Brandon J OBrien - Not From Around Here: What Unites Us, What Divides Us, and How We Can Move Forward

This book fills me with hope that Christians can love and learn from each other across the differences that make us sometimes feel like enemies. Brandon OBriens personal narrative models the empathy and humility needed by allrural, suburban, and urban. I echo his prayers that well find our shared identity in Christ and not primarily in our zip code.

COLLIN HANSEN

Editorial director of The Gospel Coalition and author of Blind Spots: Becoming a Courageous, Compassionate, and Commissioned Church

It is hard to escape the constant inundation of noise that reminds us of our distances from each other, which made Not from Around Here a truly delightful read. This is an enjoyable and convicting book that stirred a longing for more exploration around what is common in the midst of our diverse histories and backgrounds.

DENNAE PIERRE

Executive Director of the Surge Network, a group of 60 churches working together to be a witness for Jesus and plant more churches in the Phoenix metro area

To read Not from Around Here is to be reminded of the importance of good stories, which traffic in the concrete rather than the abstract. Having lived most of the diverse geographical places OBrien has lived, I might not have thought I needed these stories. Turns out, I did. I needed OBriens clarion call to remember that my primary identity is not now as a resident of North Americas fourth-largest city. Im a Christian before an urbanite, and my brothers and sisters in hollers and small-towns and suburban tract neighborhoods have much to teach me. This book was a pleasure to read and will be an honor to recommend.

JEN POLLOCK MICHEL

Author of Keeping Place and Surprised by Paradox

How do you cultivate a theology of place when the place you practice theology keeps changing? Its a question I ask often because I have spent my adult life living in almost a dozen different states. When asked, I am never from around here. Brandon OBrien has captured this sense of alien homelessness in an acute way as he moves his readers through his transient life in the country, the suburbs, a small city, and an urban place. He gives his readers some handrails to hold onto in an ever-changing terrain, and reminds us where our true home really is.

LORE FERGUSON WILBERT

Author of Handle with Care

In a divided America, we need empathetic storytellers who can show us (rather than simply tell) how the places we live form our loves. Not from Around Here travels from rural America, to the suburbs, and lands in New York City to gently expose the myth we believe: that there is a single story about place. But the story of the gospel is bigger than that. OBrien offers hope that as Christians embrace our primary identity as followers of Christ, we can begin to heal our divisions. Engaging, funny, insightful, and warm, Not from Around Here shows us how to get home.

ASHLEY HALES

Author of Finding Holy in the Suburbs: Living Faithfully in the Land of Too Much

2019 by BRANDON OBRIEN

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Names and details of some stories have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Chapter 8 includes an excerpt from the authors blog post Gifts from Worshipping in a Multiethnic Urban Church, Redeemer City to City, Medium.com, April 23, 2018.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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

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 (NIV) 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 KJV are taken from the King James Version.

All emphasis in Scripture has been added.

Edited by Amanda Cleary Eastep and Mackenzie Conway
Interior design: Ragont Design
Cover design: Dean Renninger
Cover photo of plowing fields copyright 2018 by tunart / iStock (950785056).
Cover photo of city intersection copyright 2019 by Chris Clor / Getty Images (605763565). Cover photo of construction site copyright 2019 by Jung Getty / Getty Images (1026631574). All rights reserved for all photos above.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: OBrien, Brandon J., author.

Title: Not from around here : what unites us, what divides us, and how we can move forward / Brandon J. OBrien.

Description: Chicago : Moody Publishers, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2019017472 (print) | LCCN 2019020749 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802496560 | ISBN 9780802416964

Subjects: LCSH: OBrien, Brandon J. | United States--Social life and customs--1971---Anecdotes. | Christian life--United States.

Classification: LCC E169.Z83 (ebook) | LCC E169.Z83 O33 2019 (print) | DDC 973.924--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019017472

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