Greg Holder - The Genius of One: Gods Answer for Our Fractured World

Perhaps the one thing that most hinders the world-changing mission of the church is its lack of unity. Jesus prayed in John 17 that his church would be one so that the world would believe that God had sent him. In The Genius of One, youll enjoy Gregs humor and his humility, but your greatest takeaway will be how your influence and leadership in embracing our oneness in Christ is the first step toward changing the world.

RICHARD STEARNS

President of World Vision US and author of The Hole in Our Gospel

Greg Holder is a trusted guide to lead you on a journey to discover Gods heart for unity. His instructive encouragement is impeccable. In our divided culture, I cant imagine a more timely and critical message.

GABE LYONS

President of Q Ideas and author of Good Faith and The Next Christians

The Genius of One is a cynic buster. For more than forty years I have been involved in Kingdom matters, and I have suffered enough fools and my own foolishness to guffaw when I consider unity in the body of Christ. I love Greg and respect him enormously, but a book on what it means to be one in the church seemed as unlikely as seventy is the new fifty. His playful, hilarious, heartfelt, theologically profound invitation to risk humbly for unity is a clarion call in a world as fractured and toxic as ours. This compelling book will help you celebrate Jesus call to reveal him by the way we relate.

DAN B. ALLENDER, PHD

Professor of counseling psychology at The Seattle School and author of The Wounded Heart

Greg Holder has written a clear and vivid piece on how we can actually attain peace through The Genius of One. This book not only envisions the possibilities of what we are called to be as one body; it also gives us colorful pictures and the practical nuts and bolts of how we can be the answer to Jesus prayer of true oneness.

DR. DAVID A. ANDERSON

Author of Gracism: The Art of Inclusion

The Genius of One is a practitioners handbook for how businesses, churches, and individuals can achieve more together than apart. Saturated with wisdom, humility, and lived experience, Holder offers one of the most gritty, earthy, and practical books on how believers can live out their common unity with God and one another in light of our many differences.

DAVE HICKMAN

Author of Closer Than Close: Awakening to the Freedom ofYour Union with Christ

A rare book and a rare author. In teaching, who combines insight into Scripture that goes beyond commentary, a flair for the narrative, humor thats funny and not merely amusing, and illustrations that illuminate instead of reiterate? This guyGreg Holderthats who. The Genius of One is a profound unpacking of a profound thesiseverything worth anything in this world is rooted in the oneness of God. Do we know this? Did we know this and then forget? Im not sure, but Ive never seen it as clearly as I do now. Thanks, Greg. This book is a gem.

RICK JAMES

Publisher of CruPress and author of Watch and A Million Ways to Die

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.

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The Genius ofOne: Gods Answer for Our Fractured World

Copyright 2017 by Greg Holder. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

NAVPRESS and the NAVPRESS logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. TYNDALE is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

The Team:

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David Zimmerman, Acquisitions Editor

Caitlyn Carlson: Copyeditor

Mark Anthony Lane, Designer

Cover illustration of hand drawn by Mark Lane. Copyright Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published in association with the literary agency of Mark Sweeney & Associates.

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. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked The Voice are taken from The Voice, copyright 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

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Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-63146-631-1

ISBN 978-1-63146-632-8 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-63146-633-5 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-63146-634-2 (Apple)

Build: 2017-08-31 12:07:21

To Robin, Alexandra, and Victoria. From Caper Wood to Mount Everest and every place in between, the world is better when you are by my side.

PROLOGUE

WHITE FOLDING CHAIRS

Why This Matters and What to Expect

W E HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO GET ALONG. Some will suggest this is nothing newand they would be right. From the first moment of rebellion against a loving God, the cracks appeared in our relationships. Ever since, our ugly unlovingness has chipped and jackhammered at the beauty of Gods creation.

But its getting worse.

Or so it seems.

Is it because there are now seven-plus billion of us that the planet seems louder? Or that the Web, the biggest media revolution since the printing press, has left us more connected than everbut also much angrier? Whatever the reasonsand there are manythe cracks in our broken world are showing: Common ground once shared is shrinking. Slight disagreements now carve deep divides. Conversations instantly polarize. We use technology to bully and bash those weve never met. We have grown insensitive and hypersensitive. Life teeters always on the edge of outrage. Shocking violencein word and deedshocks us less and less. In disgust and defeat, many now refer to these developments as the new normal.