Mar 21st, 2008
John Piper’s “Desiring God”
Mark Dever posed his eighth “T4Free question” on the T4G blog earlier this week, and I was surprised that my answer was selected. (Perhaps mine had the least misspelled words and the most Piper-like hyphenated ones! Regardless, I’m grateful for this happy providence and eager for edification along with about 5,000 other people at T4G in mid-April 2008.) Here’s Mark’s question followed by the 100-words-or-less answer I submitted:
Q: “What Christian book (other than the Bible) do you think has been read by the most people attending T4G 2008, and why?”
A: “John Piper’s Desiring God
“This richly theological and warmly devotional best-seller has been the means for sending countless Christians on a trajectory towards theology that is increasingly joyful, robust, God-centered, Christ-exalting, and gospel-treasuring.
“My testimony is not unusual. I read it as a freshman in college and again during my first year of seminary, and it had a revolutionary effect on my Christian life. It shaped my attitude towards Reformed soteriology and convinced me that God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.”
In addition to selling the print book for just $9.50, Desiring God Ministries offers the following free resources:
- the entire book online
- Desiring God Study Guide
- Desiring God Study Guide for Groups
- Desiring God sermon series (text and audio)
- Desiring God seminar (audio)
- other free resources on Christian Hedonism
- other books about Christian Hedonism
I thank God for John Piper. He is a gift to the church.
On a related note, D. A. Carson pays Piper no small compliment in the preface to Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson by mentioning him parallel to three other giants of the faith:
“But my aim is much more modest: to convey enough of his [i.e., Tom Carson's] ministry and his own thought that ordinary ministers are encouraged, not least by the thought that the God of Augustine, Calvin, Spurgeon, and Piper is no less the God of Tom Carson, and of you and me” (p. 11).
Andy, Congrats!! I wanted to go to T4G, but am unable.
I’ll be in NYC a couple weeks later at an urban church planting conference.
Hope all went well for you this past week at the DBTS lecture series. Blessings!
Hey, good for you, Andy! Enjoy! I still occasionally listen to sermons from the last T4G - especially Piper’s sermon, which is probably my all-time favorite sermon.
[...] most influential Christian books of the last half-century. [Also available as an audio book. Cf. my thoughts on Desiring God, summarized in this sentence: "This richly theological and warmly devotional best-seller has been [...]