11 posts tagged “book review”
Very challenging book. Almost through with it.
Got it for Christmas, looks great.
Also received for Christmas.
I just finished a class in which we talked about the ancient practice of lectio divina. The idea is that you meditate on a text and allow it to speak to you. I'll be taking up that practice in my devotions using this book by Eugene Peterson, author of the Message bible among other things.
Looks really good.
One of the great things about being a pastor is I get to indulge in one of my great loves - reading books. I have always loved to read. Lately though, because of seminary work, church Christmas activities and just the pace of life, I have fallen behind.
This latest project "Going All the Way", is his attempt to help people have great marriages by planning to go the distance with God.
Hopefully I'll be able to start commenting on it early next week.
Stay tuned.
This book showed up today.
Friends who have read it give it pretty good reviews.
I'll let you know.
Well, I finished my second trip through the book last night, and I'll wait a week and do it again.
It is that good.
One of the things that concerns me about the Story of Jesus is that our culture is shifting so fast that the ancient Story seems to have less of a foothold.
I'll never forget being at Mercer University over a decade ago and having professor Michael Cass bemoaning how incoming students at a Baptist University arrived without even a cursory knowledge of the Bible.
"How can I teach them Literature?", he asked me. I didn't have an answer then, and I don't know - although if you had told me that Beowulf would be on the big screen in 3-D I'd have laughed.
Donald Miller pulls it off.
He takes the culture and turns it inside out and returns bearing the Message. The last chapter is wrapped up in his explanation of how Shakespeare used Romeo and Juliet as a cultural metaphor, and then Miller shows how it is also a metaphor for Christ and His church.
It is an amazing book.
I'm trying to get back into blogging more, but things are really busy right now with family, church and seminary. There are so many things to keep track of that I'm actually using my Treo for more than just a big fat phone! But I thought I'd try to post the books that are sitting on my nightstand each week to give you dear reader an idea of just what ideas are roaming around in my head.
So here they are.
Highly recommended addition to any Christ-follower's library.
This will be my third time through it.
If I could meet and have a cup of coffee with anyone who is active in explaining to an unbelieving world what following Jesus is all about it would be Donald Miller.
Simply awesome.
I know, I'm supposed to love Ed Stetzer - after all, except for Reggie McNeal, he's probably one of the very few Southern Baptists that "gets it". Well, I do read his blog and articles, but I've got to tell you I was disappointed with the book. Just not enough there for me that I didn't already know.
And "kiss of death" wise, it seems like a seminary text.
Yeah - charts.
Black and white
Because you care so much, you won't mind dullness.
Andy Stanley
May not be his best book, my fav would be Visioneering, but it is one of the better tomes on preaching that I have read. Very well written with no wasted words and clear instructions on what to do to improve your communication and how to make it happen.
Beats the heck out of what I learned from "Preaching Sermons To Meet People's Needs" by Bryson I think.
Well, really, beats the heck out of a lot of people's stuff.
But if it's like the rest of Peterson's works, it will be useful.
Another Peterson book. I was not really impressed with it. I'm going to read it again, but there just wasn't anything that stood out about it. It didn't draw me into the story like so many of his books do.
Maybe it was just me.
Yeah, that's a stack of books. But I can generally get through one in a day or two at the most and then move on to the next one. I laughed when someone asked me to list the books that had affected me this year. I know that they were expecting a couple, and my list ran two pages.
Check back, I'm going to try to keep this going.
Grace!
David
Recently I read an article about churches today and how effective they are. The writer pointed toward the number of churches that aren't growing (while the population is rapidly) and asked "just how effective are we?"
He then asked these two questions.
1. If you didn’t know ANYTHING about Jesus, what would you know about him after a normal weekend at your church?
2. If you had a loved one who didn’t know Christ, and they had one week left to live, would you take them to your church or another?
To many, those are easily shuffled beneath the layers of life, never to be uncovered again.
Not for me. I'm constantly looking to see if the group of people I'm a part of is making a difference. After 7 1/2 years, I probably do that evaluation more frequently now than ever.
So when I spotted Dr. Rainer's book (75% off I might add - sweet!), I picked it up. Drawing heavily from a parallel with Jim Collin's "Good to Great", Rainer really works hard at trying to identify the factors that make good churches great ones.
He spends a lot of time looking at leadership and identifying the particular traits of the best "Acts 6/7" leaders. The sample was 13 breakout churches and 13 comparison churches. Not many churches I have ever known would meet the breakout criteria, but it's still very helpful.
At the end of the day, what pastors like me want to know is that we are making a difference for God's purposes and among His people. For me, anything I can read that helps me see that happen is worth reading.
Well, not really.
I reacted to any of the articles and interviews he's done over the last few years. His brand of "purple Christianity" and his dogged determination not to offend anyone with his faith - offends me. But I read everyone, not just the people I agree with. And I have a passion to understand how better to talk to people about Jesus, so... More Ready Than You Realize.
And gosh darn it - it's pretty good.
Sure there's some of the maddening McLaren in there, but if you just focus on the "conversation" he's having with a seeker, I think you'll learn a little bit more about their worldview, and a lot more about how to relate to them and share. Well worth your time IMHO. Of course YMMV.
Craig Groeschel lays it all out there in his "Confessions". Each and every one of us who have the honor of being called into pastoral leadership have some things we have done we'd like to forget. Groeschel tells us his in great detail, and uses them to teach us about how to get better.
He accurately describes some of the "stuff" that comes with the job - (if you let them) loneliness, insecurity, anxiety, fear of failure, from his own life's experiences not as some great guru, but as a fellow straggler trying hard to catch up to where Jesus is calling us to go.
Craig has been incredibly used by God to found a church that has pioneered many innovations, reached thousands of people, and has and is making a huge impact for the Kingdom.
But if you are sitting in a smaller church right now, like I am, let me tell you friend, Groeschel gets it right no matter what size church you are in. If I were a new pastor, I'd make this book one of my first purchases. If you are reading this and you love your pastor, see if he's read it and if he hasn't, grab a copy for him. I love what I do, but it (this job) is way over my head in terms of skill set, wisdom, abilities, and my ability to stay "clean" from sin. It's hard to admit that since we were trained, most of us, to never let your guard down to lay people, and never ever admit you were less than perfect.
Well, that secret leaked out a good while back for most of us. Groeschel just got his struggles down on paper, hoping to help others come clean.
The first thing you should know about me before you read what I'm about to write concerning this book is that I am an information omnivore. One conviction I hold is that God can speak through people who don't agree with me on every little thing - theologically or otherwise.
So I read - a lot. Of different things, written by people with different world views and different theological stripes. And I learn.
As one person I used to know said "You don't have to be my twin to be my brother."
Shane Claiborne and I should be closer than it turned out that we are. We share a common heritage as Southerners. We have a shared love of Jesus and of Scripture. We both see the church as the Body of Christ and want to see people live lives reflecting the love of Jesus in every area.
We just disagree on some things. Not things essential to whether either of us are believers and followers of Jesus - just which paths to take as we follow. I found myself wishing that Shane and I had been able to meet Clarence Jordan together. For if Shane isn't this generation's version it's only because his knowledge of the Scriptures isn't nearly as deep as Clarence's was. For let me tell you friend, Shane can bring the heat and the light on you in a way I have only felt while reading Jordan.
Claiborne is a complete revolutionary in the John the Baptist line. He fights against powers and principalities with a fervor I've seldom seen since my high school days, when integration was being rolled out and Dr. King was still among us. He isn't always logically consistent, and would surely be on anyone's list of radicals when it comes to social action in Christ's name. I expected to see names dropped like Tony Campalo, Jim Wallis, and Brian McLaren, and I wasn't disappointed. But I didn't expect to read about his work with Mother Teresa and interaction with Bill Hybels.
As a pastor of a smaller church, many of the bombs he throws at the mega churches don't strike with much effect. But don't take that to mean that he didn't make me think - He did. And he made me consider whether what I'm doing personally and as a leader is enough given what we face in this world.
There were some things he wrote that irritated, others that I just flat out disagreed with. But I read the whole book, and I think as time goes on and I reflect and pray, God will speak His wisdom about the issues Claiborne raises into my heart. We agree on this point completely - we have to do more, and we have to work with more people.
So pick up a copy. Get it used, free if possible - Shane would like that. And let's see what God does.
I hope to be getting some books for Christmas, but here's what I have up next.
One of the things I want most for the people at New Hope is a rediscovery of the great feeling you get when you serve someone in Christ's name who doesn't know Jesus. For far too long we've served each other and stopped there. We have to, have to, have to get outside and see that as our mission.
So Bill, lay it on me.
From first glance, it looks like a valuable resource. I'll let you know later.
This week will be light duty as we don't have a Wednesday night service. So most of my time will be spent this week in rest and renewal. Hopefully I'll get a chance to cross a few of the books I've been sharing with you off my list and let you know hoew helpful they might be to you.
Other books he has written tell the stories of Lincoln's assassination, Christ's crucifixion, and other events.
While I appreciated the style in which he wrote, I couldn't really recommend the book wholeheartedly. It just wasn't that good. Maybe it's just me. I've been so immersed in Advent and in particular the birth of Christ for a month now that I'm probably over saturated with details already. I'm that person who sits in the congregation and listens to a sermon thinking in their mind as they listen "yeah, yeah, yeah, I already know that - what else you got?" So perhaps you could give it a chance.
Manning comes from a different faith-tradition than I do, and at times it is jarring. I lost track of how many times he brought up Francis of Assisi for example.
But there are passages in this book that are full of pathos and provide windows from which you can see Jesus in all His glory. Confusing at times, convicting at others, the book is both an easy read and a hard one.
When Manning writes about Jesus, you can almost feel the love he holds for Him. Quotes from others add much to the impact overall, but Manning is also willing to share from his own experiences both good and bad as a disciple of Jesus.
The timing was great for me, as I had just finished a unit on the Spiritual disciplines when I read this. I needed my heart stirred. This did just that.
