How to destroy a church
Later this year I plan on preaching from the book of 1 Corinthians at the Gospel Center. In preparation I have ordered several books and did a little research these past few weeks. I found this quote on Tim Challies blog and thought that it was worth sharing since it relates to the question I posed on Thursday about the greatest need in the Holiness Movement.
The ways of destroying the church are many and colorful. Raw factionalism will do it. Rank heresy will do it. Taking your eyes off the cross and letting other, more peripheral matters dominate the agenda will do it-admittedly more slowly than frank heresy, but just as effectively over the long haul. Building the church with superficial ‘conversions’ and wonderful programs that rarely bring people into a deepening knowledge of the living God will do it. Entertaining people to death but never fostering the beauty of holiness or the centrality of self-crucifying love will build an assembling of religious people, but it will destroy the church of the living God. Gossip, prayerlessness, bitterness, sustained biblical illiteracy, self-promotion, materialism-all of these things, and many more, can destroy a church. And to do so is dangerous: ‘If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple (1 Cor. 3:17).” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
from the book, The Cross and Christian Ministry by D.A. Carson
What strange jobs I’ve had in my life
There was a village with a little circus whose lion had suddenly died. The circus director asked a poor old Jewish man if he would pretend to be the lion, and the man agreed since he needed the money. The director said: “All you have to do is wear the lion’s fur and sit in the cage, and people will believe you’re a lion.” And so the man did, muttering to himself, “What strange jobs I’ve had in my life,” when his thoughts were interrupted by a noise. He turned just in time to see another lion creeping into his cage and fixing him with a hungry stare. Trembling, cowering, not knowing how to save himself, the man did the only thing he could think of – vociferously chant a Hebrew prayer. No sooner had he uttered the first desperate words, Shema Yisroel (Hear O Israel) … than the other lion joined in with adonai elohenu (the Lord our God), and the two would-be-lions finished the prayer together.
from the most excellent book (so far) The Zookeeper’s wife by Diane Ackerman
What books are you reading?
I thought that I would share my reading plan for the next four months (January – April).
For the first four months of 2010, I plan on spending all of my devotional time in the Gospels. My goal is to read each Gospel once a week. Youversion.com has some great reading plans.
In addition to all of my seminary reading and sermon prep, here is the list of fifteen books that I want to read (in no specific order).
- Relational Intelligence: How leaders can expand their influence through a new way of being smart by Steve Saccone
- Mentor like Jesus by Regi Campbell
- What the Dog Saw: and other adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
- Scouting the Divine by Margaret Feinberg
- The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- Counterfeit gods by Tim Keller
- The Rising Tide: a novel of WW2 by Jeff Shaara
- Historical Drift: must my church die? by Arnold Cook
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves: the zero tolerance approach to punctuation by Lynne Truss
- Tribes: We need you to lead us by Seth Godin
- Fresh Wind Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala ( I try to read this book every year)
- Holiness for Earnest Christians by C. Wesley King (Schmul Publishing)
- The Great Awakening: the roots of evangelical Christianity in Colonial America by Thomas Kidd
- The Well-Educated Mind: a guide to the classical education you never had by Susan Bauer
So that is my list. There are dozens of other books that are interesting to me, but these are what I chose. What about you? What books are you planning on reading in 2010?
Four favorite books of 2009
I read quite a few books this year as well as portions of many others. Here are my top four books that I read in 2009.
Mad Church Disease; Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic by Ann Jackson
For my engaged learning project in one of my seminary classes this semester, one of the things I learned about myself was that I was on the fast-track to ministry burnout. The primary book that I read about burnout was this great book by Anne Jackson. I thank God for Anne Jackson. Since then I have read her blog and she has written more great stuff along the lines of burnout, ministry and setting boundaries.
Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel
Kimmel is author and founder of Family Matters ministries In this book he likens many Christian parents’ attempts at rearing children to putting together a puzzle without first studying the completed picture located on the cover of the box of puzzle pieces. Kimmel states that families of faith tend toward extremes, either being overly permissive or overly legalistic. Lots of good tidbits in this book. I liked the first half of the book over the last half.
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose.
Roose, a journalism student at Brown University decided to go to Liberty University for one semester disguised as a Christian. He journals his thoughts of evangelicalism and Liberty University in a unique fashion. Roose had one of the last interviews with Jerry Falwell before he died in 2007.
Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer
I am still reading through and processing this book. It is thought provoking and causing me to re-strategize some of our focuses at the Gospel Center. Basically the premise of the this book is that two-thirds of the young people are already gone, for good, from church. With the help of God, I refuse to let this happen at the Gospel Center.
Burnout
As I wrote in my engaged learning project, one of the things I learned about myself was that I was on the fast-track to ministry burnout. I read several books that we
re very beneficial in helping me ascertain this in my life. The primary book that I read was Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic by Anne Jackson. I thank God for Anne Jackson. Since then I have read her blog and she has written more great stuff along the lines of burnout, ministry and setting boundaries.
The dirty little secret is this, many pastors and church leaders either suffer from burnout or are on the road toward it. Growing up, I heard preachers that I admired say that one “must burnout for Jesus”. And I agreed, then, but not now. Jesus does not want us to be burned-out, our families need us to NOT BE burned out. When burnout happens, we are no longer as useful to the Kingdom of God as we need to be. We live on a culture that admires success over quality of life. Pastors are encouraged to work seven days a week, be connected at all times, leave their family on the sidelines. The result is usually disaster. Many pastors are quitting every month either because of moral failure, or burnout. This must stop.
I have an extra copy of this book and I want to give it to a pastor who feels that they are suffering from burnout or are quickly approaching it. OR you know a pastor who is “there” and you think this book would be of a help to them. Regardless, I do not want this book to simply sit on the shelf, I want it to help someone. Email me.
Unleashing the Power or Rubber Bands
I just finished reading Nancy Ortberg’s newest book titled, Unleashing the Power or Rubber Bands: Lessons in non-linear Leadership. It will go down as one of the best books on leadership that I have ever read.
Nancy encourages you, through her unique writing style, to breath new life into your style of leadership by:
- naming someone’s giftedness
- offering hope
- vision inspiration
- give of yourself as a leader
- paying attention to the needs of your team
- learn to identify defining moments
Three components of a powerful crucible of development are opportunities, challenges, and a relationship.The core of leadership is hope.To lead well, we must possess the strong belief that our best days are ahead of us, always ahead of us.Sometimes the gift of hope is about beleiving in others before they can even see it themselves.Vision is about creating a reason to believe again.Fear produces poor leadership and poor leadership produces bad organizations.
The Shack
Christianity Today reviewed the popular book The Shack by William P. Young a few days ago. The review had some pretty positive things to say about it. Apparently The Shack is a fictitious story of a young man wrestling with the age-old question, where is God in the midst of all of this pain?
And there are critics of the book. USA Today published a story back in May about how The Shack opens doors, but critics call it full of heresy. Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church, in one of his sermons told his church if they hadn’t read the book – don’t (view the YouTube clip here).
Earlier this week I had a conversation with someone about the book and I sort of discouraged them from reading it. Later I thought that I should at least read it before I make an opinionated statement about it.So I plan on doing that soon.
How about you? Have you read the book? What do you think about it?
Book Tag
So I have been book tagged by Jason. I thought that I would never participate in such things, but books are a big part of my life, so here goes.
One book that changed your life: That is a pretty bold statement. I wouldn’t say that this book has “changed” my life, but it has impacted my life and that is Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. Amazing content.
One book that you read more than once: There are too many great books out there, so I don’t know that I have ever read anything twice other than the Bible.
One book that you would want on a deserted island: First of all, I would never intentionally be on a deserted island! But if I was exiled like John, I would want this.
One book that made you laugh: The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. This book made me laugh time and time again! I posted a brief review here.
One book that made you cry: A Long Way Gone, memoirs of a boy soldier. This book is a first hand account of Ishmael’s experiences as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. You can read more here.
One book that you wish had never been written: The books by Joel Osteen. I try to never put down another leader, but his books are a bit much.
One book that you are currently reading: Kingdom of Priests. I just started this in preparation for a class that I start next week in Seminary,
One book that you have been meaning to read: Rome and Jerusalem: The clash of civilizations.
One book you most recently finished: Leadership from the Inside Out by Kevin Harney. If you are a church leader, read this book.
One book that you started, but never finished: Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter.
This list has been somewhat of a challenge for me; it is very difficult to narrow the list down to one. So, in the interest of not tagging YOU, leave a comment stating your favorite book. Otherwise, I will need to tag YOU, my friends!
The Year of Living Biblically
I just recently finished an intriguing book titled, The Year of Living Biblically, One Man’s Quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible by A. J. Jacobs.
It was an amusing and educational book.
A.J. decided to follow the Bible as literal as possible for one year. He followed the “major” rules such as the ten commandments and love your neighbor as yourself. But he also followed obscure rules such as “do not were clothing of mixed fibers”, “don’t shave your beard” and “stone adulterers”. His stoning took place in NYC by going around asking people if they were committing adultery. He found an individual who semi-admitted he was an adulterer and then commenced by throwing pebbles at him.
Mr. Jacobs brings some though provoking ideas to the table and an amusing and sometimes invokes the cringe factor. Looking for an easy read and some humor? I recommend the Year of Living Biblically.
The Blogging Church
A few months ago I posted that I had won a contest involving finding a new copy of the The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey and Terry Storch. I have recently finished reading it. The Blogging Church was a great informative read. It gives much practical advice. There are a lot of things that I found out that I was doing wrong. Such as not really having a plan in place for my blog, posting at non-optimum times.
It also shows the power of blogging for your church. Such as casting vision, reaching out and creating buzz about your church.
Another beneficial feature that they share is that a blog is a way of conencting your staff. I am in the beginning process of doing that at the Gospel Center. We have set up a a private blog where our staff can go and understand what the big idea is.
Thanks Brian and Terry for writing such a practical tool. It is making me a better blogger.
