I read through Andy Stanley’s Next Generation Leader this past week and was very impressed. Andy, Pastor of North Point Ministries in Atlanta, GA, wrote this book to help the upcoming generation of young ministry leaders. Leading a young and vibrant group of churches has provided Andy with a wealth of experience and knowledge that he seeks to pass on through this book. In the book, Stanley suggests that you focus on 5 essentials for leaders: Competence, Courage, Clarity, Coaching, and Character. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Book Review’ Category
Book Review: Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors
Monday, July 13th, 2009
Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors by Mark Riddle is a helpful guide for church leaders to the inner workings of youth ministry and youth pastors. This book is divided into two sections: one for Youth Pastor search committees, and another for Senior Pastors. The first section deals with how to go about filling your Youth Pastor vacancy. Riddle challenges church leaders to rethink their entire philosophy of church and youth ministry. This is done to help a church end it’s cycle of hiring a warm body, instead of hiring someone that truly fits the ministry. (more…)
Book Review: The Unlikely Disciple
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose is the story of a liberal Brown University student’s semester at the conservative Liberty University. In order to fully understand evangelical students, Roose totally immersed himself in the experiment, taking part in Prayer meetings, Bible studies, and attending Liberty classes. This full immersion approach to writing a memoir is similar to AJ Jacobs’ books (including The Year of Living Biblically), and it should be; Roose served as an intern under Jacobs.
The Unlikely Disciple provides Evangelical Christians with some powerful insight, namely the opinion of an outsider. At the start of this project, Kevin admits that he had several preconceived opinions of Evangelicals, several of which were changed during the project. For example, Roose imagined that the Liberty students would be different: fundamental, Bible-bashing, and atypical of normal college students. While most Liberty students behave differently than your typical undergrad student at a secular college (no sex, drinking, or dancing), the author discovers that the Liberty population was friendly, kind, and intelligent.
This book also provides insight into Liberty University, the nation’s largest Evangelical Christian college. While I did not attend Liberty (I graduated from Philadelphia Biblical University), I found the experiences to be almost identical. Roose notes the differences between Liberty and Brown, including the social scene, student body, and courses. Roose attended Liberty the semester that Jerry Falwell passed away, thus providing an interesting insider’s (yet still outsider) view of Liberty’s reaction to his death.
Overall, the book is a delight to read. While not as entertaining as the two books written by AJ Jacobs, this book provided much more insight. It is a wonderful no holds barred look at Liberty University, as well as a snapshot of Evangelicalism. Rating: 4/5
Book Review: Jesus Made in America
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
In Jesus Made in America, author Stephen Nichols takes a look at Christology of American Evangelicals throughout the years. Simply put, Nichols explains that how we view Christ today is based on how previous generations of American Evangelicals viewed Christ.
In the first four chapters, Nichols looks at the Christology from several groups influential Americans, groups such as the New England Puritans, the Founding Fathers, and the 20th-century Evangelicals who combated liberalism. These chapters are filled with quotes from the historical figures themselves, helping the reader see their view of Christ. Nichols shows the reader how, at different points in American Evangelical history, certain attributes of Christ were viewed in higher regard while others were downplayed.
The final four chapters take a look at how Christ is portrayed in today’s culture by four avenues: music, Hollywood, marketing/consumerism, and politics. For each avenue, Nichols looks at how Christ has been portrayed and shaped in the last 50 years, and how that has impacted the way we view Christ today. These outside influences have helped shape our current views of Christ, and not always for the good.
While not a thorough study on Christology in either historical or modern Evangelicalism, Jesus Made in America ably shows the connection between the two. This book is a helpful primer for Christians looking to study American culture’s view of Christ throughout the years. The later chapters would also serve as a helpful tool for youth workers, as it shows how the modern-day Evangelical view of Christ is shaped by cultural influences. Rating: 4.5/5
Book Review: 7 Practices of Effective Ministry
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Every once in a while, you read a book that is so simple and easy to understand, yet can have such an impact, that you think “Where has this been all my life?” 7 Practices of Effective Ministry is one of those books. Written by Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, and Lane Jones, this book covers the seven practices that guide the ministry of North Point Community Church. In a very concise, yet applicable way, the authors expound on the seven practices, including lessons they lessons they learned on the way. The book is divided into two halves. The first half is presented as an allegory: a Senior Pastor discovers all seven practices while at a baseball game. This section is a quick read, providing you with the basics of the practices and their corresponding idea in baseball. This provides a concrete, memorable method with which to remember the list. The second half of the book is where the North Point staff provide details and concrete applications for the seven practices.
7 Practices of Effective Ministry is a must read for any leader in ministry. While it does not provide a blueprint for starting or running a ministry, this book does provide helpful practices for team building in ministry. Most of the steps are not instant cures, but over time, they will provide for the long-term growth and sustainability of your ministry. Rating: 5/5
Book Review: Less Clutter. Less Noise.
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
In today’s culture, people are being bombarded in all directions by noise. Advertisers, marketers, politicians, and activists are all seeking your attention. With all the distractions, it becomes difficult to weed through the junk in order to find what you need. Your ministry’s students have been under this relentless attack for their whole life, and they have one reliable coping device: tuning it all out. How can you, as youth pastor, then communicate the Gospel truth to them without being tuned out? According to Kem Meyer’s book Less Clutter. Less Noise: Beyond Bulletins, Brochures, and Bake Sales, the answer is found in streamlining and systemizing your church’s communication techniques.
Kem, the Communications Director for Granger Community Church, seeks to help your ministry cut through all the noise in order to effectively communicate to your audience. A great deal of the noise your students experience is from external sources (school, internet, television), but some of the distracting noise comes from you. Here are some practical youth ministry takeaways from the book:
- Use less words. Cut down on the amount of words you use. Rigorously edit your work, chopping unnecessary phrases and sentences. Don’t use 5 words when 4 will do.
- Streamline your church’s communications. Don’t make every ministry compete for the congregation’s attention. Seek to unify the communication, so your congregation gets only one email or one newsletter. Limit what is announced from the pulpit.
- Be Intentional. Think through your marketing/communication strategy for each event. Make sure you use the most direct and most effective method of communication for each event. Don’t use every method available just because you can; you are just creating unnecessary noise.
I found this book very helpful in rethinking how a ministry should communicate to it’s audience. While a little lean on the practical advice, Less Clutter. Less Noise. is a great resource for developing and evaluating the intentional strategies behind your ministry’s communications. Rating: 4/5
Book Review: The Search to Belong
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Over the last 20 years, small groups have become a trendy ministry within Evangelical churches to develop community. More recently, Emergent and house churches have laid claim to the formula for community, offering smaller, intimate, relational gatherings. All these ministry settings support the idea that closer, more intimate relationships equal more authentic relationships. The more authentic the relationship, the stronger the Christian community.
In The Search to Belong, Joseph Myers looks to shatter these common views on relationships and Christian community. His thesis is that closer, more intimate relationships are not always the best, and a person needs all types of relationships for one’s Christian walk. Myers has classified every type of human relationship into four “spaces”: Public, Social, Personal, and Intimate. Relationships in the four spaces look different and serve different needs. A person needs relationships in all four areas to survive and to have a sense of “belonging.”
