Heroic is another men’s ministry book, to add to my shelf of already enough men’s ministry books. I’ve looked at Patrick Morely’s Man in the Mirror, learned about 12 Ordinary Men from John Macarthur, took the Measure of a Man by Gene Getz and worked on the Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes. Richard Phillips gave me the Masculine Mandate; what does Bill Delvaux bring to the table in Heroic?
There’s nothing new in this book. Men need the real man, Jesus. Wanna-be heroes need the real hero, Jesus. This book relies heavily on personal narrative, biography, and stories of the author, and stereo-typical Gladiator, Braveheart, Star Wars, Matrix, and Lord of the Rings references. To his credit, the author applies the over-arching theme of the Bible, “creation-fall-redemption-glory” to the plight of men. The role of Christ comes in chapters 5-6. There is an emphasis on dying to self and being resurrected with the risen Christ in chapters 10-11. But, several “red flags” appear as the author repeatedly hears Jesus whisper various words and encouragements: “Come be by brother” on page 130, or “You are my treasure” on page 162. Visions are also prominent in this book, when Jesus wears prison clothes and eats breakfast with a young pastor on page 129 or Jesus is in the bathroom with the author and opens a door to a forest landscape on page 147. I had a hard time getting past these pages.
An outline of the book is presented on page 209, and it would have been better to lay this out in the beginning, to give the reader a sense of direction.
A reader interested in men’s ministry and issues would do better to read Richard Phillips’ Masculine Mandate or Disciplines of a Godly Man by R Kent Hughes. A men’s group would do better to read a book of the Bible or good book of theology or biography.
I received this book at no cost for the purpose of review. I was not required to write a positive review.