My friend Todd Wagner is pastor of Watermark Church in Texas, a great church where I’ve had the privilege of speaking. He’s also the author of a new book called Come and See: Everything You Ever Wanted in the One Place You Would Never Look.

I love Todd, his family, and Watermark Church. If you want to have hope for Christ’s church, I encourage you to dig into this thoughtful, well-written, and engaging book. Come and see the Jesus who adores His church and can still make her a wonder to behold. “Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!” (Psalm 66:5).

Here’s more about the book:

Come and See what? LIFE as God intended irresistibly revealed today in a way that is every bit as awe-inspiring and life-changing as when Jesus Himself walked the earth. Todd Wagner invites readers to experience the adventure, goodness, and fullness of life that God has intended for humankind from the beginning of time and especially today through His provision through His people. Weekly meetings of mostly bored adults who regularly attend services have nothing to do with God’s vision for His people. Wagner paints the picture of a perfect Father’s intention to bring His people into an adventurous life full of authentic relationships, powerful transformation, and seemingly impossible significance and meaning.

And here’s an excerpt from Todd’s introduction:

This book exists to remind you that God is alive and well—and still doing the same amazing things you vaguely remember hearing about in long-ago-told, too-good-to-be-true stories. In fact, what if I told you that just within my small circle of friends in the city where I live, more miracles have occurred in the last few months than in all of the long-ago stories from Jesus’s days combined?

Even better, what if I told you that the “miraculous” occurrences often celebrated on obscure TV channels late at night have little to do with what I am talking about? What if you discovered that while miracles are supposed to be awe-inspiring evidences that God is still there and still at work, they were never supposed to be the kind of nonsense being embraced by false teachers who want you to plant a financial “seed of faith” today so you can experience abundant financial blessing tomorrow? (I am intentionally not yet giving full details here, so if you are a skeptic, don’t let me lose you before you let me explain what I mean. And if you are a “God is still in the business of doing first-century miracles” kind of friend, I look forward to being more specific about what I am talking about. I have an entire chapter explaining what Jesus meant when He said “even greater works than these will He do” coming, so stay tuned.)

Would you keep reading if I told you that the mundane rituals that define most people’s religious experience are more a result of us compromising truth instead of living in it? What if I told you the reason you are not experiencing more of God’s kind intention for you and your city is actually something you can do something about? And what if the time we are going to spend together in the pages ahead is a key part of you doing that something? Would you be surprised to learn that the reason the miraculous is still happening today is because Jesus is who He said He is and He actually meant everything He said? What if I told you God’s glory and your good have always been a part of God’s plan … and that His plan for both actually involves both you and the Church?

You would probably roll your eyes.

Not that many years ago, I would have too.

But my reality has changed, and I believe as you read this book and are informed or reminded of the fullness of His truth, yours will be too. In just the last few years, I have personally been a part of a group of friends who have watched bar crawlers, housewives, drug addicts, sex addicts, addicts to self, atheistic philosophers, materialists, driven workaholics, homosexuals, cultural Christians, abortionists, drug dealers, homeless men, impoverished millionaires, promiscuous women, unfaithful husbands, dead religionists, liars, predators, strippers, modern-day Pharisees, pornographers, fallen church leaders, prisoners—and a whole host of others—experience something so completely transformative that they are now living radically different lives full of hope, transparency, boldness, freedom, and joy. (This is not a made-up list. It is a partial one. There are names I know attached to every one of these labels. Even better, I have been an eyewitness to their sustained transformation from societal destruction and self-destruction to life.) What if I told you that you could be—no, should be—a part of something like that?

That, my friend, is the real question.

In the pages ahead, I hope to convince you that you should not only want a life like this but also that you actually can have a life like this. Even more incredibly, I am going to either inform you or remind you that the way you can be a part of such dramatic life change is by fully investing in something that, for most people, seems full of anything but the life you seek. If the words I write do their job, they will provide you with a compelling picture of the means through which these kinds of occurrences are actually intended to happen—and are happening—every day.

Come and see.