living dangerously

Following are reviews of some of my recently read books:

In Building a Discipling Culture, Mike Breen and Steve Cockram call us to a life of discipleship. They boldly assert, “Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause.” Breen and Cockram describe the process of discipleship as beginning with a Huddle, which is a group of eight people chosen by a leader. Those people enter into a discipling relationship with the leader. After a period of around six months, those disciples are encouraged to start another Huddle and continue the process of discipling others. The authors estimate that if this model is followed for a year and a half there will be approximately 248 people being discipled.

Breen and Cockram also discuss key concepts illustrated by eight shapes that strengthen the discipling process. These shapes graphically demonstrate what it means to be shaped by the Holy Spirit into the image of Jesus. The appendix in the book is an instrument that helps the reader understand if she/he is more likely a pastor, teacher, evangelist, prophet, or apostle. These roles are defined and explained by the chapter on Personal Calling.

Once the concepts and shapes in Building a Discipling Culture are understood, the book provides a meaningful and useful resource for building disciples.

Mike Flynt has been a life-long coach and consultant. At the age of fifty-nine, he returned to his alma mater, Sul Ross State University, to play football. In The Power-Based Life, Flynt inspires people of any generation to dream big, be positive, and rise above any obstacles. He tells us that often the biggest obstacle is ourselves. Flynt says, “This is not going to be easy…There will be days when you feel every impulse to take the path of least resistance. You are going to have to want it more than the other guy. You are going to have to want it longer. And you are going to have to walk away from some other things you might enjoy doing.”

Flynt believes that one of the secrets for accomplishing goals in life is to take an eclectic approach—focusing on body, mind, and spirit. He shares twelve strategies for helping people grow physically, mentally, and spiritually. For example, Flynt says that cultivating a winning attitude involves enlarging our perspective. He says, “Take your eyes off the tree and look at the forest.” Spiritually, Flynt says, we need to let our lives be a testimony to God. He says, “People can say they don’t believe in God, but they can’t argue with the experience of your life.” Concerning difficult situations, Flynt’s advice is to learn from them. “We are going to confront things we cannot change; therefore, we must allow them to change us.”

The Power-Based Life is full of wisdom and practical tips for living. It is useful for helping anyone lead a life dedicated to achieving success while staying faithful to God.

★★★☆☆

For more information about Mike Flynt, go to his website here.

Barefoot Church is a reminder of Jesus’ call to serve the least. Author Brandon Hatmaker recounts how he was convicted to give his brand new boots to the homeless during a worship service. “It feels like just yesterday that I turned to around to look up the stairs and saw an entire church being sent out into the city…barefoot”. Serving communities outside of the church is the essence of Barefoot Church.

Hatmaker describes how his church plant, Austin New Church, began to engage its community through service. However, instead of making service a ministry of the church, he built service into the DNA of the church. Hatmaker says, “One of the challenges of our existing church structure is that we are inclined to view service as an event or program instead of viewing it as a way of life.”

Drawing from his own experiences, Hatmaker offers practical suggestions for serving communities. For example, he explains how churches can be structured to serve through small groups. His church begins this process by encouraging church members to connect with small groups from the beginning. Hatmaker also recommends that churches partner with existing non-profit organizations that are already meeting needs in their communities.

Hatmaker argues that serving communities takes the focus off of us. “When we orient our ministry around mission and the kingdom, we tend to get increasingly more dependent on God and increasingly more thankful for his movement.”

Reading the Barefoot Church will not change a church; putting it into practice will. A companion study guide, Barefoot Church Primer will be available in January.

Nudge, by Leonard Sweet, describes evangelism as “awakening each other to the God who is already there.” Sweet reminds us that God goes before us and is already at work in other people’s lives. The author says, “Our job is to give the ball to the Holy Spirit and get out of the way.” In other words, evangelism should not be viewed as working for God; rather, it is “God working in us and through us to bring to fruition what God is already doing.”

Sweet introduces Semiotics as “the art and science of paying attention.” He then claims that evangelism requires the same attitude. One way of paying attention is to watch for the signs of God in everyday life.

Evangelism is also described as being relational. Relational evangelism “is both impacting and being impacted, which means that the nudger himself or herself can’t escape being nudged.”

Sweet discusses the five-P Celtic Exercise of Spiritual Awareness: pause, presence, picture, ponder, and promise, and devotes a chapter to each “nudge point”. The idea is to be fully aware of God’s presence by using all five senses.

Nudge not only defines our role in the process of making disciples, but also helps us be more attentive to God’s presence in our lives and in the lives of others.

In The Gathered and Scattered Church, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay continue where The Tangible Kingdom left off. They tell the story of how they began their church plant, Adullam, in Denver, as a church intent upon balancing gathering people and missionally scattering them as incarnational communities. Hence the definition of AND—people who gather together as a church while also scattering to engage with their own communities. Instead of beginning with the traditional model of a church that reaches out to culture, the AND church begins with the culture, which develops into communities and ultimately forms a church. Thus, outreach is not limited to a program of the church, but is embedded into its very DNA. However,  this is not easy. Halter and Smay warn that if you are part of a church that intentionally gathers AND scatters , “You have to exchange your ambitions for God’s; your kingdom for his, and you must be available for God to interrupt your nicely scheduled day with needs that will pull your hair out.” Strong admonition. But then again, so are Jesus’ words in the Great Commission.

Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time

Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time, by Greg Ogden, is a call for discipleship in the local church and beyond. Ogden defines discipling as “an intentional relationship in which we walk alongside other disciples in order to encourage, equip, and challenge one another in love to grow toward maturity in Christ.” He says that, traditionally, leaders in churches have focused their time on being “program developers, administrators and caregivers”. Instead, leaders should spend the bulk of their time equipping, training and encouraging the people of God to minister. Ogden outlines a plan for Jesus followers to disciple others in triads (threes) with the goal of growing spiritually. Then he says that each triad should multiply by forming three more triads. The overall goal is to leave a legacy of transformed disciples that can reproduce on their own. Get this book if you are serious about discipleship!

Reggie McNeal, author of The Present Future, hits it out of the park again with Missional Renaissance. The author calls churches to become missional by changing the scorecard of how we define church success. McNeal defines the missional church as “the people of God partnering with God in his redemptive mission in the world.” Missional is described as intentionally reaching people where they are instead of waiting for them to come to church. McNeal says that churches focusing on inreach suffer in their outreach; but churches that begin with outreach will naturally develop inreach and upreach. “Being salt and light can not happen in a faith huddle”, he says. The chapter, “Changing the scorecard from internal to external focus” is chock-full of community outreach ideas that alone are worth the price of the book. This book will challenge you to change your focus and your mission!

The Tangible Kingdom

The Tangible Kingdom, by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, is a call to creating incarnational church communities. The authors call Jesus followers to return to the practices of ancient church by building authentic relationships in our communities that naturally evolve into churches. Recalling their experiences at establishing a church from scratch, Halter and Smay state, “We start with their assumptions, their experiences, their worldviews, their emotions. When we start there, everything changes: our posture with people, our livelihood, what we do with our spare time, who we spent our time with, how we structure the fabric of our lives.” Readers are challenged to engage into culture with a “whimsical holiness”, defined as interacting in the culture “with ease, humor, love, and holiness without being swayed away from clear biblical boundaries.” Halter and Smay encourage churches to become incarnational by focusing on growing and equipping people to become missionaries, instead of getting caught up in numbers. I highly recommend reading The Tangible Kingdom. It is certainly a breath of fresh air!

I Dare You to Change!

Bil Cornelius gives us a challenging and inspiring life plan in his book, I Dare You to Change! Sharing examples from the story of Gideon, Cornelius charges us to seek God’s best for us. He says, “If boring, complacent lifestyles are the result of our choices, then fulfilling, exciting lifestyles can just as easily be ours.” He also asserts that God wants to see us succeed. “God does not want to see us fail. The only red ink He uses is the blood of Christ on the cross.” This book is not written as conjecture or theory; Cornelius speaks from his experience as a planter of a mega-church in South Texas. Each chapter concludes with an action plan for the reader to contemplate and develop. If you feel that your life is going nowhere, this book will give you new hope and vision.

Servolution, written by Dino Rizzo, pastor of the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a call for churches to serve people in their communities. He says our mission is to help the poor, whom he defines as “any person in any kind of bondage or under any kind of oppression who needs the freedom of Christ shown to them.” Rizzo’s definition of a servolution is bringing healing to a hurting world and loving them to Christ. He described how his church began, and how it helped victims of Hurricane Katrina and 911, but also encouraged churches to start small and look for the needs in their own communities. Rizzo suggests practical ways to serve the community, from giving away bottled water to giving roses to exotic dancers in strip clubs. This book is a must read for people who are serious about meeting the needs of people and sharing the love of Christ with them.

Sun Stand Still

Sun Stand Still, by Steven Furtick, is a refreshing and courageous view on the power of prayer. Furtick reminds us of Joshua’s bold prayer to God in Joshua 10:12, “O sun, stand still over Gibeon”, and God’s willingness to answer his prayer. Furtick says God is “ready to act if we will be bold enough to ask, not just for a good day or a better life, but for the impossible.” He sprinkles his book with examples of faithful prayers in his own life. He transparently revealed how God was always with him, even through times of despair, and challenges us to remain hopeful. “The glory of God often shines the brightest when the sun goes down…and we keep our eyes on Jesus anyway”, Furtick says.

Transforming Church in Rural America

In Transforming Church in Rural America, Shannon O’Dell tells his story of restarting a church in a small, rural town, and growing it from an average of 31 in attendance to over 2000. O’Dell describes how there is no magic formula to growing a rural church. Instead, he says it takes biblically-based principles, passion, and lots of blood, sweat and tears. He says, “When you begin to live out a God-sized vision, it is guaranteed that people will start barking.” O’Dell explains how he focused on prayer, leading by example, building relationships with people, and equipping them to do ministry.

Radical

Radical, by David Platt, is a charge to boldly live out the Great Commission. Platt says the Great Commission is not an option or a suggestion, but it is a command for everyone. He says, “Jesus has not merely called us to go to all nations; he has created us and commanded us to go to all nations.” Not only that, but when we pursue the Great Commission, we will suffer for it. “The danger in our lives will always increase in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ”, Platt says. He contends that we are not commanded to make disciples for ourselves, but for God’s glory. “We are not the center of his universe”, Platt says. “God is at the center of his universe, and everything he does ultimately revolves around him.” The question posed by the author is, “Are you ready to live for this dream?”

Christianity Beyond Belief

In Christianity Beyond Belief, Todd Hunter asks the question, “What if you knew you were going to live tomorrow?” He then proceeds to answer that question by describing how we can live an abundant life now. Hunter reminds us that Christianity is much more than simply being secure in our salvation. He said, “The new life story God is writing for us is this: he intends to have a people on earth who happily, easily and routinely embody, announce, and demonstrate the rule and reign of his kingdom.”

When Helping Hurts

When Helping Hurts, by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, was a breath of fresh air. They write about renewing our commitment to helping the poor in the the US and beyond. In their minds, helping hurts because we need to realize that everyone is broken at some level. They explain that we are all either suffering from spiritual intimacy, poverty of being, poverty of community, or poverty of stewardship. And “until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good.” Instead of serving in soup kitchen or giving money to charity, Corbett and Fikkert suggest that we genuine relationships with the poor and seek restoration together.

The Hole in Our Gospel

The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us? by Richard Stearns, is a personal testimony to how his life transformed from being a hotshot CEO to being the president of World Vision. Stearns asks if we are paying attention to the “whole” gospel, or if we have a “hole” in our lives. That is, are we so caught up in our daily lives that we miss out on caring for the poor? Stearns challenges us to not to judge the poor because of their poverty, but to view them as people that need our encouragement and love.

The Monkey and the Fish

The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church, by Dave Gibbons, is a call for the church to recognize and adapt to the ever changing tides of culture. He introduces the idea of “third culture”, which he defines as, “the mindset and will to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort.” Thus, ministering to people with a third culture mindset means that, instead of focusing on our racial, social or other differences, we are called to bless others by loving and serving them. Dave makes a good point when he says that we are not bringing Jesus to people; rather, Jesus is already there, and we are simply partnering with him in his work.

Organic Outreach for Ordinary People

Organic Outreach for Ordinary Peopleby Kevin Harney, is an excellent book on evangelism. Harney says that anyone can be an evangelist, and gives simple and practical ways for us to reach others. For example, he says, “it is incumbent upon us to pray for those who are not yet part of God’s family.” Also, he tells us engage others where they are, and not “run from the world to avoid cultural connections.” Harney has discussion questions at the end of the chapters, and the last chapter offers practical steps to share the gospel.

The Better Way

The Better Way: The Church of Agape in Emerging Corinth, by Ron Clark, compares the church today to the Corinthian church in the first century, and draws many analogies between the two. Clark says the answer to many problems in society is love, and uses stories from his experiences as a church planter in inner city Portland to explain how that love can be expressed to others. He does a thorough job of explaining how Paul understood the social, sexual, and spiritual challenges that existed in the Corinthian culture, and describes how we can learn from him and apply those things to our own ministries.