The Last Arrow

Starred review from July 10, 2017
McManus (The Barbarian Way), founder of Mosaic, a Los Angeles Christian community, was putting the finishing touches on this book in December 2016 when he was diagnosed with cancer, a prognosis that terrified him. The author read over his book’s message of emptying everything one has in this life to live as a vessel of God and his exhortation to live without fear or regret, and was left grief-stricken as he imagined the end of his life. But after making slight revisions, McManus felt his call for every person to “die with your quiver empty” became even more impassioned. The fervor of this moment suffuses every page of this fine book. McManus walks readers through important moments in his life to provide lessons in emptying one’s quiver. The most important example for him is the leap of faith he took to establish Mosaic, as well as many trips he has made to Bangladesh to help the poor. These experiences have taught him the power of opening up to the world. This primer on going for broke in every area of life will inspire a Christian readership as McManus weaves the biblical account of Elijah and Elisha’s partnership into every chapter—a framing device that allows him to move easily between anecdote and memoir. Christian readers may rediscover the power of a robust belief in God’s power in McManus’s passionate words. Agent: Esther Fedorkevich, Fedd Agency.