Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: Crazy Love

Don’t let the plain, ordinary, clay-colored cover fool you.  Crazy Love is crazy good.  Author Francis Chan is dead on target with this book.  It will challenge you, prod you, pain you, and leave you with a choice:  sell out to Jesus, or sell out Jesus for yourself.

Chan’s book paints a picture of God that goes way beyond the flannel graph stuff of Sunday school, or the fluff of slickly produced Christian pop rock choruses.  He writes not just to inspire a deeper love of God, but a real fear of God.  He makes you think about how your life operates, about how you view and think about God, and about the real direction of your life and your relationship with God.

Crazy Love is all about living a crazy life following Jesus.  And that’s truly what following Jesus is… crazy.  It goes against the grain of the consumerism of our culture.  it goes against our desire for safety and comfort.  It flies in the face of much of what American Christianity has become.

My wife bought this book a few months ago, and I had several books on my shelf I wanted to get through before this one.  I should have moved it to the front.  As I read it, I felt challenged, convicted, moved, ashamed, grateful… an explosion of thoughts and emotions.  It left me wondering… how selfish am I really being with my time, my money, my resources, my life.  Have I really given Jesus everything?

The most challenging part of “Crazy Love” is one sentence, related to Jesus’ parable of the sower and soils.  Everyone who follows Jesus assumes they are good soil.  Chan’s stance:  Do not assume you are good soil.

I think I’ve assumed that for myself.  This book has shown me that I’ve got some weeding to do in the garden of my life. 

It will show you the same.

Go to crazylovebook.com for more information.

Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: The Forgotten Ways

I’ve read a lot of books this year.  Most were good.  A few were remarkable.  This one tops them all so far.  The Forgotten Ways is an absolute MUST read for anyone who cares about the fate of the church in the Western world, and for anyone who cares about living the Jesus life.

Hirsch’s writing style can be a bit technical (I personally enjoyed it a lot), but the stuff is amazing.  The book is about what he has termed the Apostolic Genius.  It’s what made the New Testament church such an explosive movement.  It’s what made every Jesus movement so explosive (including the underground Chinese church).  He explores each aspect of the Apostolic Genius–the Lordship of Jesus, disciple making, missional-incarnational impulse, apostolic environment, organic systems, and communitas (not community)–and shows what it can and should look like.  When these things are present, the church (in whatever form or “model”) thrives and spreads like a virus.

Hirsch also, unapologetically, writes about the demise of the Western church due to consumerism, which has shaped a massive majority of churches into nothing more than providers of spiritual goods and services.  He does (and rightly so) hold out great hope for the church in the West.  It will take much work, prayer, sweat, and risk, but there is hope for revival.

While every aspect of the book captivated me and spurred me to much thought, the chapter on communitas really got me thinking.  It seems as if the early church (and other great Jesus movements) was always in a state of what Hirsch calls liminality–a situation of marginalization and danger.  This lead the early believers to really live what they believed and get on mission–communitas:  I for the community, and the community for the world.  It’s really got me thinking about how our church can become more on target with God’s mission.

A great book, a must read (even if it angers you… which it just might if you’ve been a Christian for a long time… and it definitely will if you’re a consumer Christian who cares about your wants and needs over those of everyone else).

Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: The Back of the Napkin

I’m not much for business books.  Cool, hip church planters read business books.  Guess I’m not cool or hip.  But this book caught my attention when surfing around Amazon.  I picked it up, and was glad I did.

The Back of the Napkin is all about solving problems with pictures.  Author Dan Roam guys readers through the art of visual thinking.  While it’s aimed at businesses, I can totally see the usefulness for church planting and ministry:  timelines for church launches and outreach projects, flowcharts for developing strategies, etc.  I can even see ways that this could prove useful for preaching–using pictures in the message prep process for figuring out how to connect the audience to the Bible text, figuring out the best ways to apply it, etc.

I just discovered that the book also has a website.  A really cool, mind-stretching read that I hope to be able to use!

Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: The Multiplying Church

I just finished The Multiplying Church by Bob Roberts.  I didn’t want to put it down from page one.  This is one of the most impactful books I’ve read… ever.  This book isn’t just about church planting.  It’s about a global Jesus movement where disciples live out the gospel and churches sprout; its about churches birthing churches that birth churches; its about the glocal church–acting locally while thinking (and acting) globally.  Roberts brings many insights he’s gained from observing the church exploding in the East (specifically Vietnam, as well as China and Korea), and shows why such explosive kingdom growth isn’t happening in the west.  He writes about disciples being the lowest common denominator, and how Christians–not “professionals”–will drive a glocal Jesus movement of multiplying churches.  He writes about churches becoming church planting centers, and about the family life of a church planter.  So much that I couldn’t probably write a mini-book about his book!

This is something that all churches need to take seriously.  Every preacher, church planter, church leader, and Christian should read this book.  I’ll be revisting this volume often…

Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: The Reason for God

The Reason for God is the product of Tim Keller, who leads Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan.  Although not stated as such, the book is sort of a response to the slew of books published by atheist darlings like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens.

Keller addresses many of the objections that have been voiced at him over the years.  He does so pointedly, with stories, metaphors, and solid reasoning.  The second half of the book deals with reasons to believe in God.  Keller admits that none of the “clues” for God that he offers are airtight arguments, but that taken together, they build a strong case for the existence of God.  He also deals with the ramifications of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Some of Keller’s best writing deals with the plight atheists face when they make statements such as, “We can’t know for sure there’s a God” or “We can’t trust our religious reasonings.”  These statements are absolutes and require belief in something that can’t be proven empirically.  Also, if we can’t trust our religious reasonings and logic, why should we trust them at all?  And yet, atheists do it every day.  We can’t simply single out religion in the aspect.  It’s all or nothing… and it can’t be lived out.

This isn’t the “lightest” reading, but it is certainly accessible.  Definitely worth picking up and reading.

Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: Lousy T-Shirt book

Or, the official title:  I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.

Vince Antonucci sounds like the name of a bit player that may have been whacked during an early season of The Sopranos.  Vince’s story would sound every bit as fantastic if it wasn’t true.  As the back cover reads, “Raised by a Jewish mother, abused and abandoned by his professional poker-playing father, Vince Antonucci found Jesus at age twenty after studying the Bible.”

This book tells the reader what happened after that.  And unless you’re still wet behind the ears from your baptism, you will identify with his story.  You will find hope from the lessons he’s learned.

Vince uses humor (the second lowest level of the career food chain is elephant proctologist), heart-tugging experiences (the old man who died in the chair praying to Jesus… wow…), and brutal transparency about his struggles with God’s grace through Jesus while helping hundreds of others find it at the church he co-founded in VA Beach.

Vince writes about what every Christian eventually faces–the disappointment of the Christian life.  We find ourselves to be like a kid who comes back from a vacation with that goofy T-shirt that reads, “I went to _________ and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”  They’ve got a goofy souvenir, but they didn’t participate in the adventure–they missed the trip.  We’re cool with Jesus, but we find ourselves bored and asking if this is all there is to being a Christian–showing up for church on Sundays, then… blah, bored.

Vince’s point throughout the book is that we need to live life with Jesus while living the Jesus life.  We need to abide and abound in Jesus.  We need to meet with Jesus regularly in our Bibles and prayer–not to check it off our religious to-do list, but because we want to.  We need to serve others, especially those who are tough to love… because Jesus did.  There will be boring and tough times, but when we live life with Jesus and live the Jesus life, it helps us gain the right perspective about those times.  It helps us develop an expectancy.  It helps us to, as Brother Lawrence once wrote (and Vince refers to) practice the presence of Jesus–not to compartmentalize Jesus as a section of life, but to live life with Him… and to allow Him to live His life through us.

You’ll laugh.  You’ll cry.  You’ll think.  Milk might come out of your nose (unless you’re drinking Pepsi… then it’ll burn like crazy).

So don’t pass go.  Don’t collect $200.  Do cancel your elephant’s appointment with his proctologist.  And click the link below and buy this book.

Lousy T-shirt link:  http://www.amazon.com/Became-Christian-This-Lousy-T-Shirt/dp/0801068185/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203731915&sr=1-1

Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: They Smell Like Sheep

This book has been in my library for about seven years.  I’ve already read it once, but I read it again last week.  Wow.  An incredible book about leadership in the church.  So, if you’re a leader in the church–a preacher, church planter, elder, small group leader, micro-church host–this is an absolute must read for you, especially if you feel overwhelmed by the task of caring for the people you lead.

Author Lynn Anderson mixes a blend of biblical explanation, lessons he has learned, and personal stories as he lays out the three dimensions of biblical leadership (which mainly apply to elders, but can apply to any leadership position in the church):  shepherding, mentoring, and equipping.  He shows how Jesus did all three.  He shows how Jesus demonstrated the various levels of relationships a leader has–from the crowd all the way down to the trusted few–and how each of the three aspects of biblical leadership work in each level of relationship.

If you’re a leader in the church who’s struggling with the demands of kingdom work, are having trouble figuring out how to sort out your administrative duties from your desire to care for people, or are just plain burned out, ‘They Smell Like Sheep’ should be on your list.  You’ll be encouraged by a guy who not only has a great biblical knowledge on the subject, but he’s been where you are.

Amazon Link:  http://www.amazon.com/They-Smell-Like-Sheep-Leadership/dp/1582292973/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203352586&sr=1-1

As I searched for the Amazon link, I found that Anderson released a follow-up:  “They Smell Like Sheep, Vol. 2:  Leading with the Heart of a Shepherd”.  This will definitely be added to my wish list.

Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: unchristian

Amazon link:  http://www.amazon.com/unChristian-Generation-Really-Christianity-Matters/dp/0801013003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200887695&sr=1-1

My sister, a soon-to-be former missionary to Venezuela, recommended this book to me.  It’s a book that has resulted from several years of research in the area of what people ages 18-29 really think about Christianity.  The picture… not a pretty one.  In fact, it’s downright ugly.

Author David Kinnaman compiles his research and presents it in a format dealing with several key points, all dealing with negative perceptions of the church.  In each chapter, he lays out the evidence, and gives strong advice on what the church needs to do to reach an increasingly hostile and indifferent generation.  It definitely made me think about my life, my church, and the direction God is leading our church.

“unchristian” is an in-your-face book that, if you claim to be a Christian, will force you to look at your own life to see how much it really reflects Jesus.  It will force you to look at your church to see how much it really reflects Jesus in the community.  Chances are, it’ll feel more like a kick in the crotch than a pat on the back. 

Trust me… it’s exactly what we need.

Log Off of YouTube and Read Something: The Year of Living Biblically

A new year brings a new category:  stuff to read.  Books.  Those things the ancients manufactured from paper with words on them.  Most suck, but there are some worth looking at and… well… reading.  Check out my review (for what it’s worth), and then go read Psalm 21 and hit up the post below…