By Michael Butler

Chris Whittington said he has worked off and on for the past eight years on his first book. It is now complete.

“It’s been a process,” Whittington said. “A lot of it helped me. I just pray it helps other people.”

“Violent Grace – The Relentless Grace of God That Transforms Lives” will go on sale to the public on Aug. 1.

“Grace does not merely forgive the past; it reshapes the future,” Whittington said. “I did not write this book about behavior management. It is a book about transformation.

“When my mother passed away, I put it down. I had to walk through some grief. I knew God was prompting my heart to pick it back up again. It’s taken several years. There is a lot of personal testimonies from Tallassee.”

Whittington and his wife Jennifer opened Living Water Worship Center in 2003, where he still serves today as pastor.

“The heart of it is if I could sit down with someone over coffee weekly and walk through life with them and how the grace of God helps them, then this book would be that.”

So how did the book title come about?

“It’s not something that’s passive. God is with us in the midst of our sorrow, our suffering, when we fail. That violence, I don’t mean in a physical way. It’s a relentless grace of God.

“I’m vulnerable in this. I’m not trying to explain scripture as much as to help hearts open to the truth and reality of the love of God through the person of Jesus Christ. This idea of violence, Christ went to the cross and suffered on the cross for us. Then he rose on that third day. He still pursues us. It was that violent grace that finally softened my heart.”

Whittington will have a book launch and signing on Aug. 1 at 10 a.m. at Restoration 49 in Tallassee.