Confessions of a Caffeinated Christian: Wide-Awake and Not Alone

John writes another humorous, easy reading book that makes you take a look at how you interact with the world through his own shortcomings and hangups as a human being.

I started reading John Fischers books because I had known him in the early 70's as the music leader in my church, PBC of Palo Alto, CA. This book, as others of Johns, really is thought provoking. John Fischer has a way of being transparent....and helping us to become so too. That is at times a painful process, but with his humorus style as well as deep insightful way of writing he makes it easy to swallow. John "speaks" like I think. I too have become tired of the "religiosity" of our churches and selves, and just want to be fed and share what Christ is doing in my life with others. How if He can take me and change me , he can you too!! I often found myself thinking as I read that he must have been reading my mind! I have read all his books and will continue to in the future. Hopefully he is writing another now!?

A very enjoyable read. Each chapter leaves you thinking and touchs you with wonder at the special ways GOD works in each of our lives. I highly recommend this book for all adult christains.

Sit down with musician turned author John Fischer and enjoy a cup of joe over CONFESSIONS OF A CAFFEINATED CHRISTIAN, 19 short shots of espresso for the soul. Fischer, like many writers, finds inspiration for his writing direct from the bean, as he plugs in his laptop at his local coffee shop. "I love coffee. I love it dark, oily, and with a burnt chestnut aftertaste," he writes. Unsurprisingly, he loves Starbucks --- indeed, the book is almost an endorsement for the chain. "...Just about everything I can think of about my experience with Starbucks coffee also corresponds to something true about my experience with Jesus." Although he is a Starbucks aficionado, many of the essays Fischer crafts are birthed at the Koffee Klatch, a local hangout. Surprisingly to him, as he becomes a regular, his little coffee shop turns out to be a magnet for the gay community in his little corner of California. This realization leads Fischer to ponder evangelism and his own desire to keep to himself. Is he there as only a coffee drinker? Observer? As a Christian looking for converts? Should he offer them some "answers?" He's not sure. With honest puzzlement, he muses over why he feels motivated to evangelize those around him. Is it truly that he cares about them, or "Is it to speed up their change so I don't have to be so freaked out around them?" Fischer's discomfort with his feelings at the Koffee Klatch leads him to peel back more layers. He thinks back to his earliest experiences in an ultra-conservative Christian home (he carried a note to school excusing him from dancing in gym) and his teen perceptions of evangelism, and participation. He finds he enjoys observing life rather than participating and engaging with it. "Confession: As a Christian, I am the bearer of a message packed full of love for people I am afraid to be around." His favorite part of evangelism, he confesses: "busing out" after witnessing in a neighborhood. Throughout the book, he continues turning over thoughts about his lack of empathy with others and his desire to withdraw. Sometimes there is a point to his musings, sometimes it is a little difficult to discern what the point is. In another essay, Fischer, a hardcore caffeinated coffee drinker, acknowledges that his own faith has been "decaffeinated" too long. "Religion without a kick...faith without the buzz --- a sanitized human experience with its heart and soul removed...." He reflects on his early experiences in the church: prom night without the dancing, Rook instead of regular cards, Billy Graham movies instead of the headliner down at the theater. "We simply tried to take out what we thought was bad and still have the experience," he writes. He decides he wants an "earthy" faith, not a life lived in isolation. "My caffeinated Christianity is a relationship with God that takes into account my life in this body and my handicap as a sinner." As for the gay community at the Koffee Klatch, where everyone is "out of the closet," Fi

Caffienated Christian is the best of Fischer! By openly and honestly talking about real life, Fischer breaks out of the Christian book ghetto. He challenges some Christian assumptions and easy mental habits. If you want to be challenged, pick this up! On the other hand, if Christianity to you is a Sunday morning, dress-up and take the SUV to your mega-church for some feel-good blather, find something easier to read. Caffienated Christian might just make you think.