The new book is coming soon!! I’m so excited, this one really contains the heart of the faith for me. It’s called The Pursuing God: A Reckless, Irrational, Obsessed Love That’s Dying to Bring Us Home. It comes out May 3rd and I wanted to share a bit on what it’s about.

When people ask how this one compares with The Skeletons in God’s Closet, I usually say:

The last book was what I’d want to say to our culture; this one is what I want to say to my daughter.

What I mean by that is the last one dealt with questions our culture asks of the faith, (“How can you believe in a God who . . .?”), questions I’ve wrestled with over the years. This one also deals with some really tough topics (particularly sacrifice, wrath, and atonement), and so has a similar feel, but its starting point is different.

This one starts with the positive themes that have sustained and deepened my faith over the years, particularly the theme of God’s relentless pursuit of our world. It explores how the gospel’s not about our pursuit of God so much as God’s pursuit of us–and whether we want to be found.

This is from the back cover:

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IS GOD LOST?

Many of us feel that way. It’s as if God’s gone missing, out in the universe somewhere—and we must pick up the hunt, following any trail of breadcrumbs we can to go find him. We speak of “searching for God,” “exploring spirituality,” and “finding faith.”

But what if we have it backward and God is the one pursuing us? What if our job is not to go find God, but to stop running and hiding? Not to discover the light, but step out of the shadows? Not to earn God’s love, but simply receive it?

Jesus reveals a God who comes after us, who is on the prowl, hunting down his world for reconciliation. And the question we’re left with is not whether we’ve been good enough, jumped high enough, or sought hard enough…

The question is,

“DO WE WANT TO BE FOUND?”

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I’m really excited about this book. If you are too, a number of you have asked how you can help or be a part. Here’s a couple practical ways:

1. PRE-ORDER THE BOOK: The book is available for pre-order now. The reason pre-orders help is sites like Amazon use pre-orders to determine how many books to have in stock from anticipation “buzz.” With Skeletons, one problem we ran into was Amazon got flooded with orders once the book was released and got rave reviews, but because there had been virtually no pre-orders they quickly ran out of stock and had to wait a week or two each time for it to be re-stocked, which discourages people interested from ordering the book.

  • My publisher’s goal is 80 pre-orders, we currently have around 30, so you can help us reach that remaining 50 by next month.
  • E-mail me a digital receipt (or just the receipt number) from your order, and I’ll send you one of my favorite chapters from the book, as well as a “lost” chapter from the end of the book–that I loved but had to be cut to keep the page length down (my e-mail address is [email protected]).

2. JOIN THE LAUNCH TEAM: If you’re interested in joining the launch team, just let me know and I’ll add you to the e-mail list / Facebook group. What it involves is:

  • Write a Review: I’ll send you a free digital version of the manuscript (a .pdf file) you can read on your computer, Ipad or Kindle. Your commitment is to read this by May 3rd, write an honest review of the book, and post it within a week of the book release on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
  • Share What You Think: Feel free to just do what’s comfortable here, but some people enjoy doing things like: a) if you come across a quote you like, share it on Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #Pursued; b) if you enjoy the book, tell family and friends that you’re finding it impactful; c) when the book comes out, take a picture of the book where you’re reading it (in the backyard, at the coffee shop, etc) for Instagram or Facebook with a quick line or two on something that’s stood out to you.
  • Receive a free book and join the launch party! When the book releases, I’ll send you a free copy of the book for being part of the launch team and if you’re in the Portland area come on out to the launch party!
    • We have space for up to 50 people on the launch team, so just let me know if you’re interested in joining! E-mail me at [email protected] or send me a DM on Facebook, with your name, e-mail address, and mailing address (for mailing you the book).

Thanks everyone! My hope is ultimately that we can all encounter and be transformed by God’s relentless pursuit of our world together–

Joshua Ryan Butler