Sauls - Jesus outside the lines : a way forward for those who are tired of taking sides

Jesus Outside the Lines is a refreshing look at discipleship in our late modern times. While its impossible to cover all the possible topics, Scotts book is still surprisingly comprehensive and readable at the same time. He seamlessly weaves together theology, cultural critique, Christian ethics, and character formation in each chapter. The result is a picture of Christian living that should be attractive to believers and to many skeptics as well.

TIMOTHY KELLER

Senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City, and author of The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

As people who have wrestled much with Gods habit of redemptively coloring outside the lines in our own lives and experience, we are so grateful for the wisdom, care, and honesty with which our friend and pastor Scott Sauls has approached this subject in this book.

STEVEN CURTIS AND MARY BETH CHAPMAN

Five-time Grammy winners and orphan-care advocates

My friend Scott Sauls is winsome, gifted, smart, compassionate and tired. Tired of name-calling and caricatures. Tired of the unloving tone that sadly typifies so much of our public and private discourse. Tired of divisive dogmatism that flies in the face of Jesus prayer for unity in John 17. He longs to see Christians marked first and foremost by love. He recognizes the beauty in being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry (James 1:19). He rightly understands that if youre always pointing out whats wrong with everyone else, it reveals just how much youve built your identity on being right. But hes no pessimist. And hes no soft sentimentalist. Hes not calling for uniformity. And hes not championing the watering down of legitimate Christian distinctives. In the gospel of Jesus Christ, he sees a transformative power that can set us free free to listen, to lose, and to love. Free to be bold without being brash, confident without being cocky, smart without being sassy, engaged with our world without being enraged with our neighbor. Thank you, Scott, for doing what you do and for saying what you say. It is much needed in our day.

TULLIAN TCHIVIDJIAN

Founder of Liberate and author of One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World

Scott Sauls has given me fresh hope in this thoughtful and lively book, Jesus Outside the Lines. He describes hope as imagining Gods future into the present and does just that. He gives us a new way of relating to each other inside the church especially on divisive topics related to our politics and commitments in hopes of sweeter aroma to those who dont know Jesus. And he prods us to engage the issues of the world we live in poverty, abortion, sexual freedom, and selfish ambition, to name a few with humility and love. Its so easy to be discouraged by the broken state of the church and the world, but Scott reminds us that Gods once-and-for-all restoration project has already begun. We only need to believe that gospel!

KATHERINE LEARY ALSDORF

Founder and director emeritus, Redeemer Center for Faith & Work, and co-author of Every Good Endeavor

As a public official, I am often painfully aware of the churchs tendency to want to paint lines that divide rather than drawing pictures of a life-giving Savior. As an exemplary model of speaking truth in love, Scott is a refreshing alternative to this. I am among many who have the privilege of trying to figure out how to do this alongside him.

BILL HASLAM

Governor of Tennessee

My pastor and friend, Scott Sauls, thoughtfully challenges the instinct to retreat or compromise when perspectives collide. With grace and humility, he calls us to press in and engage those whose perspectives are different than our own. If you are weary of the pressure to choose sides and declare an enemy, Jesus Outside the Lines will show you a refreshingly different path.

TROY TOMLINSON

President and CEO of Sony ATV Music Nashville

I used to wonder why my dear friend Scott Sauls wasnt already a published author, for Ive learned so much from my younger brother. But Im glad he waited. Jesus Outside the Lines isnt a first book; its more like fine wine, distilled wisdom, and the vintage aroma of grace. Thank you, Scott, for showing me that Christianity is both true and beautiful; that I matter, but that Im not the point; that the family of God is bigger than my favorite tribe in the family; that contextualizing the gospel isnt compromising the gospel; that God loves the world, not just people in the world; that Jesus isnt nervously pacing the corridors of heaven, hes actively making all things new. Thank you, Scott, for reminding me the gospel is so much bigger and better than I can imagine.

SCOTTY SMITH

Founder of Christ Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee, and author of Everyday Prayers

We live in cultural moment that has made it feel almost impossible for Christians to find their voice. We feel silenced, marginalized, and in need of defending ourselves. But this reaction has not helped. Choosing sides in the larger cultural conflicts has only left us feeling misunderstood, stereotyped, and caricatured. We long for another way. And this is what Scott has given us in this book. With theological insight, cultural astuteness, and the compassionate tone of Jesus, he paints a way for the church to have influence without coercion and put the brilliance of Jesus on display in a pluralistic world. A worthy read.

JON TYSON

Founding pastor of Trinity Grace Church, New York, and author of Sacred Roots: Why the Church Still Matters

Scott Sauls is my pastor and friend. He is a man who deeply loves Christ. He is not a Christian writer as much as he is a writer and pastor and father and husband and brother and son who is a Christian, a follower of Christ. Scotts words will challenge you, make you mad and happy, make you cry and make you laugh. Art is supposed to make you feel something and glorify God all at the same time. I believe he accomplishes that!

TOM DOUGLAS

Hall of Fame songwriter

As a pastor, its a given that Scott would comb the Scriptures for answers to so many cultural issues were facing today; but he also puts his own story and life into each chapter. Im so thankful for the overall tone of the book, which combines bold, substantive truth with humility and grace. Jesus Outside the Lines will be an amazing companion to those of us attempting to be salt and light in our world.

LEE NORWOOD

Senior vice president of mens design, Polo Ralph Lauren

The deepest learning we do is always over the shoulder and through the heart. In Jesus Outside the Lines, Scott Sauls invites everyone everywhere into an honest conversation about the things that matter most and therefore at the same time are the most tender and contentious for us. But he does so as a friend, offering thoughtful, rich, even pastoral counsel for believer and unbeliever alike, longing as he does that we find ways to flourish as human beings who have commitments and convictions about God, politics, money, sexuality, and more, agreeing to disagree where we must, but with love and respect, with listening and friendship. In our polarizing world, where the more we know about each other means the less we care for each other, Scotts vision is a gift for those who care for our common good.

STEVEN GARBER

Founder and principal of the Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation & Culture and author of