Books @ Leadership Network

What did I put on the Kindle?

So what did I put on the Kindle?

A few weeks ago I asked the question: To Kindle or not to Kindle over at my personal blog: www.davetravisnow.com.

I got a few responses from the passionate Kindle users, so I used that excuse to blow my tax refund on one.

My youngest daughter has a kindle 1 and she uses it for school and to surreptitiously check her email during class. But I wasn’t crazy about hers.

But the new Kindle 2 is a great improvement. Before I tell you what I put on my new kindle, here is what I like:

1. Saving weight and space. First in my travel backpack and second in my office. It would be pretty cool to not have so many bookshelves. Books are pretty but seem to just gather dust after I am through with them.
2. Ease of buying books. If it’s available on Kindle it’s real easy to hit the “buy” button. Maybe too easy.
3. The free books available. I had no idea so many were free. You will see a few below, but also see what I don’t like number 1.
4. Ability to send Word and PDFs over to it. Makes it easy for me to carry some docs and keep them handy.

5. Battery

   Life. – I went a week without recharging using several hours a day.
6. Type size adjuster – as opposed to the books that sometimes cause me some difficulties. This also speeds the reading for me. (Don’t want to hear any “you are so old” jokes)

Dislikes:

1. Price of the books – When my daughter got hers the max price of any book as around $10. No more. They tend to be very close to the price of bound books.
2. Can’t pass along a book easily. When I get through with a book I am usually through. I keep what I want and pass along the rest. I can’t do that now.
3. Some books not available. In fact quite a few that I have wanted to buy, not there.
4. The cover they sell you is way overpriced and sort of cheap looking. Not worth the $30 but I think the unit does need some protection.
5. The highlighting and note taking is clumsy and doesn’t work well. And I like to make notes.
6. Don’t like that I can’t use it pre-takeoff and the 10 minutes before landing. So you still need something to read in those times.

The first books loaded on there:

I had just met Frank Viola that week and found him to be such a delightful and generous soul that I felt guilty for not reading his books. He has strong opinions but is so gracious, I immediately loaded some of his including Reimaging Church, Pagan Christianity and The Untold Story of the New Testament. I haven’t read them yet but they are there ready to read.

I found out that the ESV Bible translation was free. I didn’t have a copy of that translation so I put it on the kindle. I will say that I am so used to handling scriptures by turning pages that it is quite an adjustment moving to this format. But I am liking the translation so far. Might take the place of the NIV for me.

I put Outside Innovation by Patricia Seybold on there the first day. Another book I had been wanting to buy but not lug around. Haven’t read it yet.

I found multiple P.G. Wodehouse classics available for free. I snagged them immediately. I have to read his humor every week to keep me sane. So I got Psmith, Journalist, The Adventures of Sally, and My Man Jeeves.

I bought Living Brands by Raymond Nadeau. I am half-way through. Don’t waste your time or money.

I bought Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers and Warriors shaped Globalization by Nayan Chada and it is about the spread of globalization through traders and preachers. Fairly interesting.

Finally I bought House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street by William Cohan. I bought it because I heard an interview with the author on the way to the airport. 60 seconds later it was on my kindle so I could read it on the plane.

So look for future entries on “what’s on my kindle? Worth it or not?”

---- Dave Travis, Managing Director at Leadership Network

The Morning After Innovation 3

It's very quiet around here this morning. I'm sitting here in my favorite chair with a cup o joe reflecting on all that I saw and heard at Leadership Network's Innovation 3 Conference that concluded yesterday. Personally it was a phenomenal time of connecting and networking with a ton of old and new friends. I met so many young ministry leaders there that I would probably never cross paths with had we not gathered in Dallas this week. If I had to boil it down to just one thing that I took away from this gathering, it would be this -- how encouraged and hopeful I am for the future of the Church. As ministry leaders (and servants), we will always have our struggles and disagreements. That's just part of the deal. Beyond all that, I witnessed a real hunger for connection, for learning, for community, and for a real sense of mission, as overused as all of those terms are. As great as it was to hear positive feedback from conference participants, I know that there was so much more going on during those two days than just another Christian conference. Yet again, God showed up and put together some incredible encounters for us.

If you didn't have an opportunity to be there with us in person, you'll have an opportunity to virtually experience much of Innovation 3 in the coming weeks. We recorded just about everything! Todd Rhoades, aka The Monday Morning Insight Guy, told me last night that we probably captured and recorded somewhere between 40-50 hours of content. That includes audio and video recordings of main sessions and breakouts. We'll be rolling that out for you soon. Some of it is already posted on the Innovation 3 website. We'll post more on the site as we get to it. More details on that later.

Here's the link to the Innovation 3 Conference Live!site. You may want to check out the photos and other stuff posted there when you have a few minutes.

I'm keeping this post brief today. There's so much still rolling around in my head this morning. As the consummate introvert, I need some time to process and reflect. I just wanted to say thank you -- thank you to all of you who invested the time and the dollars to join us in Dallas this week. My thanks to God for showing up and for orchestrating the entire experience. And lastly, my thanks to God and to Leadership Network for providing this vocation for me. This is certainly not the path in life I would have chosen for myself. I wish I could say that I developed this tremendous, focused, intentional strategy for my life that led me to where I am today. The truth is, I stumbled into this vocation, I thought by accident. I'm glad that God had (and has) plans for me.

Well Mr. White, aka Coffee Drinking Cat, is actually drinking my coffee right now so I'm abandoning that cup and heading over to the kitchen to get another cup. Stay tuned for further Innovation 3 developments.

Linda Stanley directs the Life Stage Leadership Community Groups for senior pastors.

  

Voices of the Missional Movement Podcast: Reggie McNeal

Last week, I introduced one of the podcasts from a recent Leadership Network event where we hosted four authors for a conversation about what is happening in the missional movement.  The last post was Neil Cole.

Now, check out Reggie McNeal at the link below.  Reggie is author of multiple books including Present Future and Practicing Greatness, each part of the Leadership Network/Jossey Bass series.

[Download MP3 audio of Reggie McNeal]

Greg Ligon

Vice President and Publisher

Leadership Network

"How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth"

Watching The Colbert Report this summer, I was disappointed when a well-known and popular Christian leader was asked by Stephen to explain why Christians seem to obey some parts of the Bible and not others. Citing the Levitical laws, Colbert asked about stoning homosexuals and disobedient children, and I think he even brought up the prohibition against wearing clothing made of two types of fabric.

Rather than answering the question, the pastor made a joke almost as if he was trying to change the subject. (To be fair, it could be that he went on to answer the question only to have the answer edited out of the broadcast).

The simple answer: The law is the basis of the Old Covenant but it isn’t binding on Christians in the New Covenant except where specifically renewed.

In other words, God’s grace and love should be paramount. He is the Judge of all, not us. Too often, Christians wear t-shirts with two different types of fabrics which seem to shout judgment and condemnation about some things we find in Scriptures while ignoring other issues.

So many people throw out all of God’s Word because some of it doesn’t make sense at first glance. Other times, people use the Bible to push their own agenda rather than allowing the text to mean what the author intended for it to mean.

For the “Preaching and Communication” class I am teaching at Golden Gate Seminary, I have chosen How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth as one of the textbooks. I have always appreciated this book for the way it helps us understand how to interpret and apply the Scriptures to our lives.

Here are some of the principles:

Humility is essential in preaching and applying the Scriptures.

Life transformation comes through the application of the Scriptures not information about it.

Understanding the types of literary genres is essential to understanding the meaning of the text.

For the letters in the New Testament, whenever we share particulars (specific life situations) with the first-century setting, God’s Word to us is the same as his Word to them.

God is the hero of all biblical narratives.  The biblical narratives are descriptive rather than prescriptive.

We need to use the Scriptures to interpret Scripture.

We need to try to determine how the original hearers would have identified the story.

Wisdom is the ability to make godly choices in life.

If you would like a complete overview of How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, send me an email at eric@mosaic.org with “Reading the Bible” in the subject line.

- Eric Bryant

Co-Pastor, Mosaic, Los Angeles

Author, Peppermint-Filled Pinatas

The ESV Study Bible: A First Look

This week Crossway Bibles publishes their much-anticipated ESV Study Bible.  Using the English Standard Version, the ESV Study Bible was produced by 95 evangelical contributors, led by

• Dr. Wayne Grudem- General Editor,
• Dr. J.I. Packer - Theological Editor,
• Dr. C. John Collins - Old Testament Editor, and
• Dr. Thomas R. Schreiner - New Testament Editor. 

I received my review copy today from the publisher. 

I have over twenty Bibles and love to collect and use various translations and study bibles.  My initial impression is that the ESV Study Bible reflects the most aggressive Study Bible agenda I've ever seen from a publisher.  The array of features of the ESV Study Bible is truly impressive and the production values are excellent.  I was immediately struck by the over 200 full-color maps spread throughout the text and the full-page maps in the back of the volume.  A welcome addition to their selection is a map of the Middle East as it exists today. 

Also notable are the over 200 charts that are found in various places of this study bible. 

The ESV Study Bible offers over 50 articles on a variety of topics including

• The Roman Empire and the Greco-Roman World,
• Jewish Groups at the Time of the New Testament,
• Biblical Doctrine:  An Overview (28 pages in small print),
• Biblical Ethics:  also an oveview which covers divorce and remarriage, abortion, homosexuality, War, Racial Discrimination,etc.,
• The Canon of the Old Testament,
• The Canon of the New Testament,
• The Reliability of the Old Testament Manuscripts,
• The Reliability of the New Testament Manuscripts,
• The Bible in Christianity which covers Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Liberal Protestantism, and Evangelical Protestantism,
• The Bible and Religious Cults which covers Mormonism, Jehovahs Witnesses, Christian Science, and the New Age Movement,
• Hebrew and Aramaic, and How They Work (!),
• Greek, and How It Works (!),
• etc.

Also notable are the color illustrations where the editors have made an attempt at biblical accuracy where information was available.  Illustrations include 

• the Ark of the Covenant,
• Tabernacle and Court Architectural Plan,
• Solomon's Temple,
• Jerusalem in the Time of Nehemiah,
• Herod's Temple Complex in the Time of Jesus,
• Synagogue Architectural Plan,
• etc. 

Regarding their theological orientation, the editors write,

The doctrinal perspective of the ESV Study Bible is that of classic evangelical orthodoxy, in the historic stream of the Reformation. ... Within that broad tradition of evangelical orthodoxy, the notes have sought to represent fairly the various evangelical positions on disputed topics such as baptism, the Lord's Supper, spiritual gifts, the future of ethnic Israel, and questions concerning the millennium and other events connected with the time of Christ's return.

The ESV Study Bible features 20,000 explanatory notes, 80,000 cross references, and a concordance. 

The Bible text itself is in a very pleasing single column format with an easy-to-read 9 pt. font. 

Purchase of this Study Bible also includes a code that allows the user to visit the ESV Study Bible Website and access every feature of the Study Bible online, an audio version of the entire ESV, and other features only available online as well. 

At this time, the Crossway Bibles is offering six editions of the ESV Study Bible, which can be found at the Westminster Bookstore with a price range of $28.49 for hardback to $143.99 for a premium calfskin leather edition. 

A few quibbles:  There's no bookmark ribbon in the hardcover edition.  And I would have liked to have seen a separate section on poverty and the Christian's responsibility in the Biblical Ethics overview. And it would have been good to have seen a mention of the various soteriological opinions (e.g. Calvinism/Arminianism) when the editors mention particulars where there is disagreement among evangelicals. 

That being said, in my opinion, the ESV Study Bible sets a new standard for Study Bibles and will be a valuable addition to the library of any pastor, lay leader, or earnest Bible student.

I'm genuinely looking forward to dive more deeply into my copy. 

 

Stephen Shields
sshields@faithmaps.org
http://www.faithmaps.org
http://faithmaps.blogspot.com

Voices of the Missional Movement Podcast: Neil Cole

Last week, I introduced one of the podcasts from a recent Leadership Network event where we hosted four authors for a conversation about what is happening in the missional movement.  The last post was Earl Creps

Now, check out Neil Cole at the link below.  Neil is author of Organic Church and a part of the Leadership Network and Jossey Bass series.

[Download MP3 audio of Neil Cole]

Next up - Reggie McNeal and Milfred Minetrea.

Greg Ligon

VP and Publisher

Leadership Network

Voices of the Missional Movement Podcast - Earl Creps

Leadership Network recently hosted four authors for a conversation about what is happening in the missional movement.  Check out the first speaker, Earl Creps at the link below.  Earl is author of Off-Road Disciplines and a recent release from Leadership Network and Jossey Bass - Reverse Mentoring.

[Download MP3 audio of Earl Creps]

Stay tuned also for conversations with Neil Cole, Milfred Mintrea and Reggie McNeal.

Greg Ligon, Vice President and Publisher

Leadership Network

Why Aren't American Christians More Generous?

  Passing the Plate, by sociologists Christian Smith, Michael O Emerson and Patricia Snell, is likely to become a landmark book. Oxford University Press is known for high-quality, well-researched books. This 240-page volume, which includes a number of graphs and tables, meets that criteria, but is also highly readable.

The book asks why giving rates are so low for those who call themselves followers of Christ in light of so many denominations' emphasis on tithing and on giving sacrificially and generously. The facts are painful: Far from the 10 percent of one's income that tithing requires, American Christians' financial giving typically amounts, by some measures, to less than one percent of annual earnings. A startling one out of five self-identified Christians gives nothing at all. The authors' extensive survey data plus citations from various studies of Christian philanthropy show that Catholics are the worst, with many Protestant groups in the middle and Mormons (whom this study regards as "non-Christian religious believers") at the top.

The authors suggest that perhaps sociology can help explain the "giving riddle" as they call it. They identify a crucial set of factors that appear to depress religious financial support -- among them the powerful allure of a mass-consumerist culture and its impact on Americans' priorities, parishioners' suspicions of waste and abuse by nonprofit administrators, clergy's hesitations to boldly ask for money, and the lack of structure and routine in the way most American Christians give away money. In their conclusion, the authors suggest practical steps that clergy and lay leaders might take to counteract these tendencies and better educate their congregations about the transformative effects of generous giving.

If American Christians gave more generously, say the authors, any number of worthy projects -- from the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS to the promotion of inter-religious understanding to the upgrading of world missions -- could be funded at astounding levels. By illuminating the social and psychological forces that shape charitable giving, Passing the Plate is sure to spark a much-needed debate on a critical issue that is of much interest to church-goers, religious leaders, philanthropists, and social scientists.

For a sample chapter click here. 

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

Reason for God

I just finally finished Tim Keller's "Reason for God".  Keller's been noted for saying that his book is 'Mere Christianity' for dummies.  While he quotes plenty of C.S. Lewis, I personally think it's better than Lewis. 

I haven't read apologetics in a while, but I think I'll try to read this over again once every year. 

I'd recommend it to believers and skeptics alike, even if they're not all that into 'reason', Keller has a way of confronting doubts without being confrontational. 

Lon Wong / http://solarcrash.com

Reimagining Church

By Frank Viola

Frank Viola’s Reimagining Church is a logical sequel to his book Pagan Christianity. Like the former book, this one is a meticulous, interesting, disturbing look at the New Testament understanding of the early church. What’s interesting is I agreed with much of Pagan Christianity but not nearly as much of Reimagining the church.

In this book Viola makes his true feelings known- the only legitimate form of Christianity is the house church. Toward the end of his book he compares the renewal of the institutional church to trying to repair a house whose foundation is cracked.

Before giving my critique of his argument I need to say a couple of things. First, anyone who has followed my writings knows I have been a critic of most of the modern day forms of the institutional church for a long time. My books, Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers and Growing Spiritual Redwoods both point up the need for a more organic approach to the church, but without abandoning the institutional setting. I just don’t feel as if Christianity can reach its potential in an institutional and concert driven society without assuming some form of institution and large venue worship.

Second, we should all be endebted to Viola for his diligent and provocative work. Like the Emergents, Viola has revealed the naked truth – the emperor has no clothes.  Most of the practices of modern day Christianity, including our forms of church, are foreign to Scripture and are in many ways lethal to the development of the kingdom of God. We must hear his argument and apply the applicable implications without throwing the baby (institutional church) out with the bath water.

However, I find Viola’s basic conclusion about the institutional church to be flawed for several reasons:

·         Viola sees the Trinity as the key to understanding the church (page 33 ff). But nowhere in the Scriptures is the church described as the reflection of the Trinity. In other words, he uses a man-made doctrine (the Trinity) rather than Scripture to provide the meaning of a biblical term and to repudiate aother man made doctrine. I’m not denying the Trinity. I’m just saying it is poor scholarship to use one man made doctrine to denounce another man made doctrine and call it The biblical position on the subject.

·         When comparing the institutional church to the organic church Viola always uses the best possible examples of the organic church and the worst possible examples of institutional church practices. Viola refers to the house church as if It is a panacea where everyone loves everyone. I’ve had enough experience with house churches to know they have as many problems and are as shallow as are most institutional churches.

·         Throughout the book he totally ignores many of the new forms of church life emerging simply because it is institutional. And he encourages his readers to abandon the institutional church altogether.  I think this is a very deadly game he is playing.

·         Viola acknowledges the need for contextualization (pps. 37-39) when it comes to cultural things in the Scriptures but denies the need to contextualize the Gospel into our present culture.  It’s okay to rule out the need for women to cover their heads in public but it’s not okay to say that in an institutional and concert driven world an institutional church with a formalized worship service might be valid. To him that would be “overcontextualizing,” but who is to say where the line should be drawn?

·         When it suits him Viola uses a literal translation of the Greek; when it doesn’t he loosing interprets the text to fit his basic premise. Consider his treatment of oversight in the church (Chapter Nine) and authority and submission in Chapter 12.  In both cases he either interprets a clear text into oblivion (pps. 168-176, ) or he totally ignores texts (p. 211) that don’t fit his theme. One of the most flagrant attempts to make the  Scriptures fit his thesis is on page 193 where he proof texts congregational consensus decision making by quoting from Acts 15:22 “with the whole church” and totally ignoring Acts 15:6-7 “The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them.”

·          His use of the term, “family,” to be the basic metaphor for the church goes against most  of  Scripture where the church is described as the “body of Christ,” or the “bride of Christ” (Chapter Five).

If Christianity has to be contextualized to the world in which it finds itself to be effective, then what Viola is advocating could be devastating to Christianity in the West.  Without the institution and without large venue worship, the vast majority of people in this country will never experience Jesus. The house church movement has simply not shown itself to have long term sustainability.  I have no problem with the house church movement. I pray it flourishes; but I also pray the institutional form of Christianity can take the legitimate violations of biblical principles Viola points out and put them into practice.  And what would this look like?

·         Church planting would be the number one mission of all of God’s people and Apostolic church overseers would emerge as the most important role in the church.

·         The distinction between laity and clergy would be replaced by the priesthood of all believers and preaching and teaching would be based on affirmed gifts rather than on academic authority.

·         Leadership would always be a shared leadership (Chapters Eight and Nine). But still there needs to be a “first among equals” for Christianity to reach its potential in our society.  However, leadership must be earned, not taken. The primary roles of this leadership would be to servant (role model), motivate, and mold.

·         Christians would understand that church is not something they “go to” but is something they are wherever two or three of them gather.

·         Every believer would be a participant in a regular small group where all the pastoral care and edification would be received (Chapter Four).

·         The large venue worship would be solely for evangelistic purposes rather than the care and feeding of a passive audience (p. 49).

·         The Lord’s Supper would never be taken in public worship but would be experienced in the small group where there is complete unity and agreement and “friendship intimacy” (Chapter Three).

·         All authority would have to be earned within the congregation so most of the pastors and staff would be raised up from within the congregation (Chapter Nine).

·         Denominations would no longer be needed as people would understand that there is only one church in each city and our unity would be based on our acknowledgement of the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Chapter Six).

·         The Church would understand that it is the Body and Bride of Christ and act accordingly which means unity, harmony, and a common purpose prevail (Chapter Five).

·         Decision making would prerogative of the Elders (shared leadership team) of the church as is demonstrated in Acts 15 (you should note that Viola interprets this text into oblivion with some strange story that brings the entire Jerusalem church into  the decision making process p.193).

I find nothing in Viola’s writings that can’t be applied to the institutional church. Sure, it will cause much consternation in most congregations. But we still won’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water. Viola’s book would be far more appealing if he left room for contextualizing the church into our society and eliminating all of the bad baggage of established Christianity.

For more on this subject go to my blog www.billeasum.com where I'm discussing the various conversations occurring today

Bill Easum
www.easumbandy.com