According to Alpharetta, Ga., preacher Andy Stanley, contemporary culture is replete with threats of "conformity" and "normalcy," all of which call for a radical cure that boils down to deserting one's current life and launching off in a wholly different direction. In his 2006 book and DVD Breakaway, Stanley posits that the real cure for humans to "break out of the crowd" is to heed God's call to fundamentally alter our belief system.

Breakaway is a package featuring  a 110-page study guide and a six-session DVD, both of which are designed to facilitate small group discussion—and which do so with great facility. Both resources successfully jump-start conversations about achieving "the breakaway life that God has called us to," but it is onstage in the DVD sessions where Stanley, who serves as senior pastor of North Point Ministries in the Atlanta area, can be found in his natural element.

Stanley sets the stage for his argument in the program's first session, by likening one's belief system to a computer's operating system. Using storytelling, visual aids, and analysis of Scripture, he emphasizes that members of the Christian community often focus on "decisions" and "outcomes" to their rue, since it is the actual belief system is what is faulty.

"At some point in our life," Stanley says, "we realize that today looks like yesterday, and we see that tomorrow looks a lot like today, and the Sameness is driving you crazy." And culture, he argues, (by which we understand him to mean those parts of the Mass Popular Culture which he does not agree with) falsely suggests that the only way to break away is "to do things differently and do things your own way."

Stanley's counter to that prevalent idea is that a self wholly given over to God is more glorious and brilliant than any extreme makeover prescribed by man. As he evinces this point over the six sessions, Stanley frequently refers to Romans 12:2:Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Having developed the theme of renewing one's mind, Stanley leaves his audience with the powerful "breakaway" tactic of seeing every person as someone for whom Christ died, as being "of special value to the Creator."

Another concept Stanley pushes (as he did in his excellent DVD and book program Take it to the Limit) is that "everything belongs to God," and that we are thus merely managing God's money and time. The same analogy can be drawn with our God-given talents and abilities as well—instead of  worrying about how we are orchestrating and executing our own plan, we should assess how we are doing with his.

Stanley is a master storyteller and orator, and his energetic delivery has an unscripted flow to it. Quick prefatory comments like "Here's the deal" or "Here's the thing" often serve as lead-ins to a key point that he's trying to drive home. He paces his performance evenly so that his message is delivered through all six sessions (ideally delivered in six consecutive weeks), and he punctuates key themes by theatrically altering his stage voice, or by sitting down after a lead-up of talking and gesticulating frantically. His voice, though not the profession's most resonant, has the ability to fill large performance spaces. And low amplification calls for speaking to the back of the room, which successfully conveys his perceived (and infectious) excitement in his stories.

The DVD's only weakness might be one that is common to the great majority of pastors, that he will repeat a succinct theme which, while true, raises more questions than it answers. "God knows what's best for you," he says with heavy emphasis early in the series. But he does not then tackle the conundrum that faces those who share that conviction but cannot easily discern God's will. A conflict more interesting to explore than that of Word vs. No Word would be that of how to reconcile differing interpretations of what God's Word means. But perhaps that will be the topic for another book and DVD series.

The accompanying study guide is adept at steering group discussions by posing a series of questions that small groups can delve into after each week's video program. In fact, the real body of the project comes not from Stanley but from the ensuing dialogues about the terrain he addresses. In this way the guide provides a local extrapolation of the oral delivery which is more global in perspective. Among the questions are "What were your dreams in childhood?" and "What are some of the most significant decisions that shaped the outcome of your life?"—questions with resonance for everyone.

And running through the discussion guide is the theme that Stanley began with, the theme he doesn't want us to miss: "A transformed life is the result of a transformed mind."

Arthur Menke is a writer based in Kansas City, Mo.

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