Francis Chan...Getting Back to the Basics by Tony C

Hope everyone had a Spirit-filled weekend of worship for an almighty God! This week the writers of Kingdom Bloggers are sharing our favorite contemporary book or author. Since we don't collaborate on our post other than sharing a common weekly theme, it should be interesting to see if any of us cross paths when it comes to this subject matter.


I would be remiss not to mention the impact that C.S. Lewis has had on my faith. Mere Christianity changed the very manner in which I think about my beliefs and started me on a quest to learn as much about apologetics as I possibly could learn.

However, my choice for this weeks topic is actually Francis Chan.

I've read two of Chan's books, Crazy Love and Erasing Hell, and his latest Multiply is in queue to read sometime this Spring. I enjoy his simplistic writing style and back-to-basics approach to key issue in the Christian faith.

To be completely transparent, I wasn't overly impressed with Crazy Love after first reading the book several years ago, but that wasn't a very fair initial reaction. I read the book during somewhat of a 'feeding-frenzy' for biblical commentary to try to satisfy a hunger for deeper theological context. Chan's book are not that, but he doesn't promote them as such either.

I've heard my new pastor (as of January 6) say several times from the pulpit that sometimes we make this thing called Christianity 'just too complicated.' He's right. If Jesus is to be the model for our ministry as we work for the Kingdom, I believe Chan gets that. His books are written in a language that's easily digested for either the non-believer or newcomer to the faith while challenging to the dogma that often starts clouding the clarity of the Good News for the long-time follower.

Francis Chan's books are excellent for age groups starting with teenager and going through the golden seniors of our churches. Both of the books I've read are perfect for opening dialogue and discussion. More importantly, Chan is true to the Bible on his subject matters while not watering down a point for the sake of compromise or political correctness.

If you're looking for a good read concerning the Christian faith, I don't think you can go wrong with Crazy Love. Just be sure to approach the book for what Chan intended. You will be blessed.