Book Review: Jesus Culture by Banning Liebscher
In a sentence, Jesus Culture by Banning Liebscher is a great book that I would recommend have recommended. This is actually the first book I held up in front of The Mission and told people to buy. That being said, here are some of my thoughts on the positive and negative side.
The book is well written and well edited. I have been reading a handful of self-published books and you can always tell the difference between a book that has been published by a major print and one that has not. This book has been professionally done. I pray the Lord Jesus that when I am ready to publish I don’t have to go the self publish route so someone other than folks I personally know will fully embrace it.
One of the things I really enjoyed about the book is its focus on the basics. Folks need elders, they need a church, they need to get wise counsel and submit to it even when they don’t like it. Too many young ministers are falling off because they had their pride stoked by a conference speaker. Banning is no conference speaker. He is a part of a healthy fellowship and it shows.
Also, Banning is anointed and it comes through in this book. If you have a Holy Ghost dream in your heart there is an anointing on this book to make you believe that you can attain it, move toward it, and make concrete steps to see it come to pass. Banning strives to stoke the flames of revivalists in this day who will rise up and believe God for the impossible.
That being said, its always a little difficult to hear folks talk about doing great exploits for Christ when they are associates on the staff of a mega church. I have left mega churches twice to church plant. Ministry gets exponentially harder when you are not spending someone elses money and have a 1000 seat sanctuary at your disposal, let alone the support staff, spiritual momentum, name recognition, etc.
If I were him I would be whispering in Kim Walker’s and Chris Quilala’s ear, “pssst, lets go take over San Fran! It’s ours for the taking!”
That being said, I think it is going to be fun to watch Banning blossom on the world stage. No doubt God will move him to start his own work and because of his faithful service in Redding he will be blessed as he does it. It is my hope that he continues to put out balanced, anointed books like this one. If you have not read it, go buy it now.
