Book Recommendation: Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God

Larry Osborne delivers straight-forward talk on real life discipleship and offers painful, practical, and sometimes controversial ideas for how the church can do a better job helping people grow in their relationship with Jesus.

Title: Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God: Spirituality for the Rest of Us
Author: Larry Osborne, pastor of North Coast Church
Reader Target: Discipleship pastors, key leaders
Page Count:220
Exploring Further:Check out Larry's blog, Larry Osborne Live

Heather's Reflections
Larry hooked me on page 2 of the first chapter with the statement, "God wants a great relationship with all of us, but it can't be found in a one-size-fits-all approach." By page 3, I was more than hooked; I took the line and sinker as well: "I noticed that almost all the books on spirituality and the inner life were written by introverts-- smart ones at that. I got the distinct impression that God was somehow partial to reflective types with high IQs, impressive vocabularies, and lots of self-discipline. And that left a lot of us looking in."

Yes. This is a book for me personally! And for any of us that are creating environments that nurture spiritual growth, it provides us with a new way of looking at the rhythms and patterns of the Willards, Fosters, Ortbergs, and Bartons-- a new way for people who are extroverted, slightly ADD, busy, or just...normal.

There are parts of this book that I agree with wholeheartedly, parts I disagree with fairly strongly, and lots of stuff that's god me thinking.

I love some of the myths he debunks and practices he questions- the allure and illusion of "balance," the inadequacy of "accountability groups," the empty promises of "spiritual disciplines." If you are in a position of creating spiritual growth environments for people, I recommend this book!