That part of the Great Commission we tend to gloss over. . . .

Stephen M. Spaulding. Obedient Nations: What’s So Great about the Great Commission? 304p., $15.99, Deep River Books.

Stephen Spaulding sees a clear line of thinking and action running from the Bible’s patriarchs and prophets through the life and teachings of the Anointed One, Christ. He continues to trace this line through the apostle Paul’s calling and career as well as his visionary writings and on to the future reality which the apostle John portrays at the end of his book of Revelation. He calls it his own, new baseline—primary sum up—of the Great Commission. It is quite simple and stark. He summarizes it as “obedient nations.” That simple phrase, according to Spaulding, encompasses most of what we as Christ’s followers have been involved within mission for the past century, but also much more.

In this comprehensive evaluation of the Great Commission in light of both biblical history and the modern age in which we are living now, as well as the potential future to come, missiologist Stephen Spaulding presents the WHAT, the WHY, and the HOW of fulfilling the great commission toward the ultimate scriptural goal of “obedient nations.”