Jim Palmer - Wide Open Spaces: Beyond Paint-by-Number Christianity

Praise for Wide Open Spaces

I could read what Jim Palmer writes all day. Hes honest, funny, and his perspective really gives you something to chew on. When you open up Wide Open Spaces, its like opening up a window on the first day of fall after a long hot summer and letting that breeze rush in. Its refreshing and invigorating, and oh so welcome.

Ernie Johnson, Jr.,
sportscaster for TNT/TBS

Jim knows the mess of the world. Jim knows the mess of the church. And he still has the audacity to believe that love wins. Here he has created a book of stories and reflections that cannot help but leave you feeling closer to Godwith a smile that isnt just for Sunday morningsand filled with the hope that another world is possible.

Shane Claiborne
activist, author, recovering sinner (thesimpleway.org)

Jim Palmer, the hall of fame pitcher, changed speeds on his fastball. But this Jim Palmer, the author, changed lives in our locker room. It has been an absolute pleasure to pass this book out to some of my teammates. As I read the pages of each chapter, I felt God moving me further away from religion and closer to experiencing His desired freedom in Christ. If you want to escape the popular Christian treadmill or common Churchianity, Wide Open Spaces and Divine Nobodies are must-reads!

Paul Byrd
pitcher, Cleveland Indians

My favorite spiritual practice is underlining books. I stopped underlining Jim Palmers newest book because I found myself underlining the whole thing. Few books in life have brought my soul more pleasure, or profit, than Wide Open Places.

Leonard Sweet
Drew University, George Fox University, wikiletics.com

To anyone who has ever gasped for air within the claustrophobic confines of religion, to anyone who has ever held up her dukes to God in a desperate plea for honest contact, Jim Palmer suggests, Lets take this outside.

Wide Open Spaces is an invitation to freedom beyond the boundary lines of organized religion (which is more a mix of cultural bias and corporate structures than a celebration of the Truth that sets us free). This book is guaranteed to raise both your eyebrows and your hopes, to stretch your doctrine even as it stretches your faith. Every word rings true, even as it startles, with this boldand biblically supportedproposal: when we fulfill our true calling to be little Christs, we partner with God as he works his perfect will, joyfully growing the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Kristyn Komarnicki
editor, PRISM magazine, Evangelicals for Social Action

No sooner does one come to the understanding of seeing the divine in others then Jim pops another at usin the reality of Wide OpenSpaces. I love the way Jim connects his story with the stories of others, and how God can move in us, around us, about us, and through us to see the work in the kingdom. Sometimes life can be hard, but seeing the hand of God is a powerful way of expressing our walkJim does just that in this book. I would recommend it to anyone seeking to know more, find more, live more, understand more, and journey more with the divine in us all. Get ready to be Unzipped as you explore the reality of God in many ways.

John OKeefe
founder/designer, ginkworld.net
proof evolution is in flux

As a dedicated Christian currently in search of a church, I found WideOpen Spaces hope-inspiring and instructive. Ever since I became a Christian I have struggled with the question of church: not just which local church to attend, an ongoing problem for my family, but what church really is, or should be. The response of the churchthat is, of pastors and churchgoers in my acquaintancehas only contributed to my struggle. While many have allowed a distinction between church and the church, most are leery of taking the discussion much further, and some even question whether those who dont attend church can really be Christians at all. According to Jim Palmer, though, church is not a building or a set of activities or a certain group of people who get together weekly to worship God. Rather, church is everywhere, all the time, with everybody. What a refreshing message to those of us whose pursuit of God takes place in large part outside the context of the established church.

Patty Kirk
writer in residence and associate professor of English, John Brown
University; author of Confessions of an Amateur Believer and
Starting from Scratch: Memoirs of a Wandering Cook

Wide Open Spaces is an unabashed invitation to sail out of the shallows of stagnant, repetitive Sunday-only religion and to sail out into the adventure of a life lived alongside Jesus in the wild, open currents of everyday life. As Jim attests, the rewards far outweigh the risks!

Wayne Jacobsen
author of He Loves Me: Learning to Live In the Fathers Affection

From the first chapter, its clear that Jim has written a brave book. Hes articulated much of the discontent I have felt with the church in America, and hes done it not with cynicism (which wouldve been easy) but with a frank and gentle wisdom. I put the book down grateful for the reminder that being a Christian means vastly more than adhering to the paradigm.

Andrew Peterson
singer/songwriter

A radical and welcome book about how to be an authentic Christian in a post-Christian world. Jim Palmers new words on church, faithfulness, and finding God in new places are a gift to us all.

Greg Garrett
author of Crossing Myself and The Gospel According to Hollywood

It is a rare achievement for any artist to follow their first workone that remains as highly acclaimed as Divine Nobodieswith a follow-on work that is unequivocally better than the first. Jim Palmer has done it with Wide Open Spaces. The reading of Wide Open Spaces is not optional. Its mandatory if you are one who desires to know God and be love in our world today. This book is an epic contribution to the way ahead. The implications of Wide Open Spaces are clear for the spiritual sojourner and the possibilities for a way of life for those who deeply desire something more in how they experience God on a day-to-day basis.

Richard Dahl
author, creator, and editor of www.theporpoisedivinglife.com

Wide Open Spaces chronicles Jim Palmers search for something other than cultural Christianity, and it seems that along the way he found it. Having just read the book, I now feel drawn to begin that same search myself.

Charles J. Powell
producer of Faith Caf, Inspiration Networks

Thank goodness Wide Open Spaces is done! I thought Jim was going to pass out from the heat as he pecked away on his laptop in that ugly rocking recliner in his garage.

Jims next door neighbor

2007 by Jim Palmer

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