Quiet Drift

“From perform to transform. A few times in a lifetime, you see someone make an epic journey from one way of being to another. We see the outside but wonder about the inside: How did it happen? What shifted in that guy’s heart and mind? Could God change me like that too? Chris gives you the gift of answering those questions and I’ve walked the road with him. He is a proven and worthy guide. He shares his story and invites you into the soul of a man. Not the more familiar story of darkness to light, but the more rarely told story of moving from a dull light to morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. If your soul is weary of performing and ready for transforming, Chris offers a proven path and a compelling tale your heart needs to hear.”

“The Quiet Drift blends personal vulnerability with deep spiritual and real-world insights. It is a call to arms for leaders to step off the treadmill of performance and rediscover the freedom of true identity. The book exposes the hidden pressures that quietly erode even the most successful leaders. It does not just challenge how you lead — it realigns WHO you truly are as a leader.”

“From the beginning, man was entrusted with the gift and responsibility of cultivating and subduing the earth. Yet since the fall, the current has been to let vocation define us rather than for us to steward it under God’s authority. This book calls Christian leaders to resist that current — recovering a clearer posture toward leadership, work, and calling — and reminds us that we do not run this race alone before the Lord.

Both philosophical and practical, Chris exposes the subtle ways ambition and comparison distort calling while pointing men back to surrender, faithfulness, and legacy-minded leadership. His intentionality with his family, business, and ministry — and his passion for equipping Christian leaders in the marketplace — are not just words on a page, but truly how he runs his race.

I am grateful for this exhortation and encouragement from a brother calling me to raise the bar. The school I lead and the family I serve will be stronger because I read this book — and I commend it to any Christian who wants the same.”

“My longtime friend Chris DeLeenheer is a great leader: humble, faithful, focused, and diligent. In The Quiet Drift, he blesses us with an inspirational picture of what a surrendered, abiding life looks like. Like Jesus masterfully did while He was visiting planet earth, Chris vulnerably shares powerful stories and deep metaphors to exhort us to be who God recreated us to be.”

“Reading this book felt like someone finally put words to a tension I have been carrying for years. This book did not just challenge me — it called me back to who I actually am in Christ. I find myself coming back to these pages because I know how easy it is to drift back into performance. This is not just a book I read — it is one I need.”

“Quiet Drift names something most high-capacity leaders feel but rarely have the language for: the slow, subtle slide from surrender to performance, from identity to image, from running your race to running everyone else’s. This is not a book about dramatic failure. It is about something far more dangerous — the quiet drift that happens while everything looks fine on the outside.”

“I have watched Chris DeLeenheer up close for fifteen years — as a neighbor, a business partner, and a best friend. I have seen him at his lowest and his highest. I have watched him fail, rebuild, drift, and return. And I can tell you without hesitation: no matter how far he has wandered, he has always come back to trusting in the Lord with all his heart. I have not been more impacted in my walk with Jesus than by simply living life with Chris DeLeenheer. Not by a sermon. Not by a book. By proximity to a man who refuses complacency and keeps choosing surrender.”

“Chris’ voice has been a constant for me. Whether belly laughing on back porches, grieving the hardest moments of my life or navigating life’s complexities, Deli has never let me settle for less than what God has for me. Thanks to this book, you, too, get access to this trusted voice. Quiet Drift will wake you up, steady your footing, and call you to be the apprentice of Jesus you long to be.”

“Over the last almost twenty-five years I have had a front row seat to Chris DeLeenheer’s life. From his earliest days jumping in worship on the front row of church to weeping together through the struggle to find grace in our pain and brokenness. As long as I have known Chris, he has always wanted to love God with all his heart. This book is real and fully transparent. As I listened on audio and read through the book, I was moved to tears and conviction to once again fully surrender to Jesus. I am with you, my friend, until we see Him together face to face.”