Books @ Leadership Network

Tim Keller's book a New York Times Bestseller

From Michael Keller's blog:

After three days of sales (Feb 14th-16th), [Tim Keller's new book, The Reason for God] made it to #18 on the New York Times List for the week of February at week as [Steve McCoy] reported. ... and after its first full week of sales (Feb 17th-23rd) the book made it to #11- officially making it on the list for the first time.

In a previous blog post here, Warren Bird had noted that Tim Keller Follows in the Footsteps of C.S. Lewis with The Reason for God. Keller himself concedes in this interview in First Things, where he is quoted as saying: "My book is Mere Christianity for Dummies."

-- DJ Chuang, Director of Digital Initiatives & more, Leadership Network

Fresh Encounters

Here’s a little word association. Are you ready?

Prayer.

Now, be honest. Does the word evoke a feeling of boredom within you, i.e., like the feeling you get on a rainy day when shades are drawn and all you want to do is sleep? Or perhaps, you feel a sense of guilt over the lack of enthusiasm you have for prayer, the lack of time you spend actually praying or in any other way, like a failure in this otherwise expected discipline of the Christian life so critical to discipleship, church development and leadership, etc.

If so, you are not alone. And that's why I recommend Daniel Henderson's work, Fresh Encounters: Experiencing Transformation Through United Worship-based Prayer (NavPress, 2004). This book deals personally, honestly and practically with the elephant in the room, i.e., a wide-spread, pastoral lack of experiential understanding when it comes to authentic, vibrant prayer. Henderson says, most people and pastors feel such things (as described above) because they have not been taught or exposed to anything other than "request-based prayer." In contrast, he recommends and describes the concept of "worship-based prayer," suggesting that a shift in focus will lead to a shift in attitude and, ultimately, a shift in practice that will benefit not only pastoral leadership, but entire congregations.

Most helpful for me was his analogy comparing a sailboat to a powerboat with reference to prayer. With this as a backdrop, he shares his own moment of awakening: "Lord, for so many years I've wanted to be a powerboat for you. As a pastor, I've kept my hand on the throttle of a man-made machine, enjoying the exhilaration of impressive speed. I've sliced through the choppy waters of church life impressing people with my dynamic ability to navigate and steer. Please give me the grace to learn to be a simple sailboat. Let this be the attitude of my heart. Let me set my sails everyday through prayer ... and wait for the wind of Your Spirit to blow."

Concluding this thought, he writes, "A powerboat advances on a predictable journey at the hands of the driver, propelled by man-made fuel. A sailboat is at the mercy of an unpredictable force and magnifies the beauty and energy of the wind. This example represents two different approaches to life and ministry," i.e., to prayer.

In the end, the book answers the question, "How can private and corporate prayer be transformed from an obligation to an oasis?" And if you're, like me, ready and needing to unfurl the sails, you'll benefit from this most helpful read!

Mark DeYmaz (www.markdeymaz.com)
Pastor, Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas (www.mosaicchurch.net)
Author, Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church

A theology as big as the city

Recently I finished a relatively old urban ministry book - Ray Bakke's "a theology as big as the city".  This book rocks, and is filled with insights on God's love for the city and our roles in it. 

One practical and disputable insight I've been mulling over comes from this quote of his “The local city church staff should increasingly match the ethnicity, class, and culture of the church’s members”.

Coming from a predominantly ethnic church background myself I have long desired a church that is multiethnic.  Even monoethnic churches are quite diverse underneath it all, however there is something indescribably beautiful when entering a community that is blatantly ethnically diverse as well.

The key to Bakke’s principle is leadership.  If the staff and leaders can be intentionally diverse and move forward together then there is hope for the congregation.  This sends the message that not only will we tolerate and accept those who are diverse, we also welcome them, embrace them, and desire that they influence and lead us as a community as well.

My questions going forward

- Bakke goes beyond race and culture, but suggests having class diversity in leadership.  Will we really allow the 'poor' to lead us?

- Do we now ‘profile’ people to attain a diverse staff?

- Would this work better if leadership was a reflection of the neighborhood as opposed to the ‘members’?

- What do small churches with a single staff member do for diversity?

Lon Wong, http://solarcrash.com

The Collaboration of Writing and Art

Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals
by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. Design by SharpSeven.

This is going to be a different kind of book recommendation than others that I have written about in the past.  Because this is a very different kind of book.  Few books pull one's senses into the process of reading as this one does.  I will go out on a limb here and say that this book will represent a tipping point in Christian publication.  Other books have tried to be cutesy, artsy and creative with their book presentation (i.e. different fonts, blog entries, photos, etc.--think Leonard Sweet), but this book really, really does it right.  That's why in this post I put a link to the married design team of Ryan and Holly Sharp of Sharp Seven.

The book is really the marriage of writing and art and I carefully hold onto each page, making sure I don't miss what is being communicated, not only via words, but photos, drawings, layout, etc.  This concept really is relevant and primary to the message and central thesis of what Shane, Chris and the Sharp's are trying to convey:

So what we need is an exploration of the Bible's political imagination, a renovated Christian politics, a new set of hopes, goals, and practices.  We believe the growing number of Christians who are transcending the rhetoric of lifeless presidential debates is a sign of this renovation.  Amid all the buzz, we are ready to turn off our TV's, pick up our Bibles, and reimagine the world.

It can be hard to reimagine the world, espeically the political imagination with just another book that looks like all the others.  But this book is different and has managed to revive some imagination in me...just not about politics, but about Jesus, love, life and ministry.  And I think if you pick up this book you will not be disappointed.  I hope that we begin to see more and more collaboration between writers and artists.  I consider writing to be an art, so it only makes sense to work with those artists in other mediums to help a writer communicate a more robust message through the book.

I will blog more about this book in my next post, as I only picked it up yesterday and have just begun to read it.  But this is the impact that it has already had on me in 24 hours.  There are so many good things in this book, but let me leave you with the opening words of the book:

This books ia a project in renewing the imagination of the church in the United States and of those who would seek to know Jesus.  We are seeing more and more that the church has fallen in love with the state and that this love affair is killing the church's imagination.  The powerful benefits and temptations of running the world's largest superpower have bent the church's identity.  Have power at its fingertips, the church often finds 'guding the course of history' a more alluring goal than following the crucified Christ.  Too often the patritotic values of pride and strength triumph over the spiritual virtues of humility, gentleness, and sacrifical love.

I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

First, let me say... this is a really good book! Really. Truly. Vince Antonucci really nails it. I want to pass it on to everyone I know... get it, devour it, you won't regret it... because you'll be changed. Doesn't matter who you are: Lead Pastor, staff pastor, ministry worker, small group leader... person sitting in the pews... doesn't matter. Get the book.

Now, you won't be changed by the book itself, because only Jesus, His Spirit, and His Word has that kind of power... but that's just it: the point of the book is to live life with Jesus, and live the Jesus life. Vince's premise is that too many of us believers (and I can attest to this personally from different times in my own life) live the Christian life disappointed and bored... and it's because we're not living the type of life that Jesus calls us to: one that consistently abides in Him, loves those whom He loves (the lost, sick, poor, broken, homeless, etc.), and follows wherever He leads.

One of the things I loved about the book is VInce's humor! I've read some really funny stuff before, but not many books have made me laugh out loud in public places! In a very engaging and hilarious way, Vince draws you in with incredible stories, and then drops a theological (but very practical) bomb on you... and you're sitting their saying to yourself, "Wow... I never looked at it that way before." You're deeply moved, or convicted, or whatever... and then, the next thing you know, everyone in the room is looking at you like you're crazy because you're laughing out loud again.

There's so much I can say, but I really want you all to read the book for yourselves. So, let me leave you with a quote from the book... one of the many highlighted parts of my now-well-worn book. Enjoy!:

     "What if tomorrow you're eating a bowl of cereal when you notice a picture of a missing child on your milk carton. Your eyes explode. You know this kid! You know his parents! And you know where to find the kid! You realize that you can take action that will almost certainly return this child to his mother and father. But then you think, Nah. I don't feel like doing that. But I do like that kid's parents. I think I'll start giving them 10 percent of my income. Oh, and I'll go over to their house every Sunday morning and do some chores for them. And I might even sing some songs to them while I'm there.
     "Obviously, that's just insane. Every person would love to be given money, have someone serve them, and maybe even be serenaded. But if a parent has a kid who is missing, nothing else matters in comparison to getting that lost child home. And so if we could help make that happen, there's no way we wouldn't do it
     "But how often do we give and serve and sing to God but ignore the fact that our heavenly Father has lost children whom we could help return to him/. When we ignore that, what we're really ignoring is our Father's heart. We're ignoring the mission Jesus gave us. And we will be disappointed... and bored."

If you're tired of plastic religion... if you're disappointed and kinda bored with your "life" with Jesus and feel like you've been handed a "lousy t-shirt"... if you want to really experience life... this book is for you!

Darren Plummer
Mosaic Church, DC
http://www.DPLUM.org

How The West Was Won For Jesus.

Most of my reading consists of new releases that come highly recommended and books that are sent to me as pre-release copies.  I don't think that is necessarily good, but it is true.  But I'm going retro on this review.  Rodney Stark's The Rise of Christianity:  How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries. is an important work from a world-class sociologist that gives us new insight into how the west was won for Jesus.

As the person responsible for the vision of the NewThing Network I have a keen interest in movements and how the early church grew.  Stark offers some of the best research I've seen on this topic and dispels the myth that the church of the first few centuries grew at miraculous rates that are not possible today.  He writes, "(Most) Studies of the rise of Christianity all stress the movement's rapid growth, but rarely are any figures offered...(it is assumed) in order for Christianity to have achieved success in the time allowed, it must have grown at rates that seem incredible in light of modern experiences."  Stark goes on to show how the early church grew from about 1.000 in 40 A.D to more than 33 million by 350 A.D.  Because of the extraordinary features of exponential curves Stark explains, "Hence, 40 percent per decade or 3.42 percent per year seems the most plausible estimate of the rate at which Christianity actually grew during the first several centuries."  Stark doesn't just give us those numbers, he goes on to unpack how and why those numbers came to be and the sociological realities that made it possible.

Other highlights from The Rise of Christianity are Starks discussion of networks, the role of women in the growth of the early church and Christianizing the urban empire.  While this book was first published a little more a decade ago, if you are interested in how the west was won for Jesus it is one of those books that if you haven't read by now - you should!

www.daveferguson.org

Tim Keller Follows in the Footsteps of C.S. Lewis

I enjoy "top 10" lists, so today I clicked with interest on an advertisement to view the all-time top ten downloads on Christianity Today's websites, covering their many magazines from 1995 to present. Interestingly, the number one article was on Christian literary apologist C.S. Lewis, subtitled "The atheist scholar who became an Anglican, an apologist, and a patron saint of Christians everywhere."  Who hasn't read one of his books? More important, who doesn't know someone who came to faith (or back to faith) after reading a C.S. Lewis title? With the Narnia series of movies, a new generation of interest in C.S. Lewis is certain to rise.

Earlier this week I read a Newsweek story from their 2/18/08 issue suggesting an American pastor as "a C. S. Lewis for the 21st century, a high-profile Christian apologist who can make orthodox belief not just palatable but necessary." The article was profiling Tim Keller (pictured above), founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City who this week will release his first book, The Reason for God.  According to The Penguin Group/Dutton, the publisher, he dismantles a long list of the most frequently voiced “doubts” skeptics bring to the church. Written with atheists, agnostics, and skeptics in mind, Keller also provides an intelligent platform on which true believers can stand their ground when bombarded by the backlash.

I've ordered the book, but not seen an advance issue. However, I have heard Tim Keller speak on many  occasions, and I'd feel very comfortable taking my thoughtful but skeptical friends to hear Tim's angle on Christianity, the same way as I've suggested that some of them might want to read a C.S. Lewis book. Time will tell, but I have great hopes for how God might use Tim's new book.

Warren Bird, Ph.D., is Research Director at Leadership Network, and co-author of 19 books on various aspects of church health and innovation.

The Missional Leader

The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan Roxburgh, Fred Romanuk, and Eddie Gibb

Finally a book that not only describes the “missional church,” but also gives some hints as to how to develop such a culture. I’ve always been a fan of Alan Roxburgh, but this book is one of his best and most timely books.

He describes the missional church without throwing the baby (institutional church) out with the bath water as many of today’s pundits seem to do.  I like their definition –“A missional church is a community of God’s people who live into the imagination that they are, by their very nature, God’s missionary people living as a demonstration of what God plans to do in and for all creation in Jesus Christ (p. viii).”

I also like the way they describe the missional leader, although it is impossible to find one sentence that totally describes this leadership. But I can boil it all down to this – the missional leader isn’t one that causes something to happen, or fixes a problem or provides a solution, or saves the institution. The missional leader is one who mentors and coaches individuals within a community to live out the Spirit in their ordinary lives as missionaries for God’s plan. In order to accomplish this missional leaders focus more on spiritual habits and behavior changes than they do programs or strategies. Two sentences best describe this overall difference in leadership – “It is leadership that cultivates the practice of indwelling Scripture and discovering places for experiment and risk as God’s people discover the Spirit of God’s life-giving future in Jesus is among them (p.27).” And - …leadership is fundamentally about forming character and living a life shaped by virtue (p.118).

For most established pastors today the big difference is the shift from focusing on programs and institutional growth to focusing on coaching and mentoring spiritual habits within the community. Instead of trying to get people involved “in church,” the focus is on helping people live out the Christ-like life in community and in their ordinary lives. The primary way to do this is by encouraging people to develop regular habits around the ancient practices and Daily Offices, which probably leaves room for a sequel.

One sentence sums up the dramatic change in direction from the modern form of leadership to the missional leader – “to become a disciple is not a matter of a new or changed self-understanding, but rather to become part of a different community with a different set of practices (p. 123).”

The following compares the dramatic change in leadership focus:

Modern  Missional

Programs  Mentoring and Coaching
Formation  Role Modeling
Knowledge  Behavior
Institution  Community
Individual salvation  Community Life
Activity/Involvement  Spiritual Habits

I guess one of the reasons I like this book so much is because it picks up on many of the themes in some earlier books from our group- Easum, Bandy and Associates.

One of our earliest books is Growing Spiritual Redwoods (1997 Easum and Bandy) where we write about the organic church and the role of the Spiritual Midwife. Our metaphor of Spiritual Midwife describes in how the missional leader functions as he or she attempts to assist others in the birth of their God-given gifts. Success for spiritual midwives is not so much in what they do as how others live out their lives because of their leadership.

Another of our books along this theme is Talisman: Global Positioning for the Soul  (2006 Bandy). This is a book for those who are seeking a profound Christian faith “outside the box” of traditional church. It introduces those who are seriously experimenting with faith to the six experiences of Christ that touch the deepest anxieties of living. Tom provides practical coaching for busy people to find spiritual companionships and build spiritual disciplines.

Finally, A Second Resurrection ( 2007 Easum) describes the spiritual malaise of today’s institutional church and focuses on how to renew the spiritual life of the congregation. One of the criticisms leveled at this book is that it doesn’t offer any practical suggests as to how to “fix” the problem.  But then, trying to fix the problem is the problem. Machines can be fixed; organic entities can’t – they can only be grown. But that's one of the differences between the missional and institutional leader.

The Marriage of John MacArthur and Mark Driscoll

Sometimes I read a book because I want to learn. At other times, I read for personal inspiration. I read this book because I was ticked off! I really was.

In a five day time frame I heard three people mock, deride, and slam John MacArthur and his new book called, The Truth War. In each case I asked a simple question. I followed up their rant about how bad the book is with a very fair inquiry.

“Have you read it?”

Guess what. In each case the answer was the same, “No. But I have heard it is bad.”

This left me with no other option. I went out that night, bought it off the shelf at a local store, and read it.

So, why are people mad enough to criticize a book they have not read? Why would three people I like and respect bash this book?

Let me give you the bird’s eye view of the topic. The book is an exposition of the brief Epistle of Jude, the diminutive twenty-five verse book of the Bible tucked right before the Book of Revelation. MacArthur’s premise is that false teachers have been around the church through history, and they are still present today. He is looking at the “attack” on truth and seeking to uncover those he believes are false teachers.

Most Christians would affirm his basic premise and agree that we need to beware of false teaching in every generation. The rub and resistance come, I believe, for two reasons. First, MacArthur has a very harsh tone in the book and comes off a bit judgmental…but I felt that was intentional. He is dealing with a tough topic that few want to address today.

The bigger issue seems to be the target of his book. He is pointing a big finger at the Emergent Church Movement and a number of leaders that he mentions by name. His criticisms are strong. His are accusations harsh. He gives names of those he disagrees with. In some cases I strongly disagreed with who he put on his "hit list." In other cases, I found myself resonating with his concern…realizing that I have asked some of the same questions and had some of the same concerns.

Though it might seem like a strange juxtaposition, I was reminded of a section of another book I read recently called, Confessions of a Reformission Rev, by Mark Driscoll. He raises some of the same concerns about the Emergent Movement. On page 21, in an effort to distinguish between the emerging church and the emergent movement, he writes: “The emergent church is part of the Emerging Church Movement but does not embrace the dominant ideology of the movement. Rather, the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism. The only difference is that the old liberalism accommodated modernity and the new liberalism accommodates postmodernity.”

For a few years I have heard people in the Emergent Church Movement declare that they want to "begin a conversation". After reading MacArthur’s book as well as Driscoll’s, I would say there is a conversation in progress. I think it is an interesting and important one. Let’s keep talking.

--- Kevin Harney

Strong Fathers Wanted!

I've recently entered a new stage of life over the last six months with the birth of my wife and I's daughter.  Nothing had quite prepared me for this experience.  No matter how many books I read, or how many conversations I had with people, or no matter how many classes I took....the experience has been overwhelming.  Overwhelming in both very difficult ways (i.e. colic, jaundice, acid reflux, etc.), and in some really beautiful ways (first smile, first giggle, becoming a parent for the first time.)  But it seems like time goes by really fast and I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a good father.  So about six months ago I came across the book Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know by Meg Meeker.  It seemed like a very interesting book and I liked the title...said something about the importance of my relationship with my daughter.

I just started reading the book about two weeks ago since I hadn't really had anytime before (you mom and dads know what I'm talking about).  And it is a great book.  Every time I read a chapter I turn to my wife and have to tell her what I've been reading just to process it with someone.  It's just too overwhelming.  Maybe a second or third time father wouldn't be as overwhelmed, but reading about what our daughters are exposed to in society is a lot to take in.  I work with college students so I'm familiar with a lot of the statistics, but I just don't think I knew how early girls were at risk and advertised to by our culture.  If you read this book you might find yourself disagreeing with some things the author says (depending on your parenting style and your political/theological leanings) and others you will totally resonate with.  I'm sure every father makes mistakes along the way, but I think this book is a very helpful and powerful guide for which to measure themselves by. 

Meeker's 10 Secrets are as follows:

1. You Are the Most Important Man in Her Life
2. She Needs a Hero
3. You Are Her First Love
4. Teach Her Humility
5. Protect Her, Defend Her (and use a shotgun if necessary)
6. Pragmatism and Grit: Two of Your Greatest Assets
7. Be the Man You Want Her to Marry
8. Teach Her Who God Is
9. Teach Her to Fight
10. Keep Her Connected

Those titles were enough to get me to buy the book, and I have not been disappointed.  I leave you with her opening plea in Chapter 1:

"Men, good men: We need you.  We--mothers, daughters, and sisters--need your help to raise healthy young women.  We need every ounce of masculine courage and wit you own, because fathers, more than anyone else, set the course for a daughter's life."

If you are a father or mother, I would be interested to know if you have read this book.  What are your thoughts?  What did you think about her 10 Secrets?