I grew up in the South, just to left of the buckle of the Bible Belt. My family was faithful to be “at church” every time the doors were open. Both my parents were active in serving. In college and on my own, I too found myself heavily involved in church life. After sensing a call to ministry and later graduating from seminary and beginning full-time ministry, these many years of church involvement and service were rungs upon which I climbed to get a better view of what I now call “churchianity.” What I saw disturbed me and led me to write Super Center Savior.

I saw thousands of people attending church semi-regularly, but very few of them being the church, much less enjoying their relationship with the God of the church. These ideas coalesced into a conviction that not only does God deserve our whole-hearted devotion (which results in our joy), but our world desperately needs Christ-followers who live a God-saturated life 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The world doesn’t need to see our church-building gatherings. It needs to see our love.

Because Wal-Mart is a commercial and social staple of many of these Bible-Belt communities, I took a familiar cultural icon and hopefully have used it and its practices in a way to both challenge and encourage Christians and church leaders to experience the joy of 24/7 Christian living. This happens when we allow our Savior to be center of lives.