About the Book

What is it that you long for? Dream about?  Hunger after? We all desire more than just the endurance of our daily routines. But often we feel limited and stuck — like we’re merely existing instead of living. That’s not the way it was meant to be. God intends the humanity in each of us to be deeply experienced, lavishly enjoyed, and exuberantly celebrated. In fact this is what the gospel is all about.
 
Yes, the gospel. Contrary to conventional thinking — inside and outside the church — following Jesus is not about denying our humanness but embracing it. Rather than acting more spiritual or being more religious, we’re called and enabled to become more fully human…  and alive. 

As the Apostle John points out, the gospel is not only about "believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God," but it's also about seeing our embrace of that truth change the way we experience our stories on a daily basis, which is why John adds: "and that by believing you may life in his name."  (John 20:31)
 
Matt Heard escorts us on a journey of discovery: that Jesus didn’t come to save us from our humanity — Christ instead yearns to restore it to what God originally intended. As Christ, by His Spirit, lives in us and through us, we are most fulfilled and God is most glorified. Matt then explores ten key areas where everyday life can become extraordinary Life.   
 
Christ promised we could “live life to the full.” He didn’t just mean eventually. Life with a Capital L is the Life you are longing for. Now.

Take a look at how some other readers have reacted to the book in both the "Endorsements and "Feedback" sections below.  (You can also check out the reviews on Amazon.)

Join the journey on Facebook:  LifeWithACapitalLBook.

About Matt Heard

Matt Heard has a passion to move beyond religious and spiritual games and engage with the core of Christ's Gospel message in an authentic, substantive, and practical way.

Matt – a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, and coach – is the Founder and Principal of THRIVE, a ministry that focuses on engaging men and women to be fully alive to the glory of God in every arena of their life, journey, and culture. To learn more about THRIIVE and sign up for free resources click here.

He has also served as Lead Pastor at Northland Church in Orlando, President of The Gathering USA, and Senior Pastor of Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs for twelve years. 

Matt and his wife, Arlene, share their home base between Colorado Springs and Orlando and are the privileged parents of three adult sons and two amazing daughters-in-law.

Whether standing in front of people with a microphone or in a trout stream with a fly rod, whether sitting around a dinner table with friends or serving a need in his city, he loves exploring and experiencing the Life of the Gospel. 

To find our more about why Matt wrote this book, or to contact him (whether it's to share your thoughts about Life with a Capital L, to inquire about him speaking, or even just to let him know you appreciate that he predicted 2016 would be the year that the Cubs would win the World Series ...even though that was the 25th year in a row he'd done so… visit MattHeard.org

Table of Contents

Part 1: 

Reclaiming Our Humanity

• Fully Human: Realizing Life While We Live It

• The Hunger of Being Human

• The Depths of Our Desire

• Life, Our Ultimate Longing

• Grace, the Doorway to Life

Part 2: 

Ten Experiences of Life with a Capital L

• Freedom: A Matter of Life and Death

• Heart: The Wellspring of Life

• Beauty: Relishing Life

• Illumination: The Light of Life

• Story: Your Life Is Bigger than You

• Worship: Living Coram Deo

• Love: Giving Life Away

• Time: Life Is Daily

• Brokenness: Living with a Limp

• Heaven: Undiluted Life

Eugene H. Peterson

Translator of The Message

“The Christian church’s first theologian, second-century Irenaeus, coined what remains the most accurate and penetrating definition of a Christian: ‘The glory of God is man fully alive.’ Matt Heard has taken that brief sentence and expanded it into this marvelous book, telling by story and observation, and using vigorous language (there is not a dull sentence in what he writes), to get us to embrace what has been given to us.”

Mark Batterson

Author of The Grave Robber and All In

“Matt Heard is a fresh new voice with a literally life-changing message. Life with a Capital L is a call to each of us to embrace our own humanity—just as God does. Here’s a book that will deepen your walk with God and elevate your life to the level of Life.”

John Ortberg

Author of The Life You’ve Always Wanted

“This is Praise with a capital P for Life with a Capital L. ‘What does it mean to be alive?’ and ‘What does it mean to be human?’ are two of the most important questions any human being can ask. They are questions that all Christians share with all of humanity. Matt Heard reflects on them with a warmth and honesty that will be welcomed by all who ask the questions.”

Joni Eareckson Tada

Joni and Friends International Disability Center

“For years, I’ve treasured St. Irenaeus’s words, ‘The glory of God is man fully alive.’ The quote rests on a shelf above my computer, and hardly a day goes by that I don’t ask God to help me live out that enigmatic statement. Well, I now have a book to guide me. My friend, Matt Heard, writes winsomely and compellingly, answering that quiet aching so many people have—yes, even Christians—that there must be more to life. Trust me, the book you hold in your hands will awaken in you a deep desire to be all that God intended. I highly recommend Life with a Capital L!”

Ravi Zacharias

Author, speaker, and Founder of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

“The problem of pain may be one of the greatest challenges to faith in God, but the problem of pleasure can be more precarious. Disappointment in pleasure gives rise to emptiness, and sometimes not just for a moment but for life. Yet God created us for a purpose, and as Matt Heard writes, for so much more than we often recognize. Matt challenges us to look deeper into the mirror and to God who knows us fully and loves us intimately. Life with a Capital L is rich in encouragement, illustration, scriptural insight, and pastoral wisdom, and offers readers fresh insight and lasting hope.”

Jim Daly

President of Focus on the Family

“I know Matt Heard to be a thoughtful, humble follower of Christ. Those qualities are evident in Life with a Capital L. This book is a clear and powerful call to rediscover the depth and breadth of Life as God intended—to embrace the longing we all have to really Live as humans made in God’s image.”

Jennie Allen

Author of Restless and Founder of IF: Gathering

“Matt goes to the heart of our need for Jesus. He makes us hope for heaven in a way that marks the everyday. He’s a pastor, a leader, and a friend, and none of that is lost in these words.”

Lee Strobel

Best-selling author of The Case for Christ and professor at Houston Baptist University

“Your world can be full of color, adventure, and discovery—Life with a capital L. Let Matt guide you on a journey to your full humanity—empowered, equipped, and inspired by the One who created you to live abundantly. Read this book and get ready to come alive in new ways!”

Eric Metaxas

New York Times best-selling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life

“This is what it’s all about. Literally. Unless God’s people understand what’s in this book, we cannot be God’s people. It’s that important. Please read this book and rejoice that Matt Heard has written it!”

Mako Fujimura

Artist, Author, Culture-care Catalyst, and Director of the Brehm Center

“Matt Heard’s new book is a deep well of resource for the soul. In Life with a Capital L, we have an invaluable resource to live the abundant Life of God, a map toward cultural life around us, and a blessing to re-humanize our world. Matt’s approach toward beauty grows my heart as an artist and nourishes my creativity. His stories stir within me a deeper longing to create, love, and worship—with passion—our Savior-artist who pours grace into my heart.”

Dr. Joel C. Hunter

Founder of Community Resource Network, Orlando

“Matt Heard is a master storyteller, and peeking through all his stories is the Life Giver. I was struck by the intellectual depth of this book, but even more I was embraced by the personal Savior revealing himself through its stories. This book helped me see God not just in its pages but in my everyday experiences. Matt Heard ushers me into the greater Life.”

John Stonestreet

Author, Speaker, and President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview

“An essential part of the gospel is often missed by Christians and left untold by churches: Christ didn’t come to save us from our humanity but to return us to it! Matt Heard has skillfully preached and taught this for years, and now he skillfully articulates this truth through this book. Like me, I suspect readers will find themselves asking What if? What if this is actually true? and find their imaginations running wild with the Good News.”

Mark Labberton

President of Fuller Theological Seminary

“Life is a journey more than a destination. Matt Heard demonstrates and exemplifies this as one who seeks to be fully alive and longs for any who are interested to join him in that journey. This book is charged with all the stimulus and struggle that authentic human life must engage. Matt’s artful portrait of Life is honest and hopeful, assured of God’s love in Jesus Christ, but never glib or reductionist. This book awakens our thirst for Life as the real thing and nothing less.”

Jeff Myers, Ph.D.

President of Summit Ministries

“Part Francis Schaeffer, part Max Lucado, and part Rick Steves, Life with a Capital L is one of those rare books that is both a page-turner and yet deeply contemplative. Matt Heard dives heart-first into Jesus’s promise of a full Life and shows through biblical insight and hard-won experience how this promise is alive and well and meant for each of us. Matt’s joyful engagement with art, music, food, sports, conversation, travel, the Bible…and LIFE gives hope that God is actively restoring our humanity. Reading Life with a Capital L was a highlight of my year.”

Brad Lomenick

Former President and key visionary of Catalyst, and author of The Catalyst Leader

“Life with a Capital L will breathe new energy, new excitement, and new purpose into the life you are living. This is a challenge to all of us to go full tilt, be all in, and make it our ambition to embrace the fullness of what Life can and should be in relationship with Jesus. Being fully alive and fully human means we experience the eternal now. I’m fired up after reading this book!”

Gerald L. Sittser

Author of A Grace Disguised, A Grace Revealed, and Water from a Deep Well, and Professor of Theology at Whitworth University

“Matt Heard does not want to say something new but something old, only in a new, fresh way. And that he does well. Matt tells just the right story at just the right time. He writes with a pastor’s heart and experience. He has read good books and learned from the masters. And he writes in a winsome, accessible style. His point is clear, compelling, and significant: we long for real Life, real Life can be ours, and real Life is available in Jesus Christ. This truth never grows old. Matt Heard knows this in his soul. This book is not simply about Life with a capital L. It actually conveys that Life.”

Don Sweeting

President of Colorado Christian University

This book is Uplifting with a capital U. In it, Matt Heard pours out wise pastoral insights on being fully human.”

Gabe Lyons

Author of The Next Christians and Good Faith

“Many Christians have never considered that abundant life actually means becoming more human, not less. God’s image lived out through us means we get to experience the fullness of what it means to be human, and to a skeptical world, that’s Good News!”

Peb Jackson

Executive producer of Rising from the Ashes

“Loved Matt Heard’s book on Life. I read it in one night and believe he squeezed the Life out of the title. It’s accented well with great personal stories; some of my all-time favorite quotes from Kierkegaard, Eliot, Pascal, and ‘Babette’s Feast’; and liberal use of appropriate Scripture. This book is the package.”

great to read 'in the storm'

When I first picked it up the thought that went through my head was, "this is great for people who aren't in the midst of a storm like mine right now, great for me when the storm is over." It didn't take long to figure out that's actually why you wrote the book. – Catherine

better with each chapter

I just finished your book. Powerful. With each chapter I thought, "This was the best one," then I would discover the next one was better. Thanks for sharing your gift. – Rick

Blazes a path for our journey

Matt, I feel like you are a pioneer on a secret trail I discovered long ago and you have come back to blaze a wider path for others.  I thought at first I would whip through this book, devouring it like I do with so many other books, but to my surprise I found that I wanted to savor the pages… I can't adequately say how much I appreciate this book. – Lark

why so few church people are really alive

When my wife and I became believers ten years ago, we were really puzzled over how only a few of the people we met at church were really alive in the way Jesus was offering. Only a few were actively paddling or rowing; too many were sitting in inner tubes letting the flow carry them. I struggled for years (and still do, but less) with the admonition to ‘work out my salvation with fear and trembling.’ I wasn’t sure what it meant, and I received different answers from everyone I asked, but I knew for sure that it wasn’t riding in an inner tube. You explain that metamorphosis better than anyone I’ve read or heard describe it, from Augustine to Tolstoy to Chambers. Even Francis Schaeffer. – Ron

liberating and uplifting

All I can say is, WOW! The first 4 chapters hit me between the eyes… but I believe the final 3 chapters were the best ever…. Or at least they were so very important to me at this time in my life. I found your writing, stories and scriptures to be liberating and uplifting. Thanks so much for writing this.  – Dana

who i want to be

Thank you for writing your book.  With my men's Bible study group it has opened my eyes and my heart to really look at my life - what I have been and who I want to be. – Jerry

gender-friendly and over-whelming

I cannot say enough how much our small group of gals are nearly overwhelmed with joy on our “Life with Capital L” journey.  My husband has been sitting with me as I preview the DVD intros in my prep time and enjoying it with me.  I think we will have a night with our husbands to share some of this with them.  We love Matt Heard's style and find it very gender friendly. My gals asked me to thank you very much for the recommendation.   –Margie

life in the midst of our muck and mess

"Life with a Capital L" was such a great reminder of the Big Lives we are called to lead in Christ.  The bigness does not come from what we "do" per se, but who we become and the amazing, abundant life we can lead as Christ lives through us, in spite of our muck and mess.  Anyhow, great book, thank you. – Mark

awakened my sense of mystery

I ordered "Life With A Capital L" and my view of God has been greatly impacted as a result. You've greatly re-awakened the sense of mystery life holds; something I never expected at this point in my life… I wanted to thank you for putting your insights and life lessons down in a great book. It's one of my favorites now!  – Julie

a gift for friends in broken situations

Your writing and the true message of Life that Christ came to give us is so refreshing… No surprise, your book has been released into a very relevant time – I have never seen so much brokenness in the lives of so many I love. But we can still experience Life. I have made a long list of people I'm close to who would drink deeply and be refreshed by this truth of Christ's message. In fact, I just shot two Amazon packages off with your book enclosed.  – Stephanie

such an enjoyable read

I thoroughly enjoyed the read itself. Having spent a fair amount of time this year in an in-depth study of Henri Nouwen’s reflections on Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son,” it was interesting to read another book inspired in such a similar, intimate way.  – Darrell

WANTED TO CHEW ON EVERY WORD

I’ve only written two thank you letters to authors in my life: to Eric Metaxas after I finished “Bonhoeffer” and to Franklin W. Dixon, author of the "Hardy Boys" series, when I was in fourth grade. This is my third.

When I started “Life with a Capital L,” … I started reading in ten to twenty page bites. Before I reached the middle, I had slowed to two to three pages a night, not because I was bored, but because I wanted to chew every single word to wring the thought from the page. It was very moving to read how you went from a phone-it-in Christian to a living one.  – Ron

Heart challenged and changed

This book is full of heart-challenging concepts that will not leave one area of life unturned. One of the most transformational books I have ever read. – Cristina

It is on the table by my recliner and I have read it, but continue to refer to it often. It is wonderful to see in words what it means to live an abundant life. – Mary

BEST BOOK THIS YEAR

I finished "Life with a Capital L" this morning.  I have been reading 4-5 pages a day in my devotional time. It is marvelous – best book I read in the past year.  – Jim

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