Not all Christians feel like they belong in the church. There are a myriad of reasons that they may feel like they aren't really a part of things. This book speaks directly to these people, the ones who want to follow and serve Jesus but don't fit the cookie cutter mold. It was heartbreaking yet hopeful, awkward and yet profound. As one of the Christians who will most likely be sitting at the "misfits" table, I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. While this book is well written it’s not for me at this time.

Carolyn Hansen was 100% correct. This book helped. A LOT.

It is 10pm, I'm laying in bed next to a sleeping 3 yr old and it's taking everything I have not to stand up and cheer while laughing and crying.

Brant Hansen has this excellent way of being a normal guy with some truthful observations to share about life and Jesus and the Bible and how messed up we've got things but also how much grace and hope we have. So little Christian-ease and so much plainness that's almost exquisite yet requires nothing difficult from the reader. Not too lofty, not too witty, not too bff, but just a good guy making me think and rethink and enjoy many "ah ha" moments about life. This has easily become one of my favorite books ever, and I know I'll be reading it again.

So many of our churches today are centered around the "experience," but what if you just want to experience God, and you're not getting it? What if you don't feel "strangely warm" the way the disciples did on Emmaus Road when you pray, read your Bible, or go to church?

Then, you're probably okay. The truth is that this is the story for a lot of us, and Brant tells it with refreshing honesty and bold authenticity, inviting us all to embrace who we are as a ragtag band of misfits, the very kinds of people God always seems to use throughout His story. There are some moments of deep theology and profound insights into the human condition, some good laughs and some "whoa" moments.

One caution: this is not a book intended to make you arrogant in your misfitness or cynical about the world (or religion or church or whatever). This is a book that's supposed to make you breathe a little easier and say, "Me, too....me, too," not because you're all of a sudden proud of all the things about you that don't "fit in," but because knowing that this is the story of God and His people throughout all time ought to make you relax a bit and settle into the createdness of your being, as perfectly unique and blessed and holy as it is. So when you read this book, let it comfort you. Let it reassure you. Let it affirm you. Let it hold up a mirror to who you are and let it scrawl "You're Okay" in lipstick all across that image. Because you're okay. For real. This is the story of a lot of us.

Another honest and much-needed perspective from Brant! We have wrongly elevated some good things to the status of "most important" and need to be reminded of what really matters. Brant made so many really good points but one of the points I appreciate the most is that it's not all about our emotions. I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from him because I'm very emotional, but regardless I too need to remember that God is God and truth is truth no matter how I feel. I dare say this is a message that many American Christians need to hear and embrace.

This book was really interesting. In church you hear about how you need to hear from God, but this book questions how you would hear from God. You always expect an auditory voice or something, but it's not always the case and I liked the fact the author challenged that fact. He even used instances in the bible to back up that fact. It was a refreshing take on something I didn't think about until I read this book.

I really wanted to read this book but was unable to do so because of technical difficulties. I’ll be buying and reviewing it anyway, just not here :) Thank you for sending me an e-arc and I’m truly sorry I wasn’t able to review Blessed Are The Misfits!

Edit: I realise I should’ve pushed the button for not sending a review but I somehow missed it and now I can’t undo this “review” even though it’s very much in the wrong place. My apologies... the brainfog was heavy with me today.

3.5 stars. This was different then I thought it’d be. However, it was well written and relevant. There are so many people who can relate to being a misfit and those are who Jesus loves the most!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

I first heard Brant Hansen on my local Christian radio station over a decade ago. I remember how soothing his voice was in the morning and how everything he said was not only interesting but also sensible and thought provoking. I was so sad when he moved. When I saw this book up for grabs, I knew I had to read it! This book reminded me of all the things I loved about Brant's show. First, he opens up and allows himself to be vulnerable so that you can relate to him. Then, he opens your eyes to a fresh perspective of who God really is. This book was such an encouragement to me. I highly recommend!!

I love this book! I feel exactly like the author feels about being a Christian,
and I was so excited to know I'm not the only person in the world that feels
this way.
The book is exactly what it says it is!
This book will be close to me always to refer back to. I think anyone would
enjoy it.

I received this e-book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Normally, it’s really hard for me to get through Christian books because I find them really cliche-y or not resounding or relating to me. Yes, I want to say “The Best Yes!” but a good portion of the time my anxiety gets in the way and it’s more of an “An Awkward I Guess!.” I would love to be able to say that while sitting at church I feel super connected all the time, but I can’t. I would LOVE to be able to say that I can pray for hours at a time, but I can’t. The difference between all those other books, and this one, is that Hansen understands and gets it and seemingly wrote this for me.
All throughout reading it, I could relate. It was super refreshing, and honestly a relief, that there are others that feel the way I do and can express better than I can too.
I feel like at most times, the Church portrays the facade of keeping it together. It doesn’t want the mess of humanity. That it sometimes praises the extroverts because of their ability to be in front of others. That it brushes away those who are in grief, lonely, depressed, or unnoticed.
**NOTE: THIS ISN’T A BASH ON THE CHURCH. In fact, I’ve grown up in church my entire life, graduated from bible college, is licensed to pastor, and currently work for a church resource office. I LOVE the church that I attend and serve regularly within it. But, these are things that I’ve noticed because they’re happening to others, and it’s happened to myself. Does that make me any less of a Christian because I’m a mess, an introvert, and have experienced grief, loneliness, depression, or gone unnoticed? ABSOLUTELY NOT. **
But, one of my favorite quotes in this book are found at the beginning:
“If American church culture makes perfect sense to you and you fit in seamlessly, don’t read this. Seriously, return it immediately, before you spill something on this book and can’t get a full refund. Because this book is for the rest of us.
In fact, it’s full of nonstop good news for the rest of us: the misfits, the oddballs, introverts, and analytical types who throw ourselves at God’s mercy, saying, “Yes, I believe… but help me in my unbelief.”
This book challenges the way Church runs and who we focus on. And I love it.
It puts into focus many groups that are sometimes seemingly looked over. It brings into new light that even if you struggle with the spiritual things that others seem to feel all the time, it doesn’t make you any less of a Christian. That your brokenness doesn’t make you unfixable, it makes you valuable because you’re still there, God’s still working, but it’s like that metaphor of old broken pottery. They would see the broken pottery and put it back together with melted gold. When the gold would harden, you would still see the cracks, but it was whole once again. That’s what the Church is, or should be. It brings to God into focus who, in his wholeness, loves our broken selves and gave his son for us, so that we could be put back together again and brought into community with him; filled cracks, scrapes, scars, and all.
Honestly, I highly recommend this book to everyone. Those who this encompasses and those who think they have it all together. Those who are leaders and those who serve. Those who are want to know more about what it looks like to struggle and those who are struggling to know that they’re not alone.

Brant gets real in his book "Blessed Are the Misfits". So often we can feel like odd ducks in the Church, but Brant opens up - creating a community where misfits find the reminder of the faith we can have in our Lord Jesus Christ. It isn't the perfect who are blessed. Honestly? We all are imperfect and can be a bit more awkward than we would like, but this is where the grace of God truly steps in! I am thankful for this book, and the opportunity to review it.

Blessed are the Misfits – 5 stars
By Brant Hansen

“Repentance is not an emotion,” wrote Eugene Peterson. “It is not feeling sorry for your sins. It is a decision.”
Emotions are very human. But faithfulness, in spite of emotion, and in the absence of emotion, is beautiful. Faithfulness is a real fruit of the Spirit. And when we get to see it in action, it is breathtaking, at least to me.
- Blessed Are The Misfits, Brant Hansen

This is an excellent book that really cuts the through the language and hype of mainstream institutionalized Christianity and gets at the heart of what being a follower of Christ really means. Instead of cookie cutter Christians who follow the script, Brant identifies the emptiness this incorrect pattern creates in the souls of those who try to live this life. Following Jesus is not about the emotional highs and experiences but daily committing to him and leaning on him in all the struggles of life – in faith knowing that he is there, for eternity!

My main criticism is this. Early on in the book Brant gives a brief bio of his life, but becomes annoyingly fixated on his ‘aspie’ label. Thankfully this is dropped rather quickly, as he misplaces his faith issues on his syndrome. Many people can identify with the insecurities and lack of faith reassurance that he brings up, without constantly being defined by a label.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book breathed life back into my soul. I have always felt a little on the outside of the "Christian crowd." But in this book, Brant Hansen seeks to answer the questions of those who feel like they don't fit in or belong to the mainstream Christian crowd. In a unique and quirky way, Hansen uses his own personal stories and struggles to help us connect our misunderstandings of mainstream Christianity with the truth written in scripture. In a new way, Hansen showed me how to think about scriptures that have long rubbed me wrong. Hansen reminds us that even if we don't understand the way things are being done, it all comes down to loving one another and bringing a new viewpoint to the table so that we can better understand one another.

Hansen reminds us all that we have a place at the table with Jesus. Whether we see or hear or experience God in the same way or not. We all belong. And it is those who feel like misfits that can sometimes bring about restoration in a most holistic way.

I really enjoyed this book. I had never heard of the author, Brant Hansen, before, but he has written a funny and encouraging spiritual book for Christians who just don't fit in. Specifically, Christians that are not waving hands in the air, filled with the Holy Spirit, compelled to tell everyone about their faith. Hansen uses scripture to tell the Christian outcasts that it's ok. God loves you as you are. He talks directly to introverts, impostors, the wounded, those that don't really feel spiritual, those who don't know how to pray, and those, like himself, who are on the Autism spectrum, all in separate chapters dedicated to them. I chose to read this book because I'm an introvert, and Hansen reminded me that it's ok and that I'm not alone. I really appreciated learning about what it's like to have some degree of Autism. Most of all, I felt some spiritual love and healing for the misfits who do not fit the picture of the ideal American Christian on fire for God. The church needs this book for those who love God in their own special way.

Blessed are The Misfits by Brant Hansen (W Publishing/Thomas Nelson) is a new book by the popular Christian DJ and author of Unoffendable. Armed with the same quirky humor teamed with bluntly honest expression of feelings and opinions that his numerous radio and social media fans have come to love, Blessed are The Misfits is a book for Hansen and all other Christians who feel that they don't fit in with the typical Christian sitting in the pew next to them. As a high-functioning "Aspie" (those who are on the autism/asperger spectrum of brain function), Hansen has never felt particularly emotional in his relationship with Christ, or comfortable with relating with a lot of other Christians. But because he speaks on these issues so frequently on his radio show and speeches around the country, the feedback he receives from Christians is that there are many other believers who can more readily identify with someone like Hansen than the superstar pastors and authors who are so revered in many Christian circles, and thus he was encouraged to write this book for others who approach life in much the same way as he does.

With chapter titles like "Blessed are My Fellow People on the Autism Spectrum (and Those Who Can Relate to Us)," "Blessed are the Unfeeling Faithful," and Blessed are the Introverts Who Keep Trying," one can see immediately the humor/honesty that permeate the book --- often going from silly rumination to deep and touching reflections on a single page. For someone who is a true introvert and with a love/hate relationship with church attendance on Sundays, this book was like a breath of very fresh and invigorating air! Over and over again, I found myself chuckling over Hansen's quirky thoughts and ways of expressing himself, but then also saying "Me, too" hundreds of times as he described his thought processes and difficulties with relating with God in socially-acceptable manners. I was also intrigued that the publishers included at the end of the book an 8-page listing of "misfits" provided by Hansen from invitations he extended to Christians through his radio programs to provide their names and description of their experiences as Christian "misfits." Even if one is an extrovert and feels they are not a misfit, I would most highly recommend this book for all Christians. It is a totally honest, yet encouraging read!

I got to chapter eleven of this book and came across a paragraph that I believe would sum up my take on it: Anyone who's been around American churches is used to the "And that's when she found the Lord!" stories, but they don't often include, "But, yeah, she's still battling addiction, like the rest of us."
It's true that these stories, not only in American churches, but in all churches, can give people an expectation of life that's rarely met and so the church turns out not to be a safe haven where you come as you are, but rather as you should be and people say "praise the Lord" and judge you for asking "Lord, help me overcome this."
I also noted that the author focuses more on being unemotional and to some point, all I could keep saying was, you see unemotional, I see relational.
Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. I do hope this book inspires and comforts someone out there who has felt like they do not belong in church.

Blessed Are the Misfits is the perfect combination of all the things I didn’t know I needed to hear. It simultaneously soothed my soul and had me shouting, “ah ha! I knew it wasn’t just me!” It was moving, and genuine, and honest. It made me feel like maybe I do have a place to “fit” after all; with all the other misfits who are just as lost as I am.
I really don’t want to give away too much, because if you’re tracking with me so far, I really want you to go read this book, but I will leave with one final thought from the book. One of the most valuable insights therein was a Hansen’s referral to a “dark night” that many of us experience; a lack of emotional reward from our spiritual lives, something other’s seem to have in abundance. The idea was described concisely this way: “If the feeling is gone, maybe this whole this is a charade.” But Hansen bravely suggests that letting go of the expectation of emotionality is, in fact, liberating. He says this to sum it all up:

“We become less dependent on our feelings. Even the Our faith becomes less about the comings and goings of emotion and more about loving people freely.”

How many of us need to hear that? How many of us need that spoken into our marriages, our families, and our churches? I know I did.

I could honestly go on and on about this book. After reading it through once, I only held myself back from reading it again because I felt like my husband needed to read it too. But I’m going to stop here because, again, if you’ve tracked with me so far, I really want you to go out and get this book. Trust me, you need to hear what he’s got to say.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to have a free digital ARC of this book to review.

I cannot begin to explain how much I liked this book! I had never heard of the author, Brant Hansen, but I am sure that from now on I will read whatever he writes! The author has a podcast called Brant and Sherri's Oddcast (I have also added their podcast to my favorites as well). Mr. Hansen has had a struggle throughout his life fitting in to society (he was diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum as an adult) and church culture. His father was a well-loved preacher who actually had a terrible mental problem behind closed doors. Despite his childhood, the author is a Christian - but a Christian who looks at church culture just a little differently.

This book reads kindof like the Beatitudes to me. Each chapter starts out with "Blessed are the....." Some of the chapters are "Blessed are .... those who landed on the wrong planet, the unfeeling faithful, the introverted evangelical, the people who can't pray, the wounded, those who don't have amazing spiritual stories, the introverts who keep trying, the meloncoly and depressed, the unnoticed, the lonely, and misfit royalty (those with disabilities)." If you find yourself in any of those categories, do yourself a favor and pick up this book.

Mr. Hansen's writing style is brutally honest. I walked away from reading this book with a renewed confidence that although I may not be what the typical "church member" looks like, I have just as much worth as her. I have a "love-hate" relationship with my introvertism, and frequently feel very much inferior in Christian circles. "Blessed are the Misfits" was like a ice pick that gradually chipped away the ice wall that I have built up around me to protect me from my perceived inferiority in the church.

I don't typically read books twice, but I have a feeling that this book will be one that I bring out several times in the future.

Rating 3.5 Stars

You are now together with Christ...yet apart. There are those who seem to project that they are completely satisfied in their relationships with God. They seem to ecstatically enjoy God's presence in full and give you the impression this is what a relationship with God should and must look like. And then there are those of us who very much feel apart. We drink from the cup. We believe He is real; we believe He is coming for us... but sometimes we doubt. Sometimes we don't feel anything toward Him. Does He really love us? Given how unfaithful we can be in the waiting, we wonder if it's even possible. This "apartness" is what, as spiritual misfits, I believe you and I can sense. When we feel something is missing, we're right. When we yearn for more and feel frustrated, we are justified. When we see others seemingly satisfied with the fullness of their relationship with God, telling us we should feel the same, we may rightly feel; guarded.

If you do not know who Brant Hansen is, he is one of the DJ's of K-love radio. A national syndicated Christian radio station. They are supported by their listeners with a encouraging word and music. Something I did not know is that Hansen is a introvert with Asperger's syndrome. Another words, he struggles his emotions. He does not have them. I found him very black and white and extremely funny. And I appreciate his struggle.

This is not a theological text but more of his personal experience and how his faithfulness in a God that loves with compassion, with faithfulness, mercy, and justice. It is not a love based on emotion but how well we love others and how well we love others, we love Him.

I empathize with his struggle so I have a strong appreciation for our feelings vs. our faithfulness. They are two separate things. We may not feel like being obedient but in obedience to who God is our faithfulness is what he desires. It is by faithfulness that we are pleasing to him. It is by faithfulness we love others well. Our faithfulness starts by knowing him well in his word and thru community of other believers. Hansen shares all this in his text and reminds us of what really matters. And along the way, he shares a part of his life with humor and maybe we are all not that different.

A Special Thank You to Thomas Nelson Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.