnout, struggles in his marriage, satanic attacks—I am serious folks—it is intense!!!

(Let me just say that I agree with Jonathan that one of the best parts of the book is when he talks about a time when he had “the runs” and decided to preach anyway…and then 15 minutes into his message he crapped his pants! I won’t tell you the rest—you’ve got to read it for yourself—and you will laugh out loud!!!)

I have serious ADD…and so I made the decision about a year ago that if a book did not captivate my attention in the first three chapters that I was not going to read it. Mark definitely had my attention…and he kept it throughout the book. It is an easy read—but please don’t take that as meaning it is not challenging. I have plans on reading it again and possibly taking my lead team through it together.

People always ask me when they read a book that I recommend, “Did you agree with everything in the book?” The answer is always no; however, in this book the issues that I disagree with Mark on are merely a personal preference or two…and I will not elaborate any further. One of the problems with Christians today I feel is that we claim to love Jesus…but we will get mad at people when they don’t think and act exactly like us! Mark is in love with Jesus and is reaching people in Seattle—which by defalt means that he gets to drink Starbucks coffee—which makes me very jealous!!!

Let me share two of my favorite quotes with you from the book…

#1 - In regards to what he discovered when visiting other churches…and the disappointment he faced…

“The woman pastor of this church, wearing a very nice, flowing, cutting-edge-of-the-1536 robe, talked about rainbows for twenty minutes while sixty or so very old people who were former classmates of Noah and eyewitnesses to the covenant rainbow sat scattered among one thousand seats or so and napped in Jesus’ name. Between her sermonette, the written literature I picked up told me how to bequeath my estate to the church when I die, and looking around the room at the equilevent of a Viagra before-photo of lifeless geriatrics. I truly could not discern why that church existed. The closest I came to finding someone with a mission was the children’s pastor, namely the meek husband of the senior pastor in pumps, who said his goal was to make his wife happy, which made me very sad.”

#2 - In regards to challenging men to become men!!!

“Things were starting to get out of hand with the men, so I called a meeting and demanded that all of the men in our church attend. I preached for more than two hours about manhood and basically gave the dad talk to my men for looking at porno, sleeping with young women, not serving Christ, not working hard at their jobs, and so on. I demanded that the men who were with me on our mission to change the city stay and that the rest leave the church and stop getting in the way because you can’t charge hell with your pants around your ankles, a bottle of lotion in one hand, and a Kleenex in the other.”

I could list more…but you’ve got to read it for yourself—excellent read!