Loved it! Deeply meaningful with just the right touch of fun.

What old people should remember:
1. Never pass a bathroom.
2. Never waste a hard on.
3. Never trust a fart.

From Jack Nicholson in The Bucket List

I was reading this short book by C.S. Lewis at a swim meet a week ago. Imagine my surprise when I was approached by three different people who had read it and asked if I was liking it! That’s pretty unusual for southeast Arkansas – or perhaps anywhere, I would think.

Mere Christianity and the Narnia Chronicles were the only Lewis books I’d read prior to the Great Divorce, and I was a little nervous about this one. I’ve heard nothing about it, for one (that’s why I was so shocked when approached about it at the swim meet). Second, I just didn’t want to be disappointed.

I wasn’t.

It took me a few pages to “get into” the book, simply because I had no idea what it was about. I told a friend I was reading it and quickly qualified it by saying that Carolyn and I were fine.

It ends up that it’s an imaginative short story about a man’s journey – on a bus of all things – from a dreary city to an alarmingly bright wilderness. The man travels with some less than amiable companions, and in the course of the book, he has several conversations with his travel mates and the occupants of the strange land he finds himself in.

What’s so interesting about the story is that you soon realize that he is on the outskirts of heaven – not quite in. The conversations that he has and overhears all entail the different arguments and objections that people have for entering heaven – namely that it requires surrender and acceptance of joy from the Creator.

You’ll recognize some arguments in this book as being those you’ve either heard from atheists, “good” people, or those who can’t turn loose of addictions to experience real life.

I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned was precisely nothing: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in ‘the high countries.’

It’s a great book, full of some profound thoughts amidst the fictional conversations. I would not recommend it as your first Lewis book. Go with MC or the Narnia books first. But if you enjoy those, then this is a great read.

Here’s the scene: a pastor is deeply frustrated about the steady degeneration of his society. In addition to this, churches are in sad shape across the country. Members of churches are self-consumed and refuse to be held accountable for their spiritual lives. They actually get offended when a pastor seeks to point out issues, sins or rebellion in their lives.

In addition, churches are splitting left and right. Some entire groups won’t tolerate other groups. The pastor continually warns that such division will only discredit Christianity as a whole in the eyes of society.

To make matters worse, many pastors have abdicated their role as spiritual shepherds and simply seek to preach and teach bland self-help material, passing it off as the Gospel of Christ. They avoid controversial matter, for fear of offending someone. They do not seek to discipline nor disciple their members, nor are they training leaders to carry on the work of the ministry.

You may be thinking that this sounds pretty normal. However, Richard Baxter addressed these concerns and many others in his book The Reformed Pastor during the mid-1600s.

Baxter has been called the “Prince of Preachers,” and this book (one of his more than 168 works!) is a demonstration of his deep burden for the beauty of the bride of Christ, his careful articulation of theology, and his extremely practical approach to Christian living and leading.

The tempter surely has gained a great victory when he gets but one godly pastor of a church to neglect discipline… if it were well understood how much of our pastoral authority and work consists in church guidance, then it would be also discerned that to be against discipline in the church is tantum non to be against the ministry. Again, to be against the ministry is to be absolutely against the church. And to be against the church is near to being absolutely against Christ.

Sir Stephen James, writing of Baxter, said, “Men of his size are not to be drawn in miniature.” I am afraid that any attempt to summarize this book or the man in one-entry blog would do just that. I highly encourage any Christian leader to read, digest, and allow this book and its hard-hitting practical advice to reform your ministry. At the very least, it’s a humbling evaluation tool.

Do not grow strange to one another. Do not say that you have business of your own to do when you should be at any such meetings or other work for God… Even if you could do without the benefit of such meetings, yet the church and our common work required them. Do not then show yourselves condemners or neglecters or such necessary work. Distance breeds strangeness and foments dividing flames and jealousies. Communion will prevent or cure this… Ministers have need of one another.

Considering that Baxter was both a political leader and prison frequenter during his tenure as pastor should interest you as you do more research and reading into his storied ministry. I, for one, am putting one book on my wish list: A Life of the Reverend Richard Baxter.

According to Wikipedia, Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted is, “without doubt, his most famous and enduring contribution to Christian literature… This slim volume was credited with the conversion of thousands and formed one of the core extra-biblical texts of evangelicalism until at least the middle of the nineteenth century.”

Revolution is a dangerous book to pick up. It will change both your concept of missions and what may be the most effective way of doing missions. Author K.P. Yohannan is the founder of Gospel for Asia, a ministry seeking to equip, train, and provide funding for native pastors in India and Asia.

While the first part of the book shares the author’s personal spiritual journey to Christ and then to America, the rest of the book is deeply challenging to western Christianity and its churches.

It challenges the mindset of western mission agencies and their strategy to send western missionaries into foreign lands that already have a Christian presence. Yohannon argues passionately that a better and more strategic method would be for the affluent western church to send financial support for native pastors.

with more traditional mission agencies … it costs today between $50,000 and $80,000 per year to keep an average American missionary family on the field.

One could support a native pastor in India for only $60 per month. That means that the cost for keeping an American missionary family overseas for one year would also support one native Indian pastor for 111 years!

While Yohannan is not opposed to western missionaries, rather, he is deeply appreciative of the foundation that they have laid, he asserts that a “revolution” in world missions is occurring. He urges western churches to rethink their use of resources and to support native pastors where Christianity has already been planted and then to focus other resources on completely unreached people groups.

Approximately 85% of all missionary finances are being by western missionaries who are working among the established churches on the field – not for pioneer evangelism to the lost.

One of the things I deeply appreciated about the author’s heart was his constant differentiation between the “social gospel” and the Gospel of Christ. In a chapter entitled “A Bowl of Rice Is No Substitute for the Holy Spirit,” he urges Christians to quit buying into the notion that helping their fellow man is the same as sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. While it may help build relationships, if it’s not combined overtly with the life-giving message of the Messiah, the social gospel of good works alone is no gospel at all.

He says,”We believe the most effective way now to win Asia for Christ is through prayer and financial support for the native missionary force that God is raising up in the Third World.” He also provides five thoughts as to why Gospel for Asia believes it’s wiser to support native pastors in their own lands than to send western missionaries.
1. It is wise stewardship.
2. The presence of western missionaries perpetuates the myth that Christianity is the religion of the West.
3. Western misionaries and the money they bring compromise the natural growth and independence of the national church.
4. Western missionaries cannot easily go to the countries where most so-called “hidden people” live. (due to political restrictions or overt persecution)
5. Western missionaries seldom are effective today in reaching Asians and establishing local churches in the villages of Asia.

Overall, I am impressed by Yohannan’s book and passionate plea for support of missions by supporting native pastors and missionaries. However, he is so passionate for this cause that he may miss some of the benefits of “outside help.” Many times, foreign missionaries have a much clearer perception of the sins and strongholds of a national people group than do native pastors and missionaries who were brought up in that culture. Foreign missionaries to Asia – whether from the West or not – (and for that matter, missionaries from other cultures) may have a harder time establishing ministries than native pastors do, but normally, they provide invaluable counsel, help, teaching, and direction that is balanced, wise, and full of perspective.

Another consideration is that if western churches were to do what Yohannon says, they could very well be reduced to “checkbook missions.” Coming from a denomination that has always given a large percentage of its resources to world missions, I am personally aware of churches who think they’re actively involved in missions because they send their money to agencies that support missionaries. They do little actual missions themselves. What they do manage is usually an “easy mission trip” or two that is designed to give teenagers or church members a “taste of success” rather than leaving a long-term impact and making true disciples of the Lord Jesus.

I don’t say this to counter Yohannan or to belittle western churches, for I agree with most of his missiology. I hope my comments only serve to strengthen the need for more churches, more people, and more resources to be poured into the glorious hope of bringing the Hope of the world to all peoples.

I wanted to followup on my earlier entry about this book and let you know my general conclusions.

I was not disappointed with Jacobs’ writing style and wit. I continued to chuckle and at times, roar with laughter as he descriptively led me into his wild-bearded world. As a Christian, I had never considered many of the lesser-known commands of scripture, and his often obsessive-compulsive attempts at obeying them always caused my smile to mingle with furrowed-brow reflection.

I was, however, a little disappointed with the conclusion. You see, throughout the book, Jacobs continues to discover more about God, and unsurprisingly he likes what/who he begins to connect with. For me, suspense was building… what would he think about the God revealed in the New Testament portion of his year? Would he as an agnostic Jew come to believe in the person of Jesus Christ as Israel’s Messiah? Would he get “saved?”

I won’t spoil your own reading of the book, but I was disappointed with its conclusion – partly because it concluded. I no longer get an inside track on Jacobs’ journey. I no longer get to peer through his eyes at faith and Christianity in a raw, sincere and genuine way.

I hope that Jacobs’ spiritual journey has continued since the book’s publication. At several points in the book, he confesses his OC nature to check blog reviews and Amazon.com rankings of his two books. Perhaps he’ll stumble upon this one and share with us where he is today on God, Christ, and life.

Tracy Reed and I – with our chilluns – all went to eat at Mickey D’s last night and then to Prince Caspian. Our gals had a girls’ night out with other gals from the church.

We stumbled on Michael with his two young’uns and felt a little badly that our kids were all old enough to go see this movie with us – that girls’ night out also meant boys’ night out for us. But not for him. You’re not supposed to call it babysitting when you’re with your own kids, but he had a distinct glaze in his eyes when we left for the movie.

All I can say about the movie is a simple… wow. Magical. Wonderful. Moving.

Some of Susan’s dialogue with Aslan in this movie was so deeply profound. I was impressed with the production and selection from the book. Although it diverged a tad from the storyline of the book, it all came together for a dynamically powerful epic tale.

At the end, I glanced over at Adelyn during a particularly poignant moment and saw her wiping away tears. My throat caught just a little, and upon reflection, I am delighted that my daughter is moved by moments of deep love, truth, and beauty.

Go see Prince Caspian. You won’t regret it. Better yet, read ALL the Chronicles of Narnia by Christian philosopher/writer/spreader of divine joy C.S. Lewis.

I’d heard so much over the past year about GTD this and GTD that. I had no idea what folks were talking about until Richard Poole began blogging about his desire for personal organization and how using the “Getting Things Done” principles found in David Allen’s book had helped him.

During his process, he also began reviewing several pieces of software that applied the GTD concepts. They included Thinking Rock, iGTD, and Omnifocus.

Since I am a fluid thinker and tortuous multi-tasker, I filed the book away mentally as something I’d like to get done… It wasn’t too long before a particularly overwhelming week hit that provoked me to finally order the copy of the book that had been sitting in my Amazon Wishlist.

I’ve been plowing through it for several weeks, and I must admit that it almost immediately began transforming my workspaces and habits. One of the primary points of Allen’s material is that our brains are profoundly able to retain information…. That’s not necessarily a good thing for many of us.

Every little to-do, project, honey-do, and urgent item that has ever crossed your mind is still buried in there somewhere. Over the course of time, you began to feel stressed and overwhelmed because you’re juggling so much mentally. Even things that carry relatively no weight – things that you just occasionally want to get to “someday” – occupy your mind with equal frequency as the need to finalize that big project.

So the first thing you do with GTD is simply to begin the collection process. Allen recommends setting aside an entire day for this. It’s a literal, physical collection process. Everything that lying around your house, office, in files on your computer, bulging email inbox, and floating around in your brain becomes part of this process. The goal is to simply empty it all into appropriate “collection buckets.” Whether file folders, trash cans or folders on your computer, Allen’s book guides you through this process.

As I’ve done this, I must admit that it’s mentally freeing to see accumulated piles of stuff – some things in them dating back a few years! – disappearing and being acted on, filed, or trashed.

The next step is “processing.” After collecting everything into one spot, now begins the time-consuming step of going through it all. He advocates a 2-minute rule in this step. If you come across something that you realize you could get done within 2 minutes, then stop and do it then. You’ll be surprised – I was – of how true that is. It’s also VERY encouraging to see things dwindling and getting done.

The next step is “organizing.” It’s this step that I’m still working on, but I’ve purchased a little file stand for my new filing system. Allen recommends the following broad categories: a “tickler” file (Someday/Maybe), Errands, Waiting (things that you’ve passed off to someone else but need to remind yourself of), Projects, and Reference (things you don’t need to act on but want to keep).

Obviously, you’ll also begin to create a more indepth filing system, but those are essential. Allen’s book is definitely not “pie-in-the-sky;” rather, it’s extremely practical and immediately useful.

After processing comes “reviewing.” You must carve into your weekly calendar a set time to sit down and review what you’ve filed. If you don’t, you’re in danger of simply getting things out of your mind and forgetting what you got them out of your mind for. You do the mind-dump in order to become more proficient and focused on what you begin to “do.”

And that’s the final step – “doing.” Start asking yourself about each project, task and floating idea, “What’s the next action step I could take on this that would advance it forward?” As you take that step, (and more like it as you then identify the next step after it), you’ll see even the largest, most daunting duties reducing in size and complexity.

I’m passing this book off to wifey, in the hopes she’ll digest it as well. It’s going on my yearly read/review list because I sense it’s one of those areas that in which I’ll need to be challenged again.

Here’s the process:

It’s been a while since I chewed on this much at one time in a book. Recommended in a Catalyst podcast by Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA, I knew that I needed to digest the book. Stanley said that the leaders of his church went through the book together when they were in the pre-planting days for North Point as a way to try to understand “systems thinking.”

He said something to the effect that once your organization starts rolling, you get consumed with people, issues, problems and the like and if you don’t have the proper perspective on how organizations and people work – aka a systems perspective, you will always be responding to crises and events rather than seeing the whole picture.

His promotion of it sold me.

I wasn’t disappointed.

The book definitely isn’t a “light” read – it took me almost two months of steady chewing to work through it all. (We bought copies for our leadership team as well, but I’ve not heard a peep of evaluation from any of them except my copastor). Although it is a different kind of reading than I’m used to, I thoroughly enjoyed being stretched in this area. I actually found myself being deeply fascinated by organizational behavior theory.

You can imagine all the immense practicalities for a pastor being well-versed in helping an organization see the big picture, make decisions with the long view in mind and addressing problems and issues with the entire “system” as a reference point, rather than that particular problem at that particular time.

Doing systems thinking means becoming a “learning organization.” It’s a group of people all committed to the truth of where their organization is/isn’t and working from there with a broad, compelling vision as their reference point and goal.

The author, Peter Senge, shares the laws of the Fifth Discipline in chapter 4 as being:
Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions. Basically, he means that all the stuff that an organization struggles with today is simply the delayed consequences of decisions made in the past. Most of those decisions were simply addressing symptoms of larger problems rather than seeking to address the larger issues.
The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back. Senge refers here to “feedback loops” and reinforcing processes that are a little difficult at first to understand. However, I think I began to interpret this as simply – “It took you a while to get in this situation; the organization ain’t gonna fix itself by your first feeble efforts overnight.”
Behavior grows worse before it grows better. When you begin making strategic decisions that are truthful and right for the organization, things will probably continue bumping along as they have been for a while, with the same problems. Of course, you now have the additional stress of new direction and the pressure of “will it work?” Most “right” decisions and systems-thinking-inspired ones will take a while to begin to show results. Be patient.
The easy way out usually leads back in. There are dozens of illustrations from a business context throughout the book that illustrate this point. Typically, we just want things to “get better” – and NOW! However, the temptation for a quick fix in these instances does nothing to promote health for the organization. Don’t choose the easy way out; it will just compound your problems and make it more difficult later – if there is a later.
The cure can be worse than the disease. Ouch. Ever had cancer? Case in point. Treatments like chemotherapy basically almost kill you in addition to the rogue cells in your body. Truly addressing deep, root organizational issues can be extremely painful.
Faster is slower. This does’t sound very affirming because we all want to see immediate results, don’t we? However, the author urges leaders not to become discouraged. The end result takes hard work on the front end, but moving your organization to a systems perspective enables synergy, productivity, and unity in the long run.
Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space. This is probably one of the biggest downers in all of life. If consequences happened immediately after making great or stupid decisions, we’d all be rich.
Small changes can produce big results – but the areas of highest leverage are often the least obvious.
You can have your cake and eat it too – but not at the same time. If you persist in leading your organization toward a vision-oriented and long-range perspective, you’ll enjoy both harmony in relationships and immense productivity (in the business world = profits) later.
Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants. Senge uses the elephant illustration to help us see that most American organizations (including churches and non-profits) tend to try to address problems and issues by isolating them. “Let’s form a committee/team and study this…” This tends to cut off part of the elephant. It prevents you from seeing the whole beast/issue. Every part of the organization affects every other part (sounds like 1 Corinthians 12, doesn’t it?), so decisions must be made with the entire “elephant” in view.
There is no blame. This is a refreshing rule for systems thinking. Rather than blaming “someone” or “them” or even a competitor, this rule helps us to remember that we’re the problem. “There is no outside… you and the cause of your problems are part of a single system.” It’s all within the organization and the systems in place (or not) to respond to and deal with issues, problems, successes, backlogs, etc.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on “Personal Mastery” in which he describes the qualities necessary for a leader of a learning organization to pursue. The chapter on “Mental Models” is one of the best about studying worldviews because he addresses such a heady topic in a very readable fashion. It was in this chapter that some very practical ways of dealing with folks who “don’t see it your way” are shared, including some tips for “advocating your own view.” In fact, all the chapters in this section of the book called “Core Disciplines” were excellent. The other two were “Shared Vision” and “Team Learning.”

While I know that most of my readers will not rush out to purchase this book, I would encourage any leader of an organization to digest this book and do it slowly. Make it a goal over a year’s time span to chew through it. You’ll be glad you did.

One practical thing anyone can take with them after skimming through the book is simply this: It’s not just about you. Learn to fit in, submit, discover your unique contributions, listen diligently, and make decisions that are best for the long haul – not on what would make you feel good right now.

Four preacher-friends have come together not only to form a new ministry alliance but now have also written their first book. Mark Dever, CJ Mahaney, Al Mohler and Ligon Duncan III are from different churches and ministries, but together they have founded Together for the Gospel, a ministry seeking to defend and proclaim the Christian gospel.

Their book about preaching also includes contributions from John Piper, RC Sproul, and John MacArthur, all of them renown biblical scholars and teachers.

The 7-chaptered table of contents looks like this:
A Real Minister: 1 Cointhians 4 – Dever
Preaching Christ from the Old Testament – Duncan
Preaching Christ with the Culture in View – Mohler
The Center of Christian Preaching: Justification by Faith – Sproul
Preaching as the Expository Exultation for the Glory of God – you guessed it, – Piper
The Pastor’s Priorities: watch Your Life and Doctine – Mahaney
Why I Still Preach the Bible after Forty Years in Ministry – MacArthur

We affirm the centrality of expository preaching in the church and the urgent need for a recovery of biblical exposition and the public reading of Scripture in worship.
We deny that God-honoring worship can marginalize or neglect the ministry of the Word as manifested through exposition and public reading. We further deny that a church devoid of true biblical preaching can survive as a Gospel church.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters by Piper, Mahaney and Mohler. At times, I felt like Dever, MacArthur and Mohler were more mad than instructional. Perhaps a re-read of the book might change this impression, and I certainly woudln’t want that observation to keep you from reading it, because the book is definitely a great resource.

Any pastor/teacher/preacher needs to digest the material slowly. Much of it is a steak meant to be chewed slowly and thoughtfully. I agree with the overall assessment of the book that preaching in America today has suffered a serious decline as more and more churches and their leaders turn to a type of communication that is more intended to draw and keep crowds than it is to mature, grow and equip the body of Christ for God’s glory.

I had the blessing of growing up in churches where deep exposition was present, and I teach/preach that way today out of conviction. I too affirm that God’s Word is inherently powerful, and if you present it, interpreted rightly, to God’s people, then God’s Spirit will ensure that it doesn’t return to Him without accomplishing its purpose.

Many of the authors seem to be addressing the emergent movement as much as they are seeking to inform the reader. Especially in MacArthur’s chapter where he has several references to pastors who are practicing the opposite of what he would recommend.

He has strong words for those Christian leaders who follow a market-driven strategy of church growth rather than simply teaching and preaching the totality of God’s Word.

There have always been men in the pulpit who gather crowds because they are gifted orators, interesting storytellers, entertaining speakers, dynamic personalities, shrewd crowd-manipulators, rousing speechmakers, popular politicians, or erudite scholars. Such preaching may be popular, but it is not necessarily powerful. No one can preach with power who does not preach the Word. And no faithful preacher will water down or neglect the whole counsel of God. Proclaiming the Word – all of it – is the pastor’s calling.

What he mean by “the whole counsel” is simply every verse and chapter. He notes a distrubing tendency of pastors today to create series, self-help focuses, and other “sermonettes for Christianettes” that never progress through a single New Testament or Old Testament chapter. It’s a constant pulling-out-of-context approach to address topics that they feel like should be addressed. This is in contrast to expository preaching which seeks to allow the text to speak for itself. The latter requires careful study to determine context, authorial intent, historical background, and the principles being communicated.

All in all, the book has much to offer. Although relatively short, it has several profound implications for today’s church and preaching.

I have seen these Charlie Bone books occupying bookshelves for a few years now. I heard they were disappointingly similar to the Harry Potter books. Since I’ve completed the Potter series, I decided to give the first one a try.

A young boy discovers he has magical powers. His discovery produces family conflict. He is sent to a school for other kids with magical powers where he engages in heroic deeds and brings the book’s plot to a satisfying conclusion.

Nope, it wasn’t Harry. Neither was Hogwarts the destination. Try Charlie and Bloor’s Academy.

After completing the book, I had one of those senses of strange verified entitlement. Everything I’d heard was true. After book 1, the CB series is a knockoff of the success of the HP series. It’s rare that such rumors and cultural whisper prove true.

Yet… I found myself engaged in the fresh storyline, and before book’s end, I had chuckled a few times and become engaged with this new cast of characters, plot twists and personalities.

I’ve ordered book 2… off of the used list at Amazon. (Local library didn’t have 1 or 2). I’m willing to give this series another chance in the second book.