Chazown | Craig Groeschel
Craig Groeschel. Chazown: A Different Way to See Your Life. Multnomah, 2006. 240 pp.
Even without the hint presented by the subtitle, just picking up a copy of Craig Groeschel’s book Chazown gives the reader a suggestion of something different. To begin with the title itself looks like a made up word. Chazown, Groeschel explains early on, is the Hebrew word (pronounced khaw – ZONE) that the writer uses in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (KJV, emphasis mine). The word, he says, can be translated “dream, revelation, or vision.”
The book design gives a visual effect for the idea that the reader should start looking at life from a different perspective. Brightly colored concentric circles attack the reader from the cover. Opening the book the reader will find words all over the page with some of the words scripted in the margin for emphasis while others are highlighted in larger print in the middle of the page. All of this is packaged in a plastic slipcase designed to hold the book with the spine to the inside of the case: a major departure from traditional book packaging.
This departure speaks volumes about the content of the book. Groeschel is attempting to re-package a message that has been told many times in a variety of traditional ways, but is one that needs to be retold again and again. Even with the design inspired by MySpace, the book is fairly easy to read. Chapters are short and disguised not to even look like chapters. Each chapter is only ten to twelve pages long and is divided into subtopics that organize the material very well. The book is also divided into six parts that are creatively titled with helpful subtitles such as “Seeing Clear to the End: Why You Need a New Kind of Vision” and “Circling the Truth: Where to Look for Your Own Chazown.”
This is another in a growing pile of books designed to helping the Christ-follower to become the person that God has designed him/her to be. It includes much of the same information presented in other areas: you must have an end goal in view in order to live life to its fullest. This end goal is related to three areas of your life, namely, core values, spiritual gifts, and past experiences. Groeschel also asserts that each person’s ultimate Chazown (capital “C”) is wrapped up in a variety of chazowns (small ‘c’) that address everyday issues in life. Among these small “c” chazowns are included five critical areas, which Groeschel likens to the spokes on a wheel:
- your relationship with God,
- your relationships with people,
- your financial health,
- your physical health, and
- your life’s work.
What sets Groeschel’s book apart from the other offerings in the spiritual growth pile is the interactive nature of the book. Unlike traditional books that fall into the “study course” category, Chazown doesn’t expect the reader to fill in blanks along the way, or spend exhaustive hours in seminary-style study. Instead, the book is filled with opportunities to react in a journal available for download at www.chazown.com. Periodically, Groeschel invites the reader to respond to material in the book with pages he calls “You’re the Author.” Also available are Chazown study DVDs based on each of the five spokes of the critical areas in a believer’s life.
This book is a great new look at extremely important material. The one major drawback is the danger that readers will take the formulaic process presented in the book and expect to turn their Christian walk completely around. Otherwise, I would recommend this volume to all believers. It is an excellent reminder that “everyone ends up somewhere. But few people end up somewhere on purpose” (a key thought adapted from Andy Stanley and quoted throughout the book).
Benjamin Potter
Sr. Pastor, First Baptist Church of Mulberry Grove
August 20, 2007
Like this post? Subscribe to our feed 
.
Phil Gons
Thanks for the review, Benjamin. I haven’t read the book, but based on your comments there’s one thing that I would take issue with. The title of the book is based on the Hebrew word חָזוֹן, which is translated as “vision” in the KJV of Pro 29:18. This verse is often interpreted incorrectly. Many assume that it means “the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom; a mental image of what the future will or could be like” (Concise OED). While this is a valid use of the English word, it is not the meaning of the Hebrew word, which here has reference to a revelatory vision from God.
The idea of the verse is brought out more clearly in modern translations like the NIV: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.”
Now, I’m not suggesting that “vision” in the sense Groeschel is using it is a bad thing to have, just that this is nowhere found in Prov 29:18.
Aug 23rd, 2007 11:14 am
Benjamin Potter
Phil, I agree with you that Groeschel does the same that too many modern-day, American evangelicals do with the verse from Proverbs—namely turn the verse on a poor translation of a single word in the verse. I would tend to argue that the use of the word in Proverbs points more to having a “vision” of the God than a vision from God. Consequently it’s one of the drawbacks to the book, but works for the packaging. The other concern that the book draws out of me is the same type of issue that grew out of Wilkinson’s Prayer of Jabez: the temptation to turn the material into a mantra that will turn our lives into life on the gravy train.
That said, you’re right also that the ideology Groeschel puts forth as to developing a “vision” for one’s life (and one that’s based in God’s will/vision for us) is helpful. The difficulty comes in when we try to prooftext our lives. In that regard, we see the same kind of abuse of Romans 8:28 almost daily in the life of the church.
Aug 23rd, 2007 12:15 pm
Phil Gons
Thanks for the follow-up comments, Benjamin.
Aug 23rd, 2007 1:34 pm