Back Pastor Mike Glenn introduces new book, The Gospel of Yes, at recent event

June 5th, 2012

On Sunday evening, June 3, Senior Pastor Mike Glenn introduced his new book, The Gospel of Yes, to more than 600 at a church- and community-wide event in Hudson Hall, just two days before the official release to the public on Tuesday, June 5.

Jim Baker, Executive Pastor, was one in the lineup who spoke on the significance of Pastor Mike Glenn's second release, published by Waterbrook/Multnomah Press.

"My first personal experience with observing…Mike's passion for the 'gospel of yes' occurred in my very first conversation with him when I was interviewing for my current position some eight and a half years ago. I remember, during that conversation, Mike said something to this effect: 'Jim, I can see Z. I can see the vision. I can see the end product. I can see where we're going. But what I need is someone who can see A to Y—how to get us there.'"

Jim recalls how he brought the A to Y to the ministry partnership and they've made a good team since. He said, "My wife said, 'When I look at your [personality] and compare it to Mike's, you guys are virtually opposites of one another. Together you make a pretty good person.' So it's been a running joke since then—that we make a pretty good person when we're both living in our 'yes,' God's 'yes' for our lives."

Ron Lee, Senior Editor from Waterbrook Press, stood before the crowd and explained the internal workings of editors—that they tend to be jaded, skeptical, and hard to impress. But he was pleasantly surprised one morning last year when he received a book proposal for The Gospel of Yes in his e-mail inbox.

"Page 1—I really liked what I saw. I kept scrolling down to page 2 and I liked it even more. After pages 3, 4, and 5, I was looking for someone I could high-five. By pages 8, 9, and 10, I was wishing I was coordinated enough to do a cartwheel. I got to page 14 and I was ready to respond to the altar call," he said.

By the time Mike took the stage, the stage had been set. He was able to recall, from the beginning of his life, what sparked this revolution called "the gospel of yes."

"I grew up in a church where I was told what not to do," Mike said. "Every Sunday we were given a long list of things we were to avoid… And so every Sunday, we would get together and we would praise God we hadn't done anything. … I knew what I wasn't supposed to do, but nobody every told me what I was for."

He explained that the church in North America is known for what we're against—and thereby even what they think God is against. And that mentality caught up with him when he was still a new pastor at Brentwood Baptist nearly 20 years ago.

"I had reached my end. I went down to my mom and dad's lake house and I was telling Jesus, in no uncertain terms, that I couldn't go on this way. Something had to change. So I made a deal. I said, 'I'm not going to go anywhere until I hear from God.' So I sat on the back porch of my dad's lake house…and I sat there all day long. … At sunset, things changed. All of a sudden, I went from utter defiance to being scared out of my mind. … In that moment, I heard two [questions]: 'Why don't you relax and be who I made you to be?' And 'why don't you relax and let the church be who I made her to be?'" he said.

"Besides my salvation, I'd never heard anything more liberating than that. I didn't know I had a 'yes.' Just like most things with Jesus it was hiding in plain sight. Right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, there's a verse, chapter 5, verse 37. And Jesus says, 'Let your YES be YES, and your NO be NO. Anything else is of the evil one.' If you grew up Southern Baptist, that was the proof text used against cursing. … But what if we put emphasis on the wrong word? What if it should be on 'yes' instead of 'no.'"

Mike says God's "yes" is His purpose, His mission, His calling in a person's life. According to him, you can look back at Brentwood Baptist's history and pinpoint when things really began to change and grow. It was when the congregation began asking: "Why did Jesus bring me here?" and "What does He want to do in my life here?"

Since that time, nearly 3,000 people have discovered God's "yes" for their lives through the PLACE Ministry and are actively pursuing their God-driven callings and kingdom assignments according to their personalities and gifts. And it's also been the foundation for Mike's new book.

The premier also included "yesisodes," or short video episodes, of Mike's interviews with Brad Paisley, country music artist and Brentwood Baptist member, and Les Steckle, Fellowship of Christian Athletes President. They shared about the "yes" they've discovered in their own lives.

"When you find your yes, then everything else is no," he said. "It's the banks of the river that gives the river its power. … That's why I wrote the book. More than anything else, I would love to have the conversation with as many people as I can to help them find their 'yes.' [I would love] to help them ask the questions 'Who am I in Christ?', 'For what purpose did He create me?', and 'If I find that, can I line it up with this great work of salvation that God is doing?', so that their 'yes' lines up with the 'yes' of God himself."

After the program, Pastor Mike signed copies of the book and engaged church members in conversation about the content—garnering positive feedback from church members, area pastors, and those in the community.

Visit the book site
Purchase a copy.*
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*All proceeds benefit the ministry of Brentwood Baptist Church.

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