Van Moody. The People Factor: How Building Great Relationships and Ending Bad Ones Unlocks Your God-Given Purpose. Nashville: Nelson Books, 2014.
Essentially, this book is about choosing the right people to be friends. A lot of what it said was common sense, really: Of course, many of us would like a friend who is a giver, who encourages us, who is loyal to us, and who actually wants to be in relationship with us. Honesty, too, can promote intimacy, as Van Moody says. Moody makes these points, while artfully drawing on a variety of biblical stories, from both the Hebrew Bible and also the New Testament. He also includes personal anecdotes to illustrate his points.
There were some things that I wished the book covered. For one, how does one form relationships in the first place? Some of us struggle with this, believe it or not! There are people who can choose their friends, but there are also people who may feel that their only choice is between a bad relationship and complete loneliness. How would Van Moody address their situation? Second, what advice would Van Moody give to the people with whom he does not think we should have friendships: the takers, for example? Van Moody stigmatized takers throughout the book, but the book would have been much better had he explicitly recognized more often that they are people, too, that they are beloved of God, and that they may need guidance on how to be non-takers.
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