Including practical theology of why living out of a place of authentic desire is central to living in the Kingdom of God, Rick McKinley will help you understand how your innermost desires shape your experience of following Jesus. A Kingdom Called Desire will help you: * Uncover your core desires * Discover the freedom of living honestly before God * Allow God's desires to shape your life * See how your own unique personality, gifts, and experiences can be used by Jesus in his Kingdom The results of McKinley's life-changing message can be seen in people from his own community at Imago Dei. While A Kingdom Called Desire will inspire you to see the practical display of Kingdom theology, it will also be deeply formational, allowing you to engage in your own personal journey and find healing and redemption in your unmet desires. A Kingdom Called Desire will unleash you from stale religious duty, as well as cynical social activism, bringing you into a dynamic love relationship with Jesus, motivated by the fulfillment of authentic desire.
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About the Author
Rick McKinley was educated at Multnomah University and earned his Doctorate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. However, most of his education has come from pastoring Imago Dei Community since 2000 with his wife Jeanne in Portland, OR. Imago Dei is now a large congregation situated in the heart of the city, reaching out to Portland through preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and creatively engaging the city for the social good. He is also the author of Jesus in the Margins and This Beautiful Mess.
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More About the Author
Rick McKinley is the author of Jesus in the Margins and This Beautiful Mess. He is the founding pastor of Imago Dei Community in Portland, Oregon and speaks around the country on the topics of holistic mission, leadership, and spiritual formation. Rick and his wife, Jeanne, live with their four children in Portland.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Josh B
Format:Paperback
This book rocked! Rick's first book, "Jesus in the Margins," centered on mission and his second book, "This Beautiful Mess," centered on the kingdom. This book focuses on the redemption of our heart, exploring what it looks like for our desires and affections to be captivated by Christ's kingdom: it felt like Rick opened up his own ribcage and poured his heart out on the pages delving into some of the issues that are core to him as a pastor calling us deeper into the gospel.
Rick opens with the observation that we live in a culture of "how" focused on method and technique. We are a very busy, active people out to change the world or plant churches or get our life together or... the list goes on. Motivational speakers tell us, "You can do it! Go out and change the world!" and proceed to sell us the ten steps to make it happen. But we pay very little attention to the "why?" questions that lurk deeper in our hearts and thus our activity is often disconnected from the "want-to," the level of affection and desire, and we get burnt-out, cynical and tired, removed from living out of the deepest core of who God has made us to be.
Rick highlights three of the biggest obstacles he's found to our heart's being engaged and transformed by the love of God: Duty, Dishonesty and Death. Regarding duty, he explores how our religious activity can create a false feeling of "health" in our spiritual lives (ie. we read our bible, go to church, give and serve, etc) that subtly becomes Pharisaic and actually removes us from the presence of God. Regarding dishonesty, when we don't feel like we want God we often feel the need to "fake it," to put on a plastic smile or drum something up that's not there rather than get honest with God and those around us on where we're really at. The chapter on death was my favorite. It felt like Rick hit a stride in the writing where we were let into his own thoughts as he was thinking them, almost a stream of consciousness feel--leading us into an articulation of many of the thoughts so many of us carry beneath the surface of ourselves regarding a subtle and often unarticulated or even unrecognized fear of death that shapes our way of living in the world.
Yet the book doesn't leave us there: it points to the ways the gospel overwhelms and overcomes these obstacles. I felt one of the greatest strengths of this book was Rick's transparent honesty with how these questions and obstacles have played out in his own life: he comes as a fellow sojourner on this road of God's transforming love and his articulation of these questions in his own life creates a space of freedom for us to get honest with our own fears and bring them before the God of mercy.
Rick frames the Christ-centered affections within the broader story of the gospel. He presents Jesus as both the face of God to man (where we look to see what God is like); and the face of obedient man (the life we couldn't live) to God. He explores the marital imagery of our union with Christ, in the Spirit, to the Father, as the centrality of what is happening in redemption: our being drawn into the life of God. One of the greatest strengths of the book was, in my estimation, Rick's ability to bring the depths of really rich affective theology to life in a way that is easy to read and accessible in a conversational style. In my own life it brought words like mediation and reconciliation (that tend to feel more abstract) to life in some fresh ways. Threaded throughout this conversation, Rick provides fresh grounding for the mission of the church not as first and foremost an activity but rather as a responsive overflow to the love of God in Christ shaping who we are in the deepest core of our being.
Rick opens with the observation that we live in a culture of "how" focused on method and technique. We are a very busy, active people out to change the world or plant churches or get our life together or... the list goes on. Motivational speakers tell us, "You can do it! Go out and change the world!" and proceed to sell us the ten steps to make it happen. But we pay very little attention to the "why?" questions that lurk deeper in our hearts and thus our activity is often disconnected from the "want-to," the level of affection and desire, and we get burnt-out, cynical and tired, removed from living out of the deepest core of who God has made us to be.
Rick highlights three of the biggest obstacles he's found to our heart's being engaged and transformed by the love of God: Duty, Dishonesty and Death. Regarding duty, he explores how our religious activity can create a false feeling of "health" in our spiritual lives (ie. we read our bible, go to church, give and serve, etc) that subtly becomes Pharisaic and actually removes us from the presence of God. Regarding dishonesty, when we don't feel like we want God we often feel the need to "fake it," to put on a plastic smile or drum something up that's not there rather than get honest with God and those around us on where we're really at. The chapter on death was my favorite. It felt like Rick hit a stride in the writing where we were let into his own thoughts as he was thinking them, almost a stream of consciousness feel--leading us into an articulation of many of the thoughts so many of us carry beneath the surface of ourselves regarding a subtle and often unarticulated or even unrecognized fear of death that shapes our way of living in the world.
Yet the book doesn't leave us there: it points to the ways the gospel overwhelms and overcomes these obstacles. I felt one of the greatest strengths of this book was Rick's transparent honesty with how these questions and obstacles have played out in his own life: he comes as a fellow sojourner on this road of God's transforming love and his articulation of these questions in his own life creates a space of freedom for us to get honest with our own fears and bring them before the God of mercy.
Rick frames the Christ-centered affections within the broader story of the gospel. He presents Jesus as both the face of God to man (where we look to see what God is like); and the face of obedient man (the life we couldn't live) to God. He explores the marital imagery of our union with Christ, in the Spirit, to the Father, as the centrality of what is happening in redemption: our being drawn into the life of God. One of the greatest strengths of the book was, in my estimation, Rick's ability to bring the depths of really rich affective theology to life in a way that is easy to read and accessible in a conversational style. In my own life it brought words like mediation and reconciliation (that tend to feel more abstract) to life in some fresh ways. Threaded throughout this conversation, Rick provides fresh grounding for the mission of the church not as first and foremost an activity but rather as a responsive overflow to the love of God in Christ shaping who we are in the deepest core of our being.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By K. Nelson
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Did all the teams get together and pick McKinley to be the Designated Hitter? And he doesn't disappoint, but takes it deep.
This is full on McKinley saying " do you get how huge the redemptive love of Jesus is, and do you want to be transformed by that?"
If so, here's how.
Rick takes the reader clearly through the gospel, and if there's any part that you haven't gotten before, that is clarified. Sure, having the desires of self fade away may not sound great, but, as we grow in our desire for God and what He is doing , all that He has for us becomes a desire that is beyond what we could imagine.
Rick is gifted in getting out the words to challenge and grow us, to help us understand how to be a part of this huge beautiful kingdom.
Newspaper headlines will even look better to you after you finish this. He doesn't throw at your head to get your attention, this if aimed at your heart.
This is full on McKinley saying " do you get how huge the redemptive love of Jesus is, and do you want to be transformed by that?"
If so, here's how.
Rick takes the reader clearly through the gospel, and if there's any part that you haven't gotten before, that is clarified. Sure, having the desires of self fade away may not sound great, but, as we grow in our desire for God and what He is doing , all that He has for us becomes a desire that is beyond what we could imagine.
Rick is gifted in getting out the words to challenge and grow us, to help us understand how to be a part of this huge beautiful kingdom.
Newspaper headlines will even look better to you after you finish this. He doesn't throw at your head to get your attention, this if aimed at your heart.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I just picked up the book and jumped to the second chapter. It wrecked me. It changed everything for me and called me out. That alone is worth it. I can't wait to dive into the next first chapter as well as all the others. (I jumped into chapter 2)
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Asking the hard questions
"What is it we most deeply want?"
"What do you want? What do you really want?"
These are easy questions to ask ourselves, but incredibly hard ones to answer... Read more
"What do you want? What do you really want?"
These are easy questions to ask ourselves, but incredibly hard ones to answer... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Eskypades
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
I was interested in this book because I've heard Donald Miller talk about Rick McKinley often. I wasn't disappointed. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Scandalous Sanity
5.0 out of 5 stars
You should read this book if...
... you've ever felt like DOING was more important than BEING in your relationship with God. And let's be honest - we all have. Read more
Published 19 months ago by T. Blake
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor book by a great author/pastor
I got this book because I loved Rick McKinley's "Beautiful Mess", and some other works of his I read. I tried to read this book, and I LOVE THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Clint Walker
4.0 out of 5 stars
Our desires revealed and transformed toward the King
In A Kingdom Called Desire, pastor Rick McKinley takes a look at the life of discipleship to Jesus through the lens of desire. Read more
Published 22 months ago by James Korsmo
4.0 out of 5 stars
Where Joy Meets Fear
"We will know that we are getting close to Jesus' kingdom when our deepest joy is confronted by our greatest fears. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Bradley Bevers
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kingdom - Living Into the Love of God
Rick McKinley, in his book A Kingdom Called Desire, has provided a sound meditation on the affections and the Christian life, moving us beyond the question of how to follow Jesus... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Benjamin A. Simpson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Church and Kingdom aren't Enemies
Among Christians, you tend to have two groups: those who are passionate about the Kingdom and those who are passionate about the Church. Read more
Published on May 22, 2011 by David Ketter
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Gospel Presentation
A Kingdom Called Desire: Confronted by the Love of a Risen King is written by Rick McKinley, pastor of Imago Dei Church in Portland, Oregon. Read more
Published on May 10, 2011 by Jeffrey Borden
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some key insights
Too many modern Christian books are becoming predictably similar: "Get with it, you lazy Christian." Rick McKinley's book has a bit of this, but it also rightly warns against any... Read more
Published on April 28, 2011 by Jeff Hopper
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