Life is a series of spiritual battles, says author John Eldredge, but "too many Christians have approached their lives as though they were stepping onto the beaches of Normandy on D-Day with a lawn chair and a book to read. God did not redeem us so that we could spend our lives being punctual and well-behaved people. He called us to an abundant life that is fueled by the desires he has written on our hearts."

Such is the in-your-face message of Eldredge's popular books and conferences. And judging from the phenomenal following his words have inspired, his invitation to an adventuresome Christian life is falling on receptive ears.

"The church tends to send the wrong signal about what the gospel is all about," he sighs. "It's not primarily about sin management or being able to regurgitate right doctrine. It's about a relationship with a romancing God who has done everything in his power to win our hearts and then set those hearts free to live life to the full."

Eldredge, who wrote The Sacred Romance and Wild at Heart (both of which have become best-selling titles in the past few years), is zealous about getting men and women in touch with their God-given passions.

Eldredge has been an actor, Christian counselor, and staff writer for Focus on the Family, but he has finally found his heart's passion through his writing and speaking ministry.

A big reason why men are flocking to his Wild at Heart seminars is because of the imaginative way he recasts biblical imagery. Take, for example, the decidedly refreshing image he projects of Jesus' masculinity.

"Contrary to what you may have been led to believe," he tells his male audiences, "the Incarnation of grace, meekness, and love is not Mister Rogers with a beard! He is more like Maximus in the movie Gladiator or William Wallace in Braveheart."