Book Review: Kingdom Journeys by Seth Barnes

I’ve promoted Kingdom Journeys on my blog the past few weeks as part of the Launch Team for this new book by Seth Barnes.  I have finally finished reading the book, and I thought I should share some of my thoughts.

Kingdom Journeys is a call to action.  It’s about encouraging Christians to follow the example laid out in Luke 10 where disciples were sent out on kingdom journeys with little more than the clothes on their back and the shoes on their feet.  In Kingdom Journeys, Seth Barnes provides evidence that kingdom journeys are actually a lost spiritual discipline that Christians need to rediscover.

Throughout the book, Barnes weaves in teaching with stories from his own experiences and from the experiences of those who have embarked on their own kingdom journeys through his missions organization, Adventures in Missions.  The stories restlessness, abandonment, brokenness, and dependence stir the reader to consider how they are living and where they are serving.  The book will inspire you to think again about the importance of going out on your own kingdom journey.

In a way, I felt like I was being spoken to from two angles.  The book is clearly written to young adults who are at a crossroads of education and career.  In some parts of the book, I wondered if I was too old to be reading the book.  Having just come back from an Adventures in Missions trip to Guatemala this summer, I realized that Seth Barnes was speaking to me.  I’m still young!  From the other angle, I realized that I have an important role as an apparent and “older” adult.  It’s my responsibility to release by kids and to help other young people as they follow their own kingdom journeys.

Kingdom Journeys definitely stretched me.  It came at a great time in my own processing as I continue to process my journey to Guatemala and as I consider future kingdom journeys.  It also came as a great follow-up to Wrecked by Jeff Goins and Love Does by Bob Goff.

I would give Kingdom Journeys five stretch marks out of five.  And I would definitely recommend this book to young adults and grown-ups alike.

When was your last kingdom journey?  What’s holding you back from taking a kingdom journey of your own?

Note:  Kingdom Journeys was given to me as part of the launch team for this new book.  I was not required to write a positive review for the book or to give it a glowing recommendation.

(Please note:  There are affiliate links in this post.  Should you purchase Kingdom Journeys (or Wrecked or Love Does) by clicking one of these links, I receive a small percentage of the purchase.  These funds are used to support The Stretched Blog and to extend ministry and missions to Guatemala.  Thank you!)

Marriage, Missions, and Marlins

It’s the weekend, and I just wanted to let you know about three cool things.

Marriage

I posted about this at the beginning of the month, but I wanted to give you a little reminder.  What ever stage or state your marriage is in, it could always use a little extra.  Family Life has teamed up with The Stretched Blog to offer a discounted rate for Stretched readers.  Simply go to the Family Life Weekend to Remember site, and register using the group code:  STRETCHED.  This will give you a significant discount on the normal rate of this conference.  Check out my original post for more details.

Missions

Today is the last day that you can pick up a free electronic copy of a new book by Seth Barnes.  Simple go to Amazon.com and search for Kingdom Journeys (Kindle Edition).  The offer is gone at the end of the day today.  For a chance to win a hard copy of the book, see my post from earlier this week.  I’ll be picking a winner early next week, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to pick up a great new book.  The book itself has a missions emphasis, but it’s about so much more than missions as you and I typically think about it.

Marlins

Don’t misunderstand me on this one, I’m a huge Phillies fan which would typically put me at odds with the Marlins.  But I have a very small place in my heart for the Marlins after reading about this story on the POTSC blog this week.  Check out this video, and I think you’ll see why:

Do you have anything that starts with the letter “M” that deserves a mention?

WIN a New Book: Kingdom Journeys by Seth Barnes

I have the privilege of being part of the launch team for a brand new book by Seth Barnes.  Kingdom Journeys is all about encountering God through the spiritual discipline of journeys.  As the president of Adventures in Missions, Barnes is obviously coming from a perspective that encourages missions, but Barnes also implies that kingdom journeys could simply be about going to places we need to, but don’t want to go.

Please go check out this book.  Buy a copy of the book today.  Discover what it means to take kingdom journeys.

Today, I’m excited to announce that I will be giving away a copy of Kingdom Journeys to one lucky winner.  In order to win, you must do the following:

1.  Share the following on Twitter and/or Facebook:  Win a copy of Kingdom Journey by @SethBarnes! Stop by Jon Stolpe Stretched to learn more – http://ow.ly/dZZts

2.  Leave a comment here indicating you did step 1 and answering the following question:  What journey have you most recently taken?

Where Is Your Xenacoj?

The last couple of weeks have been filled with posts recounting my trip to Guatemala where I served with a team of students and leaders in the town of Xenacoj.  I certainly don’t mean to bore you with details of my trip.  Writing about this trip has simply been a way for me to hang onto the things I saw, heard, and learned during this life changing adventure.  I’ll continue to post about this adventure from time to time, but I’ll spread it out from here on (at least for the time being).

Before I turn to other STRETCH topics, I thought it would be good to share some pictures of the people we served while we were in Xenacoj.  The people of Xenacoj are beautiful people.  They live a much simpler life than we do here in the United States.  They know how to pace themselves.  They don’t ever seem to be in a hurry.  They smile.  They say hello (our Buenos Dias!).

We came to share the love of Christ with the people of this small town in Guatemala.  I believe we did that, but we gained so much more.  We gained a new appreciation for life and for what is important in life.  We discovered that sharing Christ with others isn’t about speaking the same language.  It’s so much more about living it out in action and about humbly offering oneself to help, to pray, and to be present.

It’s been more than two weeks since our team returned home.  The students on our trip are getting ready for a new school year.  The leaders have settled back into their normal home and work routines.  How has this trip changed our lives?  I often ponder this question to myself.  I don’t want the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and memories of this trip to be a waste.  I want to use them in my own life to be a catalyst for continued transformation.

One direction that my thoughts often go back to is a simple question:  Where is my Xenacoj?  Where is God calling me?  How am I serving those around me?  How am I keeping my ears, my mind, and my heart open to God’s voice?  I have certainly been inspired to return to overseas missions in some form – maybe even to Xenacoj someday.  But I also realize that Xenacoj is right around me.  God has strategically placed me and my family in Schwenksville, PA – at Christ’s Church of the Valley – at Siemens – in the Perkiomen Valley School District – for a reason.  This is my Xenacoj!

Where is your Xenacoj?  Where is God calling you to serve?  How are you answering that calling?

The Stretched Blog Visits Living Better Stories

Today is an exciting day here on The Stretched Blog.  I have the privilege of guest posting over at Jeremy Statton’s blog (Living Better Stories) today.  My post titled Rediscovering My Dreams shares some of my journey and thoughts regarding overseas missions.  Here’s an excerpt to get you started:

It was almost two years ago that my wife and I were making final preparations for the missions trip of a lifetime to Nairobi, Kenya.

A Painful Death

As we finalized our packing list and visited the doctors for our final immunizations, the wheels began to fall off our plans. My wife was starting to deal with significant anxiety issues and her health began to deteriorate. We wrestled with a decision we dreaded.

Should we go on this trip and risk health problems in an unfamiliar country? Or should we cancel the trip and miss out on this adventure?

[To read the rest, click here.]

Please head over to read the rest of the post.  Also, check out the rest of Jeremy’s blog, and sign-up to become one of his regular readers.

As I mentioned earlier, Kevin Haggerty is guest posting here today.  Check out his post titled Learning To Count To Five by clicking here.