"As One Devil to Another' and a free book

“AS ONE DEVIL TO ANOTHER” by Richard Platt. Tyndale Publishers This book is a fictional correspondence, after the tradition of CS Lewis book “Screwtape Letters”, between one senior devil, ‘Slashreap’, and his underling ‘Scardaggar’.

 The senior devil is instructing his underling how to defeat and discourage his Christian ‘client’, a university postgraduate student.
In chapter 2 he discusses the 7 demonic virtues: cowardice, excess, injustice, lassitude, doubt, despair and arrogance. The author gives some keen insight into issues such as mentoring, suffering, technology, television, art etc. and ways in which the devil uses these things to hinder our relationship with God.

Some good quotes from the book are: the devil “centers our attention on brick-making that we have made them virtually incapable of becoming architects” p.18
Pushing directly against the purposes of God is so draining that“the best we can manage is a push from the side to deflect His purpose” p.46
In reference to physical beauty and sexuality the devil “has mastered the Dark Art of transforming physical beauty into spiritual ugliness” p.54
In talking about doing good works, “Perfect service to Him (God) creates, ultimately, a mind-set which is utterly indifferent to recognition. The central point is not who has done Good Work, but that Good Work has been done” p.66
In referring to natural beauty, “We teach them to see a desert while standing in a garden” p.114
I love this quote, “Our specialty for millennia has been the manufacture of complete fools” p.82

My favorite and most thought-provoking chapter was on ‘political-correctness’. The author uses the examples of calling ‘cripples’ ‘handicapped’ and calling homosexuality a alternative lifestyle to show how we have lost our ability to sympathize and even pray for those with physical liabilities and weaknesses to sin. This was a good book full of things to provoke thought and to apply for living in a fallen world.

The publishers have given me a coupon for a free book. Let me know if you are interested and it is yours.

How do you know if you are in front?

How do you know if and when you are out in front? When you get kicked in the rear -John Maxwell
I got a few boot prints on my rear, doesnt necessarily feel good, but it is nice to know which way you are headed.

FULLY PRESENT

Do you remember the story of Jeremy Bentham of London, England? He
died in 1832 and left his estate to University College London. But
he also stipulated that his body be embalmed, dressed up and brought
in to preside over the annual meeting of university administrators.
His preserved body is still there today, displayed in a glass
cabinet. And it is apparently still wheeled into the annual
meetings. For years, the secretary of the board added to the minutes
of each session, "Jeremy Bentham, present but not voting."

I've KNOWN people like that -- present but not voting. Too often, I
am one of them. These people are alive, but they are not really
living. As Benjamin Franklin may have put it, they died around 25
but won't be buried until they are 75. They live without passion.
They seem to have forgotten what thrill and wonder life can hold.
They get through each day, but seldom experience anything like deep
joy. They're alive, but barely.
(By Steve Goodier www.LifeSupportSystem.com)

Some people make no contribution. They say they want to be neutral. They say they dont want to take sides, or to get involved. They are like Jeremy Bentham, a corpse just hanging around. Wake up and get involved!

To Believe is Human To Doubt, Divine

“INSURRECTION” by Peter Rollins

Get rid of your religion. This is about burning down our religious beliefs so that we may have a vibrant faith. The author attacks many of our cherished beliefs regarding God and Christ.
In the first section he talks about God as a function. We use God as a crutch to explain things that we do not understand. God comes as an after thought to rescue us from a perplexing situation. Faith is reduced to an idea that helps us cope with life.
In the chapter entitled, ‘To Believe is Human; to Doubt is Divine’, the writer uses the crucifixion as an analogy of us dying to the faith that we have constructed for ourselves. He says we must look to the experience of the cross as a sacrifice more than just a loss.

At this point in the book, I was thinking of how we talk of God so much. We either blame him or give him credit; in reality maybe we should just accept what comes our way and go on, knowing that God is in control. Is all of our ‘god-talk’ just a form of our self- made religion to give us comfort? When the Jews were so fearful (doubtful?) of God not even to mention or write his name, doesn’t it seem that we speak his name in too many trite situations? Does maybe the command, “Thou shalt not use the name of the Lord thy God in vain”, entail more than just not saying “G..D..”?

Another area of needed death that the author touched on is our avoidance of certain things instead of trying to work through that thing. That is, we resist being confronted with things that we already suspect to be true. He uses the example of the holocaust. Many civilians in Germany defended their lack of action in doing something about the mass extermination of the Jews by saying they were unaware of what was going on. Though there were hints all around, they avoided being confronted directly by the facts.
It is easier to avoid the truth and to live the status-quo, than to see the truth and then must act to change it. I suspect that is the case with abortion. It is easier to accept and live out the idea that the fetus is just a bunch of matter than to realize that it may be a child and then have to do something to stop the carnage.

That is the authors point in his section on ‘Resurrection’. He says, ”…the resurrection is a mode of living that embraces the lived experience of doubt, complexity, and unknowing, affirms life, and accepts our responsibility in transforming the world.”
The author uses the story of ‘Batman’ to show how we feed the system that we also think we are trying to change. He ask the question of Bruce Wayne, ‘Would Wayne Industries be better off using his money to develop a strong educational system, setting up training programs for the unemployed and helping small businesses to develop in fighting crime than investing millions into high tech equipment etc. that only he uses to fight a small amount of Gotham city crime?’

The author then asks this question, what if instead of giving to someone in need, our real job was to “help create a world where the poor do not exist? What if the church should be less concerned with creating saints than creating a world where we do not need saints? A world where people like Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King would have nothing to do.
In the very last part of the book there is ‘a conversation with the author’, when asked about trying to duplicate the first century church Rollins says. “The task is not to return to the early church, but rather to return to the event that gave birth to the early church”.

This is a book that needs to be read more than once and then a copy purchased for a friend, so you can discuss what the author has to say.

N.T. Wright Interview

N.T. Wright Interview: “Simply Jesus” & Wright Responds to Critics


Click this link to read the unedited interview:

http://frankviola.org/2012/01/23/ntwright

Our Need For Conversation

“The Virtue of Dialogue: Conversation as a Hopeful Practice of Church Communities” by C. Christopher Smith

This is an e-book about how a church brought renewal to a dying abandoned urban neighborhood through conversation. That is talking across denominational, racial and economic divides in order to get to know one another. The author shares how his church (Englewood Christian Church) in Indianapolis, Indiana through a Sunday evening time of conversation began a number of businesses and community projects that has renewed and brought hope to their community.

He believes that that the starting point for any revival in a church or a community will be its ability to converse. Regarding their situation he says, “Conversation has not been a magical solution to bring us to one-mindedness or to solve all our conflicts…but we do agree on more things and have a much deeper sense of trust that God is guiding us and will continue to work in our midst.” He also believes that through conversations commitments to and love for one another is deepened.

In the final section of the book he shows through scripture (eg. 1 Corinthians 12-14) the practice of conversation and dialogue in the New Testament church. Then gives 3 reasons why conversations are hard to come by in our modern day churches:
1. Our reliance on hierarchical and authoritarian forms of leadership, in which we expect the leaders to make decisions for us.
2. Our democratic way of doing things, thus voting on issues. Which sometimes can shut out the minority voice
3. The size of our churches, in which it is hard to have any say within a large congregation.

He says by their church learning to talk to one another they have become equipped to talk with both their neighbors and other churches.

Overhaul I think the author has touched upon a needy area within the church. This booklet needs to be added to and expanded (the author does give a impressive list of recommended books for those who want to pursue the subject) to include how do we have meaningful conversation across our social type of networks.

I am a Follower

“I AM A FOLLOWER THE WAY, TRUTH, AND LIFE OF FOLLOWING JESUS”

by Leonard Sweet published by Thomas Nelson.

Some of the best things said were in the prologue of the book. The author talks about the overemphasis on leadership in our day and the need to become ‘first followers’.
“We have been told our entire lives that we should be leaders, that we need more leaders, leaders, leaders. But the truth is that the greatest way to create a movement is to be a follower and to show others how to follow. Following is the most underrated form of leadership in existence.”

The author uses Jesus declaration in John 14, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life…’ to establish his general outline of the book. And to encourage the fact that we are followers of Jesus not man. However, the book never seems to hit its mark. I expected and was disappointed in that the author fails to really show the problem of our modern push of leadership in the church and how that ‘leadership’ promotion hinders in developing true followers.
The author in sharing some things regarding his pre-conversion quotes Jean-Paul Sartre who defined sin as the “systematic substitution of the abstract for the concrete.” I felt this book seemed to lean more to the abstract than to the concrete.

I have read many of Leonard Sweets books and always look forward to his new ones. This was the worse one I have read. If this is the first of Sweet you have read and feel disappointed as I did, don’t let that hinder you from picking up and reading some of his other books eg. ‘Nudge’, ‘Post Modern Pilgrims’ and ‘Aqua Church’

Become Sacriligious

Sacrilege: Finding Life in the Unorthodox Ways of Jesus by Hugh Halter
Published by Baker Books.

Two stories that the author shares hooked me with this book and from then on I had a hard time putting it down. The first was in the introduction where he shares his experience of going to the Holy Land but leaves disappointed because of his inability to find Jesus there. “…Religion, religious people, pious performances and massive stone impediments blocked me from…” seeing Jesus.
The second story, in the first chapter, he shares about a hard core neighbor who was giving him the finger ( ‘flipping him the bird’) while the author was mowing his lawn. Not sure how to handle it he decided to stop the mower, lifted both hands in the air and return the finger with both hands, he gave him the ‘double bird’. From that point on they became good friends and the neighbor was part of their faith community.
The author committed what he calls sacrilege, the act of taking what is deemed sacred and to disrespect, disregard, and be irreverent toward it. The author states that Jesus was the most sacrilegious revolutionary of all time and he calls his followers to be like him. Jesus was able to influence those around him because of his sacrilegious ways and thus the author uses the beatitudes to help us become like Jesus.

In the second beatitude “Blessed are those that mourn…” the author brought in those verses in Ecclesiastes which tell us that mourning is better than pleasure. Suggesting that for us to be sacrilegious we must risk being with those who hurt and those who are sick. He used the example of the monastic communities in the middle ages how they would move into areas where there was pain instead of moving away from it. The church would move out of areas where there was disease or plague but the monastics moved into those places. Living in Florida, I have sometimes wondered about our push to move away from the oncoming hurricanes when we know that there will be some who will not be able to move. Should we not stay to be able to help those who were unable to move?

This is just one example that the author uses to help us to realize that to be sacrilegious we must begin seeing things from a different perspective. A Jesus perspective. This is a good book and a easy read.

Stay Away from Zombie Churches

ZOMBIE CHURCH: Breathing Life Back into the Body of Christ by Tyler Edwards

Have you ever been to or been part of a church that seemed alive but yet something of life was missing? Welcome to Zombie church.
The author contends, and rightly so, that many of our churches today are ‘Zombie’ churches. That is churches that have the resemblance of life but are in actuality dead. From a distance they look as though they were alive but upon closer inspection they have lost their connection to life: Jesus Christ.

The author says,”…that many churches in America have lost sight of their purpose. It is this loss of purpose that turns our churches into Zombie churches.” Is it possible to know if my church is a ‘zombie church’? The author says we need to ask ourselves this question, “If the church closed its doors would anyone from the outside even notice?”

From there the author goes into and expounds upon some of the characteristics that resemble Zombie churches. The author says that the church has lost its motivation. We act out of duty instead of love. Love for God and neighbor. He says that it is the zombie churches that do a lot of damage in the world and make Christians look bad. They focus upon a lot of things that are not Jesus and that the ultimate cure for zombiism is life that comes from love.

3 particular areas that I thought the author touched upon, and wish he would have spent more pages on was his words regarding the churches laziness. He summed that area up with these words, “The danger of spiritual laziness is that it corrupts the atmosphere and function of the church.” Using the passage of 2Thess. 3:6-15, a passage that we don’t hear much preaching on.
The second area he mentioned was a sociological condition called, ‘narcotizing dysfunction’. “The idea is that the more we become informed, the less active we become. We mistake knowing about something and even discussing it as actually doing something about it.” Thus we can rationalize not doing anything, because we have talked about it and we are informed about it. How many of our churches talk more about evangelizing etc. than actually doing it?
A third area he mentioned a number of times was about the bad influence of ‘zombie’ Christians and how they tend to make us like them. Yet he never mentioned how we could extinguish, get rid of, or excommunicate those zombies from our midst in a loving way.

A couple problems I had with the book. This book is by no means a scholarly or academic book, by the way it is written I would assume the author, who is also a pastor, tends to be more of a exhorter than a expositor. The chapters seem to run into each other, what I mean by that, is that the author seems to never totally exhaust one chapter. He refers to the same subjects throughout the book, thus making it about 50 pages longer than it needed to be. Also I am not sure for whom the book is written for, a new convert, excited about his new found life, would not recognize that the church had any problems. A cold, should I say ‘zombie christian’, would probably not want to take the time to read it.

CHURCH OUTSIDE THE WALLS- book review

CHURCH OUTSIDE THE WALLS by Raj Samuel

The author, who has held a number of church positions in India and the UK, has done a good job showing the inconsistencies between what a scriptural church is versus what our modern, at least American, church has become. He rightly decries the disillusionment that many have with Christianity by defining it as ‘Churchianity’. His argument is that we must move away from a institutional form of Christianity so that we can rightly represent Jesus to non-Christians.

He begins his argument by showing the unity of God (God is 3 persons but of one essence), the unity of man and the relation between the 2. From there he moves to the fact that each individual is the church and that no one person is more important than another. That the church is not a building, but people. He makes a biblical case for the priesthood of all believers, that all are ministers and not just a select few.

His most interesting (and unique) argument was how we have paganized our concept of the sermon. He says that the NT church was more into “the interactive study of the Word of God” but has now been “ replaced by the Greek Monologue/ Homily”. Thus replacing substance with style, form for content. In the synagogue sermons were not monologue but open for discussion and interaction. The author makes the distinction between teaching and preaching with this quote by C.H. Dodd, “New Testament draws a clear distinction between preaching (kerygma) and teaching (didache)…. Teaching is in a large majority of cases ethical instructions. Preaching, on the other hand, is public proclamation of Christianity to the non-Christian world….while the Church was concerned to hand on the teaching of the Lord, it was not by this (didache teaching) that it made converts. It was by preaching (kerygma).”

The author says the NT church knows nothing of a monologue sermon and this is best evidenced by our lack of spiritual growth, “we witness the adverse effects of this practice - the people neither grow in the Word nor into maturity, but remain spiritual babes.”
The authors point is that preaching is for the unbelievers and that teaching is for the believers. If that is the case, and I would agree with the author, we sure have it turned upside down and my only question/concern is if it would ever be made right.

Though the author does not use history to back up his claims, it easily does. The Salvation Army began by preaching to people out in the streets and my own groups’ founder, John Wesley, began preaching in the fields to the coal miners. Then once they were converted brought them into groups (churches) to teach them.

My only problem with this book is the authors’ own vocational position. It seems that he holds or has held many church offices, which, I assume, he was paid and made his living. Yet he seems to discourage this type of ministry, even using and pushing the tent making ministry of Paul as the proper example of Christian ministry.

America: The Last Best Hope

AMERICA: THE LAST BEST HOPE Vol.3 From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam by William J. Bennett

This book covers the history of the United States from the years of 1988-2008. I have a problem calling it history since I remember a lot of the issues that he brings out in the book. History, it seems to me, to be what took place before you were born.

With that said, the author begins with the presidency of George H.W. Bush. The author, who was on the president’s staff, has only high regard for him. He says only positive things regarding his former boss. Like the presidents”… lasting legacy may be the maturity and self-discipline that the president exercised while in office.” And in regards to the president’s 1992 loss of election to Bill Clinton the authors says, “Great nations are too often ungrateful nations. And we Americans have a great nation. But surely, for our gratefulness and greatness, no people can expect to show their thanks every time they have an election. And in the election year of 1992 gratefulness was at a discount.”

Just as high as he was on George H.W. Bush, saying nothing really negative. He was just the opposite with Bill Clinton, not necessarily saying anything bad, but never saying anything good. A good example of this was seen in the authors failure to mention that in the presidents re-election bid he failed to mention how Bill Clinton used the presidents phrase, “read my lips” in regard to raising taxes against him.

The book moves from Bill Clinton to the presidency of George W. Bush and his fight with Iraq and terrorism. The authors writing of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 left me in tears. He concludes the book in praise of an American that can elect a black president in Barack Obama

A few of the problems I had with the book is the authors failure to explain some things like the Iran-Contra affair in more detail. His mentioning of it and not more explanation was like watching a movie with no end. Also, as in his praise of Bush Sr., his bias seems to show through. Also I feel this book would have been better titled a political history of the US for the years 1988-2008. Though he mentioned and touched upon some cultural issues, there was a definite lack of those issues discussed to understand the US in those years.

Overall, this was a good book, an easy and interesting read. I would now like to read the authors first 2 books of the United States history.

Mega-church or Mob

A friend of mine sent me this, I thought was pretty good.


How the mega-church resembles the mob:

1. Has a founding family, with a "godfather" type as pastor. It is assumed the son will take his place. Access to the "godfather" is limited.

2. The larger families, lord over smaller, sometimes giving the appearance of helping, this too, however, can be an attempt to cement control, and further prove the power of the larger family.

3. If your an outsider, your out, no special treament or knowledge is presented. Once your in your in, you become priveledged to know the future of the church, you are made to feel that your approval is valued. You may even be granted rare access to the "godfather" himself. If you last long enough, you may eventually be considered a "pillar" of the family.

4. As an insider you see all the works and learn the players (know the hit men, and see the hits, often the "family" tries to pull you into the hit, so that the element of control is enhanced).

5. As a mere footsoldier for the family, direction comes from the "godfather" through others, and you are expected to only carry out what you were tasked with.

6. Independent thought, or attempts to improve the process/organization/family will be met with some sort of minor punishment (broken knee caps, or amputated pinky finger); in an attempt to discourage any action outside of what is mandated by the "godfather". These attempts will be seen as a personal offense toward the "godfather" or a threat to the other high ranking family members. This is typically spiritualized as "taking some time off to prevent ministry burn-out".

7. Continued independent thought (even to the betterment of the "family"), will be considered offensive.

8. At this point a hit will be put out on you. From here it will only be a matter of time before you find yourself in a cement coffin, or face down in a drained pool. Do not attempt to explain your actions, or wonder why you had no chance to discuss the issues. You have stepped on an ego of a higher ranking family member, than yourself, you will be prevented from being heard. You will wonder what your offense might have been, the family will justify it as "creating a coup to overthrow the godfather" or "lack of unity with the family".

Book review-"Seeing Through Heavens Eyes"

“SEEING THROUGH HEAVEN’S EYES” by Leif Hetland

This book is about trying to see through the eyes of heaven. His premise is that we tend to see things from the human perspective and fail to see from God’s viewpoint. Though the author says some good things I am afraid, at least in one spot, he has failed to see ‘through heavens eyes.’
The author, making reference to the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden, makes some good points in helping us recognize the tactics satan (the serpent) used to deceive Adam and Eve.
1. The first tactic is that he disguises who he is. In this case he transformed himself into a familiar serpent, a creation of God
2. The second tactic is to divide and conquer. He apparently approached Eve while Adam was not around.
3. Third tactic he uses is to cast a shadow of doubt on the word of God.
4. The devils final tactic is to call God’s character and His motives into question.

It seems to me that the author has fallen to the wiles of the devil. The author says that after the fall Adam and Eve were still Gods children and that their sin disgraced them but didn’t disinherit them. “And our sin -no matter how serious or how shameful-wont disinherit us…It is our position in the family-not our performance in the family- that establishes our identity and entitles us to our inheritance. We can never be downgraded, disowned, or disinherited.”

At this point the author seems to ignore what he has just said and allows his theology to take precedence over the scripture. Let me briefly explain:
1. Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden because of disobedience- that was their inheritance and they lost it.
2. Their performance did matter. They lost their inheritance because they listened and followed the serpent (satan) instead of God.
3. The devil would like us to overemphasis God‘s love at the expense of His holiness and wrath. He along with many modern day preachers and writers (including our author) would like to think that Gods love overlooks and ignores our rebellion and disobedience.
4. There is a sense that when Adam and Eve sinned we didn’t just forget our identity but we lost it. In Genesis 1:26-27 it says “ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Then in Gen. 5:3 it says “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.”
Evidently the image of God in man had become marred through the fall, that Adam’s childrens’ image is that of fallen man instead of the image that was first produced in the garden. Thus their identity had changed.

I am sure that this is the authors rational attempt to prove that even once we are ‘saved’ we will continue to be ‘saved’ irrespective of our behavior. But the rational does not meet with the simple truths of the bible and because of that I cannot recommend this book.

Ending Extreme Poverty

FAST LIVING: HOW THE
CHURCH WILL END EXTREME POVERTY by Scott C. Todd, PhD

The author, a senior ministry advisor for Compassion International, brings about a compelling and motivational case to end poverty. He believes that one of the main hurdles to get over in eradicating poverty is our low expectations. The point here is that we don’t think we can get rid of poverty it will always be with us, as seen and interpreted when Jesus told the disciples, “the poor you will always have with you.” The author brings out the argument that what Jesus was talking about and to were the disciples. The poor would always be with them, but not necessarily have to be with civilization forever.
He gives some statistics that show that extreme poverty is already being broken.

• In the past 8 yrs., the number of kids dying from measles has declined by 78 percent
• Twenty two countries have cut their malaria rate in half in only 6 years
• The number of children dying each day from preventable causes has dropped from 40,000 per day to 21,000
• In 1981 52% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. Today that number is 26%

As I read those statistics I could not help but think how those who feel that Jesus return is near, because everything is so bad, would respond. I suppose it would make you review your ‘last days’ theology. The author feels that for the first time in human history, we have the realistic possibility of ending extreme global poverty.

The author does not make a dichotomy between poverty work and evangelism. He says, “we don’t do anti-poverty work and share the gospel. Sharing the gospel is anti-poverty work.” He goes on to say that the most powerful ant-poverty strategy is the good news of Jesus Christ both proclaimed and demonstrated.

From a practical standpoint the author says that the best way to end poverty is by a combination of the 3 major sectors of society: government, business and the church/non-profit. Then he gives a chapter on each section to explain what he means. He closes the book out by showing the statistics of how little we as the church give financially ( 97.1% of the churches income from donations etc. is spent on themselves and that 96% goes toward buildings, carpet, staff etc)

This is one of many books written about poverty and its eradication that have come out in the last few years. If you have not read any this would be a good primer. It is easy reading, less than 200 pages and a good place to begin to motivate us to do our part to end extreme poverty

Wall Street Occupiers'

I like what they are doing and if I could afford it I would like to join them for a few days....The following is what Jim Wallis of Sojourners had to say.

The Occupy Wall Street protests make some people nervous, while others scratch their heads, and more than a few grab their sleeping bags and join in.

There is a lot of speculation as to who the "Occupiers" are and what they might accomplish. There is much I still don’t know about the movement, but undeniably it has caught the imagination of a generation -- and that matters.

Here are a few things I do know about the Occupy Wall Street protesters:

When they stand with the poor, they stand with Jesus.

When they stand with the hungry, they stand with Jesus.

When they stand for those without a job or a home, they stand with Jesus.

When they are peaceful, nonviolent, and love their neighbors (even the ones they don’t agree with and who don’t agree with them), they are walking as Jesus walked.

When they talk about holding banks and corporations accountable, they sound like Jesus and the biblical prophets before him, who all spoke about holding the wealthy and powerful accountable.

Pray for those out on the streets.

Think of ways that you or your church can be Jesus to them.

And do one of the things that church folks do best: Bring them a covered casserole!

Take your church potluck down to the occupations. Sit, eat, and talk with the protesters. Offer them the sacred gifts of hospitality, company, and friendship.

Or a hot cup of coffee.

Or send them a pizza. (Think of it as a peace-za.)

The Occupiers' desire for change and willingness to take action to do something about it should be an inspiration to us all.

Christianity or Jesus?

“SPEAKING OF JESUS”: the art of not-evangelism. By Carl Medearis

This book was about telling others about Jesus, not Christianity. The author having lived in Lebanon for a number of years, seen the problem of speaking of Christianity and thus realized he had to shed “Christianity” and begin with Jesus. Whereas Christianity is seen in a negative light Jesus is seen more positive. That problem is also here with us in the United States. As the author quotes Don Miller (author of ’Blue Like Jazz’), “ask 10 people what Christianity is and you will get 10 different answers.”
The authors’ contention that the word ‘Christianity’ has come to mean almost anything except who Jesus really is. He feels that we should not even try to defend the term but ignore it. We need to get people’s attention back to Jesus and his life.

I totally agree with the author that we need to be speaking and pointing others to Jesus rather than Christianity. I had a problem with the authors downplaying of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The author wants to talk about Jesus life and almost ignore his death and resurrection. The problem here is that if Jesus did not die and rise from the dead his life and teachings will become meaningless. I don’t feel that people are interested in a good man or a good prophet as much as they are in a risen Savior. We cannot forget that it was his death and resurrection that makes his life worth studying.

The Faith of Leap

The Faith of Leap: Embracing a Theology of Risk, Adventure & Courage by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch

The authors, with help from many outside sources, have succeeded in writing to encourage the church that they need to throw off their pursuit for safety and security and begin living “…the ongoing risky, actional, extravagant way of life “ that should characterize followers of Jesus. They contend that this type of life calls for courage which is learned through community. The authors call this communitas- a collective of people who find meaningful life together as a result of their shared mission. As the authors point to the need for communitas, we as individuals do not lost our uniqueness. For the authors encourage that there is a mission that we pursue as individuals, such as on our job, as well as in community/church.

As stated by the authors, the church has four key functions: mission, community, discipleship and worship. “Mission is the practical demonstration, whether by speech or by action, of the glorious lordship of Jesus. It is where we get to create little foretastes of the kingdom of Jesus…”
They say that mission should be the catalyst that energizes the other 3 functions and they build their case from a theological, sociological and practical viewpoint. They say that, “when mission is allowed to be the catalytic function, the other elements of ecclesia (church) are not in any way diminished; they are in fact enhanced.”
A few other quotes they give in this regard which I liked,”…just worshipping God on Sundays and midweek fellowships alone does not produce disciples-because if it did actually work, then there would be no crisis of discipleship in the church.”
Another quote, “Let’s stop kidding ourselves-there are too many instances of Christians worshiping sublimely every Sunday, but never making and impact beyond the congregation, never experiencing the powerful beauty of communitas, never going deeper in discipleship. We think this is precisely because the catalyzing experience of missional adventure and risk are removed from the equation.”

They close the book with some examples of where missional risk has been put to practice and is working.
This book is filled with good material and many good quotes. It needs to be read by all church leaders, discussed and then put into practice. The only thing I would have liked to have read is an example or two where churches and their leaders have attempted to make their church more missional and failed. All together this is by far one of the better books I have read about the church in a while. 5 stars

Rumors of God

“Rumors of God”, Experience the kind of faith you’ve only heard about by Darren Whitehead & Jon Tyson

The authors springboard this book off of the prayer of Habakkuk which says, “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.”

The premise of the book is that God can do for us today what he did for those in the past.

This book begins with the story of Catherine, a woman who grew up in church, trying to serve the Lord. Her experience with God had begun to grow stale until she was asked to go on a mission trip to Costa Rico to minister among women involved in prostitution. As she came back to the states she began using her vocation as a make-up artist to work in a strip club to help women with their make-up before they went out to perform. As she ministered and as some of the women’s lives began to change, she experienced a renewal to her own faith.
The next couple of chapters deals with God giving us dreams that are bigger than what the world can offer, not just rumors but the real thing.

Some of the chapters that the book covers that I feel were lacking (or at least presented better by others) are on love, grace, forgiveness.

Some of the other chapters such as justice, hope and community they did a good job with stories and illustrations to back up their points. In emphasizing our need for community over our cultures “radical individualism” they illustrate by closing the chapter on community with a man who had died at his house, in front of his TV still on, months before anyone knew about it.

This book was a good read and the authors made their point in only 173 pages.

"FutureCast" by George Barna

“FUTURECAST” What Today’s Trends mean for Tomorrow’s World
By George Barna

The purpose of this book is to chart some trends that are taking place in the US. Barna says, that “Leadership is based on the ability to see future possibilities and shape the environment to facilitate desired outcomes.” Thus the information in the book is to help leaders become well informed so they may lead effectively.

Some of the trends that Barna documents are:
Regarding marriage he says, “…among the younger generations of adults, doubts about the durability of marriage sometimes become a self-fulfilling prophecy: Afraid to fail. They never fully devote themselves to do what it takes to build and maintain a strong marriage, putting that union at risk right from the start.”

He says that in our culture we are losing our civility. “Politeness, graciousness and restraint are lost arts.” He sites a survey conducted on the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock festival that found out that less then 4 out of 10 believe that a festival of that magnitude (4000,000 people) could gather peacefully for such an event today.
Another interesting point that he brought out is how disrespect for other people is rising, yet people are on the lookout for those who disrespect them. We want respect without showing respect.

He also shows the trends in media, religious views etc. etc.

One of the emphasis that he brought out in book was our need not to look at these trends and think that we will change the world. But that we use them to try to change one person at a time. At that place this book becomes personal, it is not just for the big organizations and churches, but it is for us as individuals to examine ourselves and do what we can do to change our neighborhoods and the people (individuals) we are around.

Overall, if you have enjoyed Barna’s other books you will enjoy this one.

Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Leadership or Followers

leadership...leadership...leadership. We talk about being good leaders, about training leaders, about how important it is to have leaders etc. etc. etc....Personally I am tired of hearing about leaders and leadership.

We dont need leaders as much as we need followers...Jesus followers