Three or so years ago, before embar
king upon a pastoral candidating junket up to Canada’s frozen north, I stopped at a Christian bookstore on the way to the airport to gather some reading for the plane. Due to the bookstore’s exorbitant regular prices, I began to browse through the bargain bin, eventually finding two Baker titles, both released in 2004. One of them, on the topic of guidance, will remain nameless; suffice to say only one customer has reviewed it on Amazon.com. The other book, sporting much the same cover art as John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life, was William P. Farley’s sophomore release, Outrageous Mercy: Rediscover the Radical Nature of Christianity. You can read an author interview of Bill here and read a review of the book here.
To my surprise, when I returned to my home church the next weekend (having turned down the call to the northern church, in case you are interested), I discovered that Bill Farley had preached there the weekend I had been away. Bill had brought a few copies of Outrageous Mercy with him, which I found had quickly gone out of print. Since then I have kept the book in perpetual stock at our church’s book table. One friend has described it as “The Cross-Centered Life on steroids.” I would agree.
Fast forward to this week, when Tony Reinke at Shepherd’s Scrapbook posted an entry entitled "Some lesser-known, Cross-centered Books," listing five under-rated books on the cross. Outrageous Mercy appeared at number five, with Tony expressing his hope that it would be reprinted in the near future. Well, thanks to Marvin Padgett and his fine folks at Presbyterian & Reformed, it soon will be. Both Marvin and Bill have been kind enough provide me with information to pass along to DR readers. It may or may not appear under its original Baker title, will contain study questions for each chapter, and will be released sometime later in 2008.
Here is an added bonus for Bill Farley’s readers who have already consumed Outrageous Mercy and his first book, For His Glory. In late 2008, P&R will release a new book Bill has written on parenting. Going a step further than the need to internalize the gospel within our children, Bill will suggest that parents need to internalize the gospel within themselves first and foremost in order to parent successfully. A working title does exist, but this book is still in early stages of production, so I’ll refrain from naming it here. If you cannot wait until the reprint, Outrageous Mercy can be found online at used booksellers. If you are the patient sort, please add it to your reading plan for this year.
Photo Credit: Tony Reinke
