Animalia "Talent-O-Topia" (All Aboard Reading)

My son's musings on this book:

Finding Providence! (I Can Read)

Another book review by my six year old!

Joan Of Arc (step into reading)

My six year old son was interested in doing a book review like dad. So, here is his riveting, brutally honest review of "Joan Of Arc". A "step Into reading" book we picked up from the local library. Enjoy!

A Pilgrim's Progress, by Brian West

Brian West is an author, a pastor, a church planter and a worship leader with a journey of experience. In this book with the familiarly catchy title, Brian delves into a very personal, and gut wrenching account of his extraordinary journey through a life marked with discipleship. More than just subjective thoughts or statements of wise insight, this book is a peek into a man's soul! If you are struggling with the joy and pain of your spiritual life, this is a good read. Here is a couple of excerpts:

"The back yard was full of fruit trees.We were able to have fresh plums, grapes, pears, apples and a few cherries. When we bought the place all the trees were in need of a little tender loving care. The trees may not agree that I was being tender with them, but that's not their business. Pruning may not be pleasant at the time, but if done correctly it can reap a great harvest."

" We want the good fruit but we don't want to go through the process to get it. But there is no other way; we must allow God to work in our lives, pruning us to bear even more fruit. There are two primary reasons for pruning: to bear a better quality of fruit, and to keep the tree healthy. God does not prune us to hurt us; He loves us and knows what is best for us. God has our best intentions at heart and knows exactly when and where to prune. Instead of fighting the process, why not trust His process and embrace what He is doing in our lives?"

The Quest For The Radical Middle (a book review)

A pastor friend of mine recently gave me this book to read. I've always been interested in church history and movements within the body of Christ. Bill Jackson starts off this book with a big picture definition of what he calls the "radical middle". I enjoyed it. Although I've always been skeptical of liberal doctrine, I've wondered how a Christian can be a "Calv-menian" in theological terms. I guess what I mean is..how can I reconcile the obvious extremes that are found in scriptures? Extreme axioms that, to some, appear as oxy-moronic contradictions.

I think it was Frank Martin who said "The truth is always held in balance between two extremes"

Here are some examples:

Jesus is man......................................Jesus is God

Saved by faith alone.........................faith w/out works is dead

The Kingdom is here.........................the kingdom is yet to come

Follow the Spirit................................let all things be done orderly

Foolish confound the wise.................appoint qualified apostles and approved deacons and pastors

Worship in Spirit................................Worship in Truth

Moses...................................................Elijah

Be Ye Holy (biblical legalism)............law of liberty (license, biblical freedom)

It is finished

(work of the cross is complete )........It is happening (sanctification, process)

And so on.

I enjoyed reading about the history of the Vineyard movement and all of the players involved in church history. Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel, The Jesus movement people, John Wimber, Jack Deere, Bill Hybels and others all play apart in the History we find ourselves making in the Bride of Christ.

I'll leave you with one of Bill Jackson's excerpts from the book that I loved:

"Why did Christianity spread so rapidly in the early years of the church? Over and over again we can see that the first Christians didn't out argue pagans--they outlived them! Their relation to the world was proactive instead of reactive. They simply made Jesus their master and routinely gave to those who stole from them, loved those who were persecuting them, blessed those who cursed them, lived humbly and laid down their lives for others! It was in observing these kind of revolutionary communities that outsiders saw and understood the gospel."

Be blessed today!

The Encore Effect (A book review)

I love books about leadership. Bill Hybels, Andy Stanley, Rick Warren, and John Maxwell are some of my favorite authors in this area, especially with regards to leadership in ministry. Which is what I do, full time. Part of the curriculum I draw from at Teen Challenge includes a book by Mark Sanborn called "The Fred Factor". Although it was a short read, I was challenged, and blessed by it. The crux of it's message? In my opinion: Excellence in ministry. Time is short, so lets do the absolute best we can in work, family, relationships, evangelism and career. Mark's book "The Encore Effect" follows the same point.

Let's face it. We are all burned out on performance. especially as men. Especially as leaders. I agree wholeheartedly that the church, and leaders of all fields, have needed to take a well rounded look at how "performance" and being "driven" has left lots of pastors and leaders burned out, irritated and grossly religious. I also agree that a mind set of "work work work" has left a lot of us finding our identity in what we can do and not on who God says we are.

However! In our passion of dumping the payload of "works" and "performance" we unfortunately dumped off concepts of "excellence" and "diligence" and even "sacrifice."

The point of this book is not to discuss performance verses excellence, but the importance of excellence itself. Romans 12:8 commands that those with the spiritual gift of leadership should lead with all diligence, and I couldn't agree more.

The Encore Effect challenged me to "raise the bar" in the area's where I am called to serve. The key word here is "serve". Mark has a great way of combining inspirational stories, and his own thoughts on leadership to encourage the reader to "go the extra mile".

I think we all know that our mandate is to please God and not men, but we must realize that excellence in service, in attitude, and yes, performance are important to God, and can profoundly effect those around us, whether in the marketplace, work or at home, it is clear that God would have us to possess, "a spirit of excellence" as Daniel did.

Anyway, I recommend this book to any leader looking to get into the the service of the Kingdom.

Pick it up today

http://www.marksanborn.com/store/The-Encore-Effect-p-1-c-254.html

Evolution is Dead!

I've just finished reading the book "Case For A Creator" by Lee Strobel. I've read his work before in "The Case For Christ" and was totally impressed how he made the "case" for the validity of the Christian Faith as he laid it out with hopnesty and investigative scrutiny. Lee's story is interesting, as he was a journalist and Lawyer who was also an adamant atheist. When his wife became a Christian, he was dead set on deflating her faith by anilyzing the Bible, it's claims and it's implications under a microscope of research, expert interviews, and exhaustive check-ups. What Lee didn't expect to find, was that not only did the Bible, and this "Jesus" of whom it spake has evidence to support it as true, but that it had overwhelming evidence to support it as being true! and relevant, and interesting, and challenging to say the least.

In his Case For a Creator book, Lee interviews some of the worlds foremost experts from a broad spectrum of the scientific disciplines including; cosmology, astronomy, chemistry, philosophy, molecular bio-chemistry, quantum physics and geology. As I read the facts laid out, I was awestruck in the audacity of "evolutionists" as they cling onto the fairytale of "random selection" to reinforce their naturalistic "religion" I mean, as a Bible believing Christian for 12 years, I knew evolution was bunk, but I didn't know it was that bunk!

I encourage you to take the time to watch these links to youtube..they are exerpts from a documentary based on this book...And be encouraged..faith and science can co-exist. AND...you can still be a Christian without leaving your brain at the door...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNyOVEerPC8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HVCDasHKHY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4bpadPYqso
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Y7h7uVi-U&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7BIapIdBcs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBwwZG8Mw-M




Shalom