If I lose sight of Jesus, I lose sight of everything. 
All I want to be known for in this life is loving Jesus and sharing His love with the world.
I want my wife and daughter to be passionately in love with Jesus.  
I want my church to be unbelievably hopeless without Jesus.
I never want to rely on any strength of my own, I want only to rest in the love of Jesus.  

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION
It’s time to leave the leadership obsession behind. It’s never been about leading.

“Leadership” has become a runaway obsession for those who are called to equip the body of Christ for service in the Kingdom of God. The concept of “followership” is all but lost in the wake of this leadership fetish, a near hypnotic obsession. Jesus’ clear call, and the pattern of New Testament leadership, are actually found in a pattern of followership. We’ve been told otherwise but when it comes to a movement in our churches, our families, or the workplace, everything rises or falls on followership. Sweet proposes an intentional shift from leadership cults to followership cultures. He critiques the issue of leadership obsession but focuses on reigniting a passion for the “follow me” theme found throughout the gospels and the entire New Testament. Building on a set of metaphors/images, he stirs the imagination by showing what it means to be a follower of Christ and explains the vital cog that followership and the first follower play in helping others enter into the Kingdom of God.

I Am A Follower moves readers:

—from leaders that are over to followers that are among

—from sages and gurus to scouts and guides

—from Saul’s armor to David’s sling

—from having the right answers to asking the right questions

—from architects to gardeners

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I Am A Follower is a challenging book. Leonard Sweet challenge the idea in the modern church that “leadership” is a key paradigm in how we should think. He believes that we need to shift out of “leadership” and into “followership”. Followership stems from the idea that we follow Jesus first. He is our first love and above all else we should look to Him for our guidance, strength, wisdom etc. 

Some might argue that it’s semantics. They would look at references like “follow me as I follow Christ.” and call that leadership. And it very well may be. However, there is something mentally to the idea of shifting things around from leadership (I must lead, everything rises and falls on me.) - to followership (I must follower Jesus, everything rises and falls on Him.).

A wise pastor once  said, “If God were to die tomorrow, what would look different about your life? Are you saying you believe in God but living like you don’t need him?” I believe that gives us the fundamental shift to followership. Leadership can rest on my shoulders without Christ. Followership cannot.

I Am A Follower at the very least challenges the leadership paradigm in the church that has not been challenged at all. I think it’s good to question what we do and why we do it. The church should never get caught up in “that’s how we’ve always done it”. The church should be the most innovative and creative source in the world. That comes with putting priority on Jesus. That comes with followership.  

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

It doesn’t take long to figure out that John Crowder runs in some pretty charismatic circles. Just from reading the back cover and introduction to Mystic Union, phrases like “the happy gospel of grace”, “drinking in the joy of Union”, and “cheer you up” make me nervous. I begin thinking of prosperity and “self-help gospels” even though the book says it will free from those types of theologies. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love my charismatic brothers and sisters. Growing up I went multiple times to a Church of God youth group with some friends from my home town. I loved the energetic worship and openness of how they felt towards God. Looking back the things that I got very caught up in with the charismatic movement, during my high school years, I can mark up to emotionalism. So I get very cautious around charismatic speakers and teachers. It’s just me. 

Mystical Union is a book about grace and forgiveness. I appreciate the main though which is that many people feel that they are never truly forgiven. They don’t understand the fullness of the grace of God and the work of the cross to cover their sins. So they spend week after week down at the altar of their church confessing their sins and asking for salvation again and again. 

Jesus death on the cross was payment for every sin we have committed or will commit. He took the punishment for all of them. While we should come to Christ in repentance when we fall or fail in an area, we don’t need to dwell on that area of sin. We can rest that Jesus forgives us fully. 

Mystical Union presents this thought well. I however disagree with some of John Crowder’s thoughts on how this grace connects. While I believe that we need not be burdened by our sin because of the forgiveness of Jesus, as part of our process of sanctification and becoming more like Christ; John Crowder believes that once we are believers that we no longer sin. 

I know that sounds crazy right… we no longer sin? John attempts to answer this question. “If I don’t have a sinful nature, why do I still sin? A) Maybe you’re an unbeliever. B) Maybe no one ever told you this.” So just to be clear I still struggle with sin and work out my salvation because no one ever told me I don’t sin anymore. So rest assured because I now know that I don’t sin. I won’t sin. 

So like I said I get the idea of the book. John doesn’t want us to miss the beauty of the work of the cross. I completely agree. We just disagree that the process of sanctification (becoming more like Jesus) is part of the grace of Jesus and that my struggles with the flesh daily make me more like Him.  

I honestly wouldn’t recommend Mystical Union. After reading it I think it can bring more confusion that hope to someone searching for a true grasp of the grace that comes from the work of the cross. 

This is the first book I’ve read by Ian Morgan Cron. I chose the book because the title sounded intriguing. I knew nothing of the author or the story before hand. This is one of the best books I’ve gotten from Booksneeze in a long time. Ian’s writing paints vivid imagery as he weaves his remarkable story of self discovery and hope for a future beyond any dark and storm past. Ian’s memoir reads like a parable that teaches in each chapter as it keeps the reader captivated and longing for more. The book reads similarly to Donald Miller’s, Searching For God Knows What and Blue Like Jazz - with a bit more of an endearing quality to it. While a highlight of the book entails the mystery behind Ian’s father’s under cover work with the CIA that falls as a footnote to the real story within these pages, the real story of life and the reader’s own self discovery through the story of Ian Cron.  

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Starting about 8 weeks ago, almost every Sunday I’ve been up in this room at the Wingate Hotel in Lynchburg, VA. I come up here as part of a 50 Days of Unbroken Prayer campaign to pray.
I checked in this morning and no one had been here since 2pm yesterday. It was the same thing the last time I came through. When I see that i get discouraged. I get discouraged about Christ-followers who don’t understand or care about the power of prayer. I feel saddened for this generation of Christ-followers who care only for a ticket out of Hell and nothing of a lifestyle of worshipping Jesus.

I think of Isaiah 65:65-7 “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed your watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent you who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalmen a praise in the earth.”

Where are the watchmen?
Where are those willing to pray day and night for their cities and towns in order for them to become a “praise in the earth” for th name of Jesus?
We are a wicked and selfish people.
We need a lesson in love management because when I look around I see that many of us only love ourselves.
Where are the Christ-followers who actually follow Jesus?
The ones who are uncompromising?

Do I fall into this category of Christ-follower?
Can someone look at my heart and, instead of selfish gain, see Jesus?