An extreme God chaser is a dreamer who has been captured by the hope of being caught by the Uncatchable One. He craves the pursuit like a child who chases a loving parent until, suddenly, the strong arms of the father enfold the chaser. The pursuer becomes the pursued. Paul put it this "I chase after that I may catch that which apprehended me"
Tommy Tenney is the author of multi-million selling The God Chasers series. He has written more than thirty books, with eight best-selling titles to date. Tommy has books in over forty languages, traveled into more than seventy-two countries and television broadcast into one hundred twenty nations. Tommy spent ten years pastoring and has spent over twenty years in itinerant ministry. His two passions are leading others to seek the presence of God and encouraging unity in the body of Christ. He is the founder of GodChasers.network, a mission's ministry organized to assist pastors globally, and distribute Tommy's teachings through various media. Three generations of ministry in his family heritage, and three daughters, have given Tommy a unique perspective on ministry. The Tenneys reside in Louisiana with their three daughters, their son-in-law, four grandchildren and two Yorkies.
I came across this book when I was still an undergrad at Dartmouth. So somewhere between 1997 and 2001. It's one of those books I NEED to read at least once every five years to refresh my passion to pursue those life-changing encounters with God.
Author, Tommy Tenney, gives a first-hand account of the glory of God (shekinah glory) descending down in a thick way at a church service in the south. A plexi-glass podium actually breaks down the center (think curtain in front of the Holy of Holies separating). I've never experienced a phenomenon like this first-hand, but I certainly would like to. But what this book does, is that it transports you to a place where stuff like this becomes possible. Not only do I believe the accounts as true, I desire what is behind that experience even more. There's a person - the Holy Spirit - God Himself - behind each of these, and after reading and re-reading through this book, I've fallen in love with this Person. This book ignited in me a hunger to encounter God, and guess what? I've encountered the living God. And as if that wasn't enough, I have something that sustains me between encounters. The pursuit of God Himself has transformed me into an Extreme God Chaser.
As I write this review, I've read this book about 3 or 4 times, but it's probably been at least four years since the last time. So let me recount from memory, what is rising up for me that the church needs to hear:
1. Pursue where God is right now, and not where he has been. 2. Do not try to handle the glory of God through man-made programs and devices. 3. Presence evangelism is how the the world will know that Jesus Christ is Lord.
No stars for this book. I found nothing in it that was of value unless you want to get inside the head of the Pentecostal and Apostolic movement. He started the book out discrediting all churches that use the Bible to determine what God is doing today in the world. He calls them the "old love letters". He says that churches sadly "study where God has been", but do not know God or where He is today. They also do not know who God is only who He was because the use the Bible to get to know God. He says you have to have an experience to know who God is. He then gives such an experience in a Houston area church where he was helping lead services and as the pastor got up to read from the Bible and read one passage then there was a thunder clap sound and the pastor was thrown backward from the pulpit several feet and lay motionless and could not get up for several hours. When he got up he had to have help. The pulpit was split in two before it hit the ground. People came forward for the next 24 hours for repentance and baptism. People found themselves unable to stop crying and could not move themselves and had to be carried by the ushers. This it what Tenney proposes to be more powerful than God's Word about Himself. This false foundation leads the lives of so many in this movement. It is emotionally driven and has no scriptural foundation. I agree that we need to know God daily and it needs to be fresh, and that is why I am in love with a living God whom I pray to daily and whom I read about daily. I am not chasing Him because He is standing knocking waiting for me to respond to Him. We love Him because He first loved us. I know He is real and working in my life not because of a miracle, but because of living faith. You keep seeing a sign. No one came to faith because of a sign. They all came by grace through faith. Believe and you will see!
Although I read this youth/young adult version of Tenney's God Chasers book, God used it one pivotal summer to help me make choices in a way that reflected a desire to follow hard after God. It challenged me to seek God's face instead of His blessing and gave me a desire to make sacrifices so that in letting go, I could hold on to what is most important. I would consider reading it again but might go for the original version this time around.