I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus [Paperback]

Leonard Sweet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2012

“FOLLOW ME.”

These two words echo the heart-defining call of our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples. 

Sadly, this life-changing invitation has lost much of its original meaning. Immersed in a society that worships success, we have succumbed to a trendy

fixation with leadership. In I Am a Follower, author Leonard Sweet explains how Christians in a twenty-first-century corporate-obsessed culture have shifted away from a Jesus art of following toward a popularized form of leading.

Through a colorful mélange of practical applications, imaginative metaphors, and probing biblical exposition based in gospel truth, Sweet reveals that the summons of Jesus and the message of the New Testament point clearly to an emphasis not on imitation but on incarnation, not on leading but on following.

Join Sweet on an exciting and intentional journey from leadership cult to followership culture. Discover for yourself the way, the truth, and the abundant

life of following Jesus Christ and what it truly means to “Follow Me”!

“At times I felt like I was reading Jeremiah, challenging the shepherds of Israel. This is a much needed and long overdue book.”

—BOB ROBERTS, senior pastor, Northwood Church

“If there was ever a leader who could convince me that it’s really never been about leading, that would have to be Len Sweet. May we all, like Len, become followers.”

—MARK BATTERSON, lead pastor, National Community Church

Editorial Reviews

Review

“At times I felt like I was reading Jeremiah, challenging the shepherds of Israel. This is a much needed and long overdue book.”
-Bob Roberts, senior pastor, Northwood Church

“If there was ever a leader who could convince me that it’s really never been about leading, that would have to be Len Sweet. May we all, like Len, become followers.”
-Mark Batterson, lead pastor, National Community Church --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

About the Author

Leonard Sweet is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University (NJ), a distinguished visiting professor at George Fox University (OR), and a weekly contributor to Sermons.com and the podcast Napkin Scribbles. A pioneer in online learning with some of the highest "influence" rankings of any religious figure in the world of social media (Twitter, Facebook), he has authored numerous articles, sermons, and more than fifty books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (January 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849946387
• ISBN-13: 978-0849946387
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (149 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Len Sweet (www.leonardsweet.com) was born of a mixed marriage: his mother was a fiery Pilgrim Holiness-ordained preacher from the mountains of West Virginia and his quiet father a Free Methodist lay leader from the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York. After a deconversion at 17, when Len set about less sowing wild oats than planting prairies, he became an atheist intellectual and scholar dedicated to exposing the nincompoopery and poppycockery, if not tomfoolery and skullduggery of all religions. After this seven-year period of liminality, Len came back to the faith of his ancestors, where he has been ever since, exploring the "insterstices" and "semiotics" of religion, culture and history. He uses two words to describe himself: semiotician and interstitial. In other words, he is obsessed with two questions: "Where have you been?" and "Where are you going?"

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Delight to Read and a Spur to Thought December 28, 2011

By Robert R. Hostetler

Format:Paperback

I am a Len Sweet fan. In my opinion, Sweet, the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University (as well as Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Fox University), is one of the most innovative and influential thinkers in the Church today.

So I was excited to read his newest book, I Am a Follower (The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus). I was not disappointed. The book skewers the modern church's success-worshiping, corporate-obsessed "leadership" fixation, and contrasts it with the example and message of Jesus--what Sweet calls "followership culture." He says, "Leadership is an alien template that we have laid on the Bible." And then he goes about showing us the more excellent way of Jesus, in his typically colorful, thoughtful, biblical, and entertaining style.

After the prologue (don't skip it), the book is divided into three sections, characterized by four Latin words: Vece (the place), Via (the way), Verita (the truth), and Vita (the life). It features "Interactives," suitable for individual and group use, in which the author offers questions for discussion and more content for further application. The text is enriched with quotes from a diverse spectrum of voices--from Wendell Berry and Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Hunter S. Thompson and Tom T. Hall. It is a delight to read and a spur to thought.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!!! January 23, 2012

By Kevin Hite

Format:Paperback

This is a fantastic book that I plan on reading many times in the years to come! I say this with the utmost confidence because Leonard Sweet does a fantastic job of shining a bright spotlight on one of the major issues in the church today. It seems that everywhere you look, there is a major Christian conference going on that is expressing the need to develop more and more leaders in the faith. But, as the author points out in I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus, Christ never called us to be leaders, He called us to follow. Nothing more, nothing less. We are to serve, and when we are placed into a leadership position, we are to serve even more! There are no leaders except Jesus, and all who are followers of Christ should take the time to sit down and read this book. The author shows how many churches are taking on the mindset of the world, using business principles to grow churches and leaders, instead of relying on God to sort it out. This is a huge problem for Christians, and the devil loves to play to our egos! Please do yourself a favor and pick up this book!

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Fails to Add to the Conversation February 22, 2012

By Keith R. Clark

Format:Kindle Edition

Leonard Sweet's I Am A Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus is another addition to the growing field of books pushing back against Western Christianity's leadership obsession. From the outset, however, one can't help wondering about Sweet's argument against leadership and for followership when he contends "following is the most underrated form of leadership in existence" (14). Is Sweet really challenging the leadership obsession, or is this little more than a game of semantics in which the real issue is a different way of or means to leadership? Sweet tries to distinguish between leadership and followership by suggesting "leadership is a function" and "followership is an identity" (34). Yet while the distinction between function and identity may seem plausible in writing, it seems much less plausible in reality.

As a means of exploring what it might look like to be a follower, Sweet shares extensive meditations on the three metaphors of Jesus in his well-known saying recorded in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life." Unfortunately, these meditations read more like stream-of-consciousness ramblings than carefully thought-out ruminations on these metaphors. It is not uncommon for Sweet to make startling assertions for which he provides little if any warrant, such as his attack on the focus on spiritual giftedness (pp. 161-169), or his claim that "the new relationality of the localized and organic . . . is creating a web of strength and a fortress of freedom that won't be broken or pulled asunder" (176), or his discussion of New Testament notions of priesthood and church polity (174-178), or his baseless contention that "the major fruit of the Spirit is joy" (252). Really?... In the midst of these ramblings, Sweet rails against clergy, suggesting that "we have come to believe that most Christians cannot follow Christ on their own" (180), yet he not only quotes several members of the clergy thoughout the book, he himself by virtue of the written word is functioning effectively as a member of the clergy and making the very same assumption that his readers cannot follow Christ on their own. It's difficult to miss the irony of someone who's authored nearly 50 books attacking clergy for having "come to believe that most Christians cannot follow Christ on their own." Moreover, the meat of Sweet's meditations, seems to be lost in the pendulum-like swings between overly casual language (e.g. calling the Holy Spirit "Coach Ghost" and excessive use of the term "first follower") and technical jargon (e.g. "semiotics" and "solipsistic").

To be sure there are good nuggets in I Am A Follower, but these come mostly in the form of clever, if not sarcastic, one-liners. Unfortunately, one-liners and zingers are incapable of establishing the kind of faith or faith community, for which Sweet seems to long so deeply. As such, he fails, in my opinion, to add much to the ongoing conversation surrounding the importance of shifting from a faith obsessed with leadership to a faith intent on following. Much more helpful, and highly recommended, is Scott A. Bessenecker's How to Inherit the Earth: Submitting Ourselves to a Servant Savior, which makes a much more compelling, not to mention cogent and concise, case for following as the primary paradigm for discipleship.

DISCLOSURE: I received the book from Booksneeze, but was not obligated to provide a positive review. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet is Back!! December 30, 2011

By G. Branch

Format:Paperback

Sweet has produced what I consider to be his best work lately. Apparently, I am not alone in my opinion as the book has numerous recommendations preceding the title page. To add anything more than what has already been said seems unnecessary, but since my name is not one of the recognized group I will try to add something from the bottom tier of readers.

Sweet once again is coming against the business model method of church leadership. Yes, even the word leadership is a problem, but Sweet has a difficult time avoiding its use. He is correct though in opposing the mentality of professional churchmen and business practices that have driven the marketing of Christianity of late; however he is not opposed to "plundering the Egyptians" for items or techniques that might be useful. His repeated admonishment to the leaders of Christianity does help refocus on Who is actually supposed to be leading and who is to follow that lead is important.

I did found the early part of the book more difficult to follow than the latter parts and kept urging him to get on with what he had to say. I got his point about leadership holding itself above the followers and the followers exalting those leaders. So onward to what needs to happen to correct that dichotomy.

Sweet still loves to play with words, but he keeps that to a minimum in this book, happily. Much more readable in my opinion that way. The interactive sections were challenging and interesting at the same time.

I do recommend this book, but be ready to work a bit harder on this than what other books of this sort generally require. I appreciate that challenge.

This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing through the BookSneeze blog site.