A New Kind of Minister

I've rather enjoyed being a Book Review Blogger for Thomas Nelson- I've had the chance to read some books I otherwise would never have picked up, and have been the better for it. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to review a Biblical Study Resource, unless you count the time I reviewed an audio Bible.

I will start with the positives: the editors made the decision to break everything down by book, so everything is really easy to find. Everything is in full color and very easy to read. Each book has some good, quick, background information on the author, the history and setting of the book, the dating of the book, and brief discussion of themes and literary structure. Each book then has a proposed outline which is a nice feature. Each book has an "At a Glance" which presents a condenses version of the outline and topics in a small chart. After the opening information, each book contains more in depth discussion on important ideas shared in each book. Also, the editors include discussion on important literature aspects, like Prophecy, Epistle, Wisdom Literature, Historical Books, Pentateuch, etc.

The Maps and Charts are very well thought out and arranged, and each are reproducible AND available for download individually online, a great tool for teachers, Bible Study leaders, etc.

A few negatives that have to be pointed out: The editors clearly make some decisions about some highly debatable issues surrounding biblical interpretation, dating, authorship, and so on without really discussing reasons for choosing what they do or really representing any other views beyond merely mentioning that other views exist. We have no idea who any of the scholars are behind this collection- no authorship is attributed, no scholars referenced, so that we don't even have an idea where they are basing some of their research on. There is no Bibliography so that we can at least see what they may have consulted in making their determinations.

If you are only using this work for the charts and maps, the straightforward stuff, it's quite nice and has a ton of value in that regards. I would definitely recommend it for a Bible Study leader, teacher, or pastor needing some nice maps and the charts discussing flow and outline, as well as documentation of important repeated phrases or themes (i.e. "Times Kingdom of God is Used in Gospels,"). But be wary when referring to the dating and authorship and some interpretations offered in the actual text, for the above reasons. Great tool overall!

There's been a lot of talk about Chris Matthews' comments following the President's State of the Union Address last night. Chris Matthews' said that he "forgot he was black." This shouldn't be taken as a racist comment- I believe I understand where Matthews is coming from. But certainly his chose of words is questionable.

The problem is that Matthews and many other well-intentioned people believe the path to unity is to get beyond what makes us different from one another and to focus on what makes us the same. Obviously, that is a generalization on many people's viewpoint, but in the interest of time, I am avoiding layers and layers of nuance.

I believe this approach is, while well-meaning, more harmful than helpful. The reason is because this approach essentially strips people of what makes them unique, the heritage and culture they bring to the mix when it comes to leadership and so many other realms.

Often times, when you get two religious groups together, for example, the idea that is pushed is that in order to reach true harmony, the two groups must lay aside what makes them different and instead embrace what makes them the same. But that approach CANNOT work, because cutting someone or a group of people in half as far as makeup or heritage is concerned means that only half a person is being embraced.

I submit that true unity embraces diversity. While at some obvious levels we are the same, we aren't ALL the same. We have unique perspectives forged by facing unique challenges and walking unique paths in life. What you bring to the table that is different than me and where I've been can enrich my life and our relationship, and the same holds true from my end. When we attempt to ignore what makes us different and only focus in on what makes us the same, no flavor is added. I'm not improved in anyway, and neither are you. Neither of us are learning from each other anything- because we are only sharing the things we already know or already have.

Instead, I advocate that it's not WHAT we focus on that needs to be changed, but rather HOW we focus on things. Our differences, while making us different than each other, do not make you inferior to me. Rather than trying to drop to the side what makes us different, why not celebrate those things? View them as positive modifiers to our culture and to each other?

What are your thoughts about racial reconciliation, diversity, and going beyond? Do you think transcending race is the key, or embracing race and our differences are what's needed? Let me know your thoughts!

Joann Davis has constructed a classic fairytale in The Book of the Shepherd. The story is set in a "mythical" time and place, where the law demands an eye for an eye and cruelty meted out in equal measure to a person's offense.

It is in this context that we meet Joshua, a gentle, strong, compassionate shepherd who believes that there has to be a better way. And he sets out to find it.

Before he sets out, he is joined in his quest by a young boy, David, disowned by his father, and Elizabeth, a freed slave girl who cares for David. On their journey, they come across a cast of characters including a storyteller, an apothecary, and a scribe who all impart wisdom needed for their journey.

I won't ruin the ending for you- it's a quick, delightful read that's perfect to share as a family. I will say that the book has a powerful message within it's simple structure and fairytale setting, and is rich in meaning from beginning to end.

Check out the official book page and listen to an audio excerpt here.

Read the first couple of pages and browse the inside here.

And check out this trailer:

Sometimes you want a book that is encouraging, easy to digest, and light-hearted, but still leaves you feeling as if you accomplished something by reading it. Andy Adrews, motivational speaker and best-selling author of The Travelers gift, provides exactly that in his book The Noticer.

Andrews takes a simple idea- that sometimes all we need is a just a little change in perspective, to notice something we might not have noticed before- and weaves together a fictional tale about a man named Jones, a wise old man who notices things others don't about their individual situations, and helps them gain some fresh perspective. With his sage advice, people are able to completely turn their lives around, and all because they chose to look at things a little bit differently.

This book doesn't contain any groundbreaking, challenging new approaches to leadership or marriage or being successful. The story isn't one of those, "I can't put this down," kind of stories. But it's warm, it's funny, and it helps you see that often times all you need in life is to stop for a view minutes and maybe think about things a little differently than you have been.

This book would be great for a group to read together, mostly because it will provide some opportunities for everyone to share their own stories and how a fresh perspective has helped them out in life.

Check out the book here.

While you're at it, take a look at Andy Andrews site that accompanies the book, called The Noticer Project. It gives you an opportunity to "notice" the 5 most influential people in your life, and it will even send a little note to each of them to let them know.

And here's a video promo that delves into a few of the people and their respective situations that Jones helps people gain a new perspective on:

At Payette Christian Church, we are committed to alleviate poverty here in our area.

I’m willing to bet that most, if not all of you, to one degree or another made some kind of assumption about what I meant by poverty. I’m also willing to bet that, to some extent you are right AND that you are wrong. You see, the commitment that we are making is that we want to alleviate poverty in ALL its forms. Poverty affects everyone- and not just the lack of money kind. Some people are impoverished monetarily speaking; but those of us who are not lacking in material resources are impoverished in other areas- probably, in many cases, a poverty of compassion or connection to those who ARE impoverished in the classic sense.

Because of this, I was excited to be asked to read and review When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development. What I found in this book is an invaluable resource that our congregation will be using immediately in our journey toward battling poverty in all its forms.

Steve and Brian see the big picture, and in this book they approach the issue of poverty just as I have described it- holistic in nature, affecting us all. The main idea behind this book is that a lot of efforts in working with poverty are geared simply toward “relief,” but the truth is that the majority of people dealing with material poverty are in need of a holistic approach. Corbett and Fikkert make the case that impoverished communities do have the assets amongst and in themselves in order to help themselves. What we can do is listen to people and help them see their own assets, helping them develop those gifts and abilities and help provide them with opportunities to succeed.

Steve and Brian advocate dealing with poverty more wholly, helping renew and restore four key relationships in everyone that have been impacted since the beginning of time- our relationship with each other, with God, with the physical world, and with ourselves. This book takes poverty seriously and wants to correct unhealthy approaches and misunderstandings that actually perpetuate poverty. It’s not an exhaustive study, but it is a great introductory tool with lots of very practical first steps. While there are a few issues I take with some finer points, they are very small and not even worth mentioning.

A few of the exceptional things about the book: its bibliography, which presents an array of resources to check out. It has a tremendous study guide with each chapter designed to engage you both before and after each chapter, so you can see where your thinking is before reading and make some adjustments at the end. It’s specifically geared toward group reading and study, so it’s perfect for churches or teams that need first step material. They also have developed some tremendous resources on the website that accompanies this book, including FREE webinars for training purposes.

Overall, a great tool, and I'd say one of the best books from 2009 that I've read.

Read an interview with the authors here, or watch an interview here.

I meet once a month with Dr. Rick Chromey, my friend and my mentor as I go through NNU's MDiv. program. Back in 1990, he published a book about doing youth ministry in a small church setting. This year, 20 years later, he's released a new title that takes off from there and includes how his own thinking has changed. The book is called Thriving Youth Ministry in Smaller Churches. Yesterday at our monthly meeting he gave me a copy. Great book so far.

I tell you this because it sets the stage for some things I've been thinking about. One of the ideas in this book is that the smaller church youth ministries actually have enormous advantages in many respects over large youth ministries, in that a smaller church has the potential to be much more flexible and adaptable, and is much more capable of building a relational ministry that empowers its students to actually be the leaders of the ministry itself.

Combine that with a chapter I just finished reading from Jim Palmer's Divine Nobodies, about an auto mechanic named Ron Adams and his wife who are minister's of God's grace exactly where they are at. No "authority" bestowed on them by degree or denominational ordination- just the fact that Christ lives through them and the Holy Spirit empowers them. The chapter recounts a time the two were able to minister to a hurried and harried young, full-time working single mother who barely has thirty-five minutes to get her fan belt replaced, let alone make it to church on Sunday. The Adams' know that God has called them to be ministers to people just like this, because we are ALL called to be ministers.

Of course this means that power will not be centrally held. And that's a good thing. A REALLY good thing.

My questions for you are these: how does an organization shift to this idea? Is it a wholesale approach- an all or nothing revolution, or a slow evolution? What does this look like in practice? Share your experiences with a decentralized approach to ministry and church in general.

I am in the middle of a Master's of Divinity program through Northwest Nazarene University, with an emphasis on Missional Leadership. The reasons I chose this particular school and program are varied- it's a fully online Masters of Divinity program, so no need to relocate; at the same time, the school is within an hour of my home, so if I need to talk to any of the professors or check out a book from the library that I can't get anywhere else, it's not that big of a hassle; and the fact that it's fully online allows me to do work when I can do it.

But one of the biggest reasons that I chose this program in particular is that, from what I know of the Wesleyan tradition, it is a tradition that has, at its foundation, focused on really being a servant to the community. Having not been a member of this particular tradition, I of course am not aware of all of the issues or how well those who follow this tradition have held to those ideals; I only know that the Wesley's were committed to serving people where they were at and viewed serving people as equally important as preaching at them (and maybe even more so).

The class I am currently in is called "Wesleyan Tradition in Context." Our reading for this week included a chapter from a book called Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit by Lovett H. Weems, Jr. (because there should always be someone who shares the name "Lovett" with you). The chapter is called, "Focuses on Serving."

Near the end of the chapter, Lovett makes this startling statement that I instantly fell in love with:

"Could it be that we are operating with the mistaken notion that God's primary interest is religion? God is not primarily interested in religion. God's primary interest is everything. God is the creator and sustainer of all life and all creation. There is no distinction between sacred and secular, if by that one means that there are some spheres outside the love, care, and sovereignty of God. However, once we assume that God's primary interest is religion and religious activities, then instead of becoming an instrument of servanthood, the church sets itself up as an object of loyalty. Thus we set ourselves up to be God rather than to serve God."

The idea that the author wanted to get across in the entirety of the chapter was that the church does not exist to maintain itself or to merely survive; no, the point of the church is to serve, to empty itself out for the love of God and others. God is interested in it all; God cares about the world, and wants us to care, too. The Bible seemingly indicates that God wants to restore EVERYTHING, and that God wants us to join in.

I don't know where the Wesleyan tradition is in regards to this idea- I know that often times what was the original ideal can get lost. But whatever the state of the Wesleyan tradition is in, this is beautiful, and it belongs to us all.

How do you respond to this? I want to hear you thoughts- for or against. If you don't mind me asking, would you please share some ideas on how to take this beyond mere words? Any creative impulses? Please share!

During my Emergent Village Cohort's last meeting, we got into a bit of a side discussion about leaders (specifically in church community context) being authentic and open and real with the community about their weaknesses and shortcomings. It was somewhat divided- there were those who thought a leader should be open 100%, holding nothing back; and there were those who thought a leader didn't need to "air her or his dirty laundry" in front of everyone, but could maybe in private settings or small groups be more open. There were some in the middle who thought it just kind of depended on the issue, or that a leader could be allusive (I don't know if that's a made up word or not, but it basically means that he or she could allude to his or her problems, being guarded and using language that was more hinting than telling).

What's your take? How open should a leader be? If he or she is too open with their shortcomings, does it make less confident in his or her abilities as a leader? Or do you instead feel like if you know where the leader is coming from, you can connect better and maybe have more confidence, knowing he or she has been where you have been or are? Let me know your thoughts!

I had to share this with you all. My friend Chad Estes (http://captainestes.blogspot.com/)shared this over on his blog. I thought I better put it on here, too.


Jesus said, "blessed are the poor." That's period.

And we always think we need to save them, make them like us. We too often forget they are us and we are them. If we can stop patronizing long enough to listen and learn, our songs can join.

And together, we make a new song.

As we did with movies, now we do with music. What has been some of your favorite music of 2009? It can be something from 2009, or it can be something you heard for the first time this year. Let me know you favorites of the year!