Clarence Schilt worked in pastoral ministry for 42 years. For most of those years, he says he “mostly held the hands of the saints through their pain,” not doing them a lot of good beyond that.
Until five years ago, that is, when he discovered what he calls “the exchanged life.” The exchanged life transformed his life, marriage, and ministry so profoundly that, with the help of his brother, Stephen, he wrote a book about it.
A Life to Die For is a book that may, in time, become a classic akin to Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled. The book’s premise is that anyone wanting to live a Christian life has to die to their old one—a fact few churches emphasize.
But what makes this book really special is the authors’ willingness to make themselves vulnerable as they share riveting stories from their personal lives to make their point. One fascinating anecdote is Clarence’s confession of major pain on losing out on a prestigious pastoral appointment to a large church. The church wanted him, but the conference had someone else in mind. Clarence admits, in retrospect, that he wanted this position “for all the wrong reasons.”
In similar fashion, Stephen candidly shares his feelings when his plans for “the good life” were suddenly derailed by the pain of his wife Dee Dee’s kidney failure. He goes on to write how God showed him His plan to replace “the good life” with a better life. After viewing Clarence’s and his wife Dianna’s DVD, How to Die Right and Live to Tell About It, Stephen committed his life to Christ. That commitment ultimately led him to agree to co-author A Life to Die For. “I suddenly realized how truly helpless and hopeless I was,” he writes. “I realized that I didn’t need Christ to assist me; I need Him to replace me” (38). As for Clarence, he says his marriage was a more joyful experience after he began to experience the exchanged life.
A Life to Die For has the potential to change one’s life. It’s an excellent book for midweek meetings, Sabbath School classes, small groups, families, and also contains great sermon material.
