Recommended Reading List for Elders

I occasionally get books for our elders that I think might be helpful to them and to the church. Here are some of the books that would be a benefit for an eldership to read. If you guys add books in the comments that you think should be on this list I will add them in. I started the list with Jesus because, well, that’s where it starts.

Jesus
The Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke & John
Simply Jesus – NT Wright
Jesus Creed - Scot McKnight
Jesus: A Theography by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola

How to Read/Interpret the Bible
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth – Gordon Fee
Eat This Book – Eugene Peterson
Blue Parakeet – Scot McKnight

Vision & Communication
Making Vision Stick – Andy Stanley
Visioneering – Andy Stanley
Communicating for a Change – Andy Stanley

Ministry Practice/Process
7 Practices of Effective Ministry – Andy Stanley

Discipling & Mission
Forgotten Ways Handbook – Alan Hirsch
Multiplying Missional Leaders – Mike Breen
Creating a Missional Culture – JR Woodward

Leading:
Leadership Without Easy Answers by Ronald Heifetz
The Making of a Leader by Robert Clinton
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell

Church & Culture
Center Church – Tim Keller
Deep & Wide – Andy Stanley
Reimagining Church – Frank Viola
UnChristian by Gabe Lyons
You Lost Me by David Kinnaman
Surprising Insights from the Unchurched – Thom Rainer

The Problem With a Lot of Ministry Books Today

I just finished one of the most highly recommended books on discipleship written in the last six months. Here is the book in a nutshell – We are supposed to disciple people because God commanded it. We have to take God’s commands seriously. We haven’t done it (that was said at least 50 times in different ways). The mission God has for us is amazing. Let’s go do it. The book concluded with a single chapter on how to do it that turned out to be a list of questions to consider. I can’t say that I walked away from that book with a single new idea regarding discipleship or anything that I would actually do that the book helped me see more clearly. What is so frustrating about that is, I know the author of this book is up to some really great things and it might be helpful to learn from some of that. I don’t think everything he is doing in his context will work in mine but I do think hearing what he is doing would help.

Discipleship is such a hot topic because it has been a gaping hole in the mission and ministry of many churches. We need to hear about discipleship. I am fine with that but at some point action has to be taken and most of the books I have read have a lot of things to say about what is going on and what should be going on but have little to say on what it might actually look like if we did something about it.

Over the last 10-15 years of Christians publishing it seems like the same few topics come up all the time and the same things are said over and over again. It kind of makes me feel like we are running in circles with the need for a few trail blazers to finally pick a direction and go rather than just keep rehashing the same stuff over and over again. Or maybe the trail blazers who are righting the books need to spend less time trying to convince us of what we already know (that God said we must do it but we aren’t) and more time equipping us to create a vision for it in our context and execute ministry in line with that vision. I am so grateful to Mike Breen for doing exactly that in his writing.

Anyone else experience this?

Thanks to these guys for recently following the blog:
Deacon Jason
Gene
Colonel of Corn
Everyday Power Blog
Jason Stover

Book Review: What We Talk About When We Talk About God by Rob Bell

When Love Wins came out I wrote an 11 part review that pretty much expressed my dissatisfaction and aggravation with the book. So when I picked up Rob Bell’s newest book, “What We Talk About When We Talk About God” I was pretty skeptical. The cover only confirmed my suspicions. I am not much of a design guy and things like this don’t usually bother me but this cover is an eye-sore. It is just all over the place and I just knew that the book would be too.

You really can’t judge a book by its cover…This is a really good book. Even in light of all the past aggravation I have no reservation in saying that. I know others have said it is bad. Rick Ianniello posted a review by Timothy Tennent entitled “Farewell Bell” that blasted the book and others have said the same. I am afraid that preconceived ideas and the new media of Bell saying he is for gay marriage is muddying the waters on how good this book really is if you just picked it up and read it, not knowing who Rob Bell is…just for what it actually says about us and about God and about how we talk about God. That doesn’t mean I have zero  complaints or disagreements. More on that later.

As mentioned in a previous post, this book is the result of Bell’s own faith struggles and the conclusions he has reached through wrestling with his doubts and questions concerning God, faith, religion, etc. Bell puts his finger on the pulse of contemporary culture saying that many view belief in God as a “step backwards”. This book is written to help people understand how that isn’t the case at all. This book is written to help Christians and non-Christians alike understand God in deep and profound ways. It is written to get us back in tune with God and with ourselves and with others. It is written to give us a glimpse into the complexities of everything from life to emotion to aesthetics and beauty to physics…God is not a step backward. Walking with God is a step forward. Bell shows us that from scripture and from science.

This book is popular level theology, anthropology epistemology, eschatology and apologetics all wrapped up and wrapped together with personal stories. In this book, Rob Bell explicitly affirms his belief in some very important Christian doctrines including the reality of God, the reality of sin, our need for repentance, reconciliation and confession. He affirms the human condition and the power of sin and our need for reconciliation with God. What is more, he affirms the reality of the resurrection. The post I linked to above says that Bell does not clearly affirm the Resurrection in this book,

“As noted earlier, Bell tells the story of his own growing doubts about the credibility of the Resurrection (p. 12), and only brings it up again late in the book when he says, “In Jesus we see the God who bears the full brunt of our freedom, entering into the human story, carrying our pain and sorrow and sin and despair and denials of God and then, as the story goes, being resurrected three days later” (p. 145). Using the phrase, “as the story goes” leaves the reader with the impression that this is what Christians teach, rather than an historical event upon which the whole faith rises or falls. Either Bell no longer affirms the Resurrection or he has failed to understand its true significance. Either way, it is very troubling. Throughout the book, Bell consistently gives us a pre-resurrected Jesus, carefully choosing texts which connect Jesus to the deeper spiritual consciousness which keeps our “reverence humming within” (p. 15), but carefully avoiding the radical exclusivity of Jesus’ teaching as well as the post-resurrection confidence in the cosmic supremacy of Jesus Christ.”

Let me give you the rest of what Rob wrote right after the “as the story goes” comment. Here is the very next thing Bell wrote on that page,

“For the first Christians that was the compelling part, the unexpected twist on Jesus’ life, the ending that is really a beginning. They saw in Jesus’s resurrection a new era in human consciousness, a new way to see the world being birthed, a way in which even death does  not have the last word…it isn’t over, the last word hasn’t been spoken–a savior dying on a cross isn’t the end, it’s just the start. And so when I talk about God, I’m talking about the Jesus who invites us to embrace our weakness and doubt and anger and whatever other pain and helplessness we’re carrying around, offering it up in al of its mystery, strangeness, pain and unresolved tension to God, trusting that in the same way that Jesus’s offering of his body and blood brings us new life, this present pain and brokenness can also be turned into something new.” (p.145-146)

In that quote Bell affirms the resurrection. He affirms the divinity of Christ. He affirms that this is not just about how early Christians saw it but that it comes back to us and how we live and interact with God in light of the resurrection…pain and defeat aren’t the last word for us either. I really don’t see why Timothy was so troubled by the section on the resurrection unless he just read part and got frustrated and didn’t get the rest of it.

What I do think Timothy got right was that what this book lacked was pointing us to Christ through scripture. It left me with the impression that Bell puts his own intuition on level with scripture if not slightly ahead of scripture. That bothers me a bit…we have to realize, though, that you aren’t going to put down every single thing you believe in the pages of any given book. If I had to ask Rob one question based on this book it would be about his view of Scripture’s place in the life of a Christian.

Last, I the only other criticism I have of the book is that it ended very poorly with some decent conclusion but horrible supporting evidence in regard to aesthetics, intuition, etc (like when he was trying to talk about the intangible connections between people and things and mentioned that we all exert a gravitational pull on each other, therefore we really all do affect and influence each other…good conclusion, terrible support). Also, in various places in the book Bell almost sounds like a pantheist and New Age. I know he wouldn’t support that but the book almost sounds New Age at times in talking about cosmic and spiritual humming and energy. I could have done without that…I think it really distracted from his overall point. On the whole, I was blessed by reading this book and found it very engaging. I actually just had a discussion with a friend who shared with me some of his doubts and I pulled a few thoughts from this book to help him see it more clearly and he was very thankful for the conversation.

What We Talk About When We Talk About God – Rob Bell

For whatever reason I ended up with a review copy of Rob Bell’s new book “What we talk about when we talk about God” and wow…it is not what I expected. In fact, from what I have read so far…it totally makes us for his book “Love wins”. Kidding there. I am going to do a fuller review in a future post but I want to make you want to read this book, not because some publisher asked me to do that but because I appreciate what Rob Bell is doing here and I believe it is extremely relevant. Here is what happened with this book…I don’t know if this violates some sort of word count limit or not but I find all of this so hopeful and helpful that I want to share it with you so that you can tell if this is something you might be interested in reading. Here is why Rob said he wrote this book,

“One Sunday morning a number of years ago I found myself -face-to-face with the possibility that there is no God and we really are on our own and this may be all there is.

Now I realize lots of people have questions and convictions and doubts along those lines–that’s nothing new. But in my case, it was an Easter Sunday morning, and I was a pastor. I was driving to church services where I’d be giving a sermon about how there is a God and that God came here to Earth to do something miraculous and rise from the dead so that all of us could live forever.

And it was expected that I would do this passionately and confidently and persuasively with great hope and joy and lots of exclamation points!!!!!

That’s how the Easter sermon goes, right? Imagine if I’d stood up there and said, ‘Well, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I gotta be honest with you: I think we’re kinda screwed.”

Doesn’t work does it?…

That Easter Sunday was fairly traumatic, to say the least, because I realized that without some serious reflection and study and wise counsel I couldn’t keep going without losing something vital to my sanity. The only way forward was to plunge headfirst into my doubts and swim all the way to the bottom and find out just how deep that pool went. And if I had to, in the end, walk away in good conscience, then so be it. At least I’d have my integrity.

This book, then, is deeply personal for me. Much of what I’ve written here comes directly out of my own doubt, skepticism and dark nights of the soul when I found myself questioning-to be honest-everything…What I experienced, over a long period of time, was a gradula awakening to new perspectives on God-specficially, the God Jesus talked about. I came to see that there were depths and dimensions to the ancient Hebrew tradition, and to the Christian tradition which  grew out of that, that spoke directly to my questions and sturggles in coming to terms with how to conceive of who God is and what God is and why that even matters and what that has to do with life in this world here and now” (p.11-14)

Wow…there are so many people who are in that boat or agnostics (fastest growing “religious” group in America) who will benefit from walking along side Rob Bell through this book.

A Comprehensive List of Scot McKnight’s Commentary Recommendations: The Pastor’s Bookshelf

Scot McKnight often lists his recommended commentaries on various books of the Bible in what he calls the “Pastors Bookshelf”. Here are the ones he has done so far all in one place. This is an invaluable resource for selecting the best of the best commentaries on each book of the New Testament. Thanks Scot for taking the time to assemble this over the last few years. If Scot has already compiled this somewhere let me know.

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

Acts of the Apostles

Romans

1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

Galatians

Ephesians

Philippians

Colossians & Philemon

1 & 2 Thessalonians

Pastorals (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus)

Hebrews

James

1-2 Peter & Jude

1-3 John

Revelation

 

The Ten Laws of Boundaries

My friend Eric sent me a link that I found extremely helpful and I thought I would pass it along. It is a summary of the principles in the book Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend. It was something I really needed to hear and I thought some of you guys might benefit from this. In ministry it is hard to find a balance between being caring and taking on other people’s responsibilities and decisions for them. If we aren’t careful we end up enabling people and develop co-dependency among those we minister to. If you find yourself there from time to time, have a read and see if this article doesn’t help you see your situation for what it really is so that you can deal with it.

The Ten Laws of Boundaries

Richard Oster Has a New Commentary On Revelation Coming Out!

Great news from Richard Oster’s blog! Dr. Oster has completed and is about to have published his commentary on Revelation 1-3 entitled, “Seven Congregations in a Roman Crucible.  A Commentary on Revelation 1-3” This is going to be great and I recommend you guys get a copy of this book when it is available. As soon as I find out it is out I will put a post up to let you guys know. You can read more about it at his post, “The End is Near“. I love his opening line,

“With almost eschatological fervor I am expecting the publication of my commentary Seven Congregations in a Roman Crucible.  A Commentary on Revelation 1-3 within weeks rather than months.”

Classic.

HT: Philip Cunningham

The Power of Pain – Michael Gungor

In Michael Gungor’s book, “The Crowd, the Critic and the Muse” he offers much needed perspective on what it means to be human and what it means to be a human in terms of art, creativity and our perceptions of reality. The book is a little hard hitting at times and sometimes Michael uses a few choice words but the book is well worth the read. You can tell he is one of those people who is creative enough to see the world in a different way than most and is able to communicate those insights in ways that are accessible, understandable, and humorous. Listen in on what he has to say about pain,

“Part of the reason people aren’t building cathedrals anymore is that we are too lazy and spoiled for the pain and the work that they demand from us. This sort of laziness leads to an artistic narcissism that creates art as a mere emotional expression of the ego rather than an intentional and profound re-ordering or re-imagining of the world. Art schools and galleries start filling up with self-indulgent narcissists who think that every fart of theirs is a work of genius because “it came from deep inside of me.”

Entitlement is not a friend of art. Work is. Pain is. Pain is that blessed and despised universal experience that creates more true art than any other human experience. Love is racked with pain. Life’s most joyful experiences—the birth of a newborn baby, the formation of deep friendship, or first consummation of love—all are associated with an experience of pain. A wedding is the joyful union of two lovers, but it begins with, “Who gives this bride away?”

Pain is as common as skin. We enter this world in pain, struggling for our first breath, and when we leave, we struggle for our last. Life ends when that struggle ends. So does good art. Pain is not the same thing as suffering. One can fully experience the pain of life without being the tortured artist who lives in constant agony. But creation is no easy task. Good art demands a fight.”

Gungor, M. (2012-10-04). The Crowd, The Critic, and the Muse: A Book for Creators (Kindle Locations 1103-1111). Woodsley Press. Kindle Edition.

Our bodies require resistance and tension to exist. Astronauts exercise in space because if they don’t, zero gravity will cause their muscles to atrophy. Pain is part of the full experience of what it means to be human. But pain goes beyond just the physical feeling that something is not right with your body. Pain or painstaking also describes the extent one goes to in order to ensure that the task they are performing or art they are creating holds up to the highest standards. The problem is, our society spends billions of dollars and billions of hours trying to avoid the very thing that makes you stronger, helps you fight harder, and enables you to accomplish things that no one else thought would be possible…pain.

Book Giveaway – Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters by N.T. Wright

Congratulations to Luke Dockery who won an advance copy of Mark Driscoll’s book that is coming out next week “Who Do You Think You Are?“. I am following that up with another book giveaway. This time it is N.T. Wright’s book Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters. This is an excellent book and one you guys definitely need to add to your resources if you haven’t already.

If you want to be in the running to get a copy of Wright’s book just comment on this post and I will announce a winner on New Year’s day. So get your comments in by then. Thanks for reading and have a great New Year!

What is the best Christian book you read in 2012?

What is the best Christian book you read in 2012? If you like you can put your pick in a category like (ministry) or (leadership).

For me it was Mike Breen’s Multiplying Missional Leaders followed up by Alan Hirsch’s Forgotten Ways Handbook.