Book Recommendation: Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

Rob Bell is my hero. I saw him at his last Everything is Spiritual show in December and I've been listening to his Mars Hill teachings online a lot lately. I love this guy.

For those who don't know, Rob Bell is the teacher at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan. I attended Mars Hill twice last Summer, but he was on tour with Everything is Spiritual at that time, so I still haven't been able to experience the visual aspect of his teachings yet. I'd like to sometime soon, though.

Bell is an excellent and charismatic teacher with a lot of theological knowledge. But it's practical knowledge, not just the intellectual stuff that gets people on a pedestal. Although Mars Hill has a congregation of about 10,000 and would be considered a "mega-church", what draws me to him and that place is the compassion and the heart that they have for their community. To Bell and Mars Hill, caring for people in need and sacrificing your time and services for them is much of what being a Christian is all about. The belief here is that evangelism is not just about telling people the message of Christ, it's about living it too.

Velvet Elvis mirrors a lot of this. I read this book as a once-a-week devotion and it never ceased to stir something within me. Bell highlights many different subjects from church doctrine to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus to the story of how Mars Hill got started. And through every subject in this book (and every weekly teaching as well), there is one common theme.

God is everywhere. He is involved in every aspect of our lives. He is that "something" that holds everything together, and he takes joy in being involved in our lives.

I used like Mars Hill because I thought it was emergent. Now I like it because I know that it's not. It's not anything. It's simply Christian. Bell isn't concerned with titles or status, in fact, he's pretty humble about his growing fame. He cares about what is real. He's constantly breaking through barriers of churchiness and traditionalism that has plagued Christianity for so long and shadowed the reality of what being a Christian really means. But at the same time, he rejects the bitterness toward these things, which is something I've been going through, personally. He loves God, and he loves people.

This book is awesome. I have never met a person who has read it that has said otherwise. I highly recommend reading it. Hopefully it will stir something up in you as well.