Samson & the Pirate Monks

I update the website at NextStep Resources & not only does that mean that I add new & upcoming books to our website, I get to keep up on on all the new books that come into the store. So I get to see all the new stuff. Well, Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood came across a couple weeks ago & the title immediately caught my attention. So I did the two things I always do when a book interests me. I look at the back & see who wrote a blurb about it & I looked at the table of contents. From the title and one of the blurbs on the back, I knew this was going to be a book I read. Dan Haseltine is the lead singer from Jars of Clay (my favorite band) and I have read many of the articles he has written and found him to be a great thinker. But, I have to say, I had no idea what this book would be about. The brief description on the back of the book speaks of a Samson Society & promised that the book would not be boring. The fact that the author (a pastor’s son & former pastor himself) retells his story as a sex addict had me wide-eyed & stupefied at the end of the opening chapter. The vulnerability with which he spoke pointed to his having come back from the depths & being restored by God, family & church. This is a very sad story but ultimately one that brings hope to many who struggle with sexual addiction. Mr. Larkin also disavows his self-entitlement which so many of us who grow up in the church (especially those who grow up in pastor’s families) have. This book also is a ministry tool in that it shows how to start a Samson Society in your community where men can live in authentic brotherhood, as the subtitle implies.