BOOKS / FORMATION / INNER WORK

BOOKS FOR THE INNER WORK.

BEFORE YOU CLIMB ANY HIGHER: VALLEY WISDOM FOR MOUNTAIN DREAMS

An invitation to receive what you don’t have to earn.

A candid exploration of ambition, identity, faith and the formation required to carry what we spend our lives pursuing.

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01 / CURRENT BOOK

THE CURRENT WORK

WHAT NEEDS TO COME BEFORE ELEVATION?

Before You Climb Any Higher official book cover

Before You Climb Any Higher examines the inner work that achievement cannot replace. Through candid reflection, practical wisdom and spiritual formation, Jonathan considers what ambition can reveal, what success cannot provide and who we must become before receiving what we have spent our lives pursuing.

AMBITION / IDENTITY / READINESS / FORMATION / ACHIEVEMENT / GRACE

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MAYBE THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE

FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE CLIMBING—AND QUESTIONING WHAT THE CLIMB IS DOING TO THEM.

EMERGING LEADERS

People preparing to carry greater responsibility without losing their identity inside it.

ACHIEVERS EXHAUSTED BY ACHIEVEMENT

People discovering that accomplishment can validate the work without healing the worker.

CREATIVES AND PROFESSIONALS

People attempting to steward talent, opportunity and ambition without being consumed by them.

PEOPLE IN TRANSITION

People standing between what has ended and what has not yet fully arrived.

FAITHFUL PEOPLE WITH BIG DREAMS

People trying to understand how desire, calling, patience and grace belong in the same life.

ANYONE CONFUSING ELEVATION WITH FORMATION

People ready to examine not only where they are going, but who they are becoming on the way.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“McReynolds’s model of how to balance faith and professional aspirations gains credibility thanks to his candid personal anecdotes and refreshing sense of self-awareness.”

— Publishers Weekly

ALSO BY JONATHAN

MAKE ROOM: FINDING WHERE FAITH FITS

A framework for faith that functions in real life.

Make Room explores how belief can occupy honest, practical space within work, relationships, intellect, culture and everyday decision-making. It invites readers to move beyond a faith reserved for religious moments and toward one capable of meeting an entire life.

FAITH AND DAILY LIFE / QUESTIONS AND SPIRITUAL MATURITY / CULTURE AND CONVICTION / INTELLECT AND BELIEF / ROOM FOR GROWTH

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02 / EARLIER WORK

READING CAN BECOME A CONVERSATION

BRING THE BOOKS INTO THE ROOM.

Jonathan’s books can become frameworks for campus conversations, leadership development, book clubs, guided discussions, workshops, retreats and formation experiences.

BOOK CLUBS · CAMPUS CONVERSATIONS · LEADERSHIP COHORTS · WORKSHOPS · GUIDED DISCUSSIONS · RETREATS · CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SONG, STORY AND SCHOLARSHIP.

Jonathan McReynolds is a bestselling author, two-time Grammy Award winner and Distinguished Professor at Virginia Union University. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Columbia College Chicago and a Master of Arts in Applied Biblical Studies from Moody Theological Seminary. Across music, writing, theology and education, his work examines identity, ambition, creativity, faith and the formation required to carry both the greatness that serves the world and the goodness that serves ourselves and the loved ones near to us.

BESTSELLING AUTHOR · DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR · TWO-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER