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Land of My Sojourn: The Landscape of a Faith Lost and Found
In the years since leaving local church ministry, I've devoted an enormous amount of time and resources to examining the church's often troubled witness, its ongoing crisis of leadership, and the epidemic of narcissism, abuse, and cover-up that has continued to emerge year after year. This book is about my journey both before and undergirding that work―the shattering of dreams and the grace that restored a broken faith in the aftermath. It's a story about grace leading me home when I thought all was lost. Taken together, my encounters with Peter, Elijah, and Jesus connected to indelible images from my time in Israel and formed a new spiritual landscape in my mind, one with enough gravity to draw my feet back to solid ground. My hope is that as I tell this story you might find echoes of your own. I pray if you're in the wilderness, you might find that though the territory is a mystery, you are far from alone. Most of all, I pray that you rediscover that Jesus is chasing you like a lover . . . right through heaven's gates.
168 pages, Hardcover
Published February 27, 2024
About the author
Mike Cosper
17 books80 followersMike Cosper is the executive director of Harbor Media, a non-profit media company serving Christians in a post-Christian world. He served for sixteen years as a pastor at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and is the author of Recapturing the Wonder, The Stories We Tell, and Rhythms of Grace. He lives with his family in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
March 14, 2024
When I picked 'Land of My Sojourn' up off the doorstep, it felt like it belonged in my mailbox instead. Mike Cosper's story resonates uncannily with my own in ways that are both parallel and personal. Mike's travel memoir is a path that I have walked in legs and a path that in some ways I am still on.
In a minor way the story of dysfunction at the center of this book was one that I had a front row seat to witness. Around the time of Sojourn's re-org, I had begun spending a lot of time in the Lead Pastor's office - assisting in research, serving at elder's meetings, and smoking pipes on the patio. I viewed the pastor's model of ministry as something to imitate, a forward direction to march, until I was frozen on the couch - weeping and unable to move. The path to burn-out that I was on - if I hadn't already received some significant burns - seemed like a sure-fire way to go, until that lead pastor was asked to step away. It was the wake-up call I needed, and one that I would need to put on speed-dial.
The way Mike described his turning point might as well have been my own: "Our wounds, long masked by the momentum of ministry, began to surface, and the physical and psychological toll of spending years in a toxic culture caught up with me. I crashed. Physically and spiritually exhausted, isolated and brokenhearted, I saw a community I loved— one I had poured my heart and soul into on the verge of breaking apart.”
Still, the level of spiritual disillusionment I felt then was only a gradual step towards the sudden drop I was about to be confronted by in the coming years. Mike is right, "The very people who can help us meet and know Jesus are also the ones who can hurt us at the deepest levels." It is a dangerous thing to work at a church.
Mike has turned the reporter's mic on circles that I have run in, identifying the "ongoing crisis of leadership, and the epidemic of narcissism, abuse, and cover-up...a branch of the church that is image-conscious, charismatic, and contradictory." This is a leadership model that "incentivizes grandiosity." A vision for the future that wants to climb high heights, even if it needs to step on some backs to get there. I've seen countless friends in ministry experience a parallel form of complex trauma - death by a thousand paper-cuts. Toxicity - no matter it's level - begins to wear away at hope, until there is nothing left.
After years of staff dysfunction, many of us have lost the childlike faith that has "the audacity to speak your mind in a relationship where the asymmetry of authority and control couldn't be starker." Sadly, because of our high expectations for what the church can - and should - be, we overlook, and sometimes "want to overlook" symptoms of unhealth. It is "easier to cherry-pick reality than watch a dream die." Many ministers are in constant denial that 'it can still change' - we think we are one conversation away from turning things around.
Still, Mike's approach is to sober bloodlust. Throughout the book he is careful not to downshift into "revisionist oversimplification." It is hard - but important work - to recognize that "No one is just one thing, even the worst of us." No one is pure villain, or pure hero - as much as that would make the narrative more tidy. And that same 'line between good and evil' - as Alexander Solzhenitsyn said - runs through my own heart as well.
As is common in "unhealthy, idealistic churches" a minister's identity - and to my shame, sometimes my own - gets wrapped up in serving in a particular place, so that anxiety about leaving keeps a person stuck, marginalized, burned up, or burned out. Just like Peter who was afraid of the death of his dream, we are paralyzed and unable to move on.
But, like Peter, what we need is a cold dip in the water. It is 'sinking' that washes away illusions and helps us to see with clearer eyes. It is hunger and weariness, "where healing begins." The only way to get out of the land of sojourn is through. And, to get through, we need guides like Mike to say it's safe to be "an angry and doubting person" here. Unexpected ministers who are unafraid to point out the 'cracks in the veneer.' Fellow sojourners who are willing to ask the hard questions: 'Why are you here? What are you after?' In an environment of constant instability, we need a place to stand that doesn't move. And this book - and Mike's story - is not the place itself, but more like a pirate's map of how to get there. And, though I can't say I've found it yet, I still believe that the rumors will be true: when we get to the place where the 'x' marks the spot, we'll come to find out that the 'x' was a cross all along.
In a minor way the story of dysfunction at the center of this book was one that I had a front row seat to witness. Around the time of Sojourn's re-org, I had begun spending a lot of time in the Lead Pastor's office - assisting in research, serving at elder's meetings, and smoking pipes on the patio. I viewed the pastor's model of ministry as something to imitate, a forward direction to march, until I was frozen on the couch - weeping and unable to move. The path to burn-out that I was on - if I hadn't already received some significant burns - seemed like a sure-fire way to go, until that lead pastor was asked to step away. It was the wake-up call I needed, and one that I would need to put on speed-dial.
The way Mike described his turning point might as well have been my own: "Our wounds, long masked by the momentum of ministry, began to surface, and the physical and psychological toll of spending years in a toxic culture caught up with me. I crashed. Physically and spiritually exhausted, isolated and brokenhearted, I saw a community I loved— one I had poured my heart and soul into on the verge of breaking apart.”
Still, the level of spiritual disillusionment I felt then was only a gradual step towards the sudden drop I was about to be confronted by in the coming years. Mike is right, "The very people who can help us meet and know Jesus are also the ones who can hurt us at the deepest levels." It is a dangerous thing to work at a church.
Mike has turned the reporter's mic on circles that I have run in, identifying the "ongoing crisis of leadership, and the epidemic of narcissism, abuse, and cover-up...a branch of the church that is image-conscious, charismatic, and contradictory." This is a leadership model that "incentivizes grandiosity." A vision for the future that wants to climb high heights, even if it needs to step on some backs to get there. I've seen countless friends in ministry experience a parallel form of complex trauma - death by a thousand paper-cuts. Toxicity - no matter it's level - begins to wear away at hope, until there is nothing left.
After years of staff dysfunction, many of us have lost the childlike faith that has "the audacity to speak your mind in a relationship where the asymmetry of authority and control couldn't be starker." Sadly, because of our high expectations for what the church can - and should - be, we overlook, and sometimes "want to overlook" symptoms of unhealth. It is "easier to cherry-pick reality than watch a dream die." Many ministers are in constant denial that 'it can still change' - we think we are one conversation away from turning things around.
Still, Mike's approach is to sober bloodlust. Throughout the book he is careful not to downshift into "revisionist oversimplification." It is hard - but important work - to recognize that "No one is just one thing, even the worst of us." No one is pure villain, or pure hero - as much as that would make the narrative more tidy. And that same 'line between good and evil' - as Alexander Solzhenitsyn said - runs through my own heart as well.
As is common in "unhealthy, idealistic churches" a minister's identity - and to my shame, sometimes my own - gets wrapped up in serving in a particular place, so that anxiety about leaving keeps a person stuck, marginalized, burned up, or burned out. Just like Peter who was afraid of the death of his dream, we are paralyzed and unable to move on.
But, like Peter, what we need is a cold dip in the water. It is 'sinking' that washes away illusions and helps us to see with clearer eyes. It is hunger and weariness, "where healing begins." The only way to get out of the land of sojourn is through. And, to get through, we need guides like Mike to say it's safe to be "an angry and doubting person" here. Unexpected ministers who are unafraid to point out the 'cracks in the veneer.' Fellow sojourners who are willing to ask the hard questions: 'Why are you here? What are you after?' In an environment of constant instability, we need a place to stand that doesn't move. And this book - and Mike's story - is not the place itself, but more like a pirate's map of how to get there. And, though I can't say I've found it yet, I still believe that the rumors will be true: when we get to the place where the 'x' marks the spot, we'll come to find out that the 'x' was a cross all along.
April 3, 2024
I don’t have words to describe how meaningful this book has been to me in this season. I’ve watched so many of my friends walk away from the Lord, and Cosper just gets it. This book is cathartic, grieve stricken wisdom. Best book I have read this year. Jenna will be happy to not have to deal with me crying on the living room floor anymore.
It’s something like a modern Dark Night of the Soul with more Seinfeld and Larry David references.
It’s something like a modern Dark Night of the Soul with more Seinfeld and Larry David references.
April 11, 2024
Let me start by saying that my 3-star rating is in the minority of early reader reviews (and the lowest at the time of writing this review). So, feel free to take my review with a grain of salt.
Land of My Sojourn is a memoir-like reflection of church planter Mike Cosper. He looks back on how the initial vision of the church developed and how poor leadership ended up taking things in another direction and left him disillusioned. I do think the title is slightly misleading. I expected something regarding deconstruction and reconstruction, but from what I understood, he never really "lost" his faith. A good thing, of course, but it was a different book than what I was expecting based on the title.
First, the good. Mike Cosper writes in a way that makes the reader a peer rather than a student learning from an expert. He seems to want to simply share his story and what he's learned along the way. Secondly, I think he has a lot of good things to say about church leadership. The conversation about the kind of leaders church culture elevates is an important one (which is at least partly why Mike Cosper did the podcast, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill).
What I didn't like so much: I appreciate that in telling his story, he didn't want to go into graphic details, but I felt like I was kept at a distance, never able to fully understand exactly what he was talking about. There were times as I was reading that I thought, "Wait, did I miss something? Should I know what he's referring to?" I also did not always understand the connection between the Bible narrative and the point he was trying to make in each chapter.
I did highlight a decent amount of quotes that made me think or nod in agreement. Here are a couple:
"But we are in grave danger when avoiding being troubled becomes a goal."
"I think that the leadership model we have in our evangelical world incentivises grandiosity."
Thank you to Netgalley and InterVarsity Press for the advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.
Land of My Sojourn is a memoir-like reflection of church planter Mike Cosper. He looks back on how the initial vision of the church developed and how poor leadership ended up taking things in another direction and left him disillusioned. I do think the title is slightly misleading. I expected something regarding deconstruction and reconstruction, but from what I understood, he never really "lost" his faith. A good thing, of course, but it was a different book than what I was expecting based on the title.
First, the good. Mike Cosper writes in a way that makes the reader a peer rather than a student learning from an expert. He seems to want to simply share his story and what he's learned along the way. Secondly, I think he has a lot of good things to say about church leadership. The conversation about the kind of leaders church culture elevates is an important one (which is at least partly why Mike Cosper did the podcast, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill).
What I didn't like so much: I appreciate that in telling his story, he didn't want to go into graphic details, but I felt like I was kept at a distance, never able to fully understand exactly what he was talking about. There were times as I was reading that I thought, "Wait, did I miss something? Should I know what he's referring to?" I also did not always understand the connection between the Bible narrative and the point he was trying to make in each chapter.
I did highlight a decent amount of quotes that made me think or nod in agreement. Here are a couple:
"But we are in grave danger when avoiding being troubled becomes a goal."
"I think that the leadership model we have in our evangelical world incentivises grandiosity."
Thank you to Netgalley and InterVarsity Press for the advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.
July 10, 2024
Sometimes you just need to be reminded that the gospel is true and good, and that it indeed is your satisfaction in this life. Cosper’s raw honesty and vulnerability about the need for a renovated spirituality that is truly and only Christ-dependent to sustain you amidst failures and disappointments on this side of eternity is a needed corrective to evangelical triumphalism. A theology of the cross comes by understanding that a theology of glory was never even an option to begin with.
August 27, 2024
This was a pretty personal read for me because Sojourn church has been very influential on me from afar; and I’ve especially appreciated Cosper’s work and writing for years, for many reasons. I suppose there’s always more one could say if you’re telling a story like this, and it’s easy to criticize if you’re not the storyteller. I’m glad he wrote this…equal parts sad, sobering, hopeful.
March 7, 2024
Thoughtful and honest. I could relate to his story. He put such good context and words to a complicated and painful experience.
October 11, 2023
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC. This is probably one of the best books I’ve read this year, weaving memoir and biblical reflection masterfully and with great humility and wisdom. For anyone who has been hurt by the church, you will find comfort but also hope that God is bigger than our brokenness. If you enjoyed the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill you will love this. I wholeheartedly commend this book to you.
June 1, 2024
“What's most maddening is the way loss introduces uncertainty and doubt in your mind. You look back at a devastated spiritual landscape on the other side of grief and wonder, Was it ever real? Did it ever mean anything at all?” P. 114
I resonated with so much of this book, and I am grateful for its grounding in scripture. It’s not the kind of book that leaves you more amped up and disoriented than when you began. There’s a place for that type of book—but it’s not the place I need to be right now. This book is grounded and hopeful while acknowledging the deep grief that comes with disillusionment in a loved faith community.
I resonated with so much of this book, and I am grateful for its grounding in scripture. It’s not the kind of book that leaves you more amped up and disoriented than when you began. There’s a place for that type of book—but it’s not the place I need to be right now. This book is grounded and hopeful while acknowledging the deep grief that comes with disillusionment in a loved faith community.
May 12, 2024
Mike Cosper’s influence through music, podcasts, churches has affected my life. His thorough and powerful storytelling in the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast series will likely go down in modern church history as the rendering of this moment.
But while Cosper’s writing is sharp, this book just felt like he didn’t quite have some central piece for storytelling—the structure, the audience, the denouement… something. I just kept thinking I was missing something (though more or less familiar with Sojourn’s story). Perhaps holding back out of respect and avoiding a gossipy tell-all watered down the specificity of the story. And yet, there wasn’t quite enough here for the spiritual side of the metaphor he kept trying to draw out between the days of Elijah and the last days of Jesus.
The Gethsemane and Mount Sinai chapters were quite strong, but there are just better books out there that do what he’s trying to do here. Overall, this book could probably have used a few more years of distance in the hopper. Listen instead to his April 2024 episode on The Russell Moore Show and you’ll get the gist in less than 45 minutes.
But while Cosper’s writing is sharp, this book just felt like he didn’t quite have some central piece for storytelling—the structure, the audience, the denouement… something. I just kept thinking I was missing something (though more or less familiar with Sojourn’s story). Perhaps holding back out of respect and avoiding a gossipy tell-all watered down the specificity of the story. And yet, there wasn’t quite enough here for the spiritual side of the metaphor he kept trying to draw out between the days of Elijah and the last days of Jesus.
The Gethsemane and Mount Sinai chapters were quite strong, but there are just better books out there that do what he’s trying to do here. Overall, this book could probably have used a few more years of distance in the hopper. Listen instead to his April 2024 episode on The Russell Moore Show and you’ll get the gist in less than 45 minutes.
March 22, 2024
Memoir is my favorite genre, especially when the author finds a way to expand his own small narrative in ways that intersect with the big story of scripture. Certainly, the topics of church hurt and broken faith are everywhere, and it’s bracing and reassuring to read that disappointment with God is not solely a 21st-century phenomenon.
Author and podcaster Mike Cosper is well-known for his reporting on the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. Now, Land of My Sojourn reveals that his personal journey has informed his gritty truth-telling. He lived the reality of the hope that keeps a church member coming back week after week, believing that the fellowship he loved was “only one good conversation away from getting it right and making things healthy.”
With Elijah from the Old Testament and Peter from the New as traveling companions, Cosper affirms the biblical connection between suffering and glory alongside the crushing reality that even good and godly dreams may die. In disillusionment, we also may be wondering: “What have I been giving my life to?”
Following “The Landscape of a Faith Lost and Found” may not be light reading, but it’s a story that honestly expresses the ups and downs of a following life in company with other fallen followers of The Way. In the land of my own long sojourn, I appreciated the reminder that I have not been traveling alone.
Many thanks to IVPress for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.
Author and podcaster Mike Cosper is well-known for his reporting on the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. Now, Land of My Sojourn reveals that his personal journey has informed his gritty truth-telling. He lived the reality of the hope that keeps a church member coming back week after week, believing that the fellowship he loved was “only one good conversation away from getting it right and making things healthy.”
With Elijah from the Old Testament and Peter from the New as traveling companions, Cosper affirms the biblical connection between suffering and glory alongside the crushing reality that even good and godly dreams may die. In disillusionment, we also may be wondering: “What have I been giving my life to?”
Following “The Landscape of a Faith Lost and Found” may not be light reading, but it’s a story that honestly expresses the ups and downs of a following life in company with other fallen followers of The Way. In the land of my own long sojourn, I appreciated the reminder that I have not been traveling alone.
Many thanks to IVPress for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.
October 29, 2023
5 stars
Land of My Sojourn
Mike Cosper
Wow, what a powerful book. This is a truthful, heartwarming and all too relatable look at the damage church can do and the healing that comes through Jesus.
This is one of those books that you need to sit with and let it thoroughly simmer, it is most definitely not a book to be rushed. Mike Cosper has written a part devotional/part memoir dealing with the harm a church can do to both their members and their leaders. Land of My Sojourn was not at all what I expected, it truly helped me to read a book by someone else(a leader no less) hurt by the church yet still found his way forward in a church with his faith intact. I'm still struggling with the church aspect.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.
Land of My Sojourn
Mike Cosper
Wow, what a powerful book. This is a truthful, heartwarming and all too relatable look at the damage church can do and the healing that comes through Jesus.
This is one of those books that you need to sit with and let it thoroughly simmer, it is most definitely not a book to be rushed. Mike Cosper has written a part devotional/part memoir dealing with the harm a church can do to both their members and their leaders. Land of My Sojourn was not at all what I expected, it truly helped me to read a book by someone else(a leader no less) hurt by the church yet still found his way forward in a church with his faith intact. I'm still struggling with the church aspect.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.
February 4, 2024
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.
I've followed Mike Cosper for a while, even before The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill made him famous. While I knew he tended to focus on the Church's relationship with society and politics, I never knew how personally these things hit home to him. Land of My Sojourn is his story. It's neatly framed through the juxtaposition with several prominent biblical landmarks in modern day Israel, which made each chapter a little more meaningful as one who has also visited many of them personally. Along the way, he shares how the various events of his life shook his faith but always helped him come out stronger in the end, not unlike the story of Elijah or Peter. It's a deeply personal personal story that I related with in many ways, and I am glad he hasn't given up on his faith so he could help encourage mine.
I've followed Mike Cosper for a while, even before The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill made him famous. While I knew he tended to focus on the Church's relationship with society and politics, I never knew how personally these things hit home to him. Land of My Sojourn is his story. It's neatly framed through the juxtaposition with several prominent biblical landmarks in modern day Israel, which made each chapter a little more meaningful as one who has also visited many of them personally. Along the way, he shares how the various events of his life shook his faith but always helped him come out stronger in the end, not unlike the story of Elijah or Peter. It's a deeply personal personal story that I related with in many ways, and I am glad he hasn't given up on his faith so he could help encourage mine.
April 21, 2024
I received a copy from IVP to review.
I 1sr heard if Mike Cosper due to the mars hill podcast. I listen to his current podcast the bulletin.
The book is compulsively readable as I finished in one sitting. There are stories weaved with scripture. With a focus on Elijah and Peter.
If you have suffered a loss of relationship, church hurt, grief, at loss for what is going on in the church, this book is for you. It ends on hope, but it’s not a neat tidy story.
I 1sr heard if Mike Cosper due to the mars hill podcast. I listen to his current podcast the bulletin.
The book is compulsively readable as I finished in one sitting. There are stories weaved with scripture. With a focus on Elijah and Peter.
If you have suffered a loss of relationship, church hurt, grief, at loss for what is going on in the church, this book is for you. It ends on hope, but it’s not a neat tidy story.
July 21, 2024
Thankful for how Mike Cosper shares stories, including his own. What the 180 characters culture of communication has done to sharing nuanced experiences (especially those regarding faith) has made me a bit tired, so this was really refreshing to read for me (it is still a manageable length though). Mike Cosper is thoughtful, patient, and honest in his processing and I enjoyed that. This book also did a great job of not rehashing drama, but working through the impact of traumatic experiences in the church and faith. I would recommend this as reading for any Believer. My only thought is that it would probably be a better experience if you went chapter by chapter with someone else- would be so good to discuss.
September 2, 2024
What a great book. Part Bible study, part autobiography, it covers a part of Mike's life as a staff member at Sojourn. The Bible writers call the church the Family of God, and no one can hurt an individual like a family member. When we enter into a community with a local church, there are good times and bad. Mike looks a the life of Peter and shows us the expectations he had and the dreams that were unfulfilled and how we can continue to walk in the community after broken dreams and relationships. A must-read for everyone who has been through spiritual trauma.
March 23, 2024
I appreciated this more than I anticipated. Especially for anyone who's experienced church hurt or disenchantment, Cosper's thoughts are helpful.
June 30, 2024
Five stars because it was a gift to me to read this book. Thank you, Mike Cosper. Thank you, Jesus.
Read
February 9, 2024"Overall, this is an excellent little book, and a useful guide to thinking about how we should be interacting with the world and with each other–especially with each other–as Evangelicals.
I won’t spoil the book for you–it’s short and well-written, so you can and should read it for yourself. But I will note something that’s marked by its absence: order."
Read the rest here:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/schaeff...
I won’t spoil the book for you–it’s short and well-written, so you can and should read it for yourself. But I will note something that’s marked by its absence: order."
Read the rest here:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/schaeff...
June 27, 2024
I just didn’t connect with this as much as I thought I would. I think if I had visited Israel his imagery might’ve resonated with me more. I didn’t love the structure of the book as it went back and forth between Bible story narration and memoir. The memoir aspect seemed thin, and I had a hard time really feeling inside his journey.
February 12, 2024
Summary: The narrative of a former church leader who stepped away from a toxic leadership culture, the disillusionment that followed, and how reflections from a sojourn in Israel helped him process and find restoration.
Many who read this review will recognize the name of Mike Cosper as the host of the widely listened-to podcast series The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill, part of the podcasting work Cosper does for Christianity Today. In reading his new book, Landscape of My Sojourn, I couldn’t help wonder if what made Cosper so effective as host of the podcast series was that he had lived inside a church situation with some striking similarities to Mars Hill Church under the leadership of Mark Driscoll. In his new book, Cosper narrates his experience as one of the founding pastors of Sojourn, a “ragamuffin” church in Louisville, Kentucky, eventually connected to the Acts 29 movement Driscoll spearheaded.
He recounts heady early days as a leader of worship, and the development of a toxic leadership culture as the church developed into a multi-site congregation. He describes the feeling of always being “one good conversation away from getting things right and making things healthy.” Except it never happened. And then one day in 2015, in the midst of a “re-org,” he looked at the new proposed organization chart, only to find he was not on it.
That wasn’t quite rock bottom. After leaving the leadership of Sojourn, whose lead pastor eventually stepped down due to charges of leadership abuse, Cosper launched a media-focused non-profit to help Christians in the marketplace. After writing what he thought was a commonsense Christian reflection following the release of the Access Hollywood tapes of Donald Trump, he learned that first his lead investor, then others were pulling their money. Following closely on the departure from Sojourn’s leadership, he found himself in a place where none of the familiar touchstones of his faith made sense anymore.
Shortly after all this, Cosper had the opportunity for a “sojourn” in Israel. Visits to different places, and reflection on people like Peter and Elijah who had encounters with God, allowed Cosper to process both what had happened in his life and encounter God afresh for himself, beginning a process of restoration in his life. Each chapter of the book focuses on a particular place and encounter, interwoven with Cosper’s experience at Sojourn Church.
He begins with Mount Tabor, the Mount of Transfiguration and Peter’s desire to just stay there, remembering the halcyon days of Sojourn’s beginnings. He reflects on the heroic encounter of Elijah on Mount Carmel, and the desperate hopes of evangelicals, hoping our heroes are on the side of right and will bring a transformed culture, only to see one after another fail. He visits Mount Hermon, near where Peter confesses Jesus as Messiah and entertains illusions of the Messiah’s conquests and being in the vanguard. He considers Sojourn’s own pretensions to conquest, how they crumbled, and yet how God was quietly at work, as was Jesus, in changing lives.
The Mount of Olives reminds him of Palm Sunday, what seemed a triumphal procession, and how the crowds turned on Jesus. He reflects on the warfare metaphors Mark Driscoll used and how influential these were, and yet how wrong to the kind of king Jesus is. He describes the giant olive trees of Gethsemane, the twisted roots capturing the agony of Jesus, alone while the disciples slept. He considers the dysfunctions of sojourn’s leadership and the times, like the disciples, he was sleeping, and the agony to find himself alone. At Golgotha, he revisits the ways, like Peter that he had lived in denial, and the dissolution of his career and many of his friendships, and the departure of the senior pastor and the last time they spoke. At Sinai, he recalls the whisper of God to Elijah and that, like Elijah, he is not alone. Finally, by Galilee, at Capernaum, he recalls the post-resurrection encounter of Jesus with Peter, the questions that ask of Peter, are you still with me, even after the death of heroic dreams and denials? He’s wary, after all he’s gone through of glib suffering-to-glory narratives, even as he wants to believe.
The end of the book finds him back in Louisville, worshipping at what was once a satellite Sojourn campus, now its own church. He still believes, but with wounds. He describes himself still on the journey, sobered, not taking anything for granted, “still here, making this journey. Through the land of my sojourn.”
I found this book a powerful narrative, both as an inside look at a toxic leadership culture, and an account of coming through painful disillusionment. It’s honest about the losses and betrayals, the denials, and restoration that enables one to go on, not without wounds, but by faith. Because of the vulnerable character of the book, I think it can offer help to others who have faced disillusionment with the church and are tempted to throw in the towel. Cosper’s “I’m still here” makes no false promises but simply walks in the steps of Elijah and Peter, who decide to carry on in faith when dreams and illusions (including self-delusions) have died.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Many who read this review will recognize the name of Mike Cosper as the host of the widely listened-to podcast series The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill, part of the podcasting work Cosper does for Christianity Today. In reading his new book, Landscape of My Sojourn, I couldn’t help wonder if what made Cosper so effective as host of the podcast series was that he had lived inside a church situation with some striking similarities to Mars Hill Church under the leadership of Mark Driscoll. In his new book, Cosper narrates his experience as one of the founding pastors of Sojourn, a “ragamuffin” church in Louisville, Kentucky, eventually connected to the Acts 29 movement Driscoll spearheaded.
He recounts heady early days as a leader of worship, and the development of a toxic leadership culture as the church developed into a multi-site congregation. He describes the feeling of always being “one good conversation away from getting things right and making things healthy.” Except it never happened. And then one day in 2015, in the midst of a “re-org,” he looked at the new proposed organization chart, only to find he was not on it.
That wasn’t quite rock bottom. After leaving the leadership of Sojourn, whose lead pastor eventually stepped down due to charges of leadership abuse, Cosper launched a media-focused non-profit to help Christians in the marketplace. After writing what he thought was a commonsense Christian reflection following the release of the Access Hollywood tapes of Donald Trump, he learned that first his lead investor, then others were pulling their money. Following closely on the departure from Sojourn’s leadership, he found himself in a place where none of the familiar touchstones of his faith made sense anymore.
Shortly after all this, Cosper had the opportunity for a “sojourn” in Israel. Visits to different places, and reflection on people like Peter and Elijah who had encounters with God, allowed Cosper to process both what had happened in his life and encounter God afresh for himself, beginning a process of restoration in his life. Each chapter of the book focuses on a particular place and encounter, interwoven with Cosper’s experience at Sojourn Church.
He begins with Mount Tabor, the Mount of Transfiguration and Peter’s desire to just stay there, remembering the halcyon days of Sojourn’s beginnings. He reflects on the heroic encounter of Elijah on Mount Carmel, and the desperate hopes of evangelicals, hoping our heroes are on the side of right and will bring a transformed culture, only to see one after another fail. He visits Mount Hermon, near where Peter confesses Jesus as Messiah and entertains illusions of the Messiah’s conquests and being in the vanguard. He considers Sojourn’s own pretensions to conquest, how they crumbled, and yet how God was quietly at work, as was Jesus, in changing lives.
The Mount of Olives reminds him of Palm Sunday, what seemed a triumphal procession, and how the crowds turned on Jesus. He reflects on the warfare metaphors Mark Driscoll used and how influential these were, and yet how wrong to the kind of king Jesus is. He describes the giant olive trees of Gethsemane, the twisted roots capturing the agony of Jesus, alone while the disciples slept. He considers the dysfunctions of sojourn’s leadership and the times, like the disciples, he was sleeping, and the agony to find himself alone. At Golgotha, he revisits the ways, like Peter that he had lived in denial, and the dissolution of his career and many of his friendships, and the departure of the senior pastor and the last time they spoke. At Sinai, he recalls the whisper of God to Elijah and that, like Elijah, he is not alone. Finally, by Galilee, at Capernaum, he recalls the post-resurrection encounter of Jesus with Peter, the questions that ask of Peter, are you still with me, even after the death of heroic dreams and denials? He’s wary, after all he’s gone through of glib suffering-to-glory narratives, even as he wants to believe.
The end of the book finds him back in Louisville, worshipping at what was once a satellite Sojourn campus, now its own church. He still believes, but with wounds. He describes himself still on the journey, sobered, not taking anything for granted, “still here, making this journey. Through the land of my sojourn.”
I found this book a powerful narrative, both as an inside look at a toxic leadership culture, and an account of coming through painful disillusionment. It’s honest about the losses and betrayals, the denials, and restoration that enables one to go on, not without wounds, but by faith. Because of the vulnerable character of the book, I think it can offer help to others who have faced disillusionment with the church and are tempted to throw in the towel. Cosper’s “I’m still here” makes no false promises but simply walks in the steps of Elijah and Peter, who decide to carry on in faith when dreams and illusions (including self-delusions) have died.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
November 9, 2023
Mike Cosper first came to my attention a while back when he hosted the podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, a podcast documentary chronicling what the title suggests, offering specific condemnations of founding pastor Mark Driscoll’s emotional and spiritual abuses, toxic masculinity, and lust for power. It also offered a more general critique of the megachurch model of church—consumeristic, hierarchical, and power-focused. I didn’t know until this book—Land of My Sojourn—that Cosper had been the victim of a less-bombastic and more-typical church hurt that led to him leaving formal ministry in 2015. Reeling from this change in his vocational life, Cosper was also confronted with a change in evangelicalism as White evangelicals coalesced around Donald Trump in the 2016 US Presidential election. It was an unmooring experience and the build-up and aftershocks of that trauma is the subject of this reflective memoir.
Cosper’s story isn’t unique. A large number of evangelical clergy found themselves struggling to navigate the choppy pastoral waters as Republican politics—always prominent in White evangelicalism—suddenly had to grapple with a moral nightmare in Donald Trump. In this way, Land of My Sojourn reflects the reality of many evangelicals, both clergy and laity, who have struggled to find their place or even keep the faith in light of the past decade or so of changes. Cosper writes with clarity, precision, and emotion, drawing the reader into the story.
In speaking of the problems within his megachurch structure, he wrote that it always felt like they were one good conversation away from fixing everything. That, to me, was the most enlightening part of the book. You’ve created this thing. It started out good. You had idealism and passion and now it’s become something else and you want to recreate it to be that thing that it was and you keep fighting and fighting and believing that surely this one more change and one more conversation with right the wrongs and that’s how you end up in an unrecognizable place where the only solution is filled with pain and trauma. I felt every bit of that.
I do wish that Cosper had spoken more about how leaving vocational ministry affected him spiritually. He still attends a church location that was associated with the church that fired him and hurt him. How did he work through that? Has his faith changed? Has his ecclesiology changed? Land of My Sojourn doesn’t really get much into that, just simply saying that Cosper is choosing to remain because Jesus is bigger than his misguided followers. I also wanted to know what hope Cosper saw for the future—both within Christianity generally and evangelicalism in particular.
Land of My Sojourn is a deeply personal story that reflects the reality of so many evangelicals just struggled to hold on. Cosper offers hope, solidarity, and comfort as he uses his story to encourage others to persevere. While I wish Cosper had gone deeper in a few areas or talked more specifically about some important ways in which he may or may not have changed, I still deeply appreciate his ability to share his story.
Cosper’s story isn’t unique. A large number of evangelical clergy found themselves struggling to navigate the choppy pastoral waters as Republican politics—always prominent in White evangelicalism—suddenly had to grapple with a moral nightmare in Donald Trump. In this way, Land of My Sojourn reflects the reality of many evangelicals, both clergy and laity, who have struggled to find their place or even keep the faith in light of the past decade or so of changes. Cosper writes with clarity, precision, and emotion, drawing the reader into the story.
In speaking of the problems within his megachurch structure, he wrote that it always felt like they were one good conversation away from fixing everything. That, to me, was the most enlightening part of the book. You’ve created this thing. It started out good. You had idealism and passion and now it’s become something else and you want to recreate it to be that thing that it was and you keep fighting and fighting and believing that surely this one more change and one more conversation with right the wrongs and that’s how you end up in an unrecognizable place where the only solution is filled with pain and trauma. I felt every bit of that.
I do wish that Cosper had spoken more about how leaving vocational ministry affected him spiritually. He still attends a church location that was associated with the church that fired him and hurt him. How did he work through that? Has his faith changed? Has his ecclesiology changed? Land of My Sojourn doesn’t really get much into that, just simply saying that Cosper is choosing to remain because Jesus is bigger than his misguided followers. I also wanted to know what hope Cosper saw for the future—both within Christianity generally and evangelicalism in particular.
Land of My Sojourn is a deeply personal story that reflects the reality of so many evangelicals just struggled to hold on. Cosper offers hope, solidarity, and comfort as he uses his story to encourage others to persevere. While I wish Cosper had gone deeper in a few areas or talked more specifically about some important ways in which he may or may not have changed, I still deeply appreciate his ability to share his story.
October 29, 2023
In this spiritual memoir, Mike Cosper reflects on key experiences and turning points in his life that took him to thrilling highs and crushing lows. Over recent years, Cosper has spoken and written a great deal about abuse, cover-ups, and other leadership crises in the church at large, and he shares his personal story here, intertwining it with the apostle Peter's spiritual journey as shown in the gospels. Cosper draws parallels between his own and Peter's experiences, exploring their spiritual highs, eventual losses and disillusionment, and choice to keep following Jesus anyway.
Cosper digs deeply into some of Peter's possible thoughts and motivations, pushing back against simple and easy explanations that people typically throw around to explain some of Peter's moments of weakness. He explores some of the deeper issues at play, such as the natural desire to stay in moments of spiritual splendor, wanting to set camp where everything feels wonderful instead of having to journey through the harder times as well. Cosper writes about his experiences helping found a unique and groundbreaking church, and he writes about how hard it has become to strike the right balance between acknowledging all of the good that he was involved with and all of the hardships that came later.
That church went through went through a long, tumultuous period of crisis that Cosper now looks back upon with new eyes, better understanding the dynamics at play. He writes about the immense burdens that he, his wife, and other ministry families carried at that time, and about the cold, unfeeling way that higher-ranking leaders pushed him out of vocational ministry. As he explores his feelings of disillusionment and grief, he reflects on how complicated his memories are now, with both sacred moments and emotional minefields folding in on each other. His heartfelt reflections will be relatable to others who have experienced similar traumas and losses, and I appreciate his careful efforts to be fully genuine without sharing too many details about other people.
Land of My Sojourn is a unique book with many different themes and elements surrounding faith, disillusionment, and perseverance. I have only scratched the surface here, drawing out the elements that made the biggest impression on me, and other people may have different primary takeaways. This is a rather unusual book, since it isn't a Christian living guide, a work of theology, or a standard memoir, but its many combined elements are heartfelt and honest, and can greatly encourage people going through similar losses and struggles.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Cosper digs deeply into some of Peter's possible thoughts and motivations, pushing back against simple and easy explanations that people typically throw around to explain some of Peter's moments of weakness. He explores some of the deeper issues at play, such as the natural desire to stay in moments of spiritual splendor, wanting to set camp where everything feels wonderful instead of having to journey through the harder times as well. Cosper writes about his experiences helping found a unique and groundbreaking church, and he writes about how hard it has become to strike the right balance between acknowledging all of the good that he was involved with and all of the hardships that came later.
That church went through went through a long, tumultuous period of crisis that Cosper now looks back upon with new eyes, better understanding the dynamics at play. He writes about the immense burdens that he, his wife, and other ministry families carried at that time, and about the cold, unfeeling way that higher-ranking leaders pushed him out of vocational ministry. As he explores his feelings of disillusionment and grief, he reflects on how complicated his memories are now, with both sacred moments and emotional minefields folding in on each other. His heartfelt reflections will be relatable to others who have experienced similar traumas and losses, and I appreciate his careful efforts to be fully genuine without sharing too many details about other people.
Land of My Sojourn is a unique book with many different themes and elements surrounding faith, disillusionment, and perseverance. I have only scratched the surface here, drawing out the elements that made the biggest impression on me, and other people may have different primary takeaways. This is a rather unusual book, since it isn't a Christian living guide, a work of theology, or a standard memoir, but its many combined elements are heartfelt and honest, and can greatly encourage people going through similar losses and struggles.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
February 27, 2024
Mike Cosper first caught my attention in the summer of 2021. His fair-minded, thoughtful, compassionate journalism stood out to me - as it did to so many others. I was once again impressed with his heart and his character when I picked up this book. Mike doesn't shy away from the hard questions and the ugly realities of navigating the Christian community in the twenty-first century. Especially in the last decade.
Mike gently and thoughtfully shares his story: one of heart and sacrifice and ministry and disillusionment. I appreciate Mike's vulnerability in opening up about all that comes with this sort of grief. He faces it honestly and openly. Kindly. It's an invitation to examination, not a tell-all memoir. In fact, he very carefully doesn't tell all. His tone is fair and somber and pastoral. He examines life and culture and Scripture and story, asking questions and drawing out common threads. His work is a balm to the burnt out soul. He invites us to revisit Jesus and the abundant life. He invites us to acknowledge the red flags, to affirm that we're not crazy when something in us cries out that, "this isn't how it's supposed to be!"
Despite it all, Mike presses further up and further in, to a God who meets us in the wilderness when all is stripped away. A God who is relentless in His pursuit - not of an Evangelical ideal or unquestionable success - but of a loving relationship with His image-bearers.
If you've been hurt or find within yourself a holy discontentment, I invite you to pick up this book and discover that you're not alone. It's raw and honest and beautiful. Mike's pastoral tone flows through it all, gently whetting my appetite for more of Jesus. I'm grateful.
Mike gently and thoughtfully shares his story: one of heart and sacrifice and ministry and disillusionment. I appreciate Mike's vulnerability in opening up about all that comes with this sort of grief. He faces it honestly and openly. Kindly. It's an invitation to examination, not a tell-all memoir. In fact, he very carefully doesn't tell all. His tone is fair and somber and pastoral. He examines life and culture and Scripture and story, asking questions and drawing out common threads. His work is a balm to the burnt out soul. He invites us to revisit Jesus and the abundant life. He invites us to acknowledge the red flags, to affirm that we're not crazy when something in us cries out that, "this isn't how it's supposed to be!"
Despite it all, Mike presses further up and further in, to a God who meets us in the wilderness when all is stripped away. A God who is relentless in His pursuit - not of an Evangelical ideal or unquestionable success - but of a loving relationship with His image-bearers.
If you've been hurt or find within yourself a holy discontentment, I invite you to pick up this book and discover that you're not alone. It's raw and honest and beautiful. Mike's pastoral tone flows through it all, gently whetting my appetite for more of Jesus. I'm grateful.
Read
May 26, 2024I can't rate this book because it wasn't the sort of reading I normally do, nor the sort of book I normally read. What makes it unusual was that I sat under Sojourn's teaching and leadership for many years, so I read this mostly to see if there were any catharsis or therapy for me. Sadly, on first read, the answer is no.
I can't evaluate the book on its own merits. It's too close to home. I remain too hurt and raw from the kind of experience I had.
I'll note a couple of things though. The first is that I represent much of the Evangelical culture Cosper hates and hurt him. The reaction at his church and from his preaching struck me as no less oppressive, guilt-laden, and negative as the larger culture he criticizes. Turns out you can be just as works-based and political in your preaching and ministry from the center-left as you are from the right.
More importantly, I'm struck at how little he owns. He blames the culture at the church, but he himself hurt others too. That doesn't receive much air time. "Hurt people hurt people," they say, but it ain't a get-out-of-jail-free card. If there was any personal repentance or responsibility he took, I missed it.
I'm not the normal reader, so this really isn't for anyone but me. For all the talk about "dialogues" Sojourn used to have, I found most to be monologues of one opinion and one perspective from folks who just appeared to differ.
But I'm the sort of person his crowd hates and was hurt by, so I shouldn't be surprised. I'll come back to this if I ever have the stomach.
The stuff in Jesus meeting us in the death of a dream is good though. The rest is meandering and hard to follow.
I can't evaluate the book on its own merits. It's too close to home. I remain too hurt and raw from the kind of experience I had.
I'll note a couple of things though. The first is that I represent much of the Evangelical culture Cosper hates and hurt him. The reaction at his church and from his preaching struck me as no less oppressive, guilt-laden, and negative as the larger culture he criticizes. Turns out you can be just as works-based and political in your preaching and ministry from the center-left as you are from the right.
More importantly, I'm struck at how little he owns. He blames the culture at the church, but he himself hurt others too. That doesn't receive much air time. "Hurt people hurt people," they say, but it ain't a get-out-of-jail-free card. If there was any personal repentance or responsibility he took, I missed it.
I'm not the normal reader, so this really isn't for anyone but me. For all the talk about "dialogues" Sojourn used to have, I found most to be monologues of one opinion and one perspective from folks who just appeared to differ.
But I'm the sort of person his crowd hates and was hurt by, so I shouldn't be surprised. I'll come back to this if I ever have the stomach.
The stuff in Jesus meeting us in the death of a dream is good though. The rest is meandering and hard to follow.
June 8, 2024
I truly enjoyed this read and related to many things he shared as he interspersed the experiences of Elijah and Peter alongside his own valleys. I gleaned a lot from these examples from Scripture, and enjoyed Cosper’s writing style and honest disclosure that was coupled with wisdom and grace.
Highlights:
"The fundamental arc of the Christian story does not ascend from glory to glory. It bends to the cross."
“This is one of the most complicated elements of our faith; the very people who can help us meet and know Jesus are also the ones who can hurt us at the deepest levels.”
“The old cliché ‘God is in control’ turns out to be true, but it may be something we only truly learn and that only liberates us after things fall apart.”
“Maybe the true gift of suffering is tuning our ears to hear God’s whisper even when pain is shouting.”
“Grief was not (as I often joked) the need to sit around and feel bad for a while. Rather, grief was an encounter with reality. Something was really and truly over. Even with the hope of resurrection my life on this earth will from here on be different; it will be without him [Cosper’s father], and no act of will or imagination can change that or make it easier.”
“…many evangelicals also love a persecution narrative. Kids in our movement grow up with them, whether they were invited to be Jesus freaks, to indulge fantasies of being martyred for their faith in a school shooting, or to pick fights with professors and tell them ‘God's not dead.’”
“We, like Peter, want to imagine that should the crisis come, we'd stand strong.”
“Sometimes our expectations are the source of our pain.”
Readability: 5
Impact: 4
Content: 4
Enjoyment: 5
Total: 4.5
Highlights:
"The fundamental arc of the Christian story does not ascend from glory to glory. It bends to the cross."
“This is one of the most complicated elements of our faith; the very people who can help us meet and know Jesus are also the ones who can hurt us at the deepest levels.”
“The old cliché ‘God is in control’ turns out to be true, but it may be something we only truly learn and that only liberates us after things fall apart.”
“Maybe the true gift of suffering is tuning our ears to hear God’s whisper even when pain is shouting.”
“Grief was not (as I often joked) the need to sit around and feel bad for a while. Rather, grief was an encounter with reality. Something was really and truly over. Even with the hope of resurrection my life on this earth will from here on be different; it will be without him [Cosper’s father], and no act of will or imagination can change that or make it easier.”
“…many evangelicals also love a persecution narrative. Kids in our movement grow up with them, whether they were invited to be Jesus freaks, to indulge fantasies of being martyred for their faith in a school shooting, or to pick fights with professors and tell them ‘God's not dead.’”
“We, like Peter, want to imagine that should the crisis come, we'd stand strong.”
“Sometimes our expectations are the source of our pain.”
Readability: 5
Impact: 4
Content: 4
Enjoyment: 5
Total: 4.5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2024
A short, honest, vulnerable read about Cosper's own "Rise and Fall" with a messy aftermath. I found the connection between the actual landscape and his journey interesting but slightly contrived. Nevertheless, the story of pouring everything you have into a vision of the church, only to have it torn apart is an important lesson. We've seen much of it over the past decade and taking stock and re-grounding ourselves in the heart of the gospel is essential.
My own story is quite different (no emergent mega church, no celebrity pastor, no "big eva" hype culture) but I found resonance in the honesty about spiritual disillusionment as fallout from well meant but destructive church leadership. You gaslight yourself constantly, trying to be fair about your own faults and those of others, always questioning if what happened was just competing ideas or a failure of leadership that needs correction (probably both). In the end, you feel empty and dry. It's not a loss of faith, but perhaps a loss of the joy you hoped to foster that never materialized.
Some of that needs self-reflection about our own misplaced hopes and Cosper does that well. What to do with the rest that is legitimately "not good" but without a path to clear resolution? He talks about grieving and letting go. In that case, my sojourn continues.
My own story is quite different (no emergent mega church, no celebrity pastor, no "big eva" hype culture) but I found resonance in the honesty about spiritual disillusionment as fallout from well meant but destructive church leadership. You gaslight yourself constantly, trying to be fair about your own faults and those of others, always questioning if what happened was just competing ideas or a failure of leadership that needs correction (probably both). In the end, you feel empty and dry. It's not a loss of faith, but perhaps a loss of the joy you hoped to foster that never materialized.
Some of that needs self-reflection about our own misplaced hopes and Cosper does that well. What to do with the rest that is legitimately "not good" but without a path to clear resolution? He talks about grieving and letting go. In that case, my sojourn continues.
March 14, 2024
This is super good. It took me until the last couple chapters to see how all the threads came together but once I got to the end I really appreciated all Cosper is doing here. It’s a little book but he covers a lot of ground (literally). He recounts founding Sojourn with his young punk friends, how that church grew bigger and more influential than they could ever imagine, how the church outgrew most of them, and how the leadership culture at Sojourn soured. Cosper finds the language for his own disillusionment and nostalgia in the mountains, lakes, and wildernesses of Israel. He brings great dimension to Elijah, Peter, and Jesus throughout the book. I found his depictions of them very insightful and moving. The man understands stories. It’s also about the reeling most of us felt and are still feeling in a strange post-Trump world. This book is mature as all get out and it, like Dante’s Divine Comedy referenced in the last few chapters, is born out of suffering and a midlife crisis. Maybe all the best art is. I’m grateful for this book and eager to see what’s next from Cosper.
November 7, 2023
Mike Cosper is an author, podcaster, and former pastor. I loved the "Mars Hill" podcast which examined the rise and fall of Mark Driscoll, so I was excited to read this book. "Land of My Sojourn: The Landscape of a Faith Lost and Found" is part autobiography and part examination into the evils of Christian nationalism. Cosper talks honestly about the difficulties he faced when he tried to speak out against Trump and racism. I really resonated with his explanation that Christianity has faced a slow, gradual slide that then eroded suddenly.
Each chapter of this book is focused on a different location in Scripture and Cosper examines the lives of Peter and Elijah. I appreciated Cosper's transparency and his willingness to speak out against the evils that have befallen Christian evangelicalism. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Each chapter of this book is focused on a different location in Scripture and Cosper examines the lives of Peter and Elijah. I appreciated Cosper's transparency and his willingness to speak out against the evils that have befallen Christian evangelicalism. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
March 8, 2024
I probably would have read this book regardless of the subject after listening to The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill podcast, but I didn't expect it to hit me so personally.
In the acknowledgments, Cosper says he wrote probably 200,000 words to get the 40,000 words for this book, and it shows. While the book is short (153 pages), there is a depth to the observations and experiences that isn't rehashed on the page. It is part travelogue (lite), part examination of various biblical mountaintop stories, and part reckoning with the author's own hurt and unmet expectations after disillusionment in church ministry. The travelogue commented on the other stories with details I hadn't thought about, the Bible's stories were told in a fresh way, and the author's experiences resonated a lot with me. I don't know that this will be universally helpful, but I found it beautiful and healing.
In the acknowledgments, Cosper says he wrote probably 200,000 words to get the 40,000 words for this book, and it shows. While the book is short (153 pages), there is a depth to the observations and experiences that isn't rehashed on the page. It is part travelogue (lite), part examination of various biblical mountaintop stories, and part reckoning with the author's own hurt and unmet expectations after disillusionment in church ministry. The travelogue commented on the other stories with details I hadn't thought about, the Bible's stories were told in a fresh way, and the author's experiences resonated a lot with me. I don't know that this will be universally helpful, but I found it beautiful and healing.
March 29, 2024
This was a fascinating book to read. Combining reflections on Biblical stories, while sharing in beautiful detail about the physical locations (Mt. Tabor, Mt. Carmel, Mt. Hermon, etc…), the author Mike Cosper ushers the reader into the stories. At the same time, Cosper weaves in his own stories from years of ministry in the Sojourn church movement. He shares honestly about the confusion and heartbreak after decades of ministry— when toxic leadership eventually took a huge toll on the church.
Land of My Sojourn is a testament to God’s faithfulness in the author’s life— even through church crises, burnout, heartbreak, and questions. The careful examination of various Biblical stories offers the reader much to reflect on and invites the reader to enter the stories in a new way.
I appreciated this book- and the perspective Mike Cosper offers from years of ministry.
Land of My Sojourn is a testament to God’s faithfulness in the author’s life— even through church crises, burnout, heartbreak, and questions. The careful examination of various Biblical stories offers the reader much to reflect on and invites the reader to enter the stories in a new way.
I appreciated this book- and the perspective Mike Cosper offers from years of ministry.
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