With humor and honesty, Stephen Altrogge helps us do battle with discontentment by steering us back to the central truths of the gospel. He addresses issues such as complaining and idolatry, reminding us of all that we have, and will have, in Christ.
The Greener Grass Conspiracy
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Often we are not content, sometimes we are content with too little. We need help with contentment, and Stephen Altrogge offers it. His style is friendly, funny, and easy to read. He’s perceptive, clear, relevant, biblical and Christ-centered, drawing as readily from the Puritans as contemporary culture. God spoke to my heart through The Greener Grass Conspiracy. Don’t be content not to read it.”
—Randy Alcorn, author, If God is Good and Heaven
“This book should be titled, ‘how to be happy.’ Not the superficial, frivolous, world-saturated happiness either. No, the soul-quenching, perspective-shaping type flowing from springs of gospel contentment. Stephen Altrogge has found the source and invites us to come and satisfy our thirst. Get this book, drink deeply, and be happy.”
—Dave Harvey, church care and church planting, Sovereign Grace Ministries; author, Rescuing Ambition
“Stephen Altrogge skillfully polishes off the rare jewel of Christian contentment collecting dust for generations and lets it shine brightly to a new generation of gospel people whose cluttered and discontented hearts long for less to live with and more to live for. His timeless insights are most timely. I highly recommend it!”
—Tom Nelson, Senior Pastor, Christ Community Church, Leawood, Kansas
“We crave the other grass when Christ has given us the lushest, all-satisfying plains of hope and joy. With humor and grit, and written within the crucible of suffering, Altrogge exposes and scorches these discontented dreams by magnifying how rich we are in Christ.”
—Eric C. Redmond, author, Where Are All the Brothers? Straight Answers to Men's Questions about the Church
Review
“Often we are not content, sometimes we are content with too little. We need help with contentment, and Stephen Altrogge offers it. His style is friendly, funny, and easy to read. He’s perceptive, clear, relevant, biblical and Christ-centered, drawing as readily from the Puritans as contemporary culture. God spoke to my heart through The Greener Grass Conspiracy. Don’t be content not to read it.”
—Randy Alcorn, founder and director, Eternal Perspective Ministries; author, If God Is Good and Heaven
“This book should be titled, ‘how to be happy.’ Not the superficial, frivolous, world-saturated happiness either. No, the soul-quenching, perspective-shaping type flowing from springs of gospel contentment. Stephen Altrogge has found the source and invites us to come and satisfy our thirst. Get this book, drink deeply, and be happy.”
—Dave Harvey, church care and church planting, Sovereign Grace Ministries; author, Rescuing Ambition
“Stephen Altrogge skillfully polishes off the rare jewel of Christian contentment collecting dust for generations and lets it shine brightly to a new generation of gospel people whose cluttered and discontented hearts long for less to live with and more to live for. His timeless insights are most timely. I highly recommend it!”
—Tom Nelson, Senior Pastor, Christ Community Church, Leawood, Kansas
“We crave the other grass when Christ has given us the lushest, all-satisfying plains of hope and joy. With humor and grit, and written within the crucible of suffering, Altrogge exposes and scorches these discontented dreams by magnifying how rich we are in Christ.”
—Eric C. Redmond, Executive Pastoral Assistant and Bible Professor in Residence, New Canaan Baptist Church; Council Member, The Gospel Coalition
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More About the Author
STEPHEN ALTROGGE serves on staff at Sovereign Grace Church of Indiana, PA, where he preaches, oversees worship, works with you, and drinks a lot of coffee. He married to Jen and has three little girls. He also is a ninja. And a Jedi. And a motivational speaker who lives in a van down by the river.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
Recently, Crossway was gracious enough to send me (and 99 other bloggers like me) a copy of one of their new books, The Greener Grass Conspiracy by Stephen Altrogge. I had never heard of Altrogge, but I trusted Crossway, they haven't let me down yet. A few days ago, the small cardboard box with `Crossway' packing tape was sitting in my mailbox, so I started reading, not knowing what to expect.
What I got was a feast for my soul (more on that later). Altrogge writes of a worldwide conspiracy that is keeping the world (and Christians in particular) in bondage. He calls this "The Greener Grass Conspiracy", essentially a plot between ourselves, Satan and the fallen world we live in to keep us from finding contentment in Jesus. Altrogge starts off and convincingly lays out the conspiracy and the players:
"The world makes big, fat promises of immediate pleasure. It flashes its artificially whitened teeth and tells me to enjoy myself. The world lies to me....Satan Joins the world... Satan invites me to find satisfaction in something other than God. It doesn't matter if it's pornography or community service, as long as it's not God. Satan is happy as long as I'm not happy in God. Satan slanders God's character and his goodness. Satan Lies to me. ....My heart doesn't want to be left out of the conspiracy, and so it plays right along with the world and Satan. It tells me that I need to have certain things and I need to have them NOW." (p.12-13)
Altrogge writes with urgency and zeal to uncover and unravel this conspiracy. Stephen is well aware of the Spiritual War we are caught up in, that is "an all-out, no-holds-barred war taking place within us" (p.50). He writes as equal, a fellow brother struggling with the same three enemies aiming to take away his joy as well as ours. His book is practical, honest and pointed, Altrogge says "The Greener Grass Conspiracy" is "more like sweaty, bloody, hastily scribbled notes from a battlefield" than "the memoir of a contented man"(P.14). As you read, you easily connect with Stephen, his honest real life stories, and his imperfect yet mature walk with Jesus. Oh, and did mention, he is absolutely hilarious! I was getting some odd looks reading this book in public because I would laugh out loud somewhat frequently.
Like I said before, this book was a feast for my soul. In the footsteps of giants on the subject of contentment like The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs and Spiritual Depression by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, this book holds a mirror up to our fig-leaves and idols then gently, yet usually painfully points you back to the One who removes our fig-leaves and killed our idols on the Cross, Jesus. Sometimes when I was reading, I wanted to hang my head and weep, as I saw how ugly my sin was (in the midst of his very sarcastic, Jared Wilson-esque sense of humor). Especially in the fourth chapter, "I worship my television", which can be adequately summed up by Altrogge's final words of the chapter:
"But the sweet fruit of contentment can only blossom after you've ripped out the weeds" (P.44)
Altrogge points out both how we get wrapped up in the Conspiracy in both our religion and irreligion, and takes a hard, Gospel-centered line towards both. He urges and pleads with us to find our joy in Jesus, as he fights to do the same. This book is rich in scripture and quotes from dead guys, but it never comes off intimidating or academic but very, very practical. And it's overflowing with proclamations of the gospel, you cannot read this book without being forcefully shoved back to the Gospel of Jesus. It all at the same time wrecks and builds up the soul, purging sin for revelation of the Gospel. Altrogge brings it:
"The Father heaped the idolatry of millions upon Jesus and then punished Jesus as if he was the idol worshiper. It was as if Jesus was the pornography worshiper, job worshiper and vacation worshiper. Ever seen something so disturbing and revolting that you couldn't bear to watch? On the cross, Jesus was worse."(P.61)
The shocking honesty, undeniable wit (including a brief encounter with the King Solomon at Starbucks), amazing readability and Gospelicious nature of "The Greener Grass Conspiracy" have made it one of my new favorite books. I do not say this lightly, as I am pretty critical on books. And by all means, the book wasn't perfect, in fact, I wish it was a bit longer and I wish it dealt more with contentment within the context of Community (it does a bit, but that is a subject I am very interested in). But regardless, it is a Gospel tour-de-force.
One of the best features of "The Greener Grass Conspiracy" was the "Stop-Think-Do" questions at the end of each chapter. These are 5 questions at the end of each chapter that relate back to the content of the chapter, these questions are sometimes hard to answer and don't always let you off the hook with just pondering for a minute and moving on. Altrogge asks the reader to make painful lists, draw graphs and write down gospel-blessings, it's pretty sweet, but your pride will HATE it...."The Greener Grass Conspiracy" is not only good for personal devotions, but as curriculum as well (especially because of its easy readability and study questions provided in the form of the Stop-Think-Do). I am already thinking about ordering several more copies and using them in a small group study for some newer believers.
But at the end of a day, a book of Jesus is not good unless it stirs my affection for Jesus. This book certainly did, it encouraged me and turned my affections toward Jesus like books before it, such as Lloyd-Jones's "Spiritual Depression and Piper's Desiring God have done for me. This is a book for the trenches of Christian living, a book that grips you, pleads with you and asks you to look to the Gospel and say "Courage, dear heart"(P.127). For Christian's, I can not recommend this enough, and for non-Christians, if you are interested in Christianity, this is a great book to pick up to learn what the Christian life is all about: Jesus Christ.
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
to read more content visit [...]
What I got was a feast for my soul (more on that later). Altrogge writes of a worldwide conspiracy that is keeping the world (and Christians in particular) in bondage. He calls this "The Greener Grass Conspiracy", essentially a plot between ourselves, Satan and the fallen world we live in to keep us from finding contentment in Jesus. Altrogge starts off and convincingly lays out the conspiracy and the players:
"The world makes big, fat promises of immediate pleasure. It flashes its artificially whitened teeth and tells me to enjoy myself. The world lies to me....Satan Joins the world... Satan invites me to find satisfaction in something other than God. It doesn't matter if it's pornography or community service, as long as it's not God. Satan is happy as long as I'm not happy in God. Satan slanders God's character and his goodness. Satan Lies to me. ....My heart doesn't want to be left out of the conspiracy, and so it plays right along with the world and Satan. It tells me that I need to have certain things and I need to have them NOW." (p.12-13)
Altrogge writes with urgency and zeal to uncover and unravel this conspiracy. Stephen is well aware of the Spiritual War we are caught up in, that is "an all-out, no-holds-barred war taking place within us" (p.50). He writes as equal, a fellow brother struggling with the same three enemies aiming to take away his joy as well as ours. His book is practical, honest and pointed, Altrogge says "The Greener Grass Conspiracy" is "more like sweaty, bloody, hastily scribbled notes from a battlefield" than "the memoir of a contented man"(P.14). As you read, you easily connect with Stephen, his honest real life stories, and his imperfect yet mature walk with Jesus. Oh, and did mention, he is absolutely hilarious! I was getting some odd looks reading this book in public because I would laugh out loud somewhat frequently.
Like I said before, this book was a feast for my soul. In the footsteps of giants on the subject of contentment like The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs and Spiritual Depression by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, this book holds a mirror up to our fig-leaves and idols then gently, yet usually painfully points you back to the One who removes our fig-leaves and killed our idols on the Cross, Jesus. Sometimes when I was reading, I wanted to hang my head and weep, as I saw how ugly my sin was (in the midst of his very sarcastic, Jared Wilson-esque sense of humor). Especially in the fourth chapter, "I worship my television", which can be adequately summed up by Altrogge's final words of the chapter:
"But the sweet fruit of contentment can only blossom after you've ripped out the weeds" (P.44)
Altrogge points out both how we get wrapped up in the Conspiracy in both our religion and irreligion, and takes a hard, Gospel-centered line towards both. He urges and pleads with us to find our joy in Jesus, as he fights to do the same. This book is rich in scripture and quotes from dead guys, but it never comes off intimidating or academic but very, very practical. And it's overflowing with proclamations of the gospel, you cannot read this book without being forcefully shoved back to the Gospel of Jesus. It all at the same time wrecks and builds up the soul, purging sin for revelation of the Gospel. Altrogge brings it:
"The Father heaped the idolatry of millions upon Jesus and then punished Jesus as if he was the idol worshiper. It was as if Jesus was the pornography worshiper, job worshiper and vacation worshiper. Ever seen something so disturbing and revolting that you couldn't bear to watch? On the cross, Jesus was worse."(P.61)
The shocking honesty, undeniable wit (including a brief encounter with the King Solomon at Starbucks), amazing readability and Gospelicious nature of "The Greener Grass Conspiracy" have made it one of my new favorite books. I do not say this lightly, as I am pretty critical on books. And by all means, the book wasn't perfect, in fact, I wish it was a bit longer and I wish it dealt more with contentment within the context of Community (it does a bit, but that is a subject I am very interested in). But regardless, it is a Gospel tour-de-force.
One of the best features of "The Greener Grass Conspiracy" was the "Stop-Think-Do" questions at the end of each chapter. These are 5 questions at the end of each chapter that relate back to the content of the chapter, these questions are sometimes hard to answer and don't always let you off the hook with just pondering for a minute and moving on. Altrogge asks the reader to make painful lists, draw graphs and write down gospel-blessings, it's pretty sweet, but your pride will HATE it...."The Greener Grass Conspiracy" is not only good for personal devotions, but as curriculum as well (especially because of its easy readability and study questions provided in the form of the Stop-Think-Do). I am already thinking about ordering several more copies and using them in a small group study for some newer believers.
But at the end of a day, a book of Jesus is not good unless it stirs my affection for Jesus. This book certainly did, it encouraged me and turned my affections toward Jesus like books before it, such as Lloyd-Jones's "Spiritual Depression and Piper's Desiring God have done for me. This is a book for the trenches of Christian living, a book that grips you, pleads with you and asks you to look to the Gospel and say "Courage, dear heart"(P.127). For Christian's, I can not recommend this enough, and for non-Christians, if you are interested in Christianity, this is a great book to pick up to learn what the Christian life is all about: Jesus Christ.
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
to read more content visit [...]
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Greener Grass Conspiracy, by Stephen Altrogge has created a peculiar thought for me.
Specifically, I'm thinking of the film, Ratatouille. There is a scene towards the end where the fairly striking and gaunt food critic, Anton Ego, offers a great little dialogue with the maître d:
Mustafa: [taking Ego's order] Do you know what you'd like this evening, sir?
Anton Ego: Yes, I think I do. After reading a lot of overheated puffery about your new cook, you know what I'm craving? A little perspective. That's it. I'd like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that?
Mustafa: With what, sir?
Anton Ego: Perspective. Fresh out, I take it?
Mustafa: I am, uh...
Anton Ego: Very well. Since you're all out of perspective and no one else seems to have it in this BLOODY TOWN, I'll make you a deal. You provide the food, I'll provide the perspective, which would go nicely with a bottle of Cheval Blanc 1947.
Stephen Altrogge, though he offers little of great lightning strike revelation, offers some much needed perspective. His tone is conversational, rich and quite humorous. At moments throughout the book he seems almost apologetic for his sweeping rebuke of such hush-hush sins as complaint and discontentment, but in the end he holds out a clear and practical view. I am reminded of several other books with similar tone. Lord Change My Attitude by James MacDonald springs to mind and the influence from both John Piper and Tim Keller ring very true.
So should you read this book? For me, having gone through what I've gone through in the last year, this book was pitch perfect and timely. I needed to hear what he had to say. I needed to understand aspects of my current suffering situation with perspective and I needed to be reminded and rebuked for my own idolatrous ways. The book is also short enough and easy enough to read that you won't intimidate light readers by handing them a tome full of Puritan double negatives.
I highly recommend this book for people on either side of the fence and hope that they will see that there truly is no contentment to be found in anything but Christ.
Specifically, I'm thinking of the film, Ratatouille. There is a scene towards the end where the fairly striking and gaunt food critic, Anton Ego, offers a great little dialogue with the maître d:
Mustafa: [taking Ego's order] Do you know what you'd like this evening, sir?
Anton Ego: Yes, I think I do. After reading a lot of overheated puffery about your new cook, you know what I'm craving? A little perspective. That's it. I'd like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that?
Mustafa: With what, sir?
Anton Ego: Perspective. Fresh out, I take it?
Mustafa: I am, uh...
Anton Ego: Very well. Since you're all out of perspective and no one else seems to have it in this BLOODY TOWN, I'll make you a deal. You provide the food, I'll provide the perspective, which would go nicely with a bottle of Cheval Blanc 1947.
Stephen Altrogge, though he offers little of great lightning strike revelation, offers some much needed perspective. His tone is conversational, rich and quite humorous. At moments throughout the book he seems almost apologetic for his sweeping rebuke of such hush-hush sins as complaint and discontentment, but in the end he holds out a clear and practical view. I am reminded of several other books with similar tone. Lord Change My Attitude by James MacDonald springs to mind and the influence from both John Piper and Tim Keller ring very true.
So should you read this book? For me, having gone through what I've gone through in the last year, this book was pitch perfect and timely. I needed to hear what he had to say. I needed to understand aspects of my current suffering situation with perspective and I needed to be reminded and rebuked for my own idolatrous ways. The book is also short enough and easy enough to read that you won't intimidate light readers by handing them a tome full of Puritan double negatives.
I highly recommend this book for people on either side of the fence and hope that they will see that there truly is no contentment to be found in anything but Christ.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I absolutely loved Stephen Altrogge's new book, The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment on Your Side of the Fence.
This is a wise and funny and convicting book that I would encourage anyone to read.
Stephen exposes our chronic lack of contentment and points us to the healing balm of the gospel. This is really a book about the sufficiency of Jesus. He is more than able to satisfy us.
Stephen defines contentment as "a disposition of the heart that freely and joyfully submits to God's will, whatever that will may be." He shows how discontentment reveals the idols we worship and the ungratefulness in our hearts.
I particularly appreciated Altrogge's emphasis on the fact that contentment is not dependent on our circumstances. Since contentment is found in a Person (Jesus), we can be content in any and every circumstance of life (Phil. 4:10-13).
While reading this book, I felt at times like Stephen was speaking directly to my heart. He challenged my tendency to grumble when things don't go my way. And time and time again he applied the gospel to my soul. Get this book. You need it.
This is a wise and funny and convicting book that I would encourage anyone to read.
Stephen exposes our chronic lack of contentment and points us to the healing balm of the gospel. This is really a book about the sufficiency of Jesus. He is more than able to satisfy us.
Stephen defines contentment as "a disposition of the heart that freely and joyfully submits to God's will, whatever that will may be." He shows how discontentment reveals the idols we worship and the ungratefulness in our hearts.
I particularly appreciated Altrogge's emphasis on the fact that contentment is not dependent on our circumstances. Since contentment is found in a Person (Jesus), we can be content in any and every circumstance of life (Phil. 4:10-13).
While reading this book, I felt at times like Stephen was speaking directly to my heart. He challenged my tendency to grumble when things don't go my way. And time and time again he applied the gospel to my soul. Get this book. You need it.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read!!
My small group chose this book for our reading. I was so intrigued I read the book in 1 week. That's a big deal because I work full time and barely have time to do anything after... Read more
Published 13 days ago by Jerri
5.0 out of 5 stars
Growing in Contentment
I loved this book. Engaging, encouraging, Biblical - everything that I hoped for. You can tell that Stephen Altrogge works very hard on both his content and writing style. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sam Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read
It is so easy to get sidetracked in our contentment with what we have or what we reasonably can obtain in this world of easy access to everything -- but at what cost? Read more
Published 1 month ago by susan beth dicola
5.0 out of 5 stars
Convicting and Encouraging book!
I loved this book on how to live a life of contentment. I would highly recommend this book because it is solid theologically and it makes you love Christ more! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Krstie
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gospel Centered, Altrogge gets it.
Stephen gets it. He understands our sin nature and how it can deceive us and lead us down roads, that while they may seem like it's a true path, it is not. Read more
Published 1 month ago by wwallseg
5.0 out of 5 stars
life changing
I have read this book and it became one of my top favorites. It really opened my eyes to this subject. Something I will read over and over again.
Published 1 month ago by bdun81
4.0 out of 5 stars
Encouragement toward contentment in a materialistic world
Altrogge tackles the subject of contentment in "Greener Grass..." asking the questions of where we don't find out contentment, where we do, and how to get from point A to point... Read more
Published 3 months ago by mrlanser
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great reminder for all of us!
We all suffer from discontentment. Working through this study has helped identify personal discontentment and how to pursue God's desire for us.
Published 6 months ago by S. Myers
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great short read
Excellent short read. I highlighted several great insightful quotes. "Being discontent means not getting what I want. Being content is knowing I have more than I deserve."
Published 12 months ago by Angela
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book on contentment that is entertaining to read
This book is fairly short, but I think the slim-ness of it is perhaps a deceptive ploy to lull you into thinking it's just gonna be another fluffy book on Christian living with... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Nathaniel Claiborne
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