Our generation needs a reformation.
But a single person won’t lead it.
A single event won’t define it.
Our reformation will be a movement of reformers living creatively, compassionately, courageously for the cause of Christ.
 
This reformation will not be born of a new discovery.  It will be the rediscovery of something old, something ancient. 
 
Something primal.
 
—Mark Batterson, Primal

Have you ever read a book that just makes you stop? Stop the madness of church activity, leading, planning, etc. The book I’ve been reading the last few days named Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity by Mark Batterson made me do just that. That alone is an accomplishment because not many books have that effect on me. I need books that either wow me or slap me because of the reality of what I need to be thinking/acting/doing. This book kind of did both to me. For that I give Mark a high five!

What makes this even more interesting to me was that I was featured with Mark in Rev. Magazine a few years ago as pastors who “blog” when we both kind of started out in pastoring. Since then I’ve always tracked him to see what he is up to and obviously Mark has “blown up” so to speak and has gone on to be a noted figure in the faith-based world especially in church planting. Bottomline, I was honored to be in his company even if it was only in print media!

I have also read one of his other books “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” so I was happy to read that he was working on Primal and after reading it I have to say I like this guy even more, I would love to meet him one day!

Now to get to the book…

1. I liked the title of the book and made me pause because I do feel that something has been lost in Christianity. Some people think it is the “spiritiual gifts”, others believe its the way “we do church” but Mark suggests in his book that its the fact that Christians have lost their way and have lost their first love. I love the way he put what our primal problem is “It goes without saying that Christianity has a perception problem. At the heart of the problem is the simple fact that Christians are more known for what we’re against that what we’re for.”

2. I liked the way it flows. Reading Primal is like having Mark over for coffee and he’s just sharing his heart and his travel adventures and how they related to his spiritual walk.

3.  It’s just the right amount of pages. With only 167 pages you could read it in a week.  Faster if you have uninterrupted time on your hands.

4. Format of book: The book is divided into four parts: 1) The Heart of Christianity; 2) The Soul of Christianity; 3) The Mind of Christianity; 4) The Strength of Christianity.

5. My reaction to some key highlights of the book:When I began reading the book I was afraid I was not going to like it. Mark takes us back to early Christianity and the catacombs (I never was a big history buff) but he then reminds us that there was a time where serving and worshipping God was not so complicated, I mean when we knuckleheaded Christians didn’t complicate things so much. Mark reminds us that for God its really as simple as this one commandment: Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.Mark shares (on pg 7) how 20-somethings who grew up in the church are leaving the church and how our first thought would probably be “what is wrong with this generation?” but he goes on to say that that is the wrong question, the right question is “what’s wrong with the church?” And his answer? “We’re not great at the Great Commandment. In too many instances, we’re not even good at it.” Ouch! [First slap to Liz]

• One of the key themes throughout the book was  Re.

Mark challenges us that the quest for the lost soul of Christianity involves us1.      Rediscovering “what it means to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength”2.      Returning “to the primal place where God loved you and you loved God”3.      Reacting right because “it’s much easier to ‘act’ like a Christian than it is to ‘react’ like one” [Second slap to Liz]

In the first part of the book, there is a chapter called “Tribe of the Transplanted” a reference to the new heart “we are supposed” to get one made of flesh versus stone when we come to KNOW God, Mark reminds us that one act of compassion can change history…not just our history, world history. He retells the story of Joseph and how his simple act of compassion while in prison got him noticed by a cupbearer who NOW knew Joseph could interpret dreams and that simple relational link connected him to the Pharaoh later on and the rest is well…history. So this part of the book challenges us to keep in mind that every little thing we do yes, whatever we view as little could have major impact to someone but that someone could know someone who knows someone that could be the anchor to YOUR destiny fulfillment.

I could go on and on about the fantastic illustrations Mark used in his book to bring a message home for us. My personal favorites were his 93 year old friend who made God his “senior partner” (p. 33) making a reference to how when we make God the first priority he blesses our efforts, the island of the colorblind (p.58) making a tie between colorblind people who live on an island with amazing color filled life and the travesty that they could not enjoy it while living there and how that could be us Christians how we can take everything we have available to us for granted or even worse, that we could be just as blind to the wonder and miracles around us all the time. [slap, slap]

I think Primal is a great book to get even before the year is up so you can reflect on how your new year is going to be different and it’s a must read to begin in 2010. Everyone needs to read this book but I especially encourage  leaders/pastors to read it because if we are honest-we are the first ones to be about Kingdom business and forget the awe of the King.  We need to go back. We need to re-mind ourselves of that PRIMAL encounter with the King of King and Lord of Lords.

This book provided for review by Random House. Buy it here.