Author and pastor Bob Roberts Jr. is one of the architects of what church and Christian community can become in this new century. His unique approach to Christianity is based on what he calls T-Life (transformed life), which leads to a T-World (transformed world). Drawing inspiration from early church history and the emerging church in the developing world, Roberts envisions a new way of engaging the local church to achieve common goals. He calls for building a church culture rather than a church program. Glocal churches create disciples who, transformed by the Holy Spirit, are infiltrating today's culture on a global and local scale. In Roberts's terms, when we establish a relationship with Jesus Christ and begin applying his principles, we experience T-Life (transformed life). Transformation begins with a growing, interactive relationship with God that includes personal and corporate worship. This, in turn, results in community. As community serves others, transformation has both a global and local (glocal) impact and creates T-World. Transformation redefines the focus and practice of the church, not from external bells and whistles, but from the internal transformation of the very character of its people.
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Transformation is full of authenticity because Bob Roberts himself is being transformed. Read this book if you dare. It may transform your view of the church -- and your own life. -- Leighton Ford, President, Leighton Ford Ministries <br><br>
About the Author
Bob Roberts Jr. is the founding pastor of NorthWood Church in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, and has been involved in the planting of a hundred congregations in the United States. Bob also works in Australia, Asia, Afghanistan, Mexico, and Nepal helping with church planting and development and global engagement. Bob is a graduate of Baylor University (BA), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Mdiv), and Fuller Seminary (D.Min.) with an emphasis in church planting. He and his wife have two children. SPANISH BIO: Bob Roberts, hijo, es el pastor fundador de North Wood Church en el area de Dallas, Ft.Worth, y ha estado involucrado en la siembra de 100 congregaciones en los Estado Unido. Tambien tiene obras en diferentes partes del mundo. Es Graduado en licenciatura en humanidades en Baylor University, y tiene una maestria en teologia del Seminario Teologico Bautista del Suroeste. Asimismo ed doctor en ministerio, con un enfasis en plantacion de iglesias en el Seminario Fuller. Esta casado y tiene dos hijos.
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More About the Author
Bob Roberts Jr. is the founding pastor of NorthWood Church in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, and has been involved in the planting of a hundred congregations in the United States. Bob also works in Australia, Asia, Afghanistan, Mexico, and Nepal helping with church planting and development and global engagement. Bob is a graduate of Baylor University (BA), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Mdiv), and Fuller Seminary (D.Min.) with an emphasis in church planting. He and his wife have two children.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a great read for people who are wanting their lives to count for the Kingdom of God. Roberts is a great thinker and practicioner and has lived out his message for the last 25 years (or so). I have learned a great deal from he and the guys who are a part of Northwood and Glocal Net (www.glocal.net). There is so much to be learned about being about the Kingdom of God, Church Planting, Global Movements, creating culture inside of a group of people that perpetuates (sp?) itself and much more. i believe that the true authority of Roberts' writing is his faithfulness to practice these things along with his teachings. Don't just read his book, learn from his life and the example he and his family are of people who have laid their life down for the mission of the good news about Christ.
On the structural side of things: Roberts is a global thinker in multiple ways. He writes with a circular form of logic. Meaning he will loop towards a point. This resonates with the way I think, especially because I am so ADD. My only problem in reading the book is when I would take some other tangent in my mind off something he said and he would go a totally different direction. I think that his flow of writing will more effectively connect with some from my generation (30 and under) because we think more like this. Boomers... Maybe it will be harder for you. Not sure.
Bob, thanks for the book!
On the structural side of things: Roberts is a global thinker in multiple ways. He writes with a circular form of logic. Meaning he will loop towards a point. This resonates with the way I think, especially because I am so ADD. My only problem in reading the book is when I would take some other tangent in my mind off something he said and he would go a totally different direction. I think that his flow of writing will more effectively connect with some from my generation (30 and under) because we think more like this. Boomers... Maybe it will be harder for you. Not sure.
Bob, thanks for the book!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By J. Grubbs
Format:Hardcover
The book begins with a rhetorical question "What would your church be like if ..? and follows with a piercing assessment of the state of the art in the church and missions. I'm not a church professional and haven't spent a single day in a seminary class so I found it quite refreshing that a guy that has so much experience with both can be that objective and introspective about his profession and the contemporary church. I can imagine that Dr. Roberts situation analysis will cause an immune response from those that are comfortable with the incremental statistics and "successes" of the modern church. Even if you don't like his perspective that somewhere between the first and 21st century the church evolved from substance to style, keep reading. The rest of the book deals with personal transformation, church transformation, and the impact that has on local and global transformations. Good stuff.
The book cautions that it is not a recipe or how-to guide. It is unlikely that other churches would successfully duplicate what has been done at Northwood and their 80 plus daughter churches using the same methods and programs. Every church has to find its own way to be transformed and then transform locally and globally. The book offers numerous examples and some insight into their unique situation. In fact, it seemed a bit exaggerated at times. On a trip to Texas a few months back I had an opportunity to visit Northwood on a Sunday morning. Folks - this is for real. Bob is a real guy that has the energy, drive, and insight of a silicon valley entrepreneur, the heart of a guy doing his best to walk with God, and a thick Texas accent. The people at Northwood are real. They really do those things like take their kids to countries that have state department travel advisories and plant churches in their own neighborhood. Something that struck with me was that most of the people at Northwood were new to church when they got there. They didn't know you weren't supposed to or couldn't do the things they've done. Perhaps those of us that have been doing church and missions all our lives have some things we can learn (or forget) from these folks and the principles outlined in the book.
I hope this is not wasted on professionals - some of us amateurs might just get it too. In fact, I think that is a core premise of the book. After returning from my trip to Texas, I bought extra copies and gave them to some other average folks and even a few church staff. Books don't transform people but this one provides a decent kick in the pants.
The book cautions that it is not a recipe or how-to guide. It is unlikely that other churches would successfully duplicate what has been done at Northwood and their 80 plus daughter churches using the same methods and programs. Every church has to find its own way to be transformed and then transform locally and globally. The book offers numerous examples and some insight into their unique situation. In fact, it seemed a bit exaggerated at times. On a trip to Texas a few months back I had an opportunity to visit Northwood on a Sunday morning. Folks - this is for real. Bob is a real guy that has the energy, drive, and insight of a silicon valley entrepreneur, the heart of a guy doing his best to walk with God, and a thick Texas accent. The people at Northwood are real. They really do those things like take their kids to countries that have state department travel advisories and plant churches in their own neighborhood. Something that struck with me was that most of the people at Northwood were new to church when they got there. They didn't know you weren't supposed to or couldn't do the things they've done. Perhaps those of us that have been doing church and missions all our lives have some things we can learn (or forget) from these folks and the principles outlined in the book.
I hope this is not wasted on professionals - some of us amateurs might just get it too. In fact, I think that is a core premise of the book. After returning from my trip to Texas, I bought extra copies and gave them to some other average folks and even a few church staff. Books don't transform people but this one provides a decent kick in the pants.
27 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
With the volume of books I read and review, I've found it valuable to be intentional about reading. Before I begin a book, I generally skim the endorsements, chapter titles and, if possible, the chapter divisions. I also usually skim the endnotes and bibliography, for these elements of the book often speak volumes about the book's content. They can help me understand the book even before I begin the first chapter. Of course a potential problem with this practice is that it can lead me to form judgments about a book before I have even begun reading it. In the case of Transformation, a new book by Bob Roberts, here are the elements that stuck out in my mind based on my initial screening:
* Proprietary language. As soon as I see newly-created words and terms, I know that a book is going to introduce either a new program or a new model of something. In this case, two of the books three sections were headed by such a word: T-Life and T-World.
* The bibliography reads like a who's who of popular influencers among emerging, missional church leaders. Among those listed are Dallas Willard, George Barna, Richard Foster, Mother Teresa, Soren Kierkegaard and G.K. Chesterton.
* The final chapter is entitled "What Do You Get When a Church Combines Billy Graham with Mother Teresa?.
* The book is endorsed by many of the leaders of the more conservative wing of the emerging church and some who are far into all things emergent. Among the endorsers are Ed Young, Leighton Ford, Bub Buford, Mark Driscoll, Ed Stetzer, Andrew Jones and Brian McLaren.
Having skimmed the book, I buckled down and worked my way through it, doing plenty of underlining and jotting down all sorts of little notes. What Roberts is calling for is a transformation (in case you didn't understand that from the title!) in two spheres that are different, yet intimately connected: what he calls T-Life and T-World, which together comprise the T-Model. Or, in laymen's terms, a transformed life which leads to a transformed world. Sound familiar? It should, in many respects, as Roberts is not the first person to call for just this type of revolution. The bridge that connects a transformed life to a transformed world, in Roberts' model, is a person's vocation. The age of the vocational missionary has largely passed and it is now time for individuals to do the work of spreading the gospel within their vocational contexts both at home and abroad. These locations are equally the mission field.
The book begins, as many do, with a chapter explaining the trouble with the contemporary church. Roberts seems to believe that the church has utterly failed in its mission. "Where is the church today speaking to justice and mercy? Where is the church today serving the poor and hurting? Where is the church today serving as a prophet to society?" (18). He feels that we cannot expect people to respond to the gospel if we don't deal with issues at this level. Beside this section I wrote "Oh, come on!" That view is patently unfair. Sure the church may not be doing all she could do and we certainly fail in many ways, but to pretend that the church is doing so little for justice and mercy and poverty is to deny the work of many, if not most good churches. Roberts goes on to suggest that the church in the East is far more healthy and biblical than the church of the West. This is a view that is commonly touted, but one which I have never had proven to my satisfaction. Still, on the whole he does a fair job of assessing the church and of suggesting how she lost her way. He discusses pragmatism, consumerism, worldly standards of success and endless bureaucracies. He quickly shows, though, his Arminian understanding of the gospel. He also begins to slip into a problem that continues throughout the book: he makes sweeping statements without providing any sources or proof. He says, for example, that people who desire to be leaders are dangerous. This is his understanding based on the fact that Moses didn't want to be a leader while Pharaoh did and that David didn't want to be a leader while Saul did. That is not convincing proof as it is entirely possible that a man can desire to be a leader and not be at all dangerous! He also makes a potentially troubling statement when he begins to discount theological knowledge. "Merely believing the right things does not ensure Christlike behavior" (32). I don't know of anyone who would hold such a view, but it could be equally dangerous to deny that beliefs inform behavior.
Roberts then asks how the church fits into God's plan for the world. "The church is at is best when we are not a force outside the culture but when we are entrenched within the culture" (47). He presents a model based on concentric circles which shows how people are to be brought into the church and into relationship with God and then sent out again into kingdom service. He introduces the importance of missional service. Next up is a discussion of evangelism which focuses not on the message (and actually, the message is assumed in this book and never explicitly stated) but on making the gospel clear in our practice of evangelism. In other words, we need to appear as transformed people if our message is to be heard.
This brings us to the heart of the book, first a section discussing T-Life and then T-World. The T-Life model has three core elements: interactive relationship with God (reading the Bible, praying, journaling), transparent connections (authentic fellowship with other believers) and glocal impact (the bridge between a person's vocation and ministry that spans community development locally and globally). He discusses the importance of community to the Christian life and shows that, while personal, this life can never be private, for connecting in community allows us to serve together. He asks "what if the church were the missionary?" What if it was the local church that understood itself to be responsible for missions? This, he feels, is the ultimate convergence between a person's vocation and his ministry. He then introduces T-World, a vision of "every believer and every church engaging the world with the purpose of making a lasting difference" (122). It has three components: community development, church multiplication and nation building. As I indicated earlier, the book culminates in the question of "What Do You Get When a Church Combines Billy Graham with Mother Teresa?" T-World is "a marriage between the two. It is serving and boldly proclaiming. It is loving for love's sake, whether they follow Christ or not, not using the gospel as some sort of religious bait. It is the unrestrained outward expression of the kingdom inside of us" (157). Of course this seems to present the gospel as action more than declaration, something I'm not sure the Scripture supports. Roberts feels, though, that this is how missions must be done in the twenty-first century. "It's not about preaching; it's about his kingdom. We're primarily there to sweep floors and find connections for our laypeople to use their gifts and contacts with corporations" (156).
Woven throughout the book is a biographical thread of information which tells Roberts' story and how he came from a typical Southern Baptist family and church and arrived at this new understanding of the church's mission and there is much we can learn from his journey. His passion for this topic and his love of God is evident on almost every page. Thankfully, the book introduces a model more than a program or structure, for the last thing the church needs is another cookie-cutter program. While the book has much to offer, Roberts sometimes shows a lack of discernment that is cause for concern, sometimes turning to other undiscerning sources and expressing that he has enjoyed Roman Catholic worship. The book is premised on an understanding of the mission of the church and a non-proclamatory gospel that I simply don't feel the Scriptures can support. There is much wisdom to glean, but the premise of the book simply doesn't hold.
* Proprietary language. As soon as I see newly-created words and terms, I know that a book is going to introduce either a new program or a new model of something. In this case, two of the books three sections were headed by such a word: T-Life and T-World.
* The bibliography reads like a who's who of popular influencers among emerging, missional church leaders. Among those listed are Dallas Willard, George Barna, Richard Foster, Mother Teresa, Soren Kierkegaard and G.K. Chesterton.
* The final chapter is entitled "What Do You Get When a Church Combines Billy Graham with Mother Teresa?.
* The book is endorsed by many of the leaders of the more conservative wing of the emerging church and some who are far into all things emergent. Among the endorsers are Ed Young, Leighton Ford, Bub Buford, Mark Driscoll, Ed Stetzer, Andrew Jones and Brian McLaren.
Having skimmed the book, I buckled down and worked my way through it, doing plenty of underlining and jotting down all sorts of little notes. What Roberts is calling for is a transformation (in case you didn't understand that from the title!) in two spheres that are different, yet intimately connected: what he calls T-Life and T-World, which together comprise the T-Model. Or, in laymen's terms, a transformed life which leads to a transformed world. Sound familiar? It should, in many respects, as Roberts is not the first person to call for just this type of revolution. The bridge that connects a transformed life to a transformed world, in Roberts' model, is a person's vocation. The age of the vocational missionary has largely passed and it is now time for individuals to do the work of spreading the gospel within their vocational contexts both at home and abroad. These locations are equally the mission field.
The book begins, as many do, with a chapter explaining the trouble with the contemporary church. Roberts seems to believe that the church has utterly failed in its mission. "Where is the church today speaking to justice and mercy? Where is the church today serving the poor and hurting? Where is the church today serving as a prophet to society?" (18). He feels that we cannot expect people to respond to the gospel if we don't deal with issues at this level. Beside this section I wrote "Oh, come on!" That view is patently unfair. Sure the church may not be doing all she could do and we certainly fail in many ways, but to pretend that the church is doing so little for justice and mercy and poverty is to deny the work of many, if not most good churches. Roberts goes on to suggest that the church in the East is far more healthy and biblical than the church of the West. This is a view that is commonly touted, but one which I have never had proven to my satisfaction. Still, on the whole he does a fair job of assessing the church and of suggesting how she lost her way. He discusses pragmatism, consumerism, worldly standards of success and endless bureaucracies. He quickly shows, though, his Arminian understanding of the gospel. He also begins to slip into a problem that continues throughout the book: he makes sweeping statements without providing any sources or proof. He says, for example, that people who desire to be leaders are dangerous. This is his understanding based on the fact that Moses didn't want to be a leader while Pharaoh did and that David didn't want to be a leader while Saul did. That is not convincing proof as it is entirely possible that a man can desire to be a leader and not be at all dangerous! He also makes a potentially troubling statement when he begins to discount theological knowledge. "Merely believing the right things does not ensure Christlike behavior" (32). I don't know of anyone who would hold such a view, but it could be equally dangerous to deny that beliefs inform behavior.
Roberts then asks how the church fits into God's plan for the world. "The church is at is best when we are not a force outside the culture but when we are entrenched within the culture" (47). He presents a model based on concentric circles which shows how people are to be brought into the church and into relationship with God and then sent out again into kingdom service. He introduces the importance of missional service. Next up is a discussion of evangelism which focuses not on the message (and actually, the message is assumed in this book and never explicitly stated) but on making the gospel clear in our practice of evangelism. In other words, we need to appear as transformed people if our message is to be heard.
This brings us to the heart of the book, first a section discussing T-Life and then T-World. The T-Life model has three core elements: interactive relationship with God (reading the Bible, praying, journaling), transparent connections (authentic fellowship with other believers) and glocal impact (the bridge between a person's vocation and ministry that spans community development locally and globally). He discusses the importance of community to the Christian life and shows that, while personal, this life can never be private, for connecting in community allows us to serve together. He asks "what if the church were the missionary?" What if it was the local church that understood itself to be responsible for missions? This, he feels, is the ultimate convergence between a person's vocation and his ministry. He then introduces T-World, a vision of "every believer and every church engaging the world with the purpose of making a lasting difference" (122). It has three components: community development, church multiplication and nation building. As I indicated earlier, the book culminates in the question of "What Do You Get When a Church Combines Billy Graham with Mother Teresa?" T-World is "a marriage between the two. It is serving and boldly proclaiming. It is loving for love's sake, whether they follow Christ or not, not using the gospel as some sort of religious bait. It is the unrestrained outward expression of the kingdom inside of us" (157). Of course this seems to present the gospel as action more than declaration, something I'm not sure the Scripture supports. Roberts feels, though, that this is how missions must be done in the twenty-first century. "It's not about preaching; it's about his kingdom. We're primarily there to sweep floors and find connections for our laypeople to use their gifts and contacts with corporations" (156).
Woven throughout the book is a biographical thread of information which tells Roberts' story and how he came from a typical Southern Baptist family and church and arrived at this new understanding of the church's mission and there is much we can learn from his journey. His passion for this topic and his love of God is evident on almost every page. Thankfully, the book introduces a model more than a program or structure, for the last thing the church needs is another cookie-cutter program. While the book has much to offer, Roberts sometimes shows a lack of discernment that is cause for concern, sometimes turning to other undiscerning sources and expressing that he has enjoyed Roman Catholic worship. The book is premised on an understanding of the mission of the church and a non-proclamatory gospel that I simply don't feel the Scriptures can support. There is much wisdom to glean, but the premise of the book simply doesn't hold.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
New paradigm for local and global Christian missions
One of the best books I have read on missions from a current and global perspective. Well worth reading and implementing.
Published on October 11, 2009 by M. Christensen
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book (or a single chapter made into a book)
Great book... a quick read but it does dribble out. Perhaps about a chapter's worth of great stuff extended into a full length book. Read more
Published on September 8, 2008 by Keith Drury
4.0 out of 5 stars
Can't get old
this book is the stuff - it can't get old, it is the ministry we should all be in - pastor, member, or whatever - READ THIS BOOK!
Published on May 31, 2008 by Matthew D. Hansen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Transformation
Great information for the church - this book tells us how to be the real church and transform our communities and the world.
Published on May 29, 2008 by Charles N. Rollins
4.0 out of 5 stars
Glocal
Not only do these ideas have the possibility of revolutionizing your church, but the author and his church are actually putting the ideas into practice. What a concept!
Published on February 17, 2008 by Jonathan Fehl
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Read
This book is a must read for anyone seeking to find the direction the Church needs to take. It may challenge your world of what you think chrisitanity should be, read it with an... Read more
Published on August 23, 2007 by Kenneth Rush
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read
Bob Roberts takes a core truth of the Christian faith and does a superb job in expanding on it through fascinating personal stories and practical examples from his 20 years at... Read more
Published on April 11, 2007 by Brian A. Hook
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dynamic, practical, and proven
"Transformation" comes from the pen of a practioner and is the overflow of a community of faith that has been striving to impact the world for Christ in dynamic ways for almost 30... Read more
Published on August 30, 2006 by Jason Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars
A clear and urgent message for personal and global transformation, a...
Over the past several months I have read and reflected on Bob Robert's book. Transformation has been one of those books that has had a major impact in my life at a critical... Read more
Published on August 13, 2006 by John J Girgis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Go Bob!
Bob Roberts is a gem of a man. He writes straight from the heart and speaks with the authrity that comes from direct experience in that which he writes about. Well worth reading.
Published on June 17, 2006 by Alan Hirsch
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