I was fortunate enough to win a signed copy of this book from Michal Hyatt’s blog. I was especially excited about getting this book because I was in the middle of an independent study on preaching. This communication volume would be a little bit outside of the realm of traditional homiletics, but it would definitely speak to some common issues.

Here’s how I’d summarize the book: Maxwell writes this book on communication in the same style that Covey writes about being effective. Effective communication begins with my integrity. If I want people to hear my message, they need to feel that I am concerned about their best interest. If I want people to think that I’m concerned about their best interest, I need to be concerned about their best interest. Simple? Yes. Easy? Not always.

Maxwell is brutally honest: connecting with others takes work. Sometimes we have to investigate and dig to find ways to build a bridge. It takes energy and time. The result, though, is that when a real connection is formed, the potential we have to help each other skyrockets.

A neat feature of this book is that Maxwell posted it online for several weeks prior to its printing. During that time, he allowed people to comment on each chapter. The final edition of the book comes with the anecdotes, suggestions, and the thoughts of literally hundreds of people. Their contribution alone is worth reading the book.

This isn’t a ground-breaking, earth-shattering sort of book. It’s more like good fundamentals for a team, rather than advice on coaching a star player, and I appreciate that about it. I think you will, too.

Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola partnered to write the Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the supremacy and sovereignty of Jesus Christ. Sweet wants his readers to see Christ not as central to Christianity, but equal to Christianity. The book is written to combat a common Christian problem relayed in a simple story. Christians were touring Leningrad before the fall of the Berlin wall. The tour guide said, “You Christians have a great message, but we Communists will win the world. Christ means something to you. Communism means everything to us.”

I’d rate this book at five stars out of five if Sweet and Viola stuck just to that message. I’ve heard that every age tends to focus on one part of the Trinity. When you focus only on God the father, you end up emphasizing God’s justice and ending up at legalism. If you focus only on Jesus, you tend to end up at the opposite extreme of antinomianism. If you focus on the Spirit alone, you end up…Pentecostal?

Sweet and Viola do well to remind us to re-focus on Christ. We need to hear that call! At the same time, the book would have been more helpful if it had shown us how to do that without the neglect of the rest of the godhead. With that in mind, I give it 4 stars out of 5. It’s a good, quick read that is thought-provoking and should lead you into deeper study and thought about Jesus.

(Oh yeah — I reviewed this through BookSneeze. They gave me a free copy to review — but they don’t get angry if I don’t like their conclusions…)

Miano entered the academy as a nominal Christian. His faith was surface-level, at best. It didn’t take long until someone taught him more about Jesus and everything began to change.

The book parallels the uniform of a peace officer and the armor of Christ in Ephesians 6. It is filled with scripture and anecdotes about those tools and is an easy read. The ideal reader would be any young person interested in law enforcement. Miano keeps his head on straight and is a straight shooter. You’ll enjoy this work.

Luther gave nine “properties and virtues” of a good preacher. What say ye about them?

1. Teach systematically
2. Have a ready wit
3. Be eloquent
4. Have a good voice
5. Have a good memory
6. He should know when to make an end
7. He should be sure of his doctrine
8. He should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honour, in the word.
9. He should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone.

Luther’s Table-Talk: ‘Of preachers and preaching’ quoted in Stott’s Between Two Worlds

The subtitle says it all when it comes to this book’s goal: "Unveiling the mystery of a woman’s soul." The book didn’t so much unveil as it did remind. It would be the understatement of the century to say that men and women are different. (Remember Mars and Venus?) Man’s typical understanding of woman is the source of many a comedian’s jokes, but more significantly it’s the root of many of our world’s problems.

John and Stasi remind us men that women think, feel, and process differently. Being cherished isn’t a desire that’s on the top of my radar screen, but the Eldridges remind me that a woman want to be cherished. Remember dress up games and fairy tale endings? Life in the real world hasn’t crushed that innate feminine instinct.

Here’s a great quote that sums up a lot of the authors’ intent: "If we could read the secret histories of our enemies we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostilities."

The book is a great conversation starter. It would be healthy for couples to read this alongside "Wild at Heart" to deepen our understanding of each other. The book is likely guilty of sweeping generalizations at times, but these don’t weaken the spirit of the book. Bottom line: it’s worth the read. Not earth shattering, but if it leads to more open communication between men and women, it could be life changing.

(Disclosure: I received a free reviewer’s copy of the book from BookSneeze.com. I’m allowed to review however I want…I don’t get fired for hating a book!)

Harriett came back from their trip without a voice—because she was so engrossed in the book, that she read it aloud to James. That was endorsement enough for me!

The chapters alternate, telling the story of two different lives. What could a loaded art dealer have in common with a homeless sharecropper? Everything and nothing.

The story read quickly and well. It is an emotional telling of two men seeking God from different places and having different struggles. It will challenge your thoughts about service, wealth, relationships, and the homeless.

Just watch out, guys. You might, um…end up with something in your eye near the end…

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Our churches are filled with Christians who are idling in intellectual neutral. As Christians, their minds are going to waste. One result of this is an immature, superficial faith. People who simply ride the roller coaster of emotional experience are cheating themselves out of a deeper and richer Christian faith by neglecting the intellectual side of that faith. (William Lane Craig)

At the same time, I suspect there is another number of Christians who are idling in emotional neutral. Their hearts are beginning to harden. They rarely feel; they always reason. Pangs of sadness for the hurting are absent, only a dim satisfaction with the current status quo.

If only our hearts and minds were in gear!

As best I can tell, we were about 6.5 miles south of the launch pad. (See the other videos on the site for the footage that other people shot on the beach). That would fit with the ~30 seconds it took for the sound of the launch to reach us…a sound that was incredible!

Here’s the official NASA video of the launch. Really cool:

Space.com had a neat article about the payload as well. Enjoy!

The message of the resurrection is that this world matters! That the injustices and pains of this present world must now be addressed with the news that healing, justice, and love have won…If Easter means Jesus Christ is only raised in a spiritual sense–then it is only about me, and finding a new dimension in my personal spiritual life. But if Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead, Christianity becomes good news for the whole world–news which warms our hearts precisely because it isn’t just about warming hearts. Easter means that in a world where injustice, violence, and degradation are endemic, God is not prepared to tolerate such things–and that we will work and plan, with all the energy of God, to implement victory of Jesus over them all. Take away Easter and Karl Marx was probably right to accuse Christianity of ignoring problems of the material world. Take it away and Freud was probably right to say Christianity is wish-fulfillment. Take it away and Nietzsche probably was right to say it was for wimps. — N.T. Wright

The first statement: “We need to realize that everything–it is all about Jesus.”

The second statement: “We need to remember that the church is worth fighting for.”

The “amen” offered to the second statement was easily twice as loud as the first. That caught my attention.

There are several ways I could interpret this:

1. We are living in a time in which people have not defended the church against slander, and it is really, really, really important we start defending her. Or,
2. We like the idea of fighting for something better than we like the idea of personally living for Jesus.

I’ll leave the discussion as an exercise to the readers.

Miller, Sermon Maker p 130

Barbara Brown Taylor raises the same issue:

Sometimes I think we do all the talking because we are afraid God won’t. Or, conversely, that God will. Either way, staying preoccupied with our own words seems a safer bet than opening ourselves up either to God’s silence or God’s speech, both of which have the power to undo us.

So we lose God when he’s quiet, because we’re too loud. We run from him when he gets loud, because we cannot stand the storm of his coming. Either way, we often come to the pulpit without him, having no clear remembrance of our last real conversation.

From Calvin Miller’s “Sermon Maker” page 18.

Not only was he a traitor, he was a fool, for his prize was worthless!

Adapted from The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn.

Adapted from Comeback Churches.

He commanded the tax collectors not to over—reach and collect more  than they ought.

He commanded the soldiers to be content with their wages and resist the temptation to extort the poor.

He commanded all men to share their possessions with those in need.

All people were instructed to show evidence of their penitent hearts based on their stewardship. Stewardship reveals values. Values reveal hearts. Where your treasure is, Jesus said, there your heart will be also.

Would John the Baptist see fruit of repentance in my check register? How about yours?

Blessed are the musical, for theirs shall be a never-ending song.

Blessed are those who know the difference between their loving and their lusting, for they shall be pure in heart and understand the reason.

Blessed are those who die for reasons that are real, for they themselves are real.

Blessed are all those who yet can sing when all the theater is empty and the orchestra is gone.

Blessed is the man who stands before the cruelest king and only fears his God.

Blessed is the mighty king who sits beside the weakest man and thinks of all their similarities.

One of my bigger fears while riding is getting rear-ended. Not much I can do to prevent that one, other than pray and work on visibility. You’ll notice the last post on this blog was about prayer – and this one is on visibility. Trying to cover my bases…

So, I bought a “Turn Signal Conversion Kit” from the Electrical Connection in Knoxville. Cost just under $50, online. (Disclosure: they didn’t pay me to write this review, however, if you’re reading this, folks, I’d be glad to change that…)

The kit is pretty simple: two RED amber LED rings, one for each rear turn signal lens. The rings attach to the lens with included silicon adhesive. Bonus points to the Electrical connection for including the adhesive and alcohol pads for surface prep.

The LEDs get wired to the turn signal power and ground, the brake light power and ground, and the tail light power and ground. When you’re running regularly, the red is illuminated at a low setting, providing additional red taillights. When you brake, the LEDs illuminate at full strength, giving you two additional brake lights. When you turn, the red LEDs deactivate, leaving only your standard amber turn signals, so everything is street legal anywhere in the states.

The installation took me about 4 hours, mainly because I’m an idiot. It took me nearly an hour to find a way to fish the wiring through the turn signal stalks. The stalks were not meant for extra cabling, but several tries later on each side, they went through. Finding the correct power lines wasn’t too difficult: they Hayes manual pages I found online pointed me in the right direction, and a couple of probes with a voltmeter confirmed my guesswork. The kit included vampire clamps (t-taps) that make decent connections, but not that great.

After installing the kit and testing it, Leslie brought her mad PhD soldering skills outside to sure up the connections a bit. I’m very pleased with the final product…so take a look at a quick video:

If you’re looking to add to your nighttime visibility, I’d give this kit an A+. Being LED-based, I didn’t have to worry about it over-stressing the limited power capabilities of this small bike, and it didn’t break the budget. Here’s a link to the manufacturer’s information.

First, Home Devotionals. God is interested not in our spiritual lives, per se, but in our lives—the whole stinkin’ thing! We discussed this concept in our lesson on home devotionals. How can we season our entire lives with his presence? How can we recognize that our jobs, our retirement, our schooling, and our vacations belong to him? To drive home the point, we discussed developing a “theology of sleep.” Our lives, our existence should be wholly redeemed!

For comic relief (while our toes heal) listen to this “Phone call with God.”

For the class discussion on home devotionals (listen for the tips at the end) listen to the summary here.

Regarding fasting: it’s a hot-button topic (even though we’re silent about it most of the time.) The old adage is that “it’s regulated, but not commanded” is worth discussing, but isn’t that helpful. After all, who would regulate something you don’t expect to happen? The number of commanded OT fast days may surprise you. I hope this lesson stirs your thoughts and gives you one more tool in your spiritual disciplines tool-chest. Listen to the summary of Christian fasting here.

Did you see this news story? An error in programming gave hospital patients overdoses of radiation for 18 months before it was detected. If you read the story, it boils down to the fact that the guy in charge messed with settings he shouldn’t have been allowed to even see. So, maybe we don’t blame the programmers…

Here’s a brief overview of relationships as a spiritual discipline, and a video we discussed about the world’s worst youth minister.

The class has quite a bit of discussion, but there are several who are not able to join us, so I want to give you a jumping off point so you’ll know what we talked about. We’ve got a Journal that we handed out to help you keep your notes in one place. You can print it out and fold it in half to use as a note-guide.

Our first session was “Introduction to Transformation and Spiritual Disciplines.” I showed a little video clip called “Cardboard Testimonies” and I commend it to you as an exercise to open your eyes to the possibility of transformation. The homework for the first week is this: find someone whose faith you admire, and talk to them for a few minutes and just ask what they do to help nurture and grow their faith. Pick their brain a bit, and come back next time ready to discuss.

Background: Rob Bell was founding pastor of Mars Hill Church (now led by Mark Driscoll) and is the main guy in the first several Nooma videos, if you’re familiar with them.

All in all, Bell and I wouldn’t share the exact same page theologically, though I doubt he would want to label this as a book of theology. I think his goal would be to get people to think about the state of their faith. Is it borrowed? Is it old? Is it really in touch with the word of God and the world of today? Can those two worlds coincide?

Here are the gems I think are worth your consideration and discussion:

• “If your Bible study doesn’t leave you in awe and filled with wonder, you haven’t really studied the Bible.” I love this sentiment! If the word is really still living and active, this statement must have merit. He scoffs at the modernistic tendency to view the Bible as a collection of data to be analyzed. He would say it takes the living book and murders it—taking the spirit away from the body, to use the language of James. Bible study should be transformative.
• Bell talks about the traditions of first century Jewish teaching and leadership. I’m not in a position to evaluate the accuracy of his information or research, (though the book is well foot-noted), so I will assume these references are solid. He says that a rabbi’s understanding and interpretation of Torah, of what is binding and what is permitted, of the rules for the life of his disciple is called his yoke. He then refers to a rabbi who proclaimed that his yoke was easy, and his burden was light. Neat connection!
• The Jerusalem conference of Acts 15 to determine what to do about Gentile converts used the phrase, “It seemed good to us and the Spirit…” Bell makes much of this—if the apostle-driven leadership that was attested to by the miraculous measure of the Spirit could only say “It seemed good…” in something as central as salvation, we might ought to approach our understanding of scripture with the humility of the word “seems.” The phrase “the Bible clearly says” is bandied about by a lot of different people teaching a lot of different things, and at some point, its continued usage is demeaning to the Word of God because it hides (or denies) my fallible role in reading, hearing, understanding, and living it.
• Bell argued that “all truth is ultimately God’s truth” regardless of source.
• Christian makes a great noun, but a lousy adjective. When people begin to label things as “Christian” – the label invariably gets applied to things it shouldn’t (lousy music, institutions, businesses, nights at the Preds game, etc) and not applied to things it should (helping those in need, etc.)
• Here’s a controversial conversation starter: Bell says that he does not want us to be the church of the New Testament, because that implies that the authority is within the church, rather than the one who owns the church. What say ye?
• My personal favorite of the book: Bell tells the story of the explosion of the Mars Hill church. They had 1,000 their first Sunday, and had grown to 4,000 in a few months. Members were told to bring  chairs if they wanted to bring visitors, because there were literally not enough seats. As the church grew, the parking lot became a nightmare, and tempers flared. When Bell got word of the not-so-nice words and waves being exchanged in the parking lot, he preached the next Sunday: “If you’re not a Christian, and you’re here, you are always welcome. If you are a Christian, and you can’t even act like one in the parking lot, please do us a favor and stop calling yourself one, because it really screws it up for the rest of us. And by the way, someone else could really use your chair.” He said the audience started applauding—I know I would have.

All in all, while I wouldn’t take Bell as my primer to scripture, he raised some great points and opens the door to some great discussion of scripture. I’d recommend it as a dollar bin read for established Christians.

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Lost Letters of Pergamum, The: A Story from the New Testament World

Most folks never read books on first century culture and customs–because frankly, they tend to be boring catalogs of information that don’t seem relevant. Longenecker teaches the history, politics, and culture of the first century by using them as the story surrounding the relationship of two men from different worlds.

This book would be well-suited for a Christian book group styled class. There are plenty of scripture references that help you apply the cultural concepts to your understanding of scripture, and as it tells the story of the conversion of Antipas, it has a great deal to say about the evangelistic process. The letters also reveal some great information about the different groups of Jesus’ day (Essenes, Pharisees, Samaritans, etc…) and some of the early heresies within the church.

All in all, this book was a great read. It kept my attention for one sitting…which is a rare, but good sign!

Here are their ten stupid mistakes:

• Leaders do it all
• Establishing Wrong role for the pastor’s family
• Second rate worship experiences
• Low quality children’s ministry
• Promoting talent over integrity
• Clinging to bad location
• Copying another Successful Church
• Favor discipline over Reconciliation
• Mixing ministry and Business
• Letting committees steer the ship

Just at first blush, it seems like most of these are common sense biblical directives, aren’t they?

Here’s my take on the first five on the list: it’s pretty well done.

Biblical ministry is equipping the entire church to minister. It is helping, leading, training, teaching, and of course, ministering with the goal of producing more folks who are truly serving God and neighbor. It doesn’t fit the Bible or life to have a leader-do-all mentality.

Churches do tend to elevate “lead ministers” to an unrealistic standard. Rather than serving as an example for members to emulate, the projected ideal becomes an unattainable standard. Distinguishing a special place for leaders is probably unavoidable because of perception, but it is certainly not the right way to do things.

I’m not entirely sure what “second-rate worship experiences” means in practicality. Second rate to whom? The preacher? The Lord? The visitor? The member? Paul seemed to think that the outsider should be able to discern that something special and wonderful happens in worship (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) — both intellectually and emotionally. Biblical worship is the harmony of many tensions: approaching the unapproachable God; reverence and wonder; the humility of a servant and the pride of the heir. As a moment of training, evangelism, and recharging–worship can’t be second-rate to anything!

Low quality children’s ministry. In a lot of ways, this has been one of our strengths. Deuteronomy 6 taught that training our children in practical, applied faith is a (the?) key goal of God’s community.

The Bible is also clear–integrity comes first. There is no room for performers as leaders in Christ’s church. One preacher said, “You can’t both present yourself as clever and Christ as the ultimate treasure at the same time.” Remember Simon who wanted to buy his way into Holy Spirit giftedness? It wasn’t received very well…

The next five next time!

I may call this Matthew’s Paper Theorem, hereafter MPT. (Maybe Matthew’s Procrastination Theorem…or Matthew’s Prioritization Theorem…)

For example: in college, how many times did the room get thoroughly cleaned, my music get cataloged, dinner get cooked, and workouts get worked when there was a paper on the brink of being overdue? Shucks–I even finished my taxes before my last major paper!

For example: how much homework have I been able to get done in the past few nights avoiding painting the guest bedroom before we have more guests than rooms?

For example: how many hours have we spent planning, training, discussing, ordering, re-ordering, re-planning, arguing, and debating about the kitchen for the campaign? Don’t get me wrong…food is important, but my conservative estimate is that our food committee and those involved readying the building have spent nearly 250 man-hours in preparation across at least three meetings, plus individual consultations, etc… I don’t think we’ve hit 50 man-hours on the second place priority. We’ve got probably 25+ folks who are helping to feed the campaigners, but only 5 folks signed up to campaign from our congregation.

Interesting!

The Systems Bible by John Gall is a tongue-in-cheek analysis and critique of the capital-S Systems that we all know and love. It is written with an eye towards those of us with a “technical persuasion” but it accessible to almost everyone.

The book is written around a series of principles and axioms about Systems — always set apart by capital letters. For everyone who has been frustrated by a System (of any type) gone awry, this book is like the Office — it hits a little close to home, but it’s funny anyway!

For example — a small town has a problem: people need to do something with their trash. They have a garbage problem. The town council in their sub-infinite wisdom, implement a garbage collection system. Instead of one problem (garbage) — the problem has multiplied further: the town must deal with problems with garbage trucks, routes, collecting fees, dealing with employees, maintaining contracts with dumps, etc. etc. The System that was designed to solve one problem brings with it dozens more–and it is rare that many (if any) of the new problems are forseen by the System’s designers. (That, by the way, is the Fundamental Theorem of Systems: NEW SYSTEMS CREATE NEW PROBLEMS!)

Gall works through somewhere near one hundred such theorems. A few of my favorites:

• Le Chatelier’s Principle: THE SYSTEM ALWAYS KICKS BACK, or alternatively, SYSTEMS TEND TO OPPOSE THEIR OWN PROPER FUNCTIONS.
• The Fundamental Law of Administrative Workings (FLAW): THINGS ARE WHAT THEY ARE REPORTED TO BE or IF IT ISN’T OFFICIAL, IT HASN’T HAPPENED; IF IT DIDN’T HAPPEN ON CAMERA, IT DIDN’T HAPPEN, and IF THE SYSTEM SAYS IT HAPPENED, IT HAPPENED.
• The Principle of Unexpected Interactions: IN SETTING UP A NEW SYSTEM, TREAD SOFTLY; YOU MAY BE DISTRUBING ANOTHER SYSTEM THAT IS ACTUALLY WORKING!
• LARGE AMOUNTS OF POOR DATA TEND TO PRE-EMPT ANY AMOUNT OF GOOD DATA

There are many more — but these give you a flavor of the book’s tone.

As a software developer this book was a fun read (despite the sheer horror that came with learning about just how broken almost every system is!) — but as a minister, it was even more striking.

As churches have become more institutional than organic, there has been a strong emphasis on the program (and as I call it, the Kiwanis Church — nothing but a bunch of programs good for the community!) Programs aren’t evil — just like Systems aren’t evil — or at least, they don’t start that way.

How many times have we started church programs, ministries, or events without thinking through the entire system — its inputs and outputs? Certainly we are bound by and to Scripture, but we can’t assume that we have it down perfectly. Have we thought about what problems we create and encounter. Before long, we spend more time maintaining broken congregations, dysfunctional elderships, and sick programs than actually doing what it is that those bodies are [divinely?]designed to do!

Gall suggests one particular irony: students who want to become leaders in business are forced to follow instructions for the first thirty years of their lives being told what leadership looks like–rather than ever actually leading. Ironic, huh?

There are plenty of applications for you, your job, and your ministry. Definitely worth a read!

I hope this is beneficial!

Christian Counseling by Gary Collins (4/5)
This work covers the gamut of counseling-related issues that we face in ministry. It writes on topics ranging from alcoholism to aging and it engages the topics from a biblical perspective and brings along great psychological insights to help as well. All considered, this book was a great resource for ministry.

Personality Type and Religious Leadership by Oswald and Kroeger (4/5)
Oswald and Kroeger used the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator as a basis for examining inter-personal interactions in ministry. I enjoyed looking at how our personalities interact and how that interaction affects our perception of others. I’d recommend this book as an interesting starting place in studies on conflict management.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey (5/5)
I imagine almost everyone has heard of the 7 habits books. I assumed they were over-hyped, but after reading I saw that Covey did his homework. Reading over “success” literature from across American history, he revealed truths that are easily confirmed by scripture. His treatment of priorities in time management (moving from the urgent to the important) and his emphasis on listening to understand seem especially useful for ministry.

Missing the Mark by Mark Biddle (3.5/5)
How cut and dry is your doctrine of sin? How would you define it? Traditionally sin has been equated with law-breaking. Biddle argues that this legal/judicial understanding is biblical, but too narrow. Sin isn’t always just arrogant rebellion; it is mistrust, imbalance, harm, and hurt. Biddle asks some difficult questions, but does well to broadedn our thoughts on sin. Sometimes the “legal” issue of sin is the least of our concerns!

Yet I Loved Jacob by Joel Kaminsky (2/5)
Election is a difficult theological concept. Does God play favorites? It sure looks like it! Kaminsky overviews doctrines of the elect, non-elect, and the anti-elect. While Kaminsky assumes more direct and individual fore-ordination than I, his work is still a good thought excercize in understanding the Old Testament election texts.

Biblical Theology by James Mead (2/5)
This book should probably be rated higher, but I just couldn’t do it. Mead did a good job overviewing the issues, themes, and people in the discipline of Biblical Theology. To me, that’s sort of like saying the dentist did a good job on your root canal. You’re thankful that it wasn’t bad, but it still wasn’t the most enjoyable experience in the world… Mead’s work is good for setting a foundation for Biblical Theology and introducing you to the important people. Just not quite my cup of tea.

The Shack by William Young (4/5)
This is a polarizing book–you will really enjoy it or be really annoyed by it. I expected to hate it, seeing it as a novel founded on impossibility with a disrespectful chumminess with God. I was very pleasantly surprised. The Shack is a great conversation starter. It’s theology isn’t perfect at all, but it challenges the reader and lets you wrestle with your unstated assumptions about God. I highly recommend it for a good group study. As an aside, this was the first audio book that I have tried from Christian Audio. It was a great experience.

Pastoral Ministry According to Paul (3/5) by James Thompson
Thompson attempts to look at all of Paul’s writings to build a cohesive theology of ministry. Instead of considering any of the popular emphases in ministry, Thompson basically provides a miniature high-level commentary of all of Paul’s works in order to paint the big picture of Paul’s thoughts on ministry.

Elements of Style by Strunk and White (4/5)
A good reminder of the rules of writing.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser (5/5)
A positive example of how to actually write well once you’ve got a handle on the rules of writing.

Theological Introduction to the Old Testament by Birch, Brueggemann, Fretheim, and Petersen (3/5)
Interesting theological view of the Old Testament. Tedious, but thought-provoking.

God and World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation by Terence Fretheim (3/5)
As Fretheim was an contributor for Theological Introduction to the Old Testament, there is a lot of shared ground. Expect to see Fretheim’s views about relationship as the primary aspect of God presented further in this work.

Sabbath and Jubilee (Understanding Biblical Themes) By R. H. Lowery (2/5)
Lowery advertises himself as a scholar-pastor who wants to reclaim Sabbath and Jubilee as themes that apply today. Very little of the book pursued this goal; he spent more time tracing the historical development of these holy days. Writing style was slow at best.

Things Unseen: Churches of Christ in (and After) The Modern Age by C. Leonard Allen (4/5)
I had grown so accustomed to hearing the dangers of post modernism that reading this book was in many ways a wakeup call. Modernity is just a different worldview; no better, no worse. It has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, and Allen does a great job of showing some of our dependence on modernity to this day. It’s controversial; you will think.

Desiring God by John Piper (5/5)
Piper’s thesis is that the chief end of man is to glorify God *by* enjoying him forever. He presents some great thoughts about finding joy and meaning in service, worship, and Christianity.

Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe (4/5)
Behe has great material about the extreme difficulty of ascribing the origin of man to macroevolution on the biochemical level. He addresses the common misconceptions of evolution (conceptual evolution rather than developmental evolution) and presents great information on irreducible complexity. One of this book’s best features is its honesty with being technical. Behe by necessity is writing a technical work, but he brackets the paragraphs that are extremely technical and gives a summary before and after to make this book more accessible to people who hated chemistry as much as I did.

Participating in God’s Life by C. Leonard Allen (3/5)
Allen presents the view that a restoration of the doctrine of the Trinity is necessary for revival and revitalization in the church. Very interesting read.

In Search of Wonder: A call to worship renewal by Lynn Anderson (4/5)
This was a vacation book. There’s some theology that’s a bit shaky. When you read the list of contributors, you’ll understand where your disagreements may fall, but regardless of that, these men do an excellent job helping us to recapture the wonder of worship, redeeming it from the routine.

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankyl (3/5)
This was a vacation book; that was a bad idea. Something about concentration camps mixed with psychoanalytical techniques just seems wrong on the beach. Even though I read it at the wrong time, the book was very interesting. Man certainly does search for meaning, and that meaning is sustaining and necessary. I rate it 3 stars because the last half of the book was overly engrossed in psychology that I didn’t follow. Maybe you will.

The Cruciform Church by C. Leonard Allen (4/5)
The church needs to be cross-shaped. seems like a pretty good premise, doesn’t it?

In His Steps by Charles Sheldon (5/5)
This is a classic Christian work. If you’ve worn a WWJD bracelet, you’re leaning back on this work. Sheldon’s fiction is based on the question, “What would our lives look like if we really surrendered everything to Christ?” It’s fascinating and inspiring. I would love to read a 21st Century edition of this book to translate his conclusions into modern life.

For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn (4/5)
This is not generally my favorite genre, but as far as relationship books go, this was pretty decent. It discussed many of our common weaknesses as men and how we can learn to be better husbands and fathers.

Experiential Storytelling: (Re) Discovering Narrative to Communicate God’s Message by Mark Miller (1/5)
I had high hopes for this book. It turned out to be ramblings of a youth minister who couldn’t quite figure out who he was or what he wanted to do. He had some good emphases on the power of story, though.

Then Sings My Soul (1 and 2) by Robert J. Morgan (5/5)
These books are short and simple, with each hymn receiving a page. This would be a great devotional book. You get a little bit of hymn story, a little bit of Bible teaching, and a little bit of devotional all in one. Very well done.

Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck (3/5)
Osbeck should have read Morgan’s books. The writing style is not as clean and the stories aren’t as clear. Osbeck spends more time preaching and though he gives you devotional suggestions, they just aren’t quite as good as Morgan’s.

A Song is Born by R. J. Taylor (4/5)
Taylor is not the writer that Morgan is; nor is he that Osbeck is. It is remarkable that I give a book so full of typos this high of a rating, but he has some stories about southern hymns, both new and old, that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else. I give him much credit for that. After all, he spent his vacations researching the stories of hymns–there’s a neat personal tone to the book. Just try to turn off the red underlines in your brain as you read.

The Daily Bible arranged by F. LaGard Smith (5/5)
The NIV is not my favorite translation, nor is LaGard Smith my favorite author, but they come together in this Bible for a winning combination. Lagard arranges scripture chronologically and adds just enough commentary and helps to really help Bible study. We used this at Burns for a year as a Wednesday-night curriculum. I’ll do it again soon. If you’ve never succesfully completed reading through the Bible, give this one a start.

Sing With Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Hymnology by Harry Eskew and Hugh Mcelrath (3/5)
Expect this to be a textbook; that was its intention. I picked up the 1980s edition used at a bookstore and really enjoyed it. It is heavily technical in music in some places. It richly traces different styles and genre of hymns and music and gives you a good insight into the history and development of hymns in the church.

Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians by D A Carson (5/5)
Short and sweet. Carson makes excellent application of Philippians. A quick read when you’re working through the epistle.

Hearts on Fire: A Strategy for Dynamic Evangelism by Don Humphrey (4/5)
Everyone knows that the church has an evangelism crisis–that is, we’re not doing it. Humphrey attacks our weakness and gives us some tools to do better. Would make a good class study.

Secrets of Staying Power (Leadership Library, No 14) by Kevin Miller (4/5)
This was an encouraging book read at the right time. I recommend it to my co-workers in ministry, especially those who are relatively new. Miller will tell you not to quit and what to expect when you want to! :-)

unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity…and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons (4/5)
I wish this book were wrong, but it is not. I know that the world is not our compass–the Word is. This book serves as a mirror to show us how we’re perceived. You don’t want to ask this mirror on the wall if we are the fairest of them all…

I’ll do a catch-up post soon to give you the start of 2009 as well…

We’re moving on from this class to begin a new one on January 14th. In it we’ll overview the Gospel of John for 20 weeks. I hope that you’ll join us.

Here are our last few weeks of materials. It is my hope and prayer that they will be beneficial to you as you continue your study of God’s word.

1. Week 49: The Early Work of the Church

1. Early Work of the Church PowerPoint Presentation
2. Catch-up Handout Covering Weeks 47-49 (Crucifixion through Acts)

1. Many of you asked some doozies in the past few weeks as we’ve studied the epistles. These are Matthew’s thoughts on answering them fairly in the light of scripture.
2. Hard Questions PDF
3. PowerPoint overview of Romans

1. PowerPoint overview of the Pastoral Epistles

1. Schools of Interpretation in Revelation
2. Overview of the Last Things

Also, if you didn’t get to hear Arnold’s presentation, I hope you’ll go over to the Burns Website. You can view his powerpoint and listen to his lesson there.

This week’s PowerPoint Presentation

Journal of the American Medical Association: On the Physical Death of Jesus

New: This week, I took the PowerPoint and “lecture” portion of class and combined them. Even if you’re on dial-up, you should be able to listen to the class notes and view the slides in sync. Give this a try and let me know! :) Class Presentation on the Death of Jesus.

This week, we attempted to go through every parable of Jesus and extract a simple meaning. Good luck to you!

Enjoy a powerpoint and handout from the teachings of Jesus.

Two handouts this week:

High Points of the Ministry of Jesus PowerPoint

Jesus Ministry Begins Word Document

When Jesus arrives — it’s a big deal!

This week’s files are zipped to include several links for further study as well as the powerpoint introduction to the new testament and a handout offering some possibilities for understanding the genealogies in Matthew and Luke.

Enjoy!

(Aside: Does anyone else get really annoyed that Microsoft Word’s built-in spelling dictionary doesn’t have the books of the Bible? Would that be so hard???)

Week 42 PowerPoint Presentation

Malachi is one of the great questioners of all time–and his retelling of God’s questions for man and man’s questions for God serves as an excellent spiritual check-up list for any of us.

Here’s this week’s PowerPoint.

Apocalypse Now, an essay by N.T. Wright about apocalyptic literature in the Bible.

Week 39 PowerPoint: Visions of Daniel and the end of Job

We considered the problem of pain and suffering. God points out Job to Satan. Were it not for His actions, we could assume that Job’s life would have missed the suffering he experienced, and so on.

We looked at files from other congregations. Here are their materials:

Lessons from the Book of Job

A Sermon from Job

More to come next week…

If you exist, I just wanted to let you know that I’m now caught up. Thanks to RememberTheMilk.com, I’ll now have a weekly reminder to put the PowerPoint files from our Wednesday night study of F. Lagard’s Chronological Bible on the site.

Sorry for the delay. I back-dated the posts to help with organization…