First, I do want to commend Pastor Leon for his understanding of Biblical ministry through the individual people who make up the body of Christ on earth. He emphasizes well the ability of anyone to tap into the miraculous and live a Spirit empowered life today. The first several chapters are laced with miracle stories that make the supernatural a simple phenomenon and not a special privilege reserved only for the elite. This aspect of the work I enjoyed.
However, I also had some draw backs with the book. First, the Spirit Contemporary concept itself, in my eyes, is simply another marketing technique to say the things the Bible already says. The second drawback was his continued references to the The Holy Spirit as simply "Holy Spirit" without the modifier "the" (even though the Biblical text uses quite the opposite, but in his effort to help others understand the personal nature of the The Holy Spirit, he does not feel the modifier is needed). These are two minor points, but they only serve to underscore the overarching issue I had with it, that in explaining his church's approach to being Spirit contemporary, it simply makes pragmatism (ie - does it work) the standard for the model, rather than letting the Bible determine the model, though he and many others like him would say that is what they're doing.
So, can you get a lot out of the book? Yes, you can. But, for me, it's not one I plan on keeping on my shelf for continued use. I hope that more people will learn that they too can see the miraculous in their life in a simple way. But, I pray that they also understand that the Bible and not our pragmatic expectations are what God chooses to approve of today. And may we live in the light of those truths in a truly Spirit Contemporary way.
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