I believe the first time I heard Max McLean was when the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible had first come out and I got sent a CD of this Max McLean fellow reading the ESV of Hebrews. You can give it a listen too:

I hadn’t heard much about him since then until today when I stumbled upon the Listener’s Bible website. I noticed some videos on the performance section of the site. I hit play on the Mark videos and again found myself mesmerized. Bellow is Max McLean performing the entire book of Mark.

If your experience is like mine then after a few chapters your going to wonder how you can support this. I’m going to pick up the DVD of the performance from Amazon myself.

I’m planning on including this in my family’s devotions starting tomorrow. I can’t wait to ask my kids “Did anything surprise you in that?” or “Why do you think Jesus was so mad at the Pharisees?” or “After seeing that, if someone asked you ‘What’s Jesus like?’ what would you say?”

Feel free to leave comments for feedback, bugs or feature requests. If you can come with an enhancement to YouVersion that I’d use then I’ll probably make it!

This is a book of truth. These Sketches are taken from real life. They are facts, not fancies. They are the experiences of some whom the author has known in the course of his ministry. He has not given to them an item of colouring. The only thing about them from which any erroneous impression can possibly arise, is to be found in the fact that they are only sketches, not containing all that could be given in respect to the individuals here mentioned. But they are believed to contain a fair and sufficiently full representation of each case.

The author has made this selection from the materials in his possession, on the principle of avoiding useless repetitions as much as possible, and on the principle of meeting some of the strange difficulties which sometimes trouble inquirers after salvation.

I didn’t know what to expect when I began reading a A Pastor’s Sketches by Ichabod Spencer. Out of the blue I was asked to review the book by a small publisher I had never heard of which was odd for two reasons: 1) I hadn’t updated my blog in months and 2) I would expect a publisher to want well written reviews of their books. I was also worried that if the book was bad I’d have to write a review saying as much, but in the end the lure of a free book was too much for me!

What I found though as I began reading the book was amazing. In fact I was weeping at the end of the first chapter. The book is a collection of conversations that Ichabod Spencer began putting to print in 1851 while pastoring in Brooklyn, New York. This was a time between the Second and Third Great Awakening in America and as such it was a unique period of time. It’s also written in an older, more proper, style of American English. Yet, the relevancy of the book was astonishing to me.

As I attempted to tell my friends of what I was reading three things kept coming to mind:

The Unique Style of the Book
I’ve read other books where there might be a snippet of a conversation here or there, but this book is an entire collection of private conversations between a pastor and his congregants. A quick word about the privacy issue: 1) The author states from the get go that he is fully convinced that he has anonymized the stories enough that no one will know who he is talking about, 2) They’re also dead at this time and 3) the purpose for sharing such conversations is excellent.

Many of us would like to know how to answer the seemingly infinite objections to Christianity or guide a confused soul through the rough waters of doubt. How else can you sit in and watch, what I would consider, a master do just that? It’s been a wonderful learn-by-example experience for me that would be close to impossible to find in another way (unless you bugged your pastor’s office – don’t do it!)

Also, the fact that the book is a collection of short stories is perfect for readers like me who like to jump around and sometimes only have time to read a short section.

The Scriptural Saturation of the Conversations
All great books should draw you to the greatest book of all. Ichabod’s responses are saturated with Scripture. Sometimes the majority of what he says in a conversation is just Scripture quotations. That might sound annoying at first, but well you just have to see him do it yourself. I long to be able to share Scripture as easily, as boldy, as appropriately to the situation as he does.

The Character of the Man
Ichabod Spencer, as far as I can tell, is not an astonishing man. It is just that though, his simplicity, which makes the conversations so amazing. Ichabod does not come to people with eloquent speech or powerful rhetoric. No, he comes boldly and humbly to people with the best that he has to offer: the Word of God. What you see when reading these conversations is the Word of God at work & bearing fruit and Ichabod as simply the vessel for it.

He isn’t brash or pushy. If someone doesn’t wish to speak on the topic of faith then Ichabod doesn’t wish to make them. If they are willing to though, he can’t help but be honest with them, sharing the truths of God in love without shame.

Where to Find It
After looking around I’ve found that the publisher, Solid Ground Christian Books, is the cheapest place to buy this two volume set (even used on Amazon was more expensive!) On their site you can also find additional information about the book and Ichabod himself.

Finally, You can listen to a reading of the book which was the featured mp3 at Sermon Audio just a few days ago:

What kind of love would seek to prevent or pervert justice? It’s very common for parents to blindly defend their children when they’ve committed grievous acts, but is that right of them? At the same time, if a parent does agree with the need for their children to be brought to justice and yet does so without any sadness something is also wrong.

In the end the idea that true love would seek to pervert or ignore injustices is a violation of love itself in that by denying someones responsibility to act justly you deny them the dignity that God bestows upon them as bearers of His image.

True love does call for justice, but not before calling the unjust to the God who loves them.

“For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”
-Ezekiel 18:32

Behold! The God of wrath and mercy in Christ takes on the one to provide the other!

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
-2 Corinthians 5:18-21

Shortly thereafter I read the book and loved it. We all need direction in our lives and Total Church provides it in some of the simplest of terms. If you’re a Christian and wondering or not if a book about “the church” would really provide direction for you, then you absolutely need to read it! The first three chapters are worth the $10 by themselves.

It’s also come to my attention that Veritas Community Church has created a free study guide! I’ve only flipped through it, but I can’t wait to dig into it later.

Also, check out the messages of Steves excellent talk at that Seattle boot camp and be sure not to miss the Q&A:

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3