Todd Hiestand

Pastors in their Offices

May 23, 2009 // 3 Comments »

“The initial locus and primary focus of [pastors] work is in their offices. Time-management studies again and again have confirmed that pastors invest a large percentage of their time in their offices – in meetings, in doing administrative work, and in taking care of administrative details…Pastors continue to spend so much time their offices because it is a familiar and habitual behavior pattern that has been nurtured and reinforced for many, many years. And the foundation underlying that behavior pattern is an understanding of the nature of leadership that is no longer helpful.”

- Kennon Callahan, Effective Church Leadership

Of course. I wrote this post from my office (which is actually a starbucks).

Posted in Book Reviews, Great Quotes

The Furious Longing of God

May 21, 2009 // No Comments »

I’m almost embrassed to say that I have never actually read a book by Brennan Manning. From what I gather a lot of his books are the same lyrics but just to a different tune. If that’s true, its just fine with me because he’s writing about something that seeminly takes a lifetime to grasp. And, if I can summarize this book (The Furious Longing of God) in one sentance, its this:

God loves you like crazy.

To me, that’s one message that we just can’t hear enough and can’t be reminded of enough. Someone, i forget who, once said that “Sometimes we need to be reminded more than we need to be instructed.” Brennan Manning seems to take this advice and I’m thankful.

God. Loves. You. Like. Crazy.

We’d do well to let this messages sit with us every morning for the rest of our lives. Not suprisingly, Manning alludes to the fact that many people who give him a hard time for talking about God’s love too much. I guess I understand where they are coming from (maybe) but man, can we really talk too much of God’s love?

When it comes down to it, this is a good book for what Manning intended it for. I don’t think he was writing a comprehensive theological treatise on the love of God. I think he’s trying to write something that makes you begin all over again to come to terms with the fact that God love you like crazy.

If that was really his goal, I think he did well.

I’m happy to suggest this book to people who are having a hard time wrapping their minds around God’s unbelievable love for them.

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology

What Role Does Confession Play in Your Life?

// 2 Comments »

I’ve been working with someone in our church to take a long hard look at the culture and practices of we’ve developed in our church around the issue of spiritual formation, spiritual direction and discipleship. In this, I’ve been doign some reading about how other denominations and traditions have approached this topic throughout the history of the church. One book that has been immensely helpful is Gary Moon and David Benner’s book Spiritual Direction and the Care of Souls. In this book, they give an overview of how spiritual direction is approached from different traditions.

One thing that has surprised me has been how almost every tradition has a strong emphasis on some form of confession. Now, this probably shouldn’t have surprised me. But, its no secret that evangelicals are not known to place a high emphasis on confession as a regular practice in the Christian life. Perhaps we think we will become catholic or something. But, while it was talked about on some level, it was not and has not been something strongly emphasized. This is true for us at The Well. We don’t, not talk about confession. But I am realizing we aren’t intentional enough about it.

David Fitch in his book The Great Giveway writes about this a bit in his chapter on spiritual formation. This is a long quote, but i think he hits the nail on the head…

“But we cannot do therapy like this sitting in the pew. Because evangelicals are so sermon-centric, we are tempted to think that good therapy happens by taking good notes in the pew. But ironically, the more we concentrate on good biblical instruction as central to the Christian life, the less we talk to each other about our lives and especially about sin. MOst of our small group processes are either inductive Bible studies or involved more intense, scholarly study of the bible that never deals with the emotional and character issues that are destroying our lives. It is a testament to how unsafe the church has become for sinners that we rarely discuss with each other our sin and failures and seek the healing of the HOly Spirit. Rarely do we have confession and repentance in our small groups. We need to find safe places where we can share our lives, confess our sins, receive scriptural wisdom, and be prayed for. To do this, we cannot just get together and simply share our sins and quote bible verses at each other. We must retrieve from therapy the needed skills to practice biblical confession and bring it under the lordship of Christ. This is the utmost of importance to the future of spiritual formation in the evangelical church.” (195)

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Great Quotes, Spiritual Formation

Surprised by Scripture

April 25, 2009 // 2 Comments »

Eugene Peterson is one of those writers who has the uncanny knack to take my deepest struggles with leadership, faith, spirituality and speak at directly at them. One of those books is called Working the Angles. That’s one of those books I read at least once a year. Each time I do, I end up with a knot in my stomach because I am so convicted.

I’ve been slowly working through his recent book, Eat This Book and I’m really enjoying it. He writes,

“Barth insists that we do not read this book and the subsequent writings that are shaped by it in order to find how how to get God into our lives, get him to participate in our lives. No. We open this book and find that page after page it takes us off guard, surprises us, and draws us into its reality, pulls us into participation with God in his terms.”

Peterson (and Barth) hit on something that has completely changed the way I approach Scripture…

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Great Quotes

Sway by Ori and Rom Brafman

April 21, 2009 // No Comments »

Some of you might know the Ori Brafman from the very good book, The Starfish and the Spider.” Since I loved that book so much I figured I would give this one a try. This did not disappoint. Sway is subtitled “the irresistible pull of irrational behavior.” You could rephrase that as, “why smart people do stupid things.”

Not only was this book was as readable as a Malcolm Gladwell book (that’s very readable if you don’t know who Malcolm Gladwell is), but it was extremely helpful and insightful. Telling lots of stories, they gave me some language and perspective to understand why I and other church leaders often make dumb decisions.

One thing he writes struck a significant chord with me,

“The more meaningful a potential loss is, the more loss averse we become. In other words, the more there is on the line, the easier it is to get swept into an irrational decision.” (22)

The most significant loss we had at The Well in recent years was when my co-pastor, Brad Jackson, had to move on from the community earlier than expected due to financial reasons. Looking back, this was the right decision for us and for him.  Hard, but right.  It’s clear to me that God wasn’t absent in this process.

But, I have also realized that we waited too long to make this transition. By waiting to act as long as we did , we ran the financial resources of the church down further than we should have. This put The Well in a precarious financial position for the next year or so. (Basically, when we he left, we had no money.  Obviously we have recovered well since then.).

Some might take the opinion that we were idiots, or worse, selfish. Perhaps we were. But I don’t think that’s the what happened. Sway gave me language to describe what I’ve always felt about this situation.   What really happened is that we were so emotionally invested in this community that we were blinded to the road we were on. We were just convinced that we could turn it around. And, like someone who is holding onto a stock that keeps dropping in price and eventually has to sell their fortune for 29 cents a share, we too held on too long. It’s not that we were stupid. It’s not that we were selfish. It was all done with great intentions and perhaps a little naiveté.  But, if nothing else it has served as a great learning experience.  This experience has been valuable. It really makes me step back from decisions and try and see them in a more objective light.

Again, Sway helped give me language to understand this part of our story in a way that I haven’t been able to put my finger on in the past.

Of course, this whole post assumes that I am a smart… hmm…

Posted in Book Reviews, General, Missional Leadership

Three Questions that Become Answers (2)

March 24, 2009 // No Comments »

I’m working through three questions from Dave Gibbons from the book the Monkey and the Fish (I posted question #1 on Sunday night) “What is my pain” is the second question that Gibbons suggests that we ask as we seek direction for our lives and for our church. He writes about how some of the most important moments in our lives come through pain. The easiest example is that of Jesus. Salvation came through brutal death on the cross.

Our world of comfort however, seems to not like or value pain so much and we would do well to consider it more carefully.

He writes,

“I think South American and Easter countries can help us with our theology and lifestyle. They not only think of resurrection day but also have a theology of suffering and pain. It’s not just about the resurrection; its about Via Dolorosa – the way of suffering. Its about the journey of pain to the cross.

It seems that we’ve done a good job of domesticating the gospel in the west by thinking that following Jesus is all about the good life, being fulfilled and being happy (overstatement i know, but there is some truth to this).

But, Dave is getting at the fact that the pain that we carry with us is often the very thing that God uses to bring hope to others.

He writes,

“Personally, as I’ve periodically inventoried my life, I’ve listed all the painful moments, the moments of sadness and suffering involving the people in my life. My parent’s divorce. My mom’s death at the hands of a drunken driver. My being told in college at a Christian University that i couldn’t see my girlfriend because I was Asian-American and she was Caucasian. Friends who’ve left me feeling betrayed or disillusioned. I’ve realized again and again that my pain was a gift from God. As I’ve met people around the world and shared my pain with them, it is the pain that draws people in, far more so than my limited talents, skills, and accomplishments. It disarms all the things that can be used to divide us – race, economics, culture, politics, nationalism, dogma, language.”

he finishes this section by saying,

“It’s worth remembering ourselves that Jesus didn’t come from a line of professional clergy and had no social pedigree. He came from real, flawed people who weren’t necessarily proud of their past and didn’t like their pain, but he embraced them and, by faith, saw something far better come from them.”

Amen to that.

So, what is your pain?

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Missional Leadership

Pastor, How Do You Spend Your Week?

March 23, 2009 // 1 Comment »

We’re interacting with Ken Callahan’s book, “Effective Church Leadership” here. I’ve done him the favor of re-titling it Organizational Leadership for Missional Churches without asking him.

He’s talks a bit about re-imagining the way pastors spend their time. In a churched culture, we were taught that most of our time could be spent studying, parsing verbs and keeping track of the inside workings of the church. he writes,

” [In interviews of pastors I learn that] The initial locus and primary focus of their work is in their offices. TIme-management studies again and again have confirmed that pastors invest a large percentage of their time in their offices – in meetings, in doing administrative work, and in taking care of administrative details…

I am not proposing that pastors eliminate their offices. That would miss the central point. Pastors continue to spend so much time in their offices simply because it is a familiar and habitual behavior pattern that has been nurtured and reinforced for many, many years. And the foundation underlying that behavior pattern is an understanding of the nature of leadership that is no longer helpful.” (16)

As I have sought to re-learn how to spend my time as a pastor I can confess that this is true. It’s much, much more natural for me to sit behind my computer most of the week doing “helpful” things that do help our church. But, sometimes these “helpful” things aren’t the “best” things for the mission of our congregation. I am 6 years into the process re-learning what it means to be a pastor in a missionary context.

Not to build him up unnecessarily, but over the past few months, I have been inspired and encouraged by my good friend JR Briggs who has been living this out amazingly well.  His stories of interacting with his geographical community are awesome and if you want to know what it means to engage your local context, he’s a good one to learn from.

This poses some questions,

• How should a missionary pastor be spending his / her time?
• What kinds of places should a pastor be going?
• Who should he be having conversations with?
• Is your church leadership teams/boards giving the pastor the freedom to reimagine their role? This is an important piece of the puzzle as many pastors want to do this, but the expectations laid down by their boards are in direct opposition to it..

As a bi-vocational pastor, this approach to my time takes on a different form. I’m putting together a typical week for me and I’ll be posting that in the near future….

Posted in Book Reviews, Missional Leadership

Three Questions that Become Answers (1)

March 21, 2009 // 1 Comment »

Been really enjoying the book The Monkey and the Fish by Dave Gibbons. It’s one of those books that I will pass on to a few people and simply say “see, this is what I’ve been trying to talk about.”

In chapter 5 he goes through three questions that are helpful for pastors and leaders (and churches) to ask as they look for answers to the mission and vision of their church.

The first question is: “Where is Nazarath?”

Now, this might seem like a strange question (it did to me at first). But when you begin to answer it, its very insightful. In the Bible, the question is asked about Jesus, “Can anything good come from Nazarath?” Dave gives another way of asking this question, “Can anything good come from that place on the other side of the railroad tracks?”

He goes on to ask a very, very helpful question…

“Where is the other side of the tracks in your city or region? In other words, who are the marginalized or the outsiders near you, people whom you feel pain for?”

I don’t think this is not a question that most churches ask seriously. Even those churches who do ask that question often don’t know what to do about the answer. He references further the passage in I Corinthians where Paul writes, “few of you were wise in the world’s eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things this world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise…” (114)

Now, I’ve read that passage 100 times. And something struck me right between the eyes. This isn’t necessarily true of my church. My community is not necessarily made up of a bunch of people who society would consider foolish or outsiders. While we aren’t all that impressive and we are foolish in our own way, we definitely aren’t people who the world would consider from the wrong side of the tracks. Of course, we can’t help that on some level. I’m not about to turn people away from the church when they are seriously seeking God.

I hope and pray that more people “from the wrong side of the tracks” would find Jesus in our community. Of course, that always creates a challenge…

“so who in your community is the outsider, the misjudged, the misunderstood? Maybe the one who seems the weakest? Who are the strangers and the friendless? Focusing on them as a church may mean you won’t grow fast. And you may lose some people. But your church will be fulfilling the most beautiful expression of who God is…” (115)

The second and third questions will come later…

Posted in Book Reviews, Great Quotes

Missional Organizational Leadership

March 19, 2009 // 5 Comments »

Over the last few weeks during my travels I’ve been devouring the book, Effective Church Leadership by Ken Callahan.  Now, in the circles of pastors that I run, this isn’t typically on the top of anyone’s reading list. But, it should be.

I’ve come to the conclusion that this book needs to be reedited and reprinted and retitled as: Organizational Leadership for Missional Churches”  (I’m convinced this book is so important and helpful I am in the midst of seeking to convince the author to do just that).

Dr. Callahan is able to do something that is, unfortunately, rare. He’s able to give helpful organizational leadership principles, guidance and advice to churches and pastors who are trying to understand how to lead communities of faith in our post-Christian context.

Now, this is what makes this book amazing to me: Ken wrote this book in 1990. Yes, 1990.  For some frame of reference, that’s 8 years before the landmark book Missional Church by Darrell Guder was published.

Keeping that in mind, read some of the quotes from this book:

“In our time, a new understanding of the nature of leadership needs to be grown forward.  We need a foundational understanding that the focus of leadership will be in the world, not in the church.” (21)

“A mission outpost is more of a people than a place.  It is a grouping-a team of people-gathered at the front lines of human hurts and hopes.” (28)

“The missional leader understands that to be faithful is “to be faithful to the mission,” not to success.  Indeed, the missional leader redefinds success as mission. For the missional leader, one does the mission for the sake of the mission.  If, as a by-product, there is success (as the world defines success, such as church growth), the missional leader praises God and continues in faithfulness to the mission. The leader does not allow the success of growth to alter his or her mission.” (83)

“The missionary pastor’s second task is, in a relational way, to construct new communities of reconciliation, wholeness, caring and justice.” (200)

This sounds like some of the stuff I heard at the last two conferences I was at over the last few weeks.  Oh, and by the way Ken is somewhere around 75 years old.  He’s no hip young pastor with a soul patch and cool black framed glasses and a shaved head.  Frankly he’s old. But frankly, he gets it and is saying things that said pastor(s) need to listen to carefully.

Much of this book is spent working through key issues that churches just like mine need to think through carefully if we are going to have any longevity.  The issue isn’t making our organizations institutional and bureaucratic. Rather the emphasis is exactly the opposite. Its about leading and sustaining missional (mission focused) churches. The main topics Dr. Callahan writes about are mission, leadership and decision making, and organization. (Coincidently, these are the topics that I hear my fellow young pastors begging for more education).

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be interacting with some of the topics in his book because  a) I believe this information needs to be shared b) because it’s been so helpful to us at The Well and c) because I think you should buy the book.

If you do buy the book, or have read the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Missional Leadership

Limitations

February 11, 2009 // 3 Comments »

I turned 32 today. Not sure what to think about that. But I can confess that one begins to think more intentionally about life the older one gets. Of course, its not like I am old. There are plenty of you reading this who are much older than me!

Recently, I read a post from Bob Hyatt where he noted the following quote.

“There is something deeply spiritual about honoring the limitations of our lives and the boundaries of what God has given us to do as leaders. Narcissistic leaders are always looking beyond their sphere of influence with visions of grandiosity far out of proportion to what is actually being given. Living within our limits means living within the finiteness of who we are as individuals and as a community- the limits of time and space, the limits of our physical, emotional, relational and spiritual capacities, the limits of our stage of life… and the limits of the calling God has given. It means doing this and not that. It means doing this much and not more.”
- Ruth Haley Barton

This is a good word for someone like me who has many “visions of grandiosity” and is convinced that I can change the world someday. I am realizing that, while vision and dreaming is important, I must also be very present to what is in front of me. That is my family, my job(s), my neighbor, my community, my friends and even the personal soul care.

So, while I still have dreams of changing the world, I am more fully aware of how its got to start in the daily and the normal parts of my life.

“How we spend our day is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.”
- Annie Dilard

And finally, another good word from Robert Benson in the book A Good Life.

“It is tempting sometimes, or at least it seems so to me, to think of my work here on earth in rather large and grandiose ways. It may be that writers are the only ones who suffer from such a thing, but I am not sure that is so.

I like to think of my work in terms of building the kingdom and spreading the gospel. It is not a bad thing for us to step back and try to see how the labor of our hands and hearts and minds fits within the grand scheme of things. In fact, it is the proper thing to do so.

But it is also right that we recognize that a goodly portion of the things we do can seem mundane and ordinary are the very places where we are likely to live out the gospel.

Our days and our lives are more often filled with little chances to show our love to others than they are filled with great and grand opportunities. It is in those little things that we are given to do and to say and to be what we must do the work of building the kingdom.”

What are you doing today?

Who are you being today?

What are you saying today?

Posted in Faith & Theology, Featured, Great Quotes

The Rule of Benedict and the Suburban Christian

February 2, 2009 // 11 Comments »

In my recent post on “The Mob” I tried to bring out the idea that we need to always be aware and thinking thinking critically about our way of life. We need to constantly be allowing God, mostly through the scriptures and through prayer, reorient and reconvert our way of life. I believe this is especially true for those of us who live in Suburban America. We live extremely individualized, consumerized, busy and disconnected lives (just to name a few). Without paying attention to our way of life, we’ll more than likely just go about our culture’s default life without even realizing it.

With this in mind, I’ve been reading around the topic of the Rule of St. Benedict. I’m curious about the connection between a healthy suburban spirituality and the monastic way of life. My big question is, “what would it look like to have a suburban rule of life?”

What I don’t want is a prescriptive list of requirements and duties that someone must perform. This is what frustrates me and most other people about organized religion. Often the word “rule” can be construed in that way. But, really the term “rule” (regula) is more better defined as a “guidepost” or “railing.” What I like about Benedicitine Spirituality is this is the focus. Joan Chittister writes,

“The rule of Benedict is more wisdom than law. The Rule of Benedict is not a list of directives. The Rule of benedict is a way of life. And that’s the key to understanding the Rule. It isn’t one.”

The thing I like about the Rule of Benedict is also that it is not about getting out of the world and isolating yourself from reality so you can focus on God. Rather, it is about living well and aware in the daily.

Chittister writes again in the book Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today writes,

“Spirituality is the way in which we express a living faith in a real world. Spirituality is the sum total of the attitudes and actions that define our faith” and later she writes, the Rule of St. Benedict is designed for ordinary people who live ordinary lives.”

Later she writes a paragraph that cuts right into the typical suburban christian’s way of life,

“Today, too, people go faithful from church to neighborhood week after week and, then, between times give themselves entirely to making money, and being nationalistic, and having fun. In the meantime, Lazarus again waits hungry for the Christians of this time to notice his deprivation and stoop down to listen to him as the Lazarus of the gospel story waited in vain for help from the wealthy and pious…”

We are all guilty of being so caught up in a default way of life that isn’t out rightly evil, but is destroying our souls and our witness. What we need is to fashion a way of life that is contstantly reminding us to be present to the moment in front of us, be presetn to the person in front of us, remind us that we are part of the People of God who are here as witnesses to a risen Messiah.

I’m finding that the Rule of St. Benedict is a good teacher for me as I seek to live life more aware of my/our calling…

I am reading this book by Chittister (which I highly recommend. On Tim Keel’s recommendation I am also reading a book called A Good Life: Benedict’s Guide to Everyday Joy
by Robert Benson a second time and we’re actually reading this book together at the leadership team retreat we have this weekend. And, finally, I figured I would go to the source and I picked up a copy of Rule of Saint Benedict in English.

Any thoughts on a suburban rule?

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Featured, Suburbia

ReJesus by Alan Hirsch & Michael Frost

January 15, 2009 // 2 Comments »

I just finished reading ReJesus by Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost (doesn’t Michael have a blog?!).  Overall it was a really good read that I really enjoyed.   It was a great call for the Church/christians to actually act like Jesus.  They do good job of showing that if we really were to “act like Jesus” a lot of things would have to change.  

One of my favorite quotes they used was one that my friend Chris Marlow used as well in his excellent blog post this morning.  They write, 

The process of reJesusing the church will begin with a rediscovery of the fierce and outrageous life of Jesus. Too many people have become turned off to the church because the object of our faith seems bland and insipid. It reminds us of the quip made by the archbishop who is reported to have said, “Everywhere Jesus went there was a riot. Everywhere I go they make me cups of tea!”

Well, everywhere I go they make me coffee but that’s just because I use Starbucks as my office all the time.  This book has really gotten me thinking about how I am living and the picture of Jesus I am putting forth with my life (and the picture of Jesus that our church is putting forth with our life together). 

Perhaps the best part in the book is simply the call to ask fresh questions about how our lives match up with the One that we follow.  You can’t really go wrong with asking that question and its one that we need to ask a heck of a lot more. 

As Chris says in his post, I want to be like Jesus, but only kind of. And honestly, most of the time I want to be like Jesus if it is convenient for me.

All in all, I recommend the book.  It was good for stimulating my imagination.  I thought there were parts that dragged a little bit (but that might be because I felt pretty versed on those sections) but it was still very well worth the read and definitely worth having my library.

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Featured, Missional

Finished Reading: Resident Aliens & The Tangible Kindgom

January 12, 2009 // 4 Comments »

One of the things I have been trying to do more of in the evenings is read more.  I can all too easily slip into the: put the kids to bed -> turn on the TV -> Turn on the computer routine.  Next thing I know its 11:30 and I’ve wasted the evening watching bad television and aimlessly surfing the web and refreshing twitter like a helpless addict (not that I am addicted, I can stop whenever I want).  While some nights I do need to just veg in front of the TV and hang out with my wife, I’d rather make that the exception rather than the rule.

So far I’ve done well and, i’ll be honest, it feels really good to get some into some good books.  I’ve gone through two this month already and I’m well into my third.  Here’s a rundown of what I’ve read.  I always like to see what other people are reading so I hope you find them helpful…

Resident Aliens
I read most of this book during my vacation and I really had a hard time putting it down. This book renewed my interest in the Sermon in the Mount (I’ve been studying it on my own the last week or so) and it was a great companion as I’ve sought to think through what it means for us to be an alternative community (i.e. colony), faithful to the Christian story in the Philly Suburbs. I’d recommend this book to anything thinking along those lines.

Tangible Kingdom
This book didn’t grab me quite as fast. I went off the recommendation of a few close friends and while the book started slow for me, I did finish it (which says a lot). I really appreciated reading the story of Hugh Halter’s church and was interested to find out through Facebook that one of my friends from my childhood attends there. This book is full of good stories and I read it much like I read Organic Church by Neil Cole…. it really helped get my imagination flowing for our own community. And, I love books that ignite my imagination so I am glad I read it.

I am in the middle of ReJesus by Hirsch and Frost and am really enjoying it so far. More on that one later.

I can’t wait to crack open The Politics of Jesus by Yoder. It’s sitting next to me in my bag and I am doing all i can to concentrate on taking care of my web projects I need to do today before I open it up.

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Featured

The Task of the Church

January 3, 2009 // 1 Comment »

From Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics v.4.3.2 – The Doctrine of Reconciliation

To sum up, we may say there is committed to it the gospel, I.e. The good, glad tidings of Jesus Christ, of the real act and true revelation of the goodness in which God has willed to make and has in fact made Himself the God of man and man His man.  This great Yes is its cause.  It has no other task besides this. (page 800)

Posted in Faith & Theology, Featured, Great Quotes

Books of 2008 – Theology

December 31, 2008 // 2 Comments »

Last year I listed out the books I read in 2007. It was fun to look back over the year and see what books influenced me and shaped my thinking. You can see the list for 2007 here. This post is made of the books that relate to Theology and Church for 2008.

You can see the books of 2008 that relate to leadership here.

Believing in the Future (Christian mission and modern culture) - David Bosch
This little books packs a serious punch. It’s a great follow up and addition to his mega-book Transforming Mission (which, yes, I am still reading!). This is one of those books I should have underlined the things I didn’t want to remember because pretty much the whole book is one continuous underline. It’s a hard book to find since it is out of print but I found it cheaper than its listed right now but it would be worth every penny. It’s one of those books that a pastor should have in his/her library.

• Blog Posts on this Book: What Do We Become Christians For?, What is Mission?. Also check out my friend John Chandler who has a longer series of posts here where he actually engaged with the text instead of just copying down quotes.

The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time – Tom Sine
This may very well have been my favorite book of the year. In fact, yes, it was my favorite book. It was inspiring and full of great research, advice and examples. I read this right as I got back from Africa so I was seriously ripe for its content. In fact, what I would consider some of my most significant thoughts of this year flowed from reading this book. Those thoughts are outlined in the first related post listed below about the Suburban Mob.

• Blog Posts Related to this Book: Are You Rioting with the Suburban Mob, The Great Sin of the Western Church?, Begin Reimagining Your Life.

 
African Friends and Money Matters - David E. Maranz
I started reading this book before I went to Zambia this summer. It was really, really helpful as it gave me a glimpse to the culture there. The author gives 90 observations about how money is handled differently in Africa than the West. I’ll probably pick it back up again and try and finish it before I head back next summer.

• Blog Posts on this Book: Observations 1-5, Observations 6-11
  

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation - Parker Palmer
This was surprisingly good book. I think the author hits on some seriously important things as we understand ourselves, vocation and calling. He named a lot of the stuff I’ve been working through personally and it gave me some good language to understand how to view myself (and others) in light of the gospel. Highly recommended.

The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God’s Call to Justice – Mark Labberton
I read this book in Zambia. Labberton lays out well how the church simply cannot ignore the poor and still call what they do worship. I gave this book to our worship pastor and he loved it as well.

Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life – Ed Cyzewski
My friend Ed sent me a copy of this book for review and I really enjoyed it. You can read the review I wrote here.

The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible – Scot McKnight
I generally like everything that Scot writes. This was no exception. I think he handled this topic very, very well and would consider using this book in a book study small group. I think it would generate some great discussion on some important topics, namely reading the scriptures with a view of the entire narrative.

Practicing His Presence – Brother Lawrence & Frank Laubach
I read most of this book. I was highly challenged by it and I keep coming back to its concept which is, what if we were constantly mindful of the fact that God is present? Like the journey the author takes in this book, its something that grows with time. But this little book was a significant help for me here.

The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches – Bob Roberts, JR
I really enjoyed this book. Very practical if you or your church is ever considering planting churches.

Posted in Books of 2008, Faith & Theology, Featured

Books of 2008 – Leadership

December 27, 2008 // 5 Comments »

Last year I listed out the books I read in 2007. It was fun to look back over the year and see what books influenced me and shaped my thinking. You can see the list for 2007 here.  So, without further waiting, here are the books that I read in 2007 along with my response to each one.  This first section is on General Leadership.  A follow-up post with books on Theology will be coming soon.

A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quickfix – Edwin Freiedman
This might be the most helpful book I read this year. As you can tell from the list, I ended up reading a lot of leadership type books. I’ll confess that I am kind of a leadership book junkie and this one was on the top of the list. This book takes a look at how leadership in our culture has been fairly neutered and we need leaders who are willing to take risks and lead with some “nerve.”

• Blog Posts on this book: It’s Not My Fault: A Word on Blame Displacement, Focus on Your Strengths, Working Through the Pain.

Tribes – Seth Godin
I’ve grown to really appreciate the “no-brainer” way in which Seth Godin thinks. He somehow manages to write in his books (and his blog) about issues that should be common sense but somehow have become uncommon sense. This book was inspiring and was full of really, really good thoughts. I’d recommend it to anyone.

• Blog Posts about this book: Amazing People, Leader: It’s Your Fault / Responsibility

The Five Dysfunctions of Team – Patrick Lencioni
I heart Patrick Lencioni. He’s kinda like Seth Godin in that he typically writes fairly uncomplicated, simple things that just make sense. This book has some great insights for those who lead in teams. In fact, I’d argue that this is one of the more important and helpful books that I’ve read in the last few years. He writes in a narrative form and I actually enjoy that part. But, this parts of this book on building trust in a team were completely invaluable.

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive – Patrick Lencioni
Another great book from the Patmeister. This was helpful for me as it helped me begin to think carefully about the things that I need to focus on as lead pastor at The Well. I am not a big fan of seeing the Pastor as CEO but there were some valuable things for me to pull from this book. Very glad I read it.

Death by Meeting – Patrick Lencioni
Meetings generally suck. Ours have sucked. But they are getting better. This book helped me think through some of the reasons why they sucked and how we can make them suck less. In fact, I am beginning to enjoy our meetings more and more.

• Blog Posts About This Book: Why meetings suck (the life out of you)

Six Thinking Hats – Edward DeBono
I paid 69 cents for this one used on Amazon. It was worth every penny. If you work in teams, this is a helpful book as it helps us see how we all think through issues differently.

Books on Theology up next….

Posted in Book Reviews, Books of 2008, Faith & Theology, Featured

Resident Aliens in Suburbia

December 26, 2008 // 3 Comments »

I’ve been reading Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon over the break. Chapter four is brilliant. This year I have done a lot of thinking about the Church as a counter-cultural community. I think this is always necessary and I’m certain there is a desperate need for those of us in a suburban context to be intentional about re-imagining a life together that is in fact counter-cultural (in the way of Jesus). Of course, we don’t have to re-imagine out of nothing, without any direction. We have the witness of Isreal, Jesus, the disciples, the church and a hope of a New Heavens and New Earth to guide this process (you know, all the stuff found in the Scriptures).

I’ve spoken about this idea using the concept of a mob in a post after I returned from Zambia in July.

Here Willimon and Hauerwas say it as well as I’ve heard it articulated:

Here [in the sermon on the Mount] is an invitation to a way that strikes hard against what the world already knows, what the world defines as good behavior, what makes sense to everybody. The Sermon, by its announcement and its demands, makes necessary the formation of a colony, not because disciples are those who have a ned to be different, but because the Sermon, if believed and lived, makes us different, shows us the world to be alien, and odd place where what makes sense to everybody else is revealed to be opposed to what God is doing among us. jesus was not crucified for saying or doing what made sense to everyone. People are crucified for following a way that runs counter to the prevailing direction of the culture…

See, I told you they were smart.

Posted in Faith & Theology, Featured, Great Quotes, Missional, Suburbia

The Church Informing the Powers…

December 12, 2008 // 1 Comment »

Sometimes all you need is a little quote from NT Wright to get your blood flowing…

“It is by the Church living as the one believing community, in which barriers of race, class, gender and so forth are irrelevant to membership and to holding of office, that the principalities and powers are informed in no uncertain terms that their time is up, that there is indeed a new way to be human.”

NT Wright in What Saint Paul Really Said (161)

Posted in Faith & Theology, Featured, Great Quotes

Metavista: The Bible and Culture

December 7, 2008 // No Comments »

I’m reading a new book called,Metavista: Bible, Church and Mission in an Age of Imagination by Colin Greene & Martin Robinson that I received to review. This isn’t really my official review but I’ve really enjoyed it so far. What I like most is that they don’t pull any punches when talking about how the church has interacted with culture.

In the chapter I am reading now (chapter 5), they are talking about how the church has read the Bible during the age of Christendom. They make a rather bold statement with this one: 

“To put the issue baldly and somewhat simplistically: with all possible exception of the early Reformation period, the fact is that the Bible has enver been central to the life ad witness of the church during the whole Christiandom project, which has obviously covered most of the time the church has been in existence.” (p.97) (emphasis mine)

Okay, now if you are going to make a statement like that you’ve really got to back it up.   I am trusting they will. I am fairly sure that they are not saying that the Bible hasn’t been used or read.   I think that would be kind of a dumb claim.  What I am guessing is that they will argue that while the bible has been read a lot by Christians, its message and worldview has somehow not had an impact on the life and especially witness of the Church. Needless to say I am really, really interested in how they unpack this. 

They do give one quick example in the following quote, 

“The raw apocalyptic energy of Biblical messianic eschatology with its obvious critique of earthly king, kingdoms and thrones in favor of the more compelling vision of a kingdom where God rules, justice and righteousness prevails and genuine shalom exists, has rarely surfaced in the church’s attempt to define its ecclesial and political existence though the story the bible recounts. In face, for most of its existence – at least in the modern period – the church has found it convenient to believe that religion and politics are two quite separate spheres to be kept firmly apart, while all the time reading the Bible through this bifurcated lens. (p.98)

Do you agree?

What do you think?

Posted in Book Reviews, Faith & Theology, Featured

Coffeehouse Theology

December 6, 2008 // 4 Comments »

Give me a living room, with the lights down low, a glowing Christmas tree, a french-press of coffee and a few good books and I’m a happy man. 

Tonight  I was finally able to finish Ed Cyzewski’s book, Coffeehouse Theology. Ed and I started seminary at the same time so I’ve been excited to get into his book for a while now (and that’s really not just because my name is in the acknowledgements!). 

I think that Ed does a great job of giving a great introduction to theology for the person who doesn’t tend to consider themselves a theologian or doesn’t get a chance to read a bunch of really big thick theological books.  The sub-title really says it all, “reflecting on God in everyday life.”   Sometimes theologians write for other theologians and that often makes it difficult for to what they write to make a difference in everyday life.  Ed does just the opposite of that.  Not only does he have a great handle on the subject matter, but he also is a great writer.  I actually find it really, really enjoyable to read his writing. That he’s writing about theology makes it even better.

My favorite chapter from the book was Chapter 8 which was on the Bible. He writes,

“as Christians, we often don’t treat the Bible as such a book: a coherent, alternative, completely true, relevant story for today.” 

It’s not that we don’t view the Bible as important. I’ve yet to meet a Christian who professes faith in Jesus that has made that claim! But, far too often we don’t see the Bible for what it is.  A true story (as opposed to a collection of true stories). 

He writes, 

“While most Christians hold the Bible in high regard and reverence, we all too easily fall into the trap of classifying it in the reference category…we most often read the Bible for spiritual growth and guidance: instructions on how to live and what to believe.  These are great resons to read the Bible, but there is so much more to the story found in Genesis through Revelation.”

 He goes on to write something that I believe is a very important perspective:

“The Bible is more than theological truths or a book of rules on how to live.  In the broadest sense, the Bible tells the alternative story we all search for, a story with ramifications that dramatically revamp how we live.  It presents us with God’s story: his pursuit of humanity throughout history in spite of disobedience and heartbreak.  At center stage stands God, who loves creation and tirelessly works to repair this broken, sin-shattered world through the chosen people.  We don’t study the Bible just for correct doctrine; we study the Bible in order to know God and to bring his kingdom into our world.”

I’d say that over the last couple years, as I have begun to understand the scripture as the Story that defines our reality and our role in it (as opposed to a source that I mine for facts and great truth nuggets) I have developed  a much more passionate faith and worldview that makes me excited to call myself a follower of Jesus. 

So, in conclusion, if you are looking for a good intro into the world of theology, go buy Ed’s book. I believe it will be worth your time.

Posted in Book Reviews, Featured