Dr. Tony Evans’ “Kingdom Man” is a book I did not want to like. Don’t get me wrong, I like Dr. Evans, he is a wonderful preacher and man of God. To be honest I was skeptical of this genre of book. I feared it would be chuck full of bumper sticker slogans and great spiritual platitudes. Like having a coach who walks into the locker room for the thousandth time to yell at you, I was doubtful of the long-term impact of the emotional appeal.

Dr. Evans separates the 15 chapters of this 200 page book into three parts. Formation, Foundation and Function of a kingdom man. The book begins with a chapter named “The Cry for a Kingdom Man”. The name of this chapter alone seemed to confirm my worst fears. Encouraging change in individuals through complaining about how bad society has become. In my view this doesn’t bring true change.

The tide began to turn as Tony pushed individual boundaries. Challenging a man’s proficiency at golf vs his skill and wisdom as a father and husband. He discussed the ‘strength of meekness’ and the Biblical opposition to pride. Part I of this book steered me into a collision course with some stuff I needed to deal with.

Part II had me walking around our house ‘roaring’ like a lion with my son. Part III had me walking to my neighbor’s door to check in with them and left me praying for how I can better give to the people of our church family.

This book is more than hype and better than a pep talk. It took me a week after reading it to write this review. I needed to put some time into my family before doing anything else. Men, if that’s what you want, pick up a copy.

This review was written in exchange for a free copy of this book from Tyndale house publishing.