Mike Cosper is the director of podcasting for Christianity Today, where he hosts The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill and Cultivated. Mike also served as one of the founding pastors at Sojourn Church in Louisville, Kentucky, from which he launched Sojourn Music, a collective of musicians writing songs for the church. He is the author of several books, including Recapturing the Wonder and Rhythms of Grace. He lives in Louisville with his wife and two daughters.

"There are a lot of Christians--like Mike Cosper and like me--who have experienced a lot of grace in church, and who have also been deeply wounded in that same place. Through telling his own story, Cosper grapples deeply with the religious PTSD that is all too familiar to so many, and he describes how he has come through brokenness and despair. He's not in a rush to fully heal. He's still invested in a local church, but with a moderated emotional attachment. I think many Christians put too much hope in the idea of church and in their religious leaders. Cosper's book shows why that's a mistake, and it traces a path toward a more balanced approach."--Jon Ward, author of Testimony and Camelot's End

"Land of My Sojourn is a beautifully told story of a life of grace, grief, and gratitude, an immensely personal, memoir-like narrative that seamlessly weaves together Mike Cosper's predictably wise musings on Scripture, culture, politics, power, trauma, the church, and more. It's a story so well told, truthfully told, and generously told that you'll likely find some of your own story in it too. What a gift!"--Chuck DeGroat, professor of pastoral care at Western Theological Seminary and author of When Narcissism Comes to Church

"In this riveting account of the rise and fall of a church full of artists in Louisville, Kentucky, Mike Cosper, as their sojourner founding pastor, chronicles the longings of 'the particular lives of particular people' to reveal the deep rifts of culture-wars dysfunction in the evangelical communities of our times. Mike's honest introspection through this revelatory writing is a healing balm for our own journeys of exile, to remind us that even in such painful experiences of brokenness of faith communities there is yet grace present. Like Elijah under a broom tree, we are led out of our utter despair and debilitation into a place of sustenance and hope, to look up and see that we are not alone."--Makoto Fujimura, artist and author of Art+Faith: A Theology of Making

"At some point in every Christian's life, God intervenes to show us that what we thought to be our home isn't--and sometimes, only a lifetime later does one see that this was actually good news. Mike Cosper is one of the sharpest thinkers in the Christian world, and also one of the most creative. This book includes cultural analysis, personal lament, and biblical reflection. If you've ever felt the pain of losing home--and if you want to learn how to long for something better--this is the book for you."--Russell Moore, editor in chief of Christianity Today

"Cosper's honest appraisal of Church disagreements and his own spiritual uncertainty results in his joyful acceptance of his identity as an imperfect wounded healer. Essential reading for Christians who have lost hope."--Library Journal Starred Review, January 2024

"Land of My Sojourn is well worth reading. . . . I can say that the book is important for two reasons. First, it tells not only a Louisville story but a national one, with Cosper's experience paralleling what happened in some other churches and Christian media. . . . Second, it tells what it feels like to be in a slowly developing professional crash."--Marvin Olasky, Religion & Liberty Online, February 27, 2024

Publisher: IVP

Pub date: 2024-02-27

Length: 168 pages