PASS: I Am A Follower by Leonard Sweet

I Am A Follower by Leonard Sweet is a book about following Jesus Christ by becoming Christ-like, instead of wanting our own self-glory and trying to all become and create leaders using the worldly CEO-corporate-secular business model of success. Sweet tells us that church should not be deemed a success based on numbers, tithe, etc but based on christ-likeness and brotherhood of believers. This is a good solid message.

This book has some REALLY good parts: especially pages 40-90. My favorite quote from the book is:

If the primary relationships of our church members lie in their relationship to the church en masse rather than in life-on-life connections with one another, then we have missed the sweet spot. We have attracted a congregation, but we have not developed a "Christbody" community. Pg 85

I would love to recommend the book based on these pages alone, but the rest of the book is dry, painful and I couldn't find any value in it. Once you hit the middle of the book, the rest of the book after page 90 is difficult to find anything meaningful. This is supposed to be the practical - how to apply this to your life part. However, it comes across that the author doesn't really know how to apply it, doesn't live it or just has a difficult time explaining to his readers how to apply.

After finishing the book, I came away not sure of Leonard Sweet's own theological beliefs, but he seemed to lean liberal/Arminianist. I Googled him and learned he is a Methodist clergyman. Sweet quotes all types of believers, even though they hold some different and opposing theologies. This makes it seem like the author doesn't have one solid theological point of view himself. On the conservative side, he quotes St Augustine. In the middle to liberal side, he quotes: Thomas Aquinas, CS Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, the Catholic Thomas Merton and Methodists Charles Wesley and Sydney Carter. He also quotes Pentecostal Jack Hayford. But then on the extreme liberal side, he quotes Word of Faith (who some would call "cultic") Joyce Meyer and John Wimbler (Third Wave, Vineyard Church). Others he quotes: Nelson Mandela, William Cushing, Rusty Ricketson, Barbara Kellerman, Travis Keller, Hugh Halter, Frederick Buechner, and Roger Scruton.

Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am not required to give a positive review in exchange for the book. This is my critical review of the book as if I had bought the book with my hard earned money.