Book Review

I have a confession.  I go through cycles of devouring books for weeks and then spending several weeks reading practically nothing outside of the Bible.  Confessions of a Reformissional Rev. by Mark Driscoll is rather on the shortish side (just under 200 pages).  But do not let its brevity fool you, Driscoll packs a lot of content into such a short volume. 

 

I'm just going to come out and say this:  I am not only a fan of Marshill Church in Seattle, but as a young passionate pastor-teacher, I was jealous of their success for a long time.  I repented of this a long time ago but the fact remains… God uses cracked vessels (and praise His Name for that!)

 

One of the reasons the Lord has seen fit to bless the work at Marshill is their senior leader.  God is allowing Mark Driscoll to lead and influence an entire generation of conservative and passionate evangelical Christians.  The reason is simple:  Mark is a broken record.  He honestly believes in the Jesus of the Bible and is both passionately in love with his Savior and, at the same time, scared of offending his God and King.  Here is a short except from page 144:

 

In the end, I realized that every person, every dollar, and every other resource belonged to Jesus and that he did not give us those treasures to bury them.

 

This book, though peppered with less than appropriate jesting, details the short history of one of the fastest and influential churches in America.  Mark really lays his heart out for the world to see and I honestly believe that the church at large is better for it.  If you are a church planter, you need to read this book.  If you are an experienced pastor in an established church, you need to read this book.  If you find yourself somewhere in the middle… do yourself a favor and read this book.

 

As in normally the case with well written prose that honors the Lord, I am sorry to say that I only have two thumbs to put up in favor of this book.  But once you read it, there will be two more.

 

Shalom.