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More: Find Your Personal Calling and Live Life to the Fullest Measure by Todd Wilson

Among the spate of books devoted to the issue of calling and finding one’s place in life, Todd Wilson’s new book, More, is a welcome addition.  Todd, founder and director of Exponential, a national nonprofit designed to help leaders plant new churches, is no stranger to the whole host of issues surrounding calling.  The book is divided up into two major sections, the first one on foundations of calling and the second in discovering your calling.  What is so helpful in this book is Todd’s ability to capture the biblical and theological storyline that motivates the reader to situate his calling in the midst of God’s work.  Further, the focus is not on the individual hopes of finding a calling and then pursuing it regardless of others, but rather a calling that is in every way shaped by the church, including seeking to bless others in small ways.

Todd helps the reader engage the major questions of life around three central questions: Who am I created to Be?  What am I created to Do? And Where am I created to Go?  (89).  These questions flesh out identity, purpose, and position. In other words, our position does not define our identity nor does our purpose give us an identity marker, but our place in God’s story forms the foundation for all that comes afterward.  One of the helpful ways that Todd guides along the meaning of our core identity in relationship to our purpose and position is by looking at one of the gospel accounts in which Jesus acts in specific ways.  Why is this important?  For one, if we are to pattern our lives around Jesus, being a follower of Him, we have to know his essential attributes and actions (110-112). 

Lastly, the heart of Todd’s message comes clear in the chapter on My Core Position.  He writes, “We are missionaries to our children and spouses regardless of where they are spiritually (135).”  There is not a certificate that we can earn to become a professional disciple or evangelist, but much of sharing our lives with others culminates in our closes relationships being radically affected.  Think of how many people reject the church and Jesus in the midst of godly homes but later come back to their families at a later date, humbled by the good news.

I believe this book holds together two aspects that are crucial in any literature on calling; namely, the emphasis on the God who calls us and the role that disciples have in living out the good news in many simple yet profound ways. 

Thanks to BookLookBloggers and Zondervan for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.