{"id":34045,"date":"2018-08-29T23:11:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T03:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=34045"},"modified":"2018-08-29T23:11:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T03:11:29","slug":"review-of-called-to-create-by-jordan-raynor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=34045","title":{"rendered":"Review of Called to Create, by Jordan Raynor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Called to Create<\/p>\n

A Biblical Invitation to Create, Innovate, and Risk<\/em><\/p>\n

by Jordan Raynor<\/p>\n

Baker Books, 2017. 234 pages.<\/p>\n

I ordered this book after seeing an ad on Facebook, which said it looked at the life of C. S. Lewis and offered a Christian perspective on creating. Being a fan of C. S. Lewis and a writer at heart, I put a copy of the book in my Amazon shopping cart and bought it on my next order.<\/p>\n

I was a little disappointed. Although the book is tangentially about creative arts like writing, the true subject of the book is entrepreneurship from a Christian perspective. Mind you, I do like thinking about entrepreneurship from a Christian perspective \u2013 and many of the insights about how our work should be our calling do apply. It\u2019s just that I personally am not at all called to be an entrepreneur. (My calling is a librarian \u2013 and like Paul boasts in I Corinthians 9, I take pride in offering my services free of charge.)<\/p>\n

The book is peppered with stories, though some of them I\u2019d heard before as sermon illustrations. I certainly didn\u2019t learn anything new about C. S. Lewis, either. But there were many stories of entrepreneurs I\u2019d known nothing about.<\/p>\n

And I do love the foundational insight behind this book: That our work can be a calling from God even if it is not<\/em> full-time ministry. Like the author, I grew up in evangelical churches and absorbed the message (probably unintentional) that if you were really a follower of Jesus, you\u2019d go into full-time ministry.<\/p>\n

Given that I\u2019m not in the intended audience, this book does talk about important topics for Christian entrepreneurs: The purpose behind creating, deciding what to create, and how to run a business with Christian values throughout. He also looks at questions like the balance between hustling, trusting, and rest, and the challenges of dealing with both failure and large profits.<\/p>\n

Following Jesus should affect our entire lives. This book takes a look at how it should affect your business if you are among those called to create.<\/p>\n

calledtocreate.org<\/a>
\nJordanRaynor.com<\/a>
\nbakerbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Nonfiction\/called_to_create.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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