Red Letter Challenge - A 40 Day Life Changing Experience

by Zach Zehnder

We’ve blown up the typical, boring book and teamed up with Plain Joe Studios to create something fresh and fun. Inside the Red Letter Challenge (RLC) workbook is everything you need to go on a 40-day life-changing discipleship experience. Unlike any other workbook, this workbook is filled with innovative exercises, engaging images, and a space to journal, scribble, and draw your discoveries. The RLC is unique because it takes Christ’s literal words and gives you practical daily challenges based on those words. The RLC will give you targets to shoot for to help you measure how you are practically following after Him. RLC believes that Jesus followers want to be the best Jesus followers that we can be not out of obligation, but out of gratitude for what Jesus has done for us! Do you have what it takes to really follow Jesus? To truly do what He said? I believe you do! The RLC will help you: 1) Have a deeper relationship with Jesus. 2) Receive God’s forgiveness in your life and give grace to others. 3) Give you a greater heart of service. 4) Help you become more generous. 5) Give you confidence to speak about what Jesus has done in your life. Ready to take the challenge?

Genres: Christian, Faith, Nonfiction, Devotional, Religion

267 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2017

About the author

Zach Zehnder is a husband, father, speaker, author, and pastor. His life mission is to challenge people of all ages to become greater followers of Jesus. Zach continues to seek new and innovative ways to share the Gospel with the world, from raising money to buy a recovery house by breaking a Guinness World Record for the Longest Speech Marathon to paying for the church logo to be tattooed on church members. In 2017, Zach wrote the bestselling book Red Letter Challenge and together with his wife Allison, in 2019, co-wrote Red Letter Challenge Kids. In 2020, Zach wrote Being Challenge and co-authored Being Challenge Kids. In addition to writing books, you can regularly find Zach and Allison blogging and speaking about the importance of Jesus at www.redletterchallenge.com.

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the premise but not the format. The writing style was a bit...informal for me, personally, for what I look for from a Bible study. And I know this is nit-picky, but the book could have used another round of proofreading before going to print; those types of errors jump out at me in any book I read.

One of the biggest detractors for me was that there were too many instances in which the "challenge of the day" was something that you may not be able to participate in on zero notice, such as to serve a child if you aren't a parent or around children regularly, or pray with a spouse if you're single, or give something to someone without expecting anything in return. Some scenarios simply cannot be manufactured at the drop of a hat. When I just couldn't complete one, I felt like I was failing in the study, which quickly becomes discouraging as they pile up. I had to reframe the challenge for myself and just appreciate the ideas offered as opportunities to watch for, especially when you come to weeks three through five, with the serving-giving-going.

Biggest takeaway: pay attention to the "red letters" in the Bible and understand that these words of Christ aren't just there to be studied, meditated upon, discussed, and memorized, but to be a guide for how to live a life of faith. Jesus wasn't just talking to His disciples or the crowds during the time He walked this earth; He was speaking to each of us throughout all time. Taking this into consideration, when I read a "red letter" passage now, I will keep in mind specifically that these are instructions meant for me.

[Carey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan of this book at all. The examples he uses are questionable at best. The pastors he uses to illustrate his point are questionable as well - one of them has even been removed from his church as well as the entire elder board. Gimme a break.

[Denley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too simplistic for me, but maybe beneficial for those new to Christianity.

I also didn't care for the writing style. His attempt at humor was a miss and a distraction. I didn't care for his examples or daily challenges either.

Instead of reading this, just read the words of Jesus in the new testament instead.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best and most practical faith challenges that I've participated in. Whether you are new or established in your faith walk, there is learning and growth. Many of the principles are common sense, yet highly overlooked by many of us. I'd definitely encourage going on this journey if you haven't. You'll not be disappointed.

[Richard Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good devotion for building better and more active disciples. Some of the challenges need more time to do, so racing through this in 40 days diminishes it’s effect and effectiveness.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique challenge to live out of Jesus’ words. Appreciated the practical approach and ideas especially around serving others and community. Some asides rambled. Overall an easy basic devotional with some solid truths weaved in

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has many good points; I got more out out of the latter part of the book. It did inspire me to go and do and be. I did not always enjoy the writing style.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too simplistic for me but good for newer Christians.

[Elizabeth Knaus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed encouragement from studying this with a group of ladies. The woman leading the class provided an Addendum Small Group Guide by her pastor.

[Manda TheyShe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good guideline for how to get started. Not as engaging as I'd hoped. Half the book isn't even a challenge for the church. It's things that as a church you are probably already doing (if not maybe you'll like it more). Or things for you to do on your own. Some are so situational it's impossible to plan. Example: I am married but we don't have children and I do not encounter children weekly, let alone daily. One challenge is to be nice to a kid that day... How about let's just not be terrible people and be nice to kids anytime you encounter one?

Maybe it was presentation. I know the church leaders had additional material. But without knowing exactly what that material was this book alone only gets 3 stars.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenge yourself with a fresh look at what it means to be a Christian, or be challenged with new experiences and habits that will help take you to the next level of living in, with and through Jesus. Better yet, find someone who will also read it daily and discuss it with them once a week or more. These brief daily readings, based on the words of Jesus, are simply written, easy to understand and deeply challenging for both the curious and the experienced. This is the best discipleship book I've read and shared with others.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting idea. Discipleship - especially a Lutheran perspective - has always been a tension, I believe. Not to make it a law on one hand, but to encourage intentional faith formation, putting faith into action, spiritual disciplines and good works that stem from being a Christian. This book is presented as a campaign for a church and I am interested in it. Liked some sections more than others, and some devotions I liked very much while others I would have tweaked. Perhaps a revision is called for, a 2nd edition. But very thought provoking and might accomplish what I desire.

[Rebecca Shipley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read through this study because my church was going through it together. It wasn’t very in depth in my opinion, but it gave some good jumping of topics for my small group to discuss more deeply. I’m not a big fan of personal experience stories interwoven among Bible stories. For me it takes away from the words of Jesus to hear the pastor use himself as an example throughout the study. I felt like I learned more about the author than about the words of Jesus.

[Good · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very shallow teaching. Some questionable theology. The author speaks more about himself than Jesus. His description of an event in his life where his seminary professor says the author is a narcissist and other self-descriptions confirm the professor was correct. One star is too much for this book. Just read your Bible.

[Donna Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the basic idea of this book - to make a difference in the world by studying the words of Christ and putting them into action - is good. However, I found it difficult to plan daily activities as scheduled and often needed to delay or rearrange the order. Also, the book needed another round of editing and, for me, the writing was a bit too informal.

[Deborah Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

My sister Amy's church did this study, and when I was in TX in November I paged through it. I needed to get back into a study of some kind so ordered myself a copy and started in the New Year. I really enjoyed the study as it was simplistic, not digging deep lately in my Bible, this was a good study to get me going again. I think this would be a great one to do for small group studies.

[Danna Strasel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! It gave great ideas on how everyone could and should put the words of Jesus into action in today's world and why. It was full of humor and interesting stories and statistics. Highly recommend!

[Sharon R · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great way to study what Jesus says to us and grow! We did it as an entire church and with small groups. Fantastic way to learn together in community and become better disciples. If you can't do it as an entire church, do it with a small group.

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick devotional, understandable, and relatable. But I would have liked more than one day to do the challenges. I did get discouraged and didn't do many of them, but I will go back and try to do them as I can.

[Maggie Buckley · Rating 4 out of 5]

We did this study at our church - we had some great discussions with our table on the topics. It's a little strange that you read the chapter AFTER you've discussed the main points the week before - I wish that was the other way around. But overall, it was a good book.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a great bible study! Studied this with our regular weekly group. Some of us were going through tough times (loss of family members, illness, accidents, etc.). This challenged us to be ever vigilant for opportunities to serve others in our daily lives.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great starting place for those wanting to commit their lives to Jesus!

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, read it twice!

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe a good place to start following Jesus if you are a new believer. No actual words of Jesus for the first week of study. Editing was not so good.

[Janet Platania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars

[Judi Politte-Downs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this along with you tube videos made by pastor Harold. Rough challenge at times. Worth
Doing again

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This extremely well written with challenges meant to stretch me. Some challenges were easy while others were complex. Reading this during Lent was wonderful.

[Tassiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely really good though I would recommend more for adults as it just applies to adults a little more!

[Dmack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good guide for anyone who is interested in learning how to follow and be a disciple of Jesus

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pastor Zach Zehnder shares five principles of being, forgiving, serving, giving and going. His stories and Bible verses shared.