Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them

Building Community With “As Is” People

John Ortberg thinks every person in your life is weird—everybody in your family, at your work, on your block, and in your church. In fact, Ortberg thinks each member of the human race might do well to wear a tag like they use in retail for damaged goods, marked “as is.” In his new book, Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them (Zondervan, March 2003), Ortberg shares his insight on the challenges and rewards of building Christian community—with humor woven throughout. Ortberg helps readers navigate the potentially rough waters of small groups, Sunday school classes, church groups—and Christian life in general—with wisdom, grace, and compassion.

“The yearning to attach and connect, to love and be loved, is the fiercest longing of the soul,” writes Ortberg. “Our need for community with people and the God who made them is to the human spirit what food and air and water are to the human body, and it will not go away even in the face of all the weirdness.”

Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them is not a book for normal people trying to learn how to handle difficult people. Instead, Ortberg wants to teach imperfect people—everyone in the universe—how to have community with other imperfect people. Ortberg explains emphatically: “You may wonder when the other people in your life will be mature enough, healthy enough, normal enough that they’re a finely tuned machine, and you don’t have to work on relational stuff anymore. It will never happen. People you’re living with will never be that normal. Neither will you.”

In Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them, Ortberg illustrates the hard work demanded by and huge rewards of living in community—through the use of personal anecdotes and clever re-telling of biblical stories. Readers will discover principles for community life as Ortberg explains:

· “The Fellowship of the Mat”—the perfect biblical example of community: the quadriplegic man whose friends lower him through the roof to see Jesus.

· “Normal Authenticity”—the three stages of openness that lead to greater authenticity and promotes genuine community.

· “Relational Road Signs”—the major signals of problems that will stifle community.

· “Conflict & Community”—the community-building basis for experiencing and resolving conflict using Matthew 18:15 (“If your brother sins against you, go and show them their fault, just between the two of you”).

· “Truth Tellers”—two Old Testament examples of how someone being willing to tell the truth changed an entire religious community.

Ortberg concludes his thoughts in Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them by describing the ultimate community: heaven. Ortberg candidly shares his own ambivalence toward the traditional descriptions of heaven—unending worship service, angelic “Miller Time,” or a never-ceasing golf game. And he helps readers envision and long for the only community that will ever be free of weird, “as is” people, a community grounded in redemption.

Ortberg is an award-winning and best-selling author. His most recent book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat (Zondervan, 2001), has appeared on the CBA Hardcover Non-Fiction Bestseller list every month for twenty-one consecutive months. This title was also named Christianity Today’s Best Christian Living Book for 2002. Ortberg’s previous books include The Life You’ve Always Wanted, Love Beyond Reason, the Pursuing Spiritual Transformation series, and the New Community series (all from Zondervan). Ortberg currently serves as a teaching pastor at one of the largest and most creative churches in North America, Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. He and his wife, Nancy, and their three children reside in the Chicago suburbs.

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December 2, 2002

Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them

By John Ortberg

w Publisher: Zondervan w Pub Date: March 2003 w Price: $16.99 w

w Category: Christian Living/Spiritual Growth w ISBN: 0-310-22864-6 w

wLength: 208 pages w Binding: Jacket Hardcover w Size: 5 ½ x 8 ½ w

For more on Everybody’s Normal or Ortberg, please contact Jana Muntsinger,

804.754.2118 or jana@mmpublicrelations.com