Confessions of a Pastor: Book Review

Just finished reading, “Confessions of a Pastor” by Craig Groeschel and thought that it was a well written, enjoyable read with lots of advice and pure confession from Craig himself.

Craig starts off his book by stating that when he was in seminary he was advised by a trusted professor to essentially show his congregation that he was perfect – dress the part, act the part, and don’t let people into your business. I won’t lie – I was taught the same thing while in seminary and was even advised that it was the best route to go early on in my first church job.

However, what makes Craig’s book is the fact that early on in his career he realized that he shouldn’t take the professors advice. So one Sunday morning, he walked to his pulpit and just laid it all out – much the same way as he laid it out in his book.

Some things that Groschel admits to in his book are: living a lie, he can’t stand a lot of Christians, it’s hard to avoid sexual sin, he gets lonely, he hates prayer meetings, he worries a lot, he doubts God sometimes, he feels inadequate, and he doesn’t handle criticism well. In each section Craig gives biblical principles and encouragement to not just pastors but anyone with the same struggles on how to overcome some of these same obstacles.

I felt like I know Craig a little better from the book. I feel like he made a point to be honest, revealed instances in his life that he didn’t have to, and did it all to help others realize that in order for us to grow in our relationships with Christ and each other – we have to drop the facade that we put up and get real with each other.

The book was an easy and enjoyable read and it is one that could be useful to Christians who are looking for assurance that everyone struggles with sin (even pastors) and are looking for practical tips to help them over come their sin.

As always, you can pick up a copy of the book HERE, or you can just stop by and borrow it from me. If you read it – let me know what you think!

Filed under: Book Review

Pagan Christianity: A Review

I recently breezed through, and by breezed I mean breezed, through a book that has been sitting on my shelf for a bit – Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna.

My intention wasn’t to just “breeze” through it but to really take it all in but I just couldn’t help but speed the process up once I got in. Generally speaking, I often enjoy books that make me feel frustrated while I read them because it makes me search for where the frustration is coming from. Is the frustration coming from someone turning upside down beliefs I have been taught or am I frustrated by their inability to handle those truths? When it comes to Pagan Christianity – I have to admit it was the later.

Obviously the intention of this book is to ruffle some feathers and from the get go it holds nothing back. It seems that as of late there have been many books that are critiquing the current worship practices of the Church and these books come and go. But…there rarely comes a book that vehemently opposes EVERYTHING about the institutional Church. Viola and Barna are convinced that the housechurch / organic church movement is the way of the future because it is the ONLY authentic reproduction of the past.

Here are some areas of disagreement I have with the book:

• I disagree with the underlying premise of the entire book – the premise that the early church was untainted and uncorrupted by human tradition. Have you read ANY of the Pauline letters? Humans were messing things up from the get-go. I do believe that we can learn from the early churches, like the church in the book of Acts, but I disagree that there is a pristine, uncorrupted model out there.
• I dislike the way Viola and Barna put forward their argument. In my opinion they make WAY too many assumptions. Like for instance that because the early churches used a similiar “cathedral” model of the pagans – that means church buildings are pagan. But what a second…maybe they used the same buildings because they were suited for large gatherings…just sayin…
• I feel as if Viola and Barna leave no room for discussion on any of the issues. They present their arguments in such a way that if you disagree with them then you must love the traditions of man more than God. This makes it really tough to have an honest conversation about their book.
• I believe that Pagan Christianity will do more harm then good. I believe that it will give some readers pulled in by the title who know nothing of church history just enough information to be destructive.

However, there were a few areas of agreement:

• It’s good to question why we do certain things. I do not fault some of the questions that the authors are raising
• The Bible does need to be read as a narrative, and not merely a list of selective verses.
• We need to be willing to throw out our traditions if they are unbiblical.

All in all – I got through it hough, in my opinion, I don’t think it was beneficial to me. In the end I think it is important for Viola and Barna to realize that true disciples can come from any and every church model. We are not called to “do” church a certain way; we are called to imitate Christ and that is where true worship is found.

Filed under: Book Review

Less Clutter. Less Noise: A Book Review

This book is in the running for the BEST book that I have read so far this year – if not the best book that I have read in the last couple of years! I just finished Kem Meyers recently released book, “Less Clutter. Less Noise.:Beyond Bulletins, Brochures, and Bakes Sales” and I just ate it up! Amazing!

I actually confess that I had originally avoided picking this book up because I am somewhat skeptical of anything that has to do with “Church Marketing” but after reading Kim Meyer’s blog for several months and being able to see her heart – I took the plunge.

Kem’s introduction asks and answers this question: “Are you interested in how an organization can still capture someone’s attention in the midst of all the chaos and cultural momentum.” Here’s what I loved about the book:

• It is written in plain english. No fancy marketing words to decipher. No SAT words to wade through. It was almost like she was sitting on the couch next to you and just chatting about how people interact with your media. The most important part about the read is you see her personality really come out – she’s pretty funny!
• Even though Kem heads the marketing area of a large church she makes all the principals applicable to churches of all sizes which was really quite amazing
• Lots of great two column charts with “do’s and dont’s, websites are and aren’t, etc”
• It fits right in with the stuff that the staff is working on as we revamp our church website
• She has a chapter on, “Where to start” where she lists 8 action steps that take NO MONEY to do and WILL improve your communications: have conversations, create a style guide, identify your audience, document your communication values, outline a strategy, reduce emotional overload, implement an official proofing team and process, and assemble a group of consumer advocates (secret shopers)

Anyone wanting to get a handle on marketing and communication within any sort of organization but especially the church should grab this book now – it is greatness bottled up for you!

As always – you can grab it HERE or you can stop by my office and borrow mine. If you read it – tell me what you think!

Filed under: Book Review

Less Clutter. Less Noise: A Book Review

This book is in the running for the BEST book that I have read so far this year – if not the best book that I have read in the last couple of years! I just finished Kem Meyers recently released book, “Less Clutter. Less Noise.:Beyond Bulletins, Brochures, and Bakes Sales” and I just ate it up! Amazing!

I actually confess that I had originally avoided picking this book up because I am somewhat skeptical of anything that has to do with “Church Marketing” but after reading Kim Meyer’s blog for several months and being able to see her heart – I took the plunge.

Kem’s introduction asks and answers this question: “Are you interested in how an organization can still capture someone’s attention in the midst of all the chaos and cultural momentum.” Here’s what I loved about the book:

• It is written in plain english. No fancy marketing words to decipher. No SAT words to wade through. It was almost like she was sitting on the couch next to you and just chatting about how people interact with your media. The most important part about the read is you see her personality really come out – she’s pretty funny!
• Even though Kem heads the marketing area of a large church she makes all the principals applicable to churches of all sizes which was really quite amazing
• Lots of great two column charts with “do’s and dont’s, websites are and aren’t, etc”
• It fits right in with the stuff that the staff is working on as we revamp our church website
• She has a chapter on, “Where to start” where she lists 8 action steps that take NO MONEY to do and WILL improve your communications: have conversations, create a style guide, identify your audience, document your communication values, outline a strategy, reduce emotional overload, implement an official proofing team and process, and assemble a group of consumer advocates (secret shopers)

Anyone wanting to get a handle on marketing and communication within any sort of organization but especially the church should grab this book now – it is greatness bottled up for you!

As always – you can grab it HERE or you can stop by my office and borrow mine. If you read it – tell me what you think!

Filed under: Book Review

Tribes: A review

Just finished up a short little book that’s been circling around lately – “Tribes” by Seth Godin. This is the first book that I’ve read by Seth, though I have several of his books “saved for later” in my amazon shopping cart.

“Tribes” is essentially a book about how everyone, anyone, is a leader. With technology allowing us to do things that were unimaginable ten years ago, “Tribes” teaches us that the days where leadership was a select few, the elected CEO, are now over. Now, anyone can lead.

“Tribes” in my opinion is a simple call to action. Everyone has the ability to lead. There are no excuses anymore. If you are a fan, lead a band of fanatics. If you are a rebel, lead a rebellion. If you love anything for that matter – chances are there are people out there who love that same thing and are waiting for someone to lead them, why not you?

All in all, I thought “Tirbes” was a great read and has a lot of great leadership advice within it’s pages. There is a great section on fear that I just ate up. The trouble I’m having is – if everyone is leading something – who is following? If everyone is leading an organization – what keeps your focus united? Don’t get me wrong – I’ve never been a proponent of the top down structure – especially in churches – but I think accountability, responsibility, and roles are all a good thing.

The upside of the book is it is about half the size of a normal book and is only about 100 pages with no chapters which makes it a quick read. If you’re interested, you can pick it up HERE, or just stop by my office and borrow mine.

Let me know what you think after you get done!

Filed under: Book Review

“Crazy Love” a Review

If you’ve hung around the “Christian” section of your local Barnes & Noble you’ve probably come across many books and voices critiquing the North American church today. However, if you hang around me long enough – you know that I think if you’ve got a problem with the church today – you’ve got a problem with yourself because you and I are the church…

The good news is Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, doesn’t necessarily attack the church but those in the church. He tells us that he writes, “for those who want more of Jesus. It is for those who are bored with what American Christianity offers. It is for those who don’t want to plateau, who would rather die before their convictions do.” Essentially, it is a book that is meant to change the way Christians live their lives. Since Chan is addressing the church, you and I individually, and saying there is more to this thing called “Christianity” – I was intrigued from the get-go!

As it is, Crazy Love essentially calls into question our response to a God who loves us. As Chan puts it, “The God of the universe – the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor – loves us with a radical unconditional, self sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss” When I read this I’m pretty sure I heard angelic music inside my head as Chan communicated something so well that had been brewing in my heart for some time.

Chan proceeds to take the reader through a serious self-inventory gut-check (which left me squirming) of a profile of a lukewarm Christian. He concludes, “a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there’s no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are ‘lukewarm’ are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven.” These thoughts, while serious, remind me of Chandlers sermon about a year ago where he talked about how he had to get his church “unsaved” so that he could “save them.”

After he defines the “lukewarm” Christian – he begins to identify what it would look like if Christians were living differently – living in ways that were markedly different from those around them. He challenges us to get outside of the concept of being comfortable and to focus on what it is to be radically dependent on God. “God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through.”

I believe this book is a book that most Christians desperately need to read. Too many of us are living too safely and too easily. For the brief moments we spend at church each week, we are practically indistinguishable from the unbelievers around us. This is not the way we are meant to live!

I loved Crazy Love. It made me take stock of my own response to God’s love and reveal a lethargy in many areas I thought I was passionately pursuing Him in. Chan’s words have challenged my faith and hopefully forever changed my view of God’s relentless pursuit of my heart and my response to Him. you owe it to yourself to contemplate the message of this book – it could change you forever!

Filed under: Book Review

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – A Review

I recently finished another leadership book by John Maxwell titled, “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” and thought I would share a little bit of what I gleamed from the book.

As the title indicates, Maxwell presents 21 laws of leadership, all of which are free-standing and yet connected to each other. I had to read a couple laws each week instead of all at once because they all started running into each other but the 21 laws are:

1. The Law of the Lid: Leadership Ability Determines a Person’s Level of Effectiveness

2. The Law of Influence: The True Measure of Leadership Is Influence — Nothing More, Nothing Less

3. The Law of Process: Leadership Develops Daily, Not in a Day

4. The Law of Navigation: Anyone Can Steer the Ship, but It Takes a Leader to Change the Course

5. The Law of Addition: Leaders Add Value by Serving Others

6. The Law of Solid Ground: Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership

7. The Law of Respect: People Naturally Follow Leaders Stronger Than Themselves

8. The Law of Intuition: Leaders Evaluate Everything with a Leadership Bias

9. The Law of Magnetism: Who You Are Is Who You Attract

10. The Law of Connection: Leaders Touch a Heart Before They Ask for a Hand

11. The Law of the Inner Circle: A Leader’s Potential Is Determined by Those Closest to Him

12. The Law of Empowerment: Only Secure Leaders Give Power to Others

13. The Law of the Picture: People Do What People See

14. The Law of Buy-In: People Buy into the Leader, Then the Vision

15. The Law of Victory: Leaders Find a Way for the Team to Win

16. The Law of the Big Mo: Momentum is a Leader’s Best Friend

17. The Law of Priorities: Leaders Understand That Activity Is Not Necessarily Accomplishment

18. The Law of Sacrifice: A Leader Must Give Up to Go Up

19. The Law of Timing: When to Lead Is as Important as What to Do and Where to Go

20. The Law of Explosive Growth: To Add Growth, Lead Followers — To Multiply, Lead Leaders

21. The Law of Legacy: A Leader’s Lasting Value is Measured by Succession

The law that was worked into each of the laws was the idea given in the Law of Process. Leadership can’t be developed in a day or a week, but takes time! Leadership over time grows and becomes refined through a lifetime of self-management, skills acquisition, and relationships. I was highly encouraged by Maxwell throughout the book as he constantly encourages you that you are on track in the leadership process by merely picking up this book – you may never be the greatest leader but you can go from a five, on a scale of one to ten, to an eight! It’s comforting to know that you can always be growing and becoming a better leader – I hope to be an eight someday….

Filed under: Book Review

A Different Sort of 10 Commandments

Recently I stumbled across a book titled, “Anyway” by Kent M. Keith.

This book is one of those books that as you are reading it you find yourself saying, “yes” out loud – it’s that good.

In his book he talked about his 10 commandments of leading a Christ like life in the midst of a fast paced crazy world.

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self centered. Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building my be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the best you have anyway.

I think these are good rules to live by. They help remind me to continually be looking to Christ in all things I do and not to others or situations around me.

“When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. 22 There is a great irony (a paradox) here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. 23 It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you’ve run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived.” Matthew 10:21-23

And no – these 10 should not replace the original 10 commandments of the Bible.

Filed under: Book Review, Personal, Reflection

What Joshua Harris has learned since he kissed dating goodbye…

Not real sure if the college kids are still reading this book by Joshua Harris but I remember when I was in college it was the go-to book. I’ll admit – when I read it it made a lot of since but I hated the actual application of not “dating.”

However, it seems that as Josh gets older he has been rethinking the application of his book and has made his “rethoughts” known through a series of sermon messages that you can find on his site.

Interested in learning what he’s thinking now? Check it out HERE

Filed under: Book Review, Religous

Jesus wants to save Christians – A Review

During my past trip to Winterpark I got a good deal of reading done which was pretty exciting for me! One of the books I wrapped up was Rob Bell’s newest work, “Jesus Wants to Save Christians.”

This is one of those books that has been sitting on the bottom shelf of my bookshelf for a bit but when I saw a couple of students reading it in a coffee shop a month or so ago I wiped off the dust and dug in.

While I am not prepared to declare Rob Bell a brilliant writer or thinker (though I do think he is highly creative and is a fascinating communicator) I do know that whoever does the artwork for his stuff is a genius. Though this book has been on my bottom shelf in a pile for several months – every time I go to grab a new one I am tempted to pull it up – the cover just does that too you…

But what about what’s in the middle? Great question.

I personally love Bells writing style – though – there will be many people who find it irritating – especially those of you who love the “classics.” I love the informal style Bell writes with. He uses a style that is similar to that found in Velvet Elvis (I’ve read) and Sex Gods (I have not read) where he follows a bloggish format of sorts. The pages have lots of white spaces and the paragraphs are often just one sentence or even

one

word.

And I like it. Easy to pick up and put down because there are so many breaks. It reads much like he preaches – you can almost envision him standing in front of you talking to you, or shall I say “conversing” with you…

I will say to anyone out there thinking about purchasing this book – beware. Anyone brave enough to give it a looksee is in for a surprise if you are holding onto your sacred cows too tightly – you know the little non-controversial values like “Christians and politics” or “Christians and war,” or “Christians and social justice” – yep – Bell hits them all. I personally enjoyed the thought process – though some will surely be offended or feel as if Bell is not treating the topics fairly.

The essence of the book is essentially a good faith attempt to articulate what the authors call a New Exodus perspective. New Exodus theology is of course not totally new, though, it will be new to many who read it. However, it’s not as if the authors are hiding this fact as in the introduction they make tribute to the work of Professor Tom Holland who teaches Theology at Wales Evangelical School of Theology and who has done a lot of research in this area.

This New Exodus perspective is simply a retelling of the tragic tale of Cain and Able which gives the authors the opportunity to suggest that this story is about all of us – somewhere East of Eden, trying to build a city and civilization outside of Paradise in a fallen world. To which I simply say, “Ain’t that the truth…” This book and it’s theology is especially about the indigenization of human fallenness in America particularly, and how our behavior as an Empire, in some ways much like the Roman Empire, is a particular manifestation of what is deeply wrong with the human society, something which is more like the behavior of Cain, than Abel.

And therefore, we are continually on the verge of exile.

However, I will say that one of the things I truly enjoy about Bell is his attempt to do theology out of the Grand Narrative or the meta-narrative of the Bible. He does a great job of simply looking at the whole of Scripture and how it plays out and applying the whole, not the parts, to our lives – I think there is great insight that can be gained by looking at the parts as a whole instead of just seperate parts.

In the end, these are two young men who believe passionately in the whole Gospel for the whole person in the world and I am always for that!

Filed under: Book Review

Back of the Napkin Book Review

One of my new years resolutions was to read more and to interact / write / share what books I’m digging and what books are leaving me a little unsatisfied – so here’s a start with the first book I have finished in the new year.

I just finished up Dan Roam’s best selling book, The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures and while I was REALLY intrigued with how to utilize this book – I was left with more questions than answers.

I picked up this book because I am always looking for ways to better communicate ideas both in small and large groups. I got to thinking – with my generation being primarily visual in most things we do – I thought this might be a great place to start.

The premise of the book is that a simple diagram (on the back of a napkin) can explain complex ideas and that essentially EVERYONE is able to think and understand visually because it’s what we do all the time.

A large portion on the front end of this book was spent convincing those who think this method won’t work or

those that are convinced that they can’t draw that it will and that they can. While I think this section of the book IS needed as Roam is really trying to reach the business community but I would guess that the majority of those picking up this book have already decided that they want to communicate visually and need help learning how – like me. So I was a little disappointed at the amount of space used here.

On the positive side – once Roam made it to the section on communicating ideas / meetings / presentations – I did pick up a couple of good tools – like his S.Q.V.I.D. tool whose initials stand for Simple, Quality, Vision, Individual, Change which is essentially a tool that helps you decide which diagrammatic approach is best suited to working through and / or presenting a problem. I actually jotted some notes down for future uses in future meetings from these chapters.

By the end of the book – you have been shown a solid process that helps you begin to think visually when approaching problem solving, finding, explaining – the trick is now how to institute it. I have no doubt that Dan Roam can take this process and make it work for just about anything – the only down side is he wasn’t available to read the book through with me. I could have used his help at times to narrate me through different portions of the book and linking his words with his pictures – sometimes I got a bit lost / confused.

All in all – it’s a great starter book on beginning to think visually. It helps you understand that all things can be explained through pictures, you don’t have to be Van Gough to do it, and that you could potentially have a lot of fun in the process.

Filed under: Book Review