From whales to waterfalls, the whole created order has in principle been reconciled to God. Like a sovereign making a proclamation and sending off his heralds to bear it to the distant corners of his empire, God has in Jesus Christ proclaimed once and for all that the world which he made has been reconciled to him. His heralds, scurrying off to the ends of the earth with the news, are simply agents, messengers, of this one antecedent authoritative proclamation.
N.T. Wright in TNTC: Colossians and Philemon (on Colossians 1:23), p 85.
Books
The Task of Evangelism
The task of evangelism is...best understood as the proclamation that Jesus is already Lord, that in him God's new creation has broken into history, and that all people are therefore summoned to submit to him in love, worship and obedience. The logic of this message requires that those who announce it should be seeking to bring Christ's Lordship to bear on every area of human and worldly existence. Christians must work to help create conditions in which human beings, and the whole created world, can live as God always intended.
N.T. Wright in TNTC: Colossians and Philemon (on Colossians 1:19-20), 79-80.
Suburban Christian: Place and Anonymity
in Books, Church, Missional, Suburb/Exurb
When we speak of "community," we usually mean it in the sense of affinity groups, like the arts community, the African American community, the gay/lesbian community, the Christian community. Lost today is the sense of physical community, in which "community" refers to a particular geographic area or neighborhood that anchors us and defines us. (p 117)
The chief antidote to suburban anonymity and isolationism may well be the Christian practice of hospitality. (p 132)
Both from Albert Hsu's The Suburban Christian.
Suburban Christian: Creativity
The opposite of consumption is production. It takes far more time and energy to create something than to consume something. It takes a novelist a year to write a book that someone can read in a few days. A cast and crew of thousands spend years to create a film that will be viewed in two hours. Often our only recreational activities are actions of consumption. What an alternative it is, then, to rediscover the wonder and delight of creativity.
Albert Hsu in The Suburban Christian, page 87.
The Suburban Christian
I just got Albert Hsu's The Suburban Christian and immediately read about half of it last night. I'm really enjoying it. What I find fascinating is the way Hsu speaks of suburbia in much the same way some speak of the city. Here are a couple of quotes.
Suburbia has become the context and center of millions of people's lives, and decisions and innovations made in suburbia influence the rest of society. If Christians want to change the world, they may well do so by having a transformative Christian impact on suburbia and the people therein. (27-28)
While an individual suburb might not be a microcosm of the total city, it is an essential slice of the larger metropolis that cannot be partitioned off or seen in isolation, just as a traditional local urban neighborhood is an essential component of the whole city. (29)
Art That Means Something
To mean something, anything, art must provide a specific sense of where you are and where you have been, of your particular take on the larger history of which you, willingly or not, form a part.
Gordon Theisen in Staying Up Much Too Late, page 21.
Next Generation Leader
Last night I finished reading Andy Stanley's The Next Generation Leader. I've been reading it on and off for about 8 weeks. I thought it was good, filled with helpful advice. I really liked the stuff on coaching.
I've read a lot of books on leadership and most of them have been at least a little helpful in their own way. This one was helpful in several ways. If you have read the book, what did you think?
Following Jesus Into Exile
A couple of quotes from Michael Frost's Exiles...
We cannot demonstrate Christlikeness at a distance from those whom we feel called to serve. We need to get close enough to people that our lives rub up against their lives, and that they see the incarnated Christ in our values, beliefs, and practices as expressed in cultural formes that make sense and convey impact. (p 55)
I would argue that in today's society, any attempt to model your life on the life of Christ must include a genuine attempt to hang out regularly in third places. Genuine incarnational living demands it. Missional proximity can best be developed in bars, pubs, gyms, grocery stores, beauty parlors, community groups, and coffee shops. (p 59)
Books and Books
in Books
I've been tagged by Garrett...
1. One book that changed your life: The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink
2. One book that you've read more than once: Love Walked Among Us by Paul Miller
3. One book you'd want on a desert island: The Worse-Case Scenerio Little Book for Survival
4. One book that made you laugh: Confessions of a Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll
5. One book that made you cry: A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken
6. One book you wish had been written: The Impossible Dream: How the Cubs Won the World Series by anyone, for crying out loud
7. One book you wish had never been written: A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations by Kate Turabian
8. One book you're currently reading: Pocket Guide to the Bible by Jason Boyett
9. One book you've been meaning to read: Historical Theology by Alister McGrath
10. Tag 5 others: Babyhead, Cawley, McKnight, JT, and Goodmanson
Going Big
I'm reading a book by Bill Easum and Bil Cornelius called Go Big: Lead Your Church to Explosive Growth and finding it a very helpful, practical pastoral resource. Easum is the VP of Easum, Bandy and Associates and Cornelius is the pastor of Bay Area Fellowship.
A few quotes...
Lead pastor, if your church is not growing, you are the stopping point. If your church is growing, you are the catalyst. It's that simple. (p. 9)
When God wanted to change your part of the world, he placed you there for such a time as this. We hate to tell you this, but you're it. Start taking responsibility for what God wants you to do with your life. (p. 10)
Knowing everybody is not the definition of a healthy church. In fact, it may be the definition of an unhealthy church. (p. 68)
Visitor Giveaways
I've been wondering if it would be good to have a giveaway book for visitors on Sunday. I really like the idea. One of the few books that seemed to fit the category of a short, inexpensive, good book for visitors is Andy Stanley's How Good is Good Enough?. I hadn't read Stanley's little (94 pages) book yet, so I picked it up last night and read it. I was pleased.
I think it's a good book especially for churches in areas where nearly everyone is a "Christian" but few really know Christ. It has just enough logic and reason arguments to fulfill that need in logical thinkers. It has enough story and illustration to keep it moving and engaging. It has a nice flow and argument and closes with Christ.
Have you read Stanley's book and what do you think about it? Know of other books that would be good as giveaways to church visitors?
Michael Frost: Exiles
in Books, Church, Emerging Church, Missional
Michael Frost's new book, Exiles, is out. I don't have a copy yet (it's on the way). I'm pumped about this book. Here are some bloggers who are reviewing the book and the posts they have up so far.
Jamie Aprin Ricci @ (e)mergent voyagers: Post 1
Len Hjalmarson @ Next Reformation: Post 1, Post 2
Driscoll Interview
Mark Driscoll interview in CT: Men Are From Mars Hill.
Kevin Cawley on Driscoll's Confessions
Kevin Cawley offers a thoughtful review of Mark Driscoll's Confessions of a Reformission Rev.
Me, Joe, and Andy Stanley
Joe Thorn and I faced a 16 hour road trip back home from Greensboro, NC. What would we do?
Would we listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio? Would we debate the ancient-future longevity of the shofar? Would we sleep? Would we (again) loop the CD of Wolfmother or Espers over and over? Would we grow tired of SBC politics and go mad???
None of the above. Since I was the designated driver for the whole trip (not because Joe is a winebibber, but because I get carsick if I don't drive), Joe read aloud Seven Practices for Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley (and others). He read on and off for the whole trip and finished the book about 5 miles from his house.
It was a very helpful & practical read for both of us as we think through the issues and problems and possibilities we face in our local churches.
What's Changing Steve's Life?
in Books, Humor, Missional, Music, Productivity
Things that are changing my life right now...
1. Rereading (I think for the 3rd or 4th time) Jerry Bridges The Pursuit of Holiness. It's such a simple/profound book. I just need it.
2. Shearwater's Palo Santo. Honkin' geez. Wonderful.
3. I just finished and will soon blog on the new Ed Stetzer/David Putman book Breaking the Missional Code. I read the last 6 or 7 chapters yesterday and they were really good. The book wasn't quite what I expected it to be, but there were some very important things for me and my ministry inside. And God put me in the right place at the right time to read the right chapters of that book.
4. This video. It cheers me up daily.
5. David Allen's Getting Things Done is going to get a HUGE thumbs up review from me soon. Revolutionary and simple. It's a very important book on practical productivity and organization issues. Props to Kevin Cawley for preaching Allen's message to me before I read the book.
6. The Fisher Space Pen (Bullet).
Praying With The Church
in Blogs & Sites, Books, Theology
There is a blog tour (interesting idea) for Scot McKnight's new book Praying With The Church. I hope to have a review up on the book in the not too distant future (I've been sent a copy), but I'm too bogged down with stuff right now to take part in the tour which begins Monday.
Other books I'm reviewing soon...
Breaking the Missional Code by Stetzer and Putman (I hope by next week)
Pocket Guide to the Bible by Jason Boyett
Bonhoeffer Speaks Today by Mark Devine
iMonk Reviews Driscoll
iMonk likes Driscoll's Confessions. Flashback to my review here.
Christian Leaders
Mark Dever in A Display of God's Glory quotes the interaction of a Japanese businessman with a visiting Australian (as told by Os Guiness),
Whenever I meet a Buddhist leader, I meet a holy man. Whenever I meet a Christian leader, I meet a manager.
Quotes from The Missional Leader
I'm reading The Missional Leader by Roxburgh and Romanuk. If I stopped reading now (not yet halfway through), it's still one of the most important books I've read in the last couple of years. I'm sure much of that is because of where I am in ministry and the things I need to think about for my local church. And I don't agree with everything, but I can't say enough about what this book is working in my life and ministry. Here are a few short quotes...
A missional church is a community of God's people who live into the imagination that they are, by their very nature, God's missionary people living as a demonstration of what God plans to do in and for all of creation in Jesus Christ. (p. xv)
Missional leadership is about creating and environment within which the people of God in a particular location may thrive. (p. 6)
Today, we give up on congregations that we declare are out of touch with the culture. We run to big, successful places with marquee-name leaders to find out how to be successful. In so doing we are going in exactly the opposite direction from everything we see in the Biblical narratives. We have forgotten that God's future often emerges in the most inauspicious places. If we let our imagination be informed by this realization, it will be obvious that we need to lead in ways that are different from those of a CEO, an entrepreneur, a super leader with a wonderful plan for the congregation's life. Instead we need leaders with the capacity to cultivate an environment that releases the missional imagination of the people of God. (p. 21)