In 2019, John Mark Comer, a 39-year-old megachurch pastor, wrote a breakout bestseller, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World (WaterBrook), declaring that the frenetic pace of life today is incompatible with spiritual health.

Then Comer took his own advice—he stepped back.

Just five years ago, he was leading one of the largest churches in Portland, Ore. Now, Comer leads a group of about 40 each Sunday in the living room of his home in the mountains outside Los Angeles.

Comer’s decision to downsize from his church, which averaged 1,700 weekly attendees, to a tiny church was intentional. He was able to turn from the life of a full-time preacher to focus on speaking and writing, thanks to the sales success of his books with WaterBrook, now an imprint of the Penguin Random House Christian Group, on dealing with the pressures shaping 21st-century Christians.

To date, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry has sold 1 million copies, according to WaterBrook, and his successive titles have all been New York Times bestsellers. Live No Lies (2021) sold 185,000 copies, and Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become Like Him, Do as He Did (2024) was named Christian Book of the Year by Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, exceeded 600,000 in sales.

This fall marks a much-anticipated return for Comer, who will publish his latest book, Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise with WaterBrook on October 6. As in his previous work, Comer will point to ancient practices and historical figures to address a very modern driver of anxiety—noise.

“Not only is the world incredibly noisy, but the church in so many ways has mirrored and mimicked the noise of the culture,” Comer told PW. “Even our church services for many of us are incredibly noisy affairs. I’m excited to invite people into the quiet, because I think for many people it will be a new dimension into their experience with God.”

Exploring the dimensions of God is a running theme with Comer. Before The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, he also had popular titles with divisions of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, including God Has a Name (Zondervan, 2017), which sold 184,000 copies, per the publisher.

Through his writing, speaking, and his Practicing the Way Ministry, a nonprofit that provides resources and coaching for church leaders, Comer has emerged as a leading voice for popularizing “spiritual formation.” That's the idea of intentionally growing one’s faith, often through practices like prayer and reflection. His work channels many of the ideas of Christian writers like the late evangelical philosopher Dallas Willard.

“There’s an extraordinary legacy and treasure of Christian spirituality that has been preserved through quietness, silence, and prayer that most modern, western Christians have never experienced,” Comer said over Zoom from his Topanga Canyon home. He was relaxed and casual, with tattoos peeking out of his black t-shirt and wearing a gold necklace that he adjusted while he spoke with PW.

A pastor’s kid, Comer grew up in one of the nation’s first megachurches in the San Francisco Bay area, but he didn't plan to be a pastor himself. With a bachelor's degree from Calvary Chapel Bible College in California, he went on to attend Western Seminary in Portland, where he became the founding pastor of Bridgetown Church. But he has found that writing is his true passion, he said.

Presenting old ideas in a new, accessible format has been key to Comer's success, according to Jeff Crosby, president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. “His work is popularizing the core narratives we carry about ourselves and about God,” Crosby said. “If one has been raised in a more legalistic framework, John Mark’s message is freeing and encouraging.”

Despite Comer’s winsome writing style, some are wary of his message. Phoenix Seminary church history professor Matthew Bingham wrote for the Gospel Coalition that Comer takes a “cafeteria approach” to spirituality, picking and choosing from various traditions. “If you’re going to be meaningfully Protestant and evangelical, you should look to your own tradition,” Bingham once said in an interview.

Comers is aware of Bingham’s critique, but he noted, “I do not want to narrow myself to one stream of the church.” He said he is more committed to Scripture than some have given him credit for. However, as a nondenominational writer, he wants to draw from and speak to all corners of the Christian tradition.

Some have been critical of spiritual formation writing because it can emphasize individual practice without addressing larger systemic issues around social justice. However, in Comer's view, people have to start with themselves first.

“The great lie is that you can change the world without being changed in your inner person,” Comer said. “We’re helping people to experience transformation so they can do the work that God has called them to do, not just sit around and drink tea and do contemplative prayer."