How rad is it that the author used the title of a Journey song for his book?  Very.  I first heard Wittmer at a conference back in September which also included Kevin DeYoung, author of “Why We’re Not Emergent”.  The conference focused on the emergence of emergent,  the joys of making a difference in the world for Christ and the pitfalls of not having a solid belief system/theology.  Wittmer finds good company with Kevin DeYoung and other younger leaders that don’t identify with Rob Bell, Tony Jones and others, though Wittmer takes a more balanced approach to analyzing and reconciling elements of Brian McLaren, Stan Grenz and other emergent voices with conservative evangelicalism.  The emergent church has a common thread of justice, serving like and being Jesus (action), while conservatives have traditionally focused on faith, doctrine and knowing the person and work of Jesus (belief).  Wittmer says that just living like Jesus isn’t enough.  It’s a good book that focuses on both believing something and doing something — all for the sake of Christ.  I had to re-read a few sections (I get lost in detailed epistemology — I know I’m probably the only one) but it was worth it.

Here it is at Amazon.