Velvet Elvis

A fantastic book cleverly titled Velvet Elvis, written by Rob Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill church in Michigan. The title in itself is one that calls your name and says “Read Me!” Rob creatively bases the entire book off of a painting of Elvis that he bought off the side of the road that has been collecting dust in his garage. He states that the painting of Elvis was not of the black and white variety with a cordless guitar, nor the Elvis after doughnuts, but the Elvis in between that seemed to paint the best picture. More impressively he states is at the bottom of the painting the artist simply signed his work with the letter R, so as to say that enough paintings have been done, that this is the best painting ever created and all other painters should retire their brushes. Bell claims that this assertion towards that painting would prevent the growth of future artists, and prohibit any further masterpieces that could be created. He says that like artists, we are always repainting the Christian faith, so that we can continue to grow and see great transformation. Rob goes on to say that throughout history, Christians have not painted the perfect painting and we must change along with an ever-changing society. This book is a great tool to see the modern Christian movement in action. He details Mars Hill humble beginnings, all the way to their mega church type congregation we see today. Throughout the book you can really see that Rob has a passion for the ministry, and an even greater passion for reaching out to the people that are not traditionally known as the “Christian Type.” Maybe this is why he is so successful. It seems to me that those were the types of people Christ came to save in the first place. So if you are looking to reach out to people with tattoo’s, piercing's, colored hair, people that are simply not like you, then this is the book for you. You can check out Rob Bell at the following websites:

www.marshill.org
www.nooma.com
(The Nooma site is a series of short films created by Rob Bell. They can be found on You Tube as well.)