The Next Level: A Parable of Finding Your Place in Life [Hardcover]

David Gregory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 2008

Business degree in hand, Logan enters the immense Universal Systems building and is hired as an organizational analyst — a trouble-shooter. His job: evaluate the company’s five divisions, each on a separate level and each operating on startlingly unique principles. Which set of principles is successful? Why is most of the company’s profit generated by one tiny division? What is real profit, anyway? And who is the enigmatic executive that Logan ends up reporting to?

Logan engages in a life-changing pursuit for The Next Level–a fascinating parable that will help you answer some of life’s most perplexing and vital questions. Joining Logan in evaluating each level’s approach, you’ll be inspired to consider the big picture of your own life from an entirely different perspective — one that holds the key to life’s ultimate purpose. No matter where you are now, get ready to embark on your own passionate pursuit of The Next Level.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for
Dinner with a Perfect Stranger
“Here’s a wonderful feast for the mind and soul! Pull up a chair and eavesdrop on this provocative conversation. If you’re like me, you’ll hear questions that match your own–and answers that can change your life.”
–Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and The Case for a Creator
“The choice is yours: Enjoy a delicious meal of, say, veal fantarella with grilled vegetables. Or spend a quiet hour reading Gregory’s book. You may find an altogether different sort of hunger has been sated by the final page. Brilliant in its simplicity, fearless in its presentation of the truth, Dinner with a Perfect Stranger is one invitation you’ll want to RSVP.”
–Liz Curtis Higgs, author, Thorn in My Heart


Praise for
A Day with a Perfect Stranger
“Brilliant. Masterful. Filled with liberating truth.”
–Stephen Arterburn, best-selling author of Every Man’s Battle, founder and chairman of New Life Ministries
“Fasten your seat belt for another marvelously divine encounter with the Perfect Stranger! Once again, Gregory masterfully demonstrates just how passionately and intimately our God loves each one of us. If you are looking for an encouraging faith encounter, the Perfect Stranger books are the most palatable and powerful tools of our day.”
–Shannon Ethridge, best-selling author of Completely His, Every Woman’s Battle, and Every Woman’s Marriage
“While I like Dinner with a Perfect Stranger very much, I loved A Day with a Perfect Stranger. This book has the potential to make people think about what drives them, what keeps them from God, and what will ultimately fulfill them. In a feelings-based and satisfaction-driven society, this is an invaluable tool. People are hungering for the answers to questions Mattie gets to ask. I can’t wait to hand it out to friends who do not yet know the Stranger in their midst.”
–Lisa T. Bergren, best-selling author of The Begotten
“Deftly using narrative to touch on common objections to belief in God, [Gregory] contracts religiosity with relationship with God. As a light, brief introduction to the faith, A Day with a Perfect Stranger is a good pick for women seekers.
–Aspiring Retail

About the Author

David Gregory is the author of the best-selling books Dinner with a Perfect Stranger and A Day with a Perfect Stranger, and coauthor of two nonfiction books. After a ten-year business career, he returned to school to study religion and communications, earning graduate degrees from The University of North Texas and Dallas Theological Seminary. A native Texan, David now devotes himself to writing full time.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 119 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook Press; First Edition edition (February 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400072433
• ISBN-13: 978-1400072439
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #776,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Gregory is the author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger and The Last Christian, among other fiction books. He has masters degress from Dallas Theological Seminary and the University of North Texas. He served as a writer and editor for Insight for Living and Exchanged Life Ministries Texas before writing on his own full-time. David lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Genius of Simplicity, March 7, 2008

By 

Eric Wilson "novelist" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Next Level: A Parable of Finding Your Place in Life (Hardcover)

With corporate America spreading its tentacles across the globe, it's interesting to find a story that latches onto the corporate concept and turns it into a spiritual parable. "The Next Level" isn't preachy, in-your-face theology. Neither is it a deep character study or fast-paced thriller. This is philosophical and spiritual debate couched in the deceptively simple tale of a business called Universal Systems.

David Gregory took us on interesting "dates" in his first two novellas, following the lives of a husband and then a wife as they encountered a "Perfect Stranger," who happened to be a very approachable and likable Jesus. This time, Gregory leads us through the on-the-job training of Logan, a recent college grad who wants to please his father yet feels he can never meet the man's expectations. Logan finds employment at Universal Systems, and his job is to access the problems on each of the companies levels, starting from the first and working his way up.

Gregory's genius lies in the complex ideas he captures with such simplicity. Some might think these snapshots too simple. Others might skim right past them. There is wonderful truth encapsulated here--ideas about God and life and love and purpose. You cannot follow Logan through his days on the job without being challenged on some level. While never as emotionally or comically involving as his previous two books, "The Next Level" shows that Gregory will be around for years to come, giving us modern-day parables, using storytelling to great effect.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A parable about living the life God intended, March 11, 2008

By 

Christina Lockstein "Christy's Book Blog" (Oconto Falls, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Next Level: A Parable of Finding Your Place in Life (Hardcover)

The Next Level by David Gregory is another of his allegorical novels like Dinner with a Perfect Stranger and Day with a Perfect Stranger. Logan is out of college and looking for a job when he applies at Universal Systems. He meets with the CEO and is immediately offered a position doing exactly what he'd like: organizational analyst. Logan starts on the first level of the company and views the procedures of the company to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. What he finds are mostly weaknesses: employees so busy doing their own thing that there is no cohesive product. As Logan figures out the mystery of each level of the company, he's bumped up to the next, until he's on the enigmatic fifth level. Gregory writes a book with real depth for Christians looking for answers about what God is calling them to do. Each level represents a level of faith, and he captures the pitfalls legalism, apathy, and denominationalism perfectly. The ultimate message of the book, while not new, is delivered in a new way with great potential for application to real life. It's a book I will recommend to anyone wondering about what God really wants them to be doing with their life.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a parable, March 5, 2008

By 

Mac Mcconnell "Playwright, Actor, Author Mac ... (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Next Level: A Parable of Finding Your Place in Life (Hardcover)

While strolling through the Atlanta airport Friday in route to Gulfport, MS and a weekend drama gig it was on the counter of the little book store. After coveting the idea of my little book Bozra, Bozra, A Shepherd's Journey being on the counter for the world to see, I saw that it was from a familiar and respected author - Dick Gregory. Dick broke out with the best seller, "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger." "Dinner..." was a delightful read - as some half million agreed, so I flipped some pages. I had two other books with me and didn't need another on my stack. I walked away. I walked back. Glad I did. In Mr. Gregory's style the book was just over one hundred pages and I was confident would be a great distraction for the next leg of my Delta flight. Actually it was very distracting. And a little in my face.
"The Next Level" is a parable. I suspected it would motivational, perhaps inspiring. I did not suspect it would be a bit personal. I tend to loose myself in whatever I'm reading - I think that's the idea after all - and I found myself identifying easily with some of the "levels" in this pseudo-corporate world. "Next Level" could readily apply to any corporate climber, but it's target is foremost the converted but perhaps not committed.