Make This Your First Read Of The New Year!

Mark Batterson (Lead Pastor At National Community Church in Washington D.C.) invites us to join the next great Reformation in his newest book Primal. Echoing the thoughts of Rick Warren, Batterson reminds us that the coming Reformation will not be one of creeds but of deeds. The rallying cry of this Reformation will not be "sola fide" but rather "Amo Dei" translation "Love God."

Taking the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30)as his reference point, Batterson leads the reader down into the catacombs to find the very heart and soul of our faith. The journey is a rewarding one as he scrapes away some of the cultural and historical crud that have caused us to lose sight of what it really means to love God with everything we are.

Batterson reimages the Great Commandment call to "love with all our heart, soul, mind and strength," with the rich categories of compassion, wonder, curiosity and power. The book is organized around these thoughts in easy to read, yet hard to forget nuggets of truth. His illustrations drawn from the natural sciences, the world of psychology and popular culture illuminate the ancient words of Scripture with a new force and vitality that draws us back, not away from what he calls the "lost soul of Christianity."

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about loving God and loving one's neighbor. Batterson's clarion call has the real potential to spark a movement that could transform our culture and our world.

You can purchase a copy here.

Disclaimer: I received this book as part of the blogging program from Waterbrook-Multnomah. That in no way has influenced my opinion of Primal.