Summer Reading List

The weather has been warm, my grill has been used, the garden has been planted, and tomorrow is June first, it must be summer!  What would summer be without a summer reading list?  Here's a look at what I'm reading this summer, check it out:

1.  Fearless: by Eric Blehm - True Story about the life of Adam Brown a Navy Seal on Seal Team Six who was KIA a couple years ago.Amazon Link

2.  Surfing for God: Discovering the Divine Desire Beneath Sexual Struggle by Michael John Cusick - If you're like 90% of men and 60% of the female population then you probably in some way struggle with online porn.  This book seeks to help you break out of that cycle and into freedom.Amazon Link

3.  Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw - Written a few years ago (never got around to reading it) deals with the political forces involved throughout the Old and New Testaments... it is an election year you know!  Amazon Link

4.  The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler and Jared Wilson - What is the Gospel?  Why do we make it something it isn't?  Amazon Link

5. Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus by Kyle Idleman - I read it when it came out, but this summer I'm leading a small group through it.  If you haven't read it yet, you must!  Amazon Link

What are you reading?

Love Does Review

Title: Love Does
Author: Bob Goff

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World sets out to list the adventures of Bob Goff (the author) who you may remember from several of Donald Miller's books.  Bob Goff is one of the founders for an organization called Restore International and this book is really a conglomeration of his stories in his life.  Using these stories though Bob Goff sets out to demonstrate that love isn't static, it isn't something to read about in a book, or think about while sitting in a chair.  Love is an action.  Love is an adventure.  Love compels us to move.  Love....Does.

As I picked up the book to review I noticed Donald Miller had written the forward and praised the book as well.  While I don't know Bob Goff at all, I know of Donald Miller.  The first time I picked up Blue Like Jazz I felt linked to Donald (as did many in my generation).  His story spoke to me and drew me in more so than anything else I had ever read.  So I hoped Bob Goff's book would do the same.

Honestly this book reminds me a lot of Blue Like Jazz (BLJ), which is good and bad.  It's good because of the high esteem I have for BLJ.  I liked that it felt as though I was in the room with Bob listening to his stories of adventure.  I liked that Love Does goes further than BLJ to explain the authors own spiritual interpretation of the story told (one of the detractors of BLJ was that it left too much for the reader to make from the story, this book is more clear).  However, since much of it reminded me of BLJ it also made me feel redundant, like it was a stories manufactured into the same mold as BLJ (which also happened to the rest of Donald Millers' books).

Love Does is a great book and I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it, but some will be disappointed with it's similarity to Blue Like Jazz.  Bob Goff is an interesting character that you can laugh with/at, cry with and feel connected to in just 200 short pages.

Read this book if you loved Blue Like Jazz.
Read this book if you hated Blue Like Jazz.
Read this book if you find yourself sitting more than doing.
Read this book if you're involved in Bible Studies and no Bible Doings.
And above all don't just read this book, do this book.  Get out of your chair and live the adventure, live your call, live out the Gospel.

Five out of five stars.

uDisclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”ides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Review of Enemies of the Heart

Written by Andy Stanley

Andy Stanley is the founding pastor of North Point Ministries in Atlanta, GA.  I have been familiar with him for quite some time through his messages online, some of his other books, as well as the resources his church produces and release online for other churches to use.  While I think this whole 'fan of a pastor' culture is awkward, I would say I am a fan of him and his ministry.  So when I received this book, I knew it was going to be good, and Andy didn't disappoint.

Enemies of the Heart is written to shed light on the hidden (and not so hidden) debts that we carry within our hearts and helps to focus on how to remove these debts.  While the book is divided into three sections, there are really three main enemies of the heart that he deals with: guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy.  Stanley describes each in detail, as well as provide the reader with the antidote to these enemies.

As I stated earlier Andy looks at these enemies of the heart as debts within ourselves that we try to pay for, but many times just leave us bankrupt.  Guilt is seen as a debt from yourself to someone else, the 'I owe you'.  Anger is the opposite of guilt, it's the belief that 'You owe me'.  Greed is the thought that 'I owe me'.  Finally jealousy is the concern that 'God owes me'.  The problem when we live in these debt-filled relationship roles our heart responds to the world around in these ways.  As the author continues throughout the book, he demonstrates that you don't have to continue to live in these debt-filled roles but can be set free from the debt if you are willing.

Honestly there is very little negative I could say about this book.  Ever wonder why you reacted to that situation awkwardly?  Read this book!  Ever wonder why you avoid certain people, or they avoid you?  Read this book.  Are you tired of living your life as the victim, the pressure cooker waiting to explode, or the person stuck on things in the past?  Read this book.  Overall this is a great book and everyone should read it!

Five out of five stars.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

BOOK REVIEW: "I Am A Follower"

Review: "I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus."

By: Leonard Sweet

Sweet's book attempts to turn the well established idea of leadership within the church on its head by looking at what the Bible has to say about leadership. Thousands of dollars, millions of books and many conferences focus on how to be leaders within our churches, communities and in our households, but is that what Jesus has called us to? Or is that simply 'extra' that we have added to the gospel over time? The book is divided among four separate sections, The Place, The Way, The Truth, and The Life which seek to both attack the position of leadership within the church as it is today as well as provide an argument for what it means to be a follower. It the book could be summarized in a tweet it would be: 'The world believes it needs better leaders but Jesus has called you to be His follower.'

I really wanted to like this book. I read lots of Christian living, church growth, leadership (whoops), and have many of Sweet's books as well. When I received this and got an idea what it was about I was excited to crack it open and begin reading. The organization of the book is great (much like his other books) and is logical in its flow. Leonard Sweet is a pretty easy read too and even has a good literary voice throughout. So while I was hoping for something really powerful, I kind of felt a little labored through reading it and it left me questioning the entire premise of the book.

As I said earlier the organization of the book was perfect, I really understood the four sections and believe that they were all important and explained his argument well. The problem is that each section was overly repetitive and by the end of each section I was really ready to move on to the next idea. Like many authors Sweet explains the idea in the beginning of the section then takes it apart and explains each piece to the reader on why it's important. I found myself reading the same thing several time throughout the section and simply losing interest toward the middle of the section.

While these seem to be little issues, the main critique I have of the book is it's benefit to the reader. After reading the book and thinking through the concept of follower verses leadership I felt like it was still missing something. While trying to explain that the role of leader in the Bible is minimized, Sweet correctly states that word 'leader' and 'pastor' are only found once each in the New Testament. This raises two issues, first being that there are several actions taken within the New Testament that would be leadership-like roles even if that isn't what their called in the Bible. Certainly the selection of elders and overseers Paul gave to Timothy demonstrates some decisions on leadership, as well as the various times in the The Book of Acts where men and women are given specific responsibilities (i.e. choosing of the seven in Acts 6). The second issue is a dangerous one, should we base a belief against leadership on the absence of specific words? Think for a moment what that would mean... trinity - not there. Personal Relationship with Jesus - not there. Abstaining from illegal drugs - not there. Simply because an issue isn't specifically mentioned doesn't give us the ability to say whether or not that thing is right or wrong, it takes an entire view of scripture to do that.

All of this to say though, Leonard Sweet has some really good insights when we focus too much on leadership rather than on being a follower, it would seem to me though that leadership might be an attribute of a follower in some cases. We are all called to be followers of Jesus, but Jesus has us all following in different ways and capacities according to our gifting and calling. The final chapter of Sweet's book emphasizes what a follower does, and how he should live his life, I felt at ease in this chapter. Being a follower is difficult, counter cultural, and liberating but at the end it's really about how we can be incarnational in living the Good News out int he world around us.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Review of Why Men Hate Going to Church

A Review of:

Why Men Hate Going to Church

By: David Murrow

David Murrow has come out with a revised edition of "Why Men Hate Going to Church". Murrow's general understanding is that most men do not want to go to church because the church has really catered to the female population. At the beginning of the book Mr. Murrow establishes various stats and figures that demonstrate the widening gap between the female and male population in most churches. This widening gap leads to the question, why are more men leaving the church? And in such high numbers? David Murrow not only attempts to answer this question but also seeks to formulate some thoughts on what the church can and should do to 'stop the bleeding' if you will.

In general this book is probably most useful for church staff and church leaders. While he has an easy to read and follow writing style, the point of the book is really for church leaders to heed the warning and make changes within their own congregation. So I would recommend this book to any pastors, elders, church planters, church strategists, or denominational leaders that see a growing threat of man-less-ness (word I just made up) within their congregations.

At first, I must say that the Politically Correctness flags were popping up as I read the first few chapters. As a pastor myself I feel pressured to make sure that everyone within the congregation feels as comfortable as possible, but also that the gospel is preached to everyone's level. The first few chapters served as a good starting point to kind of break me out of the conditioned structure that I had created and ask questions within my own church context. If you can push through the conditioned tendencies of political correctness that pervade our culture and our church, this book will be very useful in forming a mission that grows the church through a strong male presence. The greatest example of this is the last few pages of the book when Rev. Dr. Jennifer Wilson uses the policies and structure within the book to grow the male population in her congregation (read the book to find out what I'm talking about)

This book should be required reading for the leaders of churches that are stagnant, dying, of just starting off. How could your church benefit from an influx of men within the congregation?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Review of Jungle Warfare

Jungle Warfare: A Basic Field Manual for Christians in Sales

by: Christopher A. Cunningham

SUMMARY: Christopher Cunningham finds his granddads jungle warfare field manual in a trunk of old mementos. As he reads through the manuals pages Mr. Cunningham begins to see both the complexities and the simplicity of battle in the jungle, at least according the U.S. Army. However as he reads through the pages he begins to see the similarities that this manual within his own life, his life on the road as a salesman. So this book is really a realization of the journey he made through the manual as well as a new understanding of what it means to be a Godly salesman. Through a 22 day devotional journey you too can understand God's purpose and use for you as you live your life for Him, either as a salesman or simply of a follower of the most high God.

REVIEW: I got this book because it looked like an interesting take on the daily devotional books that seems to over take my bookshelves. I am always looking for a way to keep me excited (and awake) for some sort of devotional time during the day. This book intrigued me because it took on several new thoughts to me, namely: 1) Jungle Warfare Manual. As the grandson of a World War II veteran who also served in the Pacific Conflict, I thought it might in some way give a glimpse of what my grandfather went through (it didn't). 2) Sales. While I am a pastor now, for many years I spent selling stuff at retail chain stores. I saw both the good and the bad of sales and knew that there could be some interesting thoughts about sales.

Overall, it wasn't a bad devotional book, but it also didn't keep my attention. At the end of the day, it really doesn't take the reader very far, and leaves you with a surface-level: 'God wants you to be the best salesman you can be.' Whatever that means. While the ideas were intriguing, the packaging pretty, it left me as most devotional books do, feeling like I never really got to the core longing of my soul, which is to be in the presence of my savior.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Day 10 - John 7

Jesus wasn't a magician, a side show, a super hero, a genie waiting to grant three wishes, or even a psychic with telekinetic powers. That didn't stop people around Him from expecting these powers from Him. While Jesus certainly possesses the power and could have established Himself as any one of these popular entertainers, He wasn't here to entertain.

He was here to bring living water to thirsty souls.

Chapter 7 of John begins with Jesus' brothers begging Jesus to come to the Feast of the Temple and demonstrates His abilities by performing miracles. Apparently they were tired of the neighbors asking questions about the abilities of their brother. Interestingly it doesn't seem like they believe either, Jesus was, well their brother, not some Prophet/Rabbi/Christ that everyone talked about.

Jesus choose another path though. Instead of going with His brothers and making a "Public" entrance, He went in secret and began moving through the crowd. Eventually planting Himself in the temple and teaching the scholars, teachers and others in the Jewish community.

I know there are times in my life that I stand waiting for the super hero Jesus to come and attack my enemies. Sometimes I stand waiting for the magician Jesus to show me a nice neat trick. And yet other times I bring three wishes to Jesus hoping that He will answer them like the genie did in Aladdin.

What Jesus are you hoping for? Does that line up with who Jesus actually is?