Frank Peretti

Novelist Frank Peretti may be known for his tales of spiritual warfare, but the New York Times bestseller delivered a lighter rhetoric to the crowd at Liberty University Convocationon Monday, using a surprising amount of energy, humor, and silly voices to ignite conversation about the state of today’s church.

Peretti’s message unofficially kicked off Church Planting Emphasis Week at Liberty.

Johnnie Moore, Liberty’s vice president for executive projects who manages Convocation, said Peretti did not even know it was Church Planting Week but his message fit perfectly with the theme and was a great way to get things started.

“It is amazing the way the Holy Spirit works,” Moore said.

Peretti said the church has become more concerned with “the enterprise, with all the organization, all the customers and the executives and the technology, that we don’t have time to be focused on Jesus, really focused on Jesus.”

Peretti explained he grew up in the church and has seen how distractions come between people and God. He warned the students to be cautious of three things: task orientation, customer expectations, and technology.

Exploring his first warning, Peretti shared how the church in today’s culture has become viewed as an enterprise, laden with tasks. From whiteboards to worship teams, Sunday School to women’s tea, church is run like a business with members as its clients, he said.

He told a story about a ministry for inner-city youth in Nashville, Tenn., that was asked by some potential supporters what “the return” would be on their “investment.”

“There is a funny little thing going on in the church where the Gospel becomes kind of an ‘agenda,’” Peretti said. “We become so obsessed with getting people saved and fulfilling the mission that we don’t care about the people.”

With that he asked if it is about the numbers or about the people and their relationship with Jesus.

Once people have a relationship with Jesus, Peretti explained they are often weighed down with a “cloud of shame” because they fail to live up to “customer expectations,” the differing church sub-cultures that dictate how one is supposed to act in order to be called a Christian.

“We pride ourselves in being under grace, not under the law, and yet we lift up our own laws,” he said.

Peretti said rather than shame people for not meeting expectations, the church should “feed them Jesus,” because no one can live up to all the standards but Jesus transforms hearts and spurs real growth.

He warned that the church has become so immersed in buildings, staff, and budgets that we don’t know any other way to do it and added that technology may be used by people, but it also uses people.

He likened today’s church to the moneychangers in the temple who Jesus drove out with a whip because they had turned the Lord’s house into a den of thieves. Today, Peretti said, Jesus likely would just go into the basement and flip the breaker. Jesus cleansed the temple because people added so much to it, distorting its purpose.

“We Christians tend to look at our whole faith as what happens within the church building,” Peretti said. “Knock down the walls of the church building, take a look outside, all the rest of all creation belongs to the word of God, all of it is His.”

The biggest mistake we can make is telling Him the things that we do will define our walk with Him, Peretti said, concluding by asking what we would do if the power went out in our church.

After Convocation Peretti interacted with students and signed copies of his books, including his latest work, “Illusion.”

Peretti has been called “America’s hottest Christian novelist.” Though he is best known for his adrenaline-laced supernatural thrillers, Peretti has written 19 books of various sizes for differing audiences, including a best-selling children’s adventure series, and has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.

See the complete articel @ Liberty.edu

I just thought of a follow-up to my Advice to Would-Be Writers.  Dr. Ray Vath came up with these cool guidelines for life long, long ago, and I’ve always carried them around with me:

1) You have to fail in at least half the things you try or you’ll never know what you’re capable of.

The beginning rule is, TRY.  Then, expect to fail a time or two or maybe ten, who knows, but then will come that time when you do succeed and along with that will come a very satisfying self-knowledge you wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Also remember, it’s better to live with failure than regret.  It’s better to be able to say, “Well, I tried,” than to have to say, “I wonder what would have happened if I’d only tried?”

2) What’s worth doing is worth doing poorly.

I know, the old way of saying this is, What’s worth doing is worth doing well, but look at it this way:

When you first started learning to walk, did you sprint like a champion or did you stumble and look awkward?  When you first started learning, oh let’s say the guitar, did you sound terrible and take forever just to form a decent chord, or did you play like Eric Clapton or Andres Segovia?

What’s worth doing is worth doing poorly … and doing poorly … and doing poorly … until you finally catch on.  Give yourself time.

3)  Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes better.

You know what?  Being a perfectionist is more a matter of brittle ego than anything else and you’ll only go through your whole life angry and frustrated.  Besides, once you get something perfect, what’s left to strive for?  Naw, rejoice in anything you can do better today than you could do yesterday and look forward to doing it better tomorrow.  All of life is like that; your chosen craft or art should be the same.

I’ve lived by these little rules and they’ve made my life easier and better.  I think they’ll do the same for you.

Frank

ILLUSION made the New York Times Best Seller list this week! #24! Let’s keep it going, tell your friends about the book and encourage them to get their own copy to read (makes a great Spring Break reading option/gift).

Get your copy now:

ORDER AudioBook HERE:

ABOUT ‘ILLUSION’:

Dane and Mandy, a popular magic act for forty years, are tragically separated by a car wreck that claims Mandy’s life—or so everyone thinks. Even as Dane mourns and tries to rebuild his life without her, Mandy, supposedly dead, awakes in the present as the nineteen-year-old she was in 1970. Distraught and disoriented in what to her is the future, she is confined to a mental ward until she discovers a magical ability to pass invisibly through time and space to escape. Alone in a strange world, she uses her mysterious powers to eke out a living, performing magic on the streets and in a quaint coffee shop.

Hoping to discover an exciting new talent, Dane ventures into the coffee shop and is transfixed by the magic he sees, illusions that even he, a seasoned professional, cannot explain. But more than anything, he is emotionally devastated by this teenager who has never met him, doesn’t know him, is certainly not in love with him, but is in every respect identical to the young beauty he first met and married some forty years earlier.

They begin a furtive relationship as mentor and protégée, but even as Dane tries to sort out who she really is and she tries to understand why she is drawn to him, they are watched by secretive interests who not only possess the answers to Mandy’s powers and misplacement in time but also the roguish ability to decide what will become of her.

Frank Peretti has crafted a rich, rewarding story of love and life, loss and restoration, full of twists and mystery. Exceptionally well written, Illusion will soon prove another Peretti classic.

Okay, maybe it’s off the subject, but I can’t keep quiet about this.  I was out doing my book tour and flying across the country on various airlines, and during every flight the flight attendants made a big announcement about teaming up with some major bank to offer an exclusive credit card to the airline’s customers.  Oh, they offered thousands of frequent flyer miles and other perks to get you hooked and they went down the aisle passing out applications, and of course they made it look like they were doing us all a big favor, but friends, I must in good conscience remind you what credit cards are for.  They are dressed up like a big favor and convenience for you the consumer, but don’t be enticed by all that stuff.  If the banks and in this case, the airlines, weren’t making money off these things, they wouldn’t be offering them.

In a nutshell, this is why banks and businesses offer credit cards: They are counting on you carrying a balance on your card so that they can collect interest and fees from you, and all you have to do is look at the big skyscrapers and private jets the banks own and the millions of people hopelessly in debt across this country to see for  yourself that their plan is working.  As a matter of fact, the banks prefer issuing credit cards to the people who are least likely to pay them off so that they can leech interest and fees and penalties from these people … well, forever, for the rest of their lives if possible.  Credit cards are not a service as much as they are a snare, a means to – pardon me for sounding a little “lefty” here, but it’s true – oppress the poor, those most easily seduced by the promise of having something they can’t afford.  This is why you get credit card applications in the mail even if you have a poor credit rating; this is why the credit card companies have booths set up on college campuses to get young, careless college kids hooked; this is why the big stores offer you discounts on your purchases if  you fill out an application for a credit card.  They are not doing you a favor.  They are doing it for the money – YOUR money.

As the scripture says, the borrower is slave to the lender, and in this case it’s no joke, it’s no game.  The moment you slap down that credit card to buy something, the lender has his shackles around your leg.  So please be aware and have wisdom.  If you want something, save up and pay for it.  Don’t go into debt, and don’t let the banks – and in this immediate case, their buddies the airlines – own you, your money, and your future.

In the interest of full disclosure, yes I carry a credit card issued by my investment firm, but you’ll find this interesting (pardon the pun): the card we carried used to function as a debit card; anything we spent with the card was automatically drawn from our bank account and paid off so we never had an outstanding balance and paid interest on it.  Well, after the big financial collapse in 2008, my investment firm was bought out by a big bank – which is a whole other story –  and guess what?  Our debit card was discontinued and in its place we were issued – you guessed it! – a credit card that did not draw from our bank account to pay it off but required us to write a check each month. Now why would they do that?  Let me guess: To create a disincentive so it would be extra trouble to pay off the balance each month.  Well, they did provide some steps – another hassle – to arrange automatic pay-off every month, but that process took a while and I’m sure they were hoping we wouldn’t get around to it but rather fall into a behavior pattern more to their benefit. Very subtle, very crafty, but it’s all about the money.

So, all that to say, be wise and don’t get hooked.

There.  I wanted to make this big announcement on the plane, but thought I’d be better off saying it here.

Thanks.

Frank

Had a great time in Orlando visiting with Tony Brent and seeing his wild and crazy show at Wonderworks.  Tony was my magician consultant while I was working on Illusion and much of the cool magic stuff that happens in the book, he gave me the technical background to put together.  Be sure to see his show if you’re ever in Orlando, and by all means take a look at his web site: www.tonybrent.com.  Thanks, Tony!

It’s time for the big Frank Peretti book tour.  Here I am with some great friends at Books A Million in Concord, North Carolina, near Charlotte.  It was a laid back, free-wheeling, informal time together and a lot of fun.

Friends at Books A Million

Want to get a head start on your reading? As we countdown the final days until Frank’s first novel in over 7 years; we are very happy to give you the first 5 chapters of ILLUSION here!

• DOWNLOAD NOW

Want to read more? Click any of the links below to order your copy

ORDER AudioBook HERE:

ABOUT ‘ILLUSION’:

Dane and Mandy, a popular magic act for forty years, are tragically separated by a car wreck that claims Mandy’s life—or so everyone thinks. Even as Dane mourns and tries to rebuild his life without her, Mandy, supposedly dead, awakes in the present as the nineteen-year-old she was in 1970. Distraught and disoriented in what to her is the future, she is confined to a mental ward until she discovers a magical ability to pass invisibly through time and space to escape. Alone in a strange world, she uses her mysterious powers to eke out a living, performing magic on the streets and in a quaint coffee shop.

Hoping to discover an exciting new talent, Dane ventures into the coffee shop and is transfixed by the magic he sees, illusions that even he, a seasoned professional, cannot explain. But more than anything, he is emotionally devastated by this teenager who has never met him, doesn’t know him, is certainly not in love with him, but is in every respect identical to the young beauty he first met and married some forty years earlier.

They begin a furtive relationship as mentor and protégée, but even as Dane tries to sort out who she really is and she tries to understand why she is drawn to him, they are watched by secretive interests who not only possess the answers to Mandy’s powers and misplacement in time but also the roguish ability to decide what will become of her.

Frank Peretti has crafted a rich, rewarding story of love and life, loss and restoration, full of twists and mystery. Exceptionally well written, Illusion will soon prove another Peretti classic.