Perfecting Your Purpose: 40 Days to a More Meaningful Life

Impact with David Ireland, the author's daily radio and weekly television broadcasts, reaches a potential audience of 50 million households.

The readers who made The Purpose-Driven Life (Zondervan, 2002) a staggering bestseller with over 20 million copies sold worldwide will be drawn to the 40-day plan in this book as the logical next step in their spiritual growth.

David D. Ireland is the author of several books, including Activating the Holy Spirit (Whitaker House, 1997), which sold over 20,000 copies. His newest title, Why Drown When You Can Walk On Water?, was published by Baker Books in October 2004.

Founder and senior pastor of Christ Church in Montclair, New Jersey, which has over 5,000 members, David D. Ireland serves on the executive committee for the 2005 New York City Billy Graham Crusade and is a Bible teacher for the New York Giants.

Pastor and author Ireland's latest book is a poorly executed imitation of Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life. While Warren's book offers clear steps to finding a biblical life purpose and is accessible to all regardless of background, Ireland's is full of "Christianese" and may raise more questions than it answers. Like Warren, Ireland focuses on bringing readers to find their life purpose, which to Ireland may mean championing a cause, teaching others about faith or perhaps doing something grander. This life purpose is never clearly defined, however, and Ireland vaguely instructs that the best way to clarify your purpose is to spend time analyzing your feelings in the presence of God to determine whether you are heading in the right direction. (Ironically, Ireland faults biblical characters for acting solely in response to their feelings.) Readers are given further vague instructions to look for a burning bush, to "have a mountaintop experience" and to "stake [a] claim against the devil." Throughout, Ireland uses themes from such biblical characters as Joseph, Ezekiel and Noah, who all experienced 40-day "Transforming Intervals," but his attempts to equate their biblical quests directly to the search for purpose he prescribes are a stretch at best. Ireland's approach appears contrived, and he offers little of value to draw readers away from Warren's bestseller. (May 18)
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