Review of Francis Chan’s Crazy Love DVD

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Crazy Love is a beautifully filmed and produced small group resource. There’s a warm, friendly, genuine feel to each of the 10 chapters.

Just as he did in the book Crazy Love, Francis Chan talks to the viewer like an old friend who is desperately in love with Jesus and wants the same for you. Each 10-minute chapter is a vignette, a slice of Chan’s day. He talks about what it means to really love Jesus while he makes his breakfast (chapter 1), goes to the grocery store (chapter 3), puts his kids to bed (chapter 10).

While going about the mundane activities of his day, he beckons the viewer to more. Standing in the market, he asks, “…how do you have these supernatural times when you’re doing mundane and boring things?” Then he says, “I want to be standing in a market and think about the blood of Jesus Christ.”

While the specific content is not exactly the same as the book, thematically, the chapters cover the same ground, but the video serves its purpose by turning the book’s more individual purpose to a community-focused purpose. For instance, near the end of Chapter 8, Chan says, “…the truth is, to live out biblical Christianity in the American church, that’s a very difficult thing, and you really need each other for that.”

Each chapter ends with a probing question to be discussed by the group, which is more or less standard. Like the book, however, the questions Chan asks feel disarmingly simple but dig deeper than some viewers may be used to.

The subject matter is strong, but the strength of this small group resource in delivering that subject matter is its warmth – generated not just by the NOOMA-esque settings and quality of the video, but the authenticity of Chan’s style – which draws the viewer in and – in my opinion – makes the viewer think a little harder about these subjects than another approach might have.

I’d recommend this video resource to any small group leader.