On Target, powerful lessons about manly struggles

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	• Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood Nate Larkin Thomas Nelson, 2007 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Frank and Honest Discussion

I ordered this book after reading an article in Christianity Today. I expected a book about how men can deal with their personal struggles. What I didn't expect was how brutally honest Nate Larkin is in this book as to his own struggles, and how he found freedom. In this book you will laugh, you will identify, and finally find hope.

Words from a fan and a friend.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3BWAKYMZ3VMJW It's great to share more words about this book, but the book is about translation from the head to the heard -- to the butt that gets hauled from isolated pain to shared healing, and that gets hauled by other people, real people. I'm one of those broken people, and I'm experiencing the joy of recovery in community. So here's the real me talking about it. ~ Pete Gall, author of My Beautiful Idol

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Good stuff...

Nate Larkin has offered a very helpful addition to the library of resources for Christian men. His writing style is very engaging, and he is an excellent story-teller with a wonderful (if somewhat irreverent) sense of humor. Especially as a first-time author, I was most impressed and look forward to reading more from him in the future.

The first part of "Samson and the Pirate Monks" details Larkin's biography, including a host of honest admissions and even shocking incidents. The second part of the book describes the establishment of the Samson Society, a collection of gatherings of men across the country based loosely on the principles of 12-step recovery programs but infused with a substantial dose of Christian language and biblical wisdom.

Larkin's brutal honesty is most helpful and unfortunately rare in the church. His willingness to bear his soul and unveil some very dirty laundry in such a public forum is commendable. This passion for candor propels many of the mandates of the Samson Societies. I also appreciated healthy doses of humility peppered throughout the book.

My critiques of this book are two-fold and relatively minor. On some level, it felt like some sort of subtle sales-pitch for the Samson Society, especially the second half of the book. Ironically, Samson Societies have no budgets and collect no fees, so the motivation clearly isn't monetary. But I am always uncomfortable when an author goes beyond sharing their successes and begins to prescribe the exact solution for everyone else's woes. My second criticism is the tendency of Larkin and other contributing authors to carelessly discredit the validity of any previous installments of the modern men's movement as utterly useless. Though I do believe that the Samson Society has captured some helpful elements of relating as men that have been sorely missing in many men's gatherings, this does not mean that these other gatherings have been devoid of value, which is never explicitly stated but frequently implied.

These critiques notwithstanding, I am glad to have read this book. Larkin shares struggles that many men have surely endured, and he offers many insightful suggestions to walk through these issues in the light of God's grace, in Christian community with other broken men who want to more fully experience the life that God planned for them. Though I'm not yet convinced that forming my own Samson Society is the only answer, I do hope to apply some of Larkin's ideas to my own life and pursue more meaningful relationships with other Christian men, confident that God has much more in store than so many of us are experiencing.

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Samson and the Pirate Monks

This is a five star book for guys in and out of recovery. A must read for all Christian men serious about their spiritual future.

On Target, powerful lessons about manly struggles

Read this book and could not put it down. Nate's got the gift of connecting with nearly everyone. The stories and the lessons will resonate with 90% of the men who read it.

Cannot recommend this higher

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

With no-holds-barred honesty and poignant storytelling, Nate Larkin introduces a model of community and friendship that is reinvigorating men's ministry across the country, a model he calls The Samson Society. Too many men see the biblical hero Samson as their model for manhood--a rugged individualist of the highest order. Yet, Samson's solitary successes were eventually overcome by moral weaknesses. Larkin, through the story of his own past and the stories of those in The Samson Society, offers a radical, refreshing alternative.

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