I absolutely loved Jeff Vanderstelt's first book Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life. Jeff uses his personal story to explain
his spiritual/leadership journey through the traditional, seeker-sensitive mega church environment and into what it means to follow Jesus in the everyday stuff of life. This radical reorientation of life and mission around following Jesus in normal life lead Jeff to start the SOMA family of missional churches. The ministry philosophy shift from "come in see" to "go and tell" is dramatic, biblical and totally comprehensive. The missional approach outlined in Saturate will seem intimidating to traditional churchmen who have felt like being an usher was the extent of their service to Lord Jesus. Missional living requires not just the learning of the missional christian life but the unlearning of a radically-Americanized, consumeristic, program-driven, pastor-centric way of doing church. This shift is personal, dramatic and comprehensive. This shift will require training and that is why the Saturate Field Guide was written. Once you've said yes to the missional life, you'll need a guide and Jeff Vanderstelt & Ben Connelly aim to provide just that in the Saturate Field Guide.
The Saturate Field Guide is a helpful tool in apply the principals outlined in Saturate into the real life context of a missional community. This is an intensely practical resource guide that I would highly recommend for missional community leaders. If you're unfamiliar with what missional communities are or how they function, please read Saturate instead to understand the philosophy behind the missional shift in small groups. It's important to emphasize that the Saturate Field Guide is a practical manual for practitioners leading a missional community. If your church is moving towards adopting the missional community model, this is the practical resource for your leaders to shape and grow their groups. The Field Guide follows the structure of Saturate with weekly sections devoted to each of the chapters. The guide functions as a very practical tool for your groups to begin to unpack what it means to live like a spiritual family of Jesus-like servants on God's mission of redemption.
