Book Review: Velvet Elvis

Book Review: Velvet Elvis
What do I read in my spare time? I sift through a wide variety of stuff. And from time to time, I’d like to use this forum to share some of my reads with you. Some good, some not so good, but all of them thought provoking in one way or another.

This first “book review” comments on a book called Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. For those of you that don’t know who Rob is (I didn’t know who he was until I read this book), he’s the lead pastor at Mars Hill Church in Michigan. He planted this church and has been instrumental in its growth. This book is his statement on what Christianity should be about.

The title Velvet Elvis is the visual queue that he uses to help convey the constant and never-ending growth that occurs within the church. As Rob describes it,

“What if the painter of my Velvet Elvis announced there was no more need to paint, that he had painted the ultimate painting? We would think he had lost his mind because of our instinctive understanding that art is never done – it’s the endless process of learning, exploring, shaping and forming. And it’s no different with faith. The Christian faith will never be complete. We will always be exploring and discovering what it means to live in harmony with God and each other. If we don’t, our faith may end up in the basement. This book is about the endless need to keep painting.”

The most memorable portion of the book is in “Movement 3” (this is how chapters are denoted) under the heading “Everywhere”. In this section, Bell describes the awakening of an awareness of God within friends of his as they prepared for their wedding. My description couldn’t do it justice. Read it for yourself. Trust me. You won’t be disappointed.

In any event, I don’t want to hold you up from reading the book. So go get a copy. Read it. Share it with a friend. Enjoy it. Contemplate on it. And drop me a line to let me know if you agree with my recommendation.

Happy Reading!

Todd Dow