Reading the Bible As If Jesus Mattered…

Every once in a while I will get asked by a publisher to endorse a book. A few months ago, Cascadia Publishers reached out to me about endorsing a new book by Duane Beachey, a Mennonite Pastor from Kentucky titled Reading the Bible as if Jesus Mattered. When I received the manuscript of the book for review, I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. As I began reading through the chapters of this book, I was struck by how truly accessible Beacheys writing was and how his approach to re-reading the Bible through the hermeneutical lens of Jesus so deeply resonated with my own evolving relationship with the Bible. Though Duane Beachey is a couple of decades older than me, his message resonates deeply with me as a millennial and his book directly addresses so many of the issues that young Evangelicals are wrestling through in relation to the Bible. After reading through the manuscript, I was happy to whole-heartedly endorse this work. Here’s what I said:

“Reading the Bible as if Jesus Mattered is one of the most accessible and powerful manifestos on what it means to be a faithful, biblically grounded disciple of Jesus that I have ever read. Beachey approaches the Scriptures with Jesus as his interpretive lens and paints a stunning picture of what true Christianity should look like. This book is a must read for all followers of Christ, no matter where you fall on the theological spectrum, and will inspire you to commit yourself again to the way of Jesus, the liberating Prince of Peace.”

–Brandan Robertson, founder, The Revangelical Movement (www.revangelicalmovement.com)

Last week, I had the privilege of sitting down with Duane over breakfast at the Wild Goose Festival and was immensely blessed by his humility and insights. Brother Duane is a wonderful witness to the love of Jesus and he embodies the message of the Gospel both in his writing and in his interactions. It was truly a blessing to get to know him personally.

Now, the Christian publishing world is pretty ruthless. Duane didn’t publish his book with one of the major evangelical presses and he doesn’t have the social media clout that so many other authors and public figures have. But his book is important and his message really needs to get out. So I want to encourage you to please head on over to Amazon (click here) and pre-order a copy of Reading the Bible as if Jesus Mattered. The book will be officially released at the end of July. Once you have a chance to read the book, I hope you’ll consider heading over to Amazon and writing a review as well. This will greatly help the sales and publicity of the book.

Please understand that I am not just shamelessly promoting this book- I really believe that this is one of “the most accessible and powerful manifestos on what it means to be a faithful, biblically grounded disciple of Jesus that I have ever read.” I really believe that the faith of many evangelicals will be strengthened as they read this concise and straight-forward book. So I really hope that you’ll head over to Amazon and pre-order your copy today. You won’t regret it! 🙂