Good books are not written by committees. While Blackaby and Willis, the amazingly prolific authors of the Experiencing God
books, are listed as the authors of this follow-up work, the introduction very honestly explains the process by which three other authors wrote the book from "sermons, Bible studies, conversations, transcripts and first drafts" written by Blackaby and Willis. The resulting book lacks the coherence and excellence of their earlier works, recycling a great deal of material and adding no impressive new insights. The authors' basic premise—that those who have experienced God should thereafter join in God's mission—is not terribly original. The life narratives of Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, Peter, Paul and John are pressed into a complicated schema so dry that very little life remains. Each figure is seen through the "Close-Up Perspective" of the seven realities of experiencing God, the "Wide-Angle Perspective" of "the seven spiritual markers that God uses with his people," the "180-degree Corporate Experience" of the seven spiritual markers and finally the "360-degree Eternal Perspective." Although the book claims that readers "will see the world from God's global perspective," its insights are merely repetitious rewordings of earlier points. Diehard Blackaby fans will purchase the book based on its claims, but few will recommend it to others.(Jan.)
Forecast:The
Experiencing God study course has sold more than three million copies, making Blackaby and Willis household names in evangelical circles. This lackluster title, which will be promoted at CBA Expo in January, will undoubtedly find an audience, though it's unlikely to equal the sales of
Experiencing God.
