Jeff Manion - Dream Big, Think Small: Living an Extraordinary Life One Day at a Time

My friend Jeff Manion reveals the truth about what it looks like to live a life of lasting significance. Jeff has lived a life of faithfulness, and Im so grateful he has shared this journey with us in the pages of Dream Big, Think Small. Jeff gives us a beautiful vision for the joy that comes from living with intention.

Shauna Niequist, author of Bread & Wine and Present Over Perfect

Jeff drops the checkered flag and proves once again that the turtle wins.

Brad Formsma, bestselling author of I Like Giving and the founder of Ilikegiving.coma movement that inspires people to live generously through stories

Dream Big, Think Small is a refreshing back-to-the-heart look at a fruitful life. I personally was challenged, then encouraged through Jeff's chewable lessons of how God hides miracles in the common places.

Dr. Wayne Cordeiro, New Hope Oahu

Jeff draws from a deep well of biblical wisdom and compelling illustrations in his latest book: Dream Big, Think Small. Most significantly to me, he is living what he is inviting us to experience. As I read, I was inspired to pursue an extraordinary life with Jesus one day at a time.

Todd Harper, President at Generous Giving and author of Abundant: Experiencing the Incredible Journey of Generosity

The ideas in this book are both completely countercultural and utterly refreshing. We live in an era of superhero stories, but Jeff's book makes it clear: The real heroes are the humble, the consistent, and the everyday faithful. I love this book.

Brant Hansen, radio host and author of Unoffendable

In a world where success outpaces character and people become famous overnight, Dream Big, Think Small is a clarion call to the kingdom of consistency, an invitation to a life of faithfulness over the long haul. Read this, live this, and your life will become fruitful in every season.

Steve Carter, Willow Creek Community Church Teaching Pastor and author of This Invitational Life

Dream Big, Think Small advocates for a new way of thinking, and I couldnt love Jeffs approach more. His idea that big dreams are anchored in small life-giving habits has changed the way I think about achieving goals. With a storytellers flair and a knack for providing takeaways you can actually use, this book will surely inspire you to be faithful in the commonplace because that is where the magic happens.

Mandy Arioto, President and CEO of MOPS International

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ZONDERVAN

Dream Big, Think Small

Copyright 2017 by Jeff Manion

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Epub Edition January 2017 ISBN 9780310328599

ISBN 978-0-310-32857-5 (softcover)

ISBN 978-0-310-32874-2 (audio)

ISBN 978-0-310-32859-9 (ebook)

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.

Cover design: Curt Diepenhorst

Cover illustration: Maartje van Caspel / iStock

Interior illustration: Kait Lamphere

Firsting printing November 2016 / Printed in the United States of America

MY RSUM IS FAIRLY SHORT BECAUSE, REALLY, IVE held only one job. My wife, Chris, and I were married when we were both twenty-one, and we began serving Ada Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a few months after our wedding. Now in our mid-fifties, we continue to serve the same ministry in the same community.

If overnight success actually existsand Im fairly confident it doesntweve never experienced it. During our thirty-plus years in ministry weve witnessed a handful of sudden breakthroughs as Ada Bible Church has grown from a couple dozen people meeting in a house to a thriving congregation serving thousands of lives. But without exception, these sudden breakthroughs were bracketed by years of faithfully plugging away.

A while back Chris and I visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills, just outside Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. There, on December 17, 1903, the two brothers made history when Orville Wright flew their plane 120 feet, staying aloft for twelve seconds. Later that day, Wilber piloted the aircraft 852 feet. The Wright brothers are celebrated as being the first human beings to achieve controlled flight.

Sudden success.

But explore David McCulloughs book The Wright Brothers, and you realize the agonizingly slow business of getting that plane off the groundyears of tinkering, designing, experimenting, failing, adjusting, and trying again. Their work was so tedious that the residents of Dayton, Ohiowhere many of their experimental flights occurredwere largely blind to the fact that history was being made just outside of town. If you had journeyed to the countryside to observe the phenomenon, you might have witnessed nothing more than two men tinkering with various airplane parts for weeks on end. There was nothing much to see. Moments of airborne awe were rare.

Listen to the assessment of Orville and Wilbers own nephew, who years later reflected, History was happening in those moments, there in their shop and in their home, but I didnt realize it at the time because it seemed so commonplace.

There it is. The invention that has, perhaps more than any other, shaped the last hundred years of human history. And the term to describe the achievement? Commonplace. It is human nature to celebrate the astounding breakthrough rather than the repetitive, tedious work that leads to the breakthrough.

As I reflect back on our own journey, I vividly recall the series of challenges that marked our first seven years of ministry as a handful of us struggled to get the church airborne. Then suddenly we took off (more about this on Day 4). The lessons from those early years have been affirmed again and again. Persistent faithfulness over an extended period of time has no substitute. When disappointed by painfully slow progressor what feels like no progresswere tempted to grow discouraged and quit. Im so grateful we didnt throw in the towel during our unspectacular years of dependably plodding along.