Books @ Leadership Network

Bill Easum interviews Frank Viola about Jesus Manifesto

My friend Bill Easum recently did a good interview with Frank Viola on his new book, Jesus Manifesto. Frank made a brief appearance on our Aha! Show this year, and Bill has been around so much we think of him as family. I thought it would be a good interview to share. and PS. I have read the book and it is great. – Dave Travis

Bill Easum Interviews Frank Viola on the new book JESUS MANFIESTO

I had a chance to chat with Frank Viola recently. You may recall, Frank has published some cutting edge books lately. Then along came Jesus Manifesto coauthored with Len Sweet, a long time friend. When I asked Frank if he would talk with me about the book, he was gracious to talk to me. Here are the results of our conversation.

Frank, it’s good to have you do this interview. I know our readers are to benefit greatly. What motivated you both to write this book?

For years, Len and I both shared a burden and concern that Jesus has been getting short-changed in many quarters of His church. In our observation, scores of Christians are excited about and majoring in things that are about Jesus, while Christ Himself is getting left out in the cold.

It appears that there’s a segment of the Christian church that wants to be the hands and feet of Jesus, while detaching themselves from the Head. Others want to bring attention to the work of Christ in the past, but don’t care too much about seeking His face or living by His Risen life in the present.

So we felt to do a project together that would not only give Christ His rightful place . . . that would not only exalt Him beyond the exosphere . . . but that would also unveil His breathtaking Person in ways that would re-introduce Him in a powerfully fresh way to many of God’s people, leaving them staggering to hunger and thirst for Him and Him alone. Our book seeks to bring together the atoning work of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, and the Person of Christ into one enormous whole in the context of knowing Christ as our indwelling Lord as Galatians 2:20, Colossians 2, and Romans 8 vividly describe.

Let me give you an example of how deep the problem runs. Take for instance the four Gospels. A question sometimes asked is “What are the main themes of the four Gospels?” And so people will begin counting words and underling terms. “The Kingdom of God” is a popular answer. “Eternal Life” is another. “Salvation” another. But the governing theme of all four Gospels is none of the above. In fact, it’s as plain as the nose on an Italian’s face, yet we routinely and frequently miss it. (I’m Italian by the way ;-)

The theme is JESUS CHRIST.

What are the four Gospels? Among other things, they are the content of what Twelve men who lived with God in human form for a little over 3 years presented to a new group of Christians beginning on the day of Pentecost in the city of Jerusalem. They preached Christ to those new believers for about four years. They told the stories of what it was like to live with Him. What He said, did, taught, etc.

The first church on earth was built on a revelation of Jesus Christ. And that revelation is partly contained in the four Gospels. Yet we very rarely hear the four Gospels described in this way.

Let me go a little further. One of the things that has fascinated me as a Christian is the fact that Paul of Tarsus would spend several months with a new church plant in heathen soil, and then return after a year to find them still gathering under Christ and following Him. In fact, last year, I wrote an entire book about this very subject. The question before the house for me was: “What on earth did Paul preach to those people in the space of a few months to cause that kind of dynamic and sustaining effect?” Remember, that was a day in which there was no NT available, the OT scrolls were scarce and locked up in the synagogues, and 90% of those new Christians were illiterate.

Right or wrong, I believe that some of what we have presented in Jesus Manifesto gets close to what Paul preached. He called it “the unsearchable riches of Christ” in Ephesians – something we don’t hear too often today. We feel (and hope) that Jesus Manifesto gives readers a glimpse of some of those riches.

Tell us the story behind writing the book with Leonard Sweet.

In June of 2009, we put together a 2,400-word essay outlining what was on our hearts. We published it on the Internet, and it quickly went viral. As time went on, two things happened. Readers wanted us to expand the essay, and Thomas Nelson Publishers wanted to publish a book on it. So we began unpacking the ideas we had outlined in our essay into a 200-page book. It released a year later, June 2010.

What has the reaction from readers been so far, and how do you feel about it?

Concerning how I feel about it: To be frank, I think it’s a pretty sweet book ;-)

All jesting aside, I feel quite good about the work. Len and I both felt that a burden had lifted from us when we wrote the essay and particularly when we completed the book. The fact that so many influential Christian leaders from all different tribes have supported and endorsed the work has been a real marvel to me personally. (Readers can check out the endorser list at http://www.thejesusmanifesto.com/endorsements.php)

As far as reader reactions go, it’s beyond what I expected. Our goal in the book was to present a seismic revelation of Christ to the heart of every reader. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is using it toward that end in the lives of not a few people. Consequently, many are saying that the book has changed their lives. Others are saying it brought them to tears as well as to their knees – this includes Christian leaders and pastors.

When people use words like “masterpiece” … “epic” … “a classic” … “breathtaking” to describe your work, it’s profoundly humbling and causes you to thank the Lord in amazement, knowing that it’s Him and not you. So I feel confident that God has breathed upon it, and I’m very grateful that he would use the likes of me, a very flawed vessel, to carry a piece of the ark so to speak. I’m very in touch with the fact that it’s not what we do that has any spiritual or eternal value; it’s what God does.

Reviews and testimonials are coming to us almost daily. People can read how it’s impacting other readers here.

What do you hope to see changed as a result of the book, especially among leaders and pastors?

I began following the Lord seriously at the age of 16. For about the first decade of my Christian life, I gave my life to Christian service. I did a lot. But something happened to me in my late 20s. I got a revelation of Jesus Christ that ruined me. My entire pursuit changed from serving Him to knowing Him, for I realized that I didn’t know Him very well.

Some of the mail I’m getting is by pastors and leaders who are saying the same thing: it sounds like this -- “This book has wrecked me. I now realize that I don’t know Jesus very well and I’ve been preaching things instead of Christ.”

My hope is that this same epiphany (if I can use that word) would happen to every person undertaking Christian service today after reading the book. That they would put it down and begin to make their sole pursuit and obsession knowing Christ in the depths. For everything else flows out of that relational knowledge, including Christian service.

Incidentally, we’ve just launched a new iTunes podcast that explores these issues in depth called CHRIST IS ALL. It’s free to subscribe and many young leaders are making use of it.

You've written a number of books on the church and God's mission, how does Jesus Manifesto relate to those previous works?

I recently write an entire blog post on this very question. Readers can check it out here. But the short of is that the golden thread that runs through all of my work on the church and God’s mission is the absolute and utter headship, centrality, and supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus Jesus Manifesto is the thread that ties all my previous works together. It’s the hub and the rim while my previous five books are the spokes. In the same vein, Len has said that Jesus Manifesto may be the most important book he’s ever written. People can hear him talk about it here.

If you had one thing to say to a young pastor just starting out what would it be?

There are 3 books that I have written with every young leader in mind: They are: Finding Organic Church, Pagan Christianity, and Jesus Manifesto.

So my advice would be for young leaders (and those who feel called to the work) to read those three books prayerfully and with an open heart toward the Lord. And when you are finished, I'm completely available to talk to you about your impressions, reactions, and what you feel God is saying to you in response.

I'm on the look-out for young people who are gifted and called by the Lord, but who are people of integrity who won't take short-cuts in God's work. But rather, who are willing to prepare for their ministry the Lord's way.

I receive a steady influx of emails from pastors in their 40s, 50s and 60s who are burned-out spiritually and have come to conclusion that they didn't prepare for God's work in their youth the way the Lord prescribed. (The Lord’s way of raising up workers just about been forgotten in our time and it’s rarely observed today, unfortunately.) Youthful enthusiasm and youthful ambition drove them in their 20s, and now they feel they wasted much of their lives . . . and there's little fruit to show for it. Some of these men are (or were) pastors of large congregations.

So I'm always thrilled when I meet young gifted people who are willing to prepare for their ministry God’s way as laid out in the New Testament (the pattern is consistent from beginning to end). I’ve got one eye open for young people who are willing to throw away the calendar and spend their youth knowing Jesus Christ in the depths, learning what Body life is all about experientially, and learning a bit about the cross in experience. To my mind, these are the ones whom God will use mightily in the future for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. Regrettably, such people are relatively rare today (I’m privileged to have some of them in my life right now). But I hope and pray that their tribe increases in the days ahead.

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Frank’s website contains a vast array of free resources on the deeper Christian life and the organic expression of the church: www.FrankViola.com – To read all about Jesus Manifesto, go to www.theJesusManifesto.com

Reading Preferences Gone Digital?

Leadership Network recently polled Advance readers on their reading habits.  We also asked participants how much of their consumption of information happened digitally.  While close to 30% indicated that over 50% of their reading happened without paper, there still seemed to be a preference for print media, especially when it comes to books. 

A year from now, will the preference for paper remain?  My guess is that as the options for digital readers continue to grow, we will see a swing in this data.  My colleague, @stephanieplagens reported on preferences among the early digital reading devices here and there is some speculation that by 2012, the vast majority of cell phones in use will be smart phones with digital reading capabilities.

 

Approximately what percentage of your reading materials are read in a digital format?

1-25%	44%
26-50%	23%
51-75%	22%
75-100%	6%
I don't read anything in digital format.	5%

Powered by Zoomerang® Online Surveys

 

What do you think?  Comment below or contact me at greg.ligon@leadnet.org

Greg Ligon

Vice President and Publisher

Leadership Network

twitter - @gregligon

Sticky Teams

Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne is one of the most practical and insightful books I’ve read in over two decades. It’s one of those books when you put it down you say “I wish I had written that.’ So I want to spend some time telling you why I think this is such a powerful book.

First, let me tell you who ought to read this book.

· New pastors just starting out- you might as well get things right at the beginning.

· Pastors already in the field who realize that the way their church functions isn’t cutting it.

· Pastors who are fed up with fighting with their Board.

· Pastors who are having trouble leading their staff.

 Now, that list covers a multitude of sin, doesn’t it?

When I first read this book, I could not believe how simple, yet profound, it was. In less than 200 pages he shares the secrets of making staff and Boards function in harmony. Now that is close to a miracle.

Take a look at what makes this book so special.

Osborne shares his wisdom, gained over twenty years, about how to achieve unity with the Board, Staff, and congregation.

How to Achieve a Healthy, Unified, and Aligned Board

His insight on how the function of a Board changes as the church grows is worth the price of the book. In a small church the Board functions as doers- he call it “All hands on deck.” Board members are involved intimately in the day to day affairs of the church.  As the church grows, the Board approves all ministry before it happens. As the church get larger, the Board reviews ministry after it happens.  When the church becomes large the Board sets direction and boundaries.  Understanding how the function of the Board changes as a result of growth can save a lot of heartache and bring about a healthy unified Board.

He offers a suggestion that mirrors closely the one Dave Travis and I offered in our book, Beyond the Box. He suggests having two Board meetings a month. One meeting is for business and one is for team building, training, and prayer.  His argument is that you must spend time with Board in order for them to be a unified part of the team and for them to be prepared to act when called upon. He suggests it is never good to meet with a Board only when you need them to approve something.

How to Achieve a Healthy, Unified, and Aligned Staff

Growth also changes the way staff function.  In a small church staff function more as generalist since there isn’t much staff.  As the church grows, staff function more as specialists since there are more staff. When more growth the staff ceases being “doers” and begins to hand off ministry and empowers others to do ministry. The larger the church grows and the more staff a church has the more important it is that staff functions on behalf of the entire church rather than their ministry silo.

When it comes to staff alignment Osborne suggests using ministry “plumb lines.” Some might call these “core values.” The point is there needs to be a short list of values embedded in every staff person so they are all on the same page.  He then shares a few of his.  Values are different from expectations.  Everyone on the staff should know both.

How to Achieve a Healthy, Unified Congregation

Osborne shares five things that lead to congregational unity.

· A clear and simple mission statement

· A Pastors Class before joining

· Through consistent preaching

· Sermon-based small groups

· short and sweet congregational meetings

There is so much more crammed into this book.  You just have to read it for yourself.

  

Grant by Jean Edward Smith – A Review

I got turned onto this book because a CEO of a major corporation said he was reading it and it would be worth the time.

(Affiliate link here)

Every year I try to read a few military, presidential or political biographies for Leadership purposes. Both types of leaders have to lead very large institutions and as much as you think they might have command and control authority, most of the leadership actually comes from influence.

A well written biography for me shows us the persons great strengths and their great weaknesses. They accomplished much because of both and both are instructive.

Living in the southern United States amongst various battlefields always draws one to the American Civil War histories. I have read the biographies of most of the major generals on both sides and of both presidents. Grant is an excellent bridge character.

On the one hand, the Union Army accelerated its victories under Grant’s leadership but Grant was wise to protect much of the South’s Army, especially its officers, knowing that peace was coming and the nation would need healing. Further, he was pressed into the Presidency after the failings of Andrew Johnson.

Grant is generally remembered as a failed president, but a close examination of his two terms will show a few spectacular failings but lots of good things despite very difficult circumstances.

Some takeaways:

1. I never had grasped how much Grant modeled his military style and operations from his mentor in the Mexican War – Zachary Taylor. His tactics and strategies learned from Taylor carried him to great victories in the future conflicts. Grant was not a star pupil at West Point, but Taylor saw something in him to nurture. And the emphasis on supply lines was well learned by Grant.
2. Grant, even when he was the commanders of all the Armies, traveled and “lived” very simply. It was said that he had a simple breakfast, such as a cucumber sliced with vinegar. He had two small tents, one for sleeping and one for meetings with other generals. A few chairs, a writing table. This was contrasted to many other generals, on both sides, who had elaborate staffs and headquarters operations.

Grant’s example is to travel light.

3. This was the age before much of the electronic communication. Telegraph lines existed but were unreliable. Grant was apparently the master of clear, concise, written communications, a gift I wish I could develop more. His orders were clear to understand for the other units. And coordinating lots of fighters over a wide terrain, takes clear and reliable communication. I think of that often with my own dispersed staff. I have the advantage of telephones, video calls and the like, but clear assignments in writing are invaluable.

4.Take initiative – whether on the battlefield or the Executive Office, Grant believed in seizing opportunities and “taking the fight to the enemy.” His sources of biggest frustrations were generals that waited for conditions to change and be just right, instead of taking the fight directly to the front lines when the enemy was vulnerable. To put it in modern terms, when the momentum is with you, keep the lines moving forward.

Not a short book, but well written and well paced between Grant’s early days as an Army officer, his failure as a private citizen, his organization of volunteers that vaulted him into war leadership and ultimately the Presidency. I would commend it to you as a great vacation book.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw

(fyi: simultaneously released over at http://books.leadnet.org as well)

Wait a second! What in the world is this review doing in Leadership Network Books blog for goodness sake? Who in the world is minding the store over there? Have they gone completely mad?

Who would feature the famously foul-mouthed, foul-tempered author/tv personality/former chef in a blog about leadership?

OK, let me put it out there.

I occasionally watch Bourdain’s TV show on the Travel Channel. I did read Kitchen Confidential. I have looked at a few of this other books. And yes, he is ill tempered, uses language you will never hear, or should hear in church, and his subject of both tv, magazine and books are really a little afield of our normal church leadership subjects.

But I think the man is a brilliant reporter. He has a point of view and there is no mistaking it. You know where he stands. No guessing. Straight at you. I like that.

He values street food and fine food. I like that.

The latest book is Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook is on par with Kitchen Confidential.

Hey, the guy is admittedly a former drug addict and willingly shares all his dysfunctions. He is painfully open about his past. I can appreciate the honesty. If you want to read something by a good, clean, Christian author this summer, this ain’t it.

But I found some incredible value in the book.

First, his writing style is appropriate for the time. So if you just like to read good writing, I say go for it.

Go read the Chapter called “So You Want to Be a Chef” and translate chef to pastor and cocaine and heroin addiction to codependency and approval addiction. Change seminary for culinary school and you will get the drift. Tony’s advice: Don’t go to culinary school before you start cooking somewhere to see if it really fits you. Know how hot it is in the kitchen before going in debt to the ivory tower. I know a lot of young seminary grads that should have taken this advice.

Go read “The Fear” chapter to get a sense of how restaurant operations have coped with the current recession both in positive and negative ways. Ok, yep, churches are different and operate differently. But seeing how these small businesses have morphed in the current age is instructive. Some got creative and survived, some didn’t. Some just quit.

I liked the chapter on David Chang, the hypochondriac creative genius who knows he has hit it lucky and is just not that smart. But he is very open, transparent and is loved because of it.

And finally, I think the best piece of reporting I have read in years is in the Chapter 18 “My Aim is True.” I know you may not care who butcher’s the fish at your seafood establishment, but the description of Justo Thomas and his regular day, is an incredible behind the scenes look at the way a piece of fish turns up on your plate for dinner.

Yes, you will cringe at the language and views of Tony. You will get bored at some of his personal digs at other chefs and tv folks at times if you haven’t watched the show, but it was a great read and for food lovers, a must.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

www.twitter.com/davetravis

Delivering Happiness

About a month ago I was sent an advanced copy of Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness. I was planning on just lightly skimming it, but I ended up really falling in love with the story.

Most of the business principles you’ll find in the book have been around forever, but Tony does a great job of describing how he’s actually practiced them in his life and his company (http://zappos.com)

The opportunities / crises he faced in growing the company are riveting. What gets under my skin about the book is that as a person deeply connected to communities of faith, Tony’s passion puts many of us to shame.

In his story you’ll find huge leaps of faith, creativity spawned out of desperation, and sacrifice to the point of liquidating everything he owned… and all this to sell shoes!

Our world needs more people committed to Delivering Happiness.

Lon Wong 
http://solarcrash.com 
http://twitter.com/lon

The Final Book of the Series – Kingdom without Borders

For my vacation reading – Kingdom Without Borders: The Untold Story of Global Christianity – was the most impactful. The author, a professor at Seattle Pacific, tells us upfront this is going to be a serendipitous journey story. It mixes theology, missiology and story telling along the way. Quite frankly, I usually hate that, but I loved this book.

Reasons to love it:

1. It is a reminder that Christianity is alive, well and vital around the world.
2. It helps me again to take off the blinders of our own versions of Christianity practiced in the West.
3. It helps me to hear of how suffering for the sake of the gospel is necessary for bold advance of the gospel.
4. It reminded me how what we call aid and development, is a natural outgrowth of the Christian life of believers around the world.

As Leadership Network considers and weighs it’s global involvements in the future, I was constantly reminded that we have much to learn.

I can’t tell you that I marked too many pages, or drew out a whole bunch of principles from this book, but I was mighty glad that I read it. I am going to make my International Affairs major daughter read it too.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

The Fourth Book of Vacation – The Power of Pull

For those just catching up to the series, you can read the first post here on how I picked books for my recent quick vacation.

The next post was on the first book – Soccernomics

The next on A Perfect Mess

And the one before this on In Defense of Food.

Ok, The Power of Pull is much like other business books I have read lately. It is sort of a combination of Tribes+Trust Agents with an academic’s slant.

On the one hand, I felt I had read all of this before in other works. While some of the case studies are original to the book, they are so similar to others that I didn’t get a lot of fresh discovery. On the other hand I did note that in my note-taking in the back flyleafs, I had jotted down multiple page numbers for reference.

The contrast of the book is between “Push” – sort of the idea that we used to push products and ideas out to consumers and they would respond, instead of crowdsourcing and co-creating with users to create “Pull”.

I did find one section very useful in describing “a shaping view”. In the authors’ view it describes “a vision, a shaping view, a galvanizing statement about the future of a market, an industry, or a broad social arena that says how tomorrow will be different from today and how everyone will be better off thereby.” (I note how the editor probably put that last word in there to not end the sentence in a preposition)

I think they have hit a good description of powerful vision in our niche arena here. I think what passes for vision in churches and parachurches is often too specific and descriptive. But good vision is broader – a shaping view – that helps guide all the actors towards a direction AND shows how things will be better. I think that type of vision empowers. It assists leads in making iterative decisions to move in a direction that allows for flexibility.

I am going to try and use “shaping view” as a description rather than vision in the future.

For my money, there are a few good observations as well about the power of weak ties theory, which I think is also huge in our arena. But after that, very skip able book.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

My Stack of Books Today

Here is my current stack.

What’s in your stack for the summer?

We are doing our current survey of readers.

Send me a photo or post in the comments.

Will post more vacation reviews later today.

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

dave (dot) travis (at) Leadnet (dot) org

Third Book of Vacation – In Defense of Food

OK, this is one where NPR sucked me in. I heard an interview with Michael Pollan, author, and stopped and bought it. It reads more like an extended New Yorker article.

Basic idea right on the cover: “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

As the author states right up front, that is the thrust of the book. Follow this grandma advice and you will do well nutritionally.

The author describes how the thinking has shifted over the years in science and public policy to get us away from this basic line of thinking. With the combined forces of food processors, taste-makers and government policy, we get further and further away from this sound advice. Plus the science of what causes cancer, heart disease, stomach ailments, depression, etc, etc, blah, blah mainly serves as a distraction.

Media focus on one part of our western diet versus another just leaves people confused.

Since the advent of eating guidelines we have more obesity than ever before even while the percentage of fat in our diets has dropped.

After the top idea the next big idea is “if your great grandma wouldn’t recognize what it is, don’t eat it.” Which follows the advice of: “if you see an ingredient with a funny sounding chemical name, best not to eat that.”

This is not some vegetarian, whole foods, take your vitamins or organic argument but a sensible discussion of what foods are good for us and how they can supply our nutritional needs while keeping us trim.

A quick read at 200 pages to boot.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

(And yes, in the interest of full disclosure, that’s an affiliate link picture up there benefitting Leadership Network)