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Category: Book Reviews

  • Book Review: Organic Church by Neil Cole

    Have you ever been so ticked off at something, but felt like you didn’t have a platform to express it? I admit that I do.

    This book by Neil Cole initially came across to me as this type of book.

    I will admit that the journey that God has brought him through as a church planter is more than I will be able to adequately touch on in this short review. So please don’t think I don’t like this book.

    In fact, this is probably one of the first books I have read that I completely agree with and disagree with at the same time. With that said here are my thoughts about Neil Cole’s book about effective church planting for a new generation.

    As I alluded to, this beginning of this book came across as a Neil Cole who was ticked at what he saw as the “Church” in most of the western world and has not been able to have a platform until now to talk about it. In fact, he kind of admits to this in his book – not that he was ticked – but that he has been waiting to be successful enough to be able to put into some type of communicative form that he has been wanting to say.

    Cue John Mayer’s “Say What You Need To Say.”

    With that, he says some things that I understand, but maybe would say differently. For instance, in the beginning of the book he makes some strong statements about the church, but later quotes himself talking to a young church planter as saying, “Don’t bash the bride” referring to the Church as the bride of Christ.

    While Neil’s writing is witty at times and has plenty of wonderful stories to tell, but he kind of gets caught up with overusing the Lord of the Rings movies as a way to illustrate his points…in my personal opinion. There are also some stories that he tells as a way to speak of the positive impact “Organic Churches” that honestly leave me wondering.

    For instance, he writes of one church that met at a coffee shop that had some an influence that non-believers were either saved who came or they never came back. The result was that business at that coffee shop went down and eventually the business shut down. I get that salvations are positive, but I wonder what type of view the person who owned the coffee shop now has on believers. For those who are followers of UnChristian or Ed Setzers Lost and Found, you would probably see this not as a truly positive story.

    So what are the good things?

    Glad you asked! In my opinion, the best part of the book is found in the last few chapters. He speaks of how it’s not just good enough to have leadership to plant churches, but to have the right leadership. I really liked his comments about the negatives of “leadership that is too strong” or churches that are what he calls “leadership-dependent.” He also touches on the negatives of the “Event-Driven” church.

    Another great thing he comments on is how having many leaders is not just good enough, but that you must have leaders who also share same values. When starting a church, having many leaders who don’t share the same values will often lead to failure because of differing intentions and desires.

    If there was a “nugget” of insight that I really was inspired by, it was found in the last pages of his book where he writes:

    “If you want to do anything of significance in God’s Kingdom, follow these suggestions: listen to the Lord’s voice and follow that lead. Create an environment that allows failure and restores people easily. Do not invest in potential, but in provenness. You can learn from our mistakes, but I think it also wise to learn from your own. So do not e afraid to take chances and make mistakes.” -pg.204

    SUMMARY

    In the end, I do recommend this book for people trying to understand what it means to reach people in this next generation. While I do find it funny that a book about starting organic churches finds within it slick acronyms and strategies, it doesn’t mean that what is contained in it is totally irrelevant. I would chose Missional Renaissance over this book, but in no way would I not include it in good literature to build an informed perspective for reaching a new generation.

    p.s. This review is found on 53in52.wordpress.com – a website dedicated to regular reviewing of various books. Selfless plug over 😉

  • Book Review: Faces in the Fire by T.L. Hines

    _140_245_Book.69.coverThe quote on the back of the book by Publishers Weekly in describing the author T.L. Hines states “Hines dialogue is darkly funny as he explores the depths o the humans desire for authenticity….Fans of breathless suspense that’s a little off center will enjoy” is very similar to my thoughts of this book.  Personally, it is a lot darker book than that of what I usually read.  However, the suspense did keep me desiring to read it as I quickly finished it in 2-3 days.

    The story is about 4 intertwined characters who each have a major setback in life ranging from amnesia, cancer, drug use, and assassin.  The book is set up in 4 distinct “stanzas” in which each character’s story unfolds.   As you read through each stanza you begin to see how the unknowingly intertwined characters are involved with each other.

    As the plot (or lack thereof) unfolds I have to honestly admit that it was a struggle to get through the last few chapters.  The falling action and resolution are not very strong and as a matter of fact took me the longest to get through.
    I would recommend it to someone else (as long as they were over 16) but would not go out of my way to recommend it to others.
    (This book review was done by my wife)

  • Book Review: Fearless by Max Lucado

    _140_245_Book.72.coverWhen I received Fearless by Max Lucado in the mail, I was both excited about what this book would communicate, and hesitant to find what this book would confront – the fears of my own life. Max communicates beautifully that fear is a reality that confronts our lives, but it isn’t a reality that needs to control our lives.

    We all know the scriptures about fear.  I can even quote most of the “popular ones.”  But what I love about this book is how Max takes a common topic such as fear, and uncommonly speaks from a biblical perspective in a way that is both fresh and familiar.

    Simply put, this will be another one of those books that is on my shelf that will find it’s cover worn, and its stories shared more than once.

  • Book Review: The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player by John Maxwell

    The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team PlayerI picked up John Maxwell’s The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player in the bargain bin at the bookstore a couple of weeks ago.

    Being that I am a firm believer that effective leadership is best done in a horizontal environment (where each person is a vital player) and not in a verticle environment (where one person at the top dictates what those below are to do) – I was excited to find some insights.  After all, even though not all readers are leaders, all leaders are readers!

    So here’s some things that really stood out to me.

    • Teamwork and personal rigidity just don’t mix.
    • A person’s age can be determined by the degree of pain he experiences when he comes in contact with a new idea.
    • Commitment and talent are UNCONNECTED – unless you connect them.
    • …you cannot make a commitment to uncommitted people and expect to receive a commitment from them.
    • You cannot have teamwork unless you have communicative players.  Without communication, you don’t have a team; you have a collection of individuals.
    • If you have any kind of difficulty or conflict with a teammate, don’t let more than twenty-four hours go by without addressing it.
    • Having hidden agendas, communicating to people via third party, and sugarcoating bad news hurts team relationships.
    • Open communication increases trust, trust increases ownership, and ownership increases participation.
    • The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
    • Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.
    • It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.
    • What we do on some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are, and what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline.
    • People have just two choices when it comes to their emotions: they can master their emotions or be mastered by them.
    • Discipline means doing the right things at the right time for the right reason.
    • If you try to push people to work in areas where they have no talent, you will only frustrate them.
    • Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
    • Being intentional is…about focusing on doing the right things, moment to moment, day to day, and then following through with them in a consistent way.
    • A team really isn’t a team if it isn’t going anywhere!
    • Anyone who loves his opinions more that his teammates will advance his opinions but set back his team.
    • You can’t make the other fellow feel important in your presence if you secretly feel that he is a nobody.

    There’s so much more to this book.  I receommend this to anyone who feels God has called them into leadership because leadership is more like football and less like tennis – it takes a team to win big!

  • Book Review: The Noticer by Andy Andrews

    _140_245_Book.50.coverThe Noticer is what I would most accurately describe as a modern day fable.  But unlike a typical fable that helps children learn the lesson of what happnes if you cry “Wolf” too many times, The Noticer leaves you with wisdom that could possibly change your life.

    Don’t be mistaken – this book is a wonderful read of fiction…or non-fiction…I don’t really know – but I couldn’t put the book down.  The book is centered around a central figure who we first meet in the beginning of the book with the nam of Jones.  By the end of the book we find that Jones is a whole more than what we expected.  And if you let him, Jones will teach you about a perspective on life that will show you life is more than we expected.

    Totally recommend this.

  • Book Review: Revolutionary Parenting

    272-largeGoing through my library I have found a couple books that I have reviewed in the past in an older blog, and this is a book that I wanted to share with you again. So here’s a review of a really great book that had the priviledge of reading a couple of years agod.

    June 8, 2007
    I have just finished George Barna’s new book, “Revolutionary Parenting: What the Research Shows Really Works.” As a minister dedicated to helping parents produce what Barna calls “Spiritual Champions”, and a parent myself, this was a book I was very interested in reading.

    First, here’s what Barna defines what a spiritual champion is:

    “…individuals who have embraced Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord; accept the Bible as truth and as the guide for life; and seek to live in obedience to its principles and in search of ways to continually deepen their relationship with God.”

    “Spiritual champions donate unusually generous amounts of time and money to spiritually driven causes. They carefully screen the media they ingest and have a deep and intense commitment to their relationship with God and other Christians. On a daily basis they strive to change the world in small but life-impacting ways…”

    He also alludes that those that are considered “Spiritual Champions” for research purposes are those who are not only active in the community of faith, but are Spiritual leaders with influence.

    While most books come from a psychological and experiential premise, this was written solely from research data. Patterns of commonality were then placed in book form for practical application and information purposes. While to some, the data in this book may seem too rigid, it can also appear to the over controlling, “we like our little Christian bubble” as ammunition for defending their way of parenting. After a thorough read (and re-read) here are some things I gleaned from Revolutionary Parenting.

    1. If you desire to raise spiritual champions, you must be dedicated and committed to having a maturing faith in Christ. This means growing in the knowledge of God through His word and Prayer. This is a non-negotiable
    2. The greatest difference you can make in you child in emerging as a dedicated follower of Christ and advocates of the scripture is spending extensive time studying the bible as a family (outside of church)
    3. ”Achieving positive outcome rarely happens by chance.” If you are going to be a revolutionary parent, you need to be pro-active in your parenting, not reactive. This means you need goals and a plan to reach those goals.
    4. Spending time with your child and disciplining them are the top two deficiencies among most parents. Don’t be like most parents. (“Quality time” can never replace quantity.)
    5. If you can’t prove your parenting with biblical basis, then you won’t raise a spiritual champion…and there is a difference between a morally good and socially productive adult child than a spiritual champion.

    These are just a few things. I totally recommend this read to both parents and those who are committed to ministering to children, youth, and their parents.

  • Book Review: Foreign to Familiar – A Guide to Understanding Hot and Cold Climate Cultures

    foreigntofamiliar_lgAs we’ve been preparing for our move to MN, we’ve been getting together with some friends for final farewells. I had borrowed this book from one of those couples and had actually forgotten that I still had it. So when I found it while packing I decided to give this book a review before it was gone forever =( I absolutely loved this book!

    This is primarily a “missions oriented” book that helps prepare people who are planning to work with cultures that aren’t their own, but the implications of what this book communicates go way beyond just a “missionary’s paradigm” as I will explain later.

    The author breaks all cultures down into what she calls

    1. Hot Climate Cultures (which are relationship-based)
    2. Cold Climate Cultures (which are task-oriented based)

    The idea is that neither culture is “better” than the other, but that if the goal is working together, there must be a respect and understanding of the opposite culture. This book is a REALLY QUICK READ. I read it in an hour. After reading it I realized that this book isn’t only helpful for people interested in missions work, but would be a great pre-marital counseling book for two people coming from different cultures…like my wife and I.

    For instance, I am a Hot Climate culture and Leona is Cold climate.

    Phil (Hot climate): “Let’s go over to our friends house and say hi!”

    Leona (Cold climate): “We need to call first.”

    Phil (Hot climate) : “Call? Why call? It’s our friend right? You don’t need to call to visit a friend!”

    Leona (Cold climate): “It’s impolite to come over unannounced.”

    Phil (Hot climate): “It’s rude to not go over to a friends house when it popped into your mind!”

    I think you get the picture.

    This is a really great book. Pick it up! It’s short and you can get it really cheap here at amazon.com.

  • Book RE_review: The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make

    105413lgWhenever I read this book, it’s always a constant battle to resist pointing my finger to people who have violated these principles.  While some of the stories shared in the book appear to be a page taken out my my life, it took intentionality and some humble-pie to find out what I believe are things I needed to hear. One of these days I hope to be able to pass down experiences in leadership like Hans Finzel has done in this book.

    It should be stated that in my earlier review, I mentioned that I had some theological differences with Finzel.  While I may tend to be less “Calvinistic” I have found that I agree with him a little more on the position of “apostolic-style” leadership.

    So without wasting anymore time, let me just share a couple of quotes that stuck with me this time through:

    • Great leaders forget what it feels like to be led.  Some have never even experienced “followership,” because they have led from the moment they were born – right out of the womb, bossing Mom and Dad around!
    • One blatantly irritating practice  of some leaders…is the use of knowledge – or really the lack therof – to keep people in line and in place.
    • “The true leader will have no desire to lord it over God’s heritage, but will be humble, gentle, self-sacrificing, and altogether ready to follow as to lead, when the Spirit makes it clear that a wiser and more gifted man than himself has appeared.” -A.W. Tozer
    • …we will only impact people spiritually and permanently by that one-on-one contact that can’t be substituted.
    • …top executives spend roughly 90 percent of their time concerned with the messiness of people problems (Bennis & Nanus)
    • When all is said and done, the crowns of my achievements will not be the systems I managed,  the things O wrote, the structures I built, but the people I personally, permanently influenced through direct contact.
    • When we become too preoccupied with policy, procedure, and the fine-tuning of conformity to organizational standards, in effect, we squeeze out some of our most gifted people.
    • “My greatest fear is that our best days were our past days.  I loathe the thought that we should fade into irrelevance.”
    • …dictator style of leadership is…”I know the answers, because I have been given special insight, knowledge, and position.  Therefore, I will determine our direction, for I am the leader and I know best.”
    • …fundamental beliefs about leadership: The greatest ides bubble up from the workers.
    • A man flattened by an opponent can get up again.  A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.
    • I gave him the project, and then I took it back from him.  And that is what dirty delegation is all about…dirty delegations is…making decisions behind the backs of those to whom work is delegated.
    • Dictators nver delegate, they just look for the weak-willed who can implement their every desire.
    • The longer you lead, the less you remember what it was like to follow.
    • Don’t do other people’s work for them.
    • We can never communicate enough in our organizations.
    • Sooner or later you must put your plans down in writing and spell out your direction clearly.
    • There is never a time when more in-house communication is needed that when you first become a leader.
    • Effective leadership has more to do with listening than with talking.
    • Followers want to communicate to their leaders.  If you fail to listen to them, their very effectiveness and job satisfaction will be in jeopardy.
    • Whether dealing with followers and leaders, new employees or old, there are people who fit in organizations and others who don’t.
    • If it works, it’s obsolete.
    • Younger people are not just interested in investing their lives in the maintaining or fostering of institutional structures.  They want to go where the action is, they want to make a difference, they want to work in flat organizations, and they want to be in control of their destinies.

    Now that my ego has been bruised, I’m looking forward to being a better leader.

    Soli Deo Gloria

  • Book Review: The Principal of the Path by Andy Stanley

    _200_350_Book.41.coverWith all the books that I’ve been reading recently, this one seemingly is the one that sums up the main theme of what I’m re-discovering. I use the word “re-discovering” on purpose.  What Andy writes about in this book is simple. It’s so simple that when I tell you, you’ll say, “I already know that!”  It’s so simple…

    Ridiculously Simple

    Here it is:

    Attention establishes direction which in turn determines destination.

    In other words, it’s the advice your momma always gave you.  It’s the result of hind-sight, which we all know is 20/20.  But what I appreciate about this book was not about WHAT Andy communicated, but HOW.

    The first thing I appreciated is that this book, unlike other books of this genre is driven by the principles found in scripture and promotes the “Principles of the Path” by the illustration of scripture.  In every section of this book, Andy seamlessly weaves principles of scripture into truths that everyone already knows, but hardly anyone follows.

    The second thing I appreciate about this book is Andy’s ability to “tell it like it is” but do so in a way that you know he’s communicating with the desire to see you succeed – not so he can stand back and say, “I told you so.”

    This book covers a lot on achieving your goals/dreams/calling/etc, but what I believe separates this book from “the pack” is the willingness of Andy to answer the question and reality that no other writer of these type of books seems to answer.  What is that question?  What is that reality?

    What do you do if you realize your dream will never come true?

    The reality is that there will be some dreams/goals that will NEVER be fulfilled

    I believe this book answer those questions. How?  Well, you have to read the book!  Remember, this is just a review, not your college Cliff’s Notes!  But here are some quotes to wet your appetite:

    • To get from where we don’t want to be to where we do want to be requires two things: time and a change of direction.  There isn’t a quick fix.
    • Direction – not intention – determines our destination
    • Today’s decisions are informed and influenced by their impact on tomorrow.
    • The primary difference between the prudent and the simple is not what they see but how they respond to what they see.
    • Our propensity to defend our happiness decisions with justifications that aren’t founded in truth is what sets us up for trouble when the road divides.
    • You can’t get to where you want to be in life until you are willing to admit where you are to begin with.
    • There are better decision-making strategies than simply following your heart.  The truth is if you let it, your heart will direct you down a path that leads to the very spot you most want to avoid.
    • Your decision-making environments are not emotionally neutral.
    • The best counsel in the world is wasted if our minds are already made up.
    • You will never reach your full potential without tapping into the wisdom of others.
    • We don’t drift in good directions.  We discipline and prioritize ourselves there.
    • Pause before devoting your attention to anything.

  • Book RE_review: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

    5dysfunctions7

    When I first read this book I was new to organizational leadership.  I didn’t realize the true implications of following or not following these principles would be.  Three organizations later I understand that the principles found in this book are more than good suggestions for helping foster teamwork.  They are rules that must be followed if an organization wants to succeed.

    Since I’ve never done an official review of this book, you could say that this is not really a RE_review.  But this is coconut island…and everything is from my perspective!  So this RE-review  is going to take a snapshot of just some of the things that stuck out to me this time through:

    • Great teams don’t hold back with one another…They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry.  They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.
    • Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think
    • Concerning goals: “If everything is important, then nothing is.”
    • (No one) gets completely used to conflict.  If it’s not a little uncomfortable, then it’s not real.  The key is to keep doing it anyway
    • By being even slightly connected to formal performance evaluations or compensation, 360-degree programs can take on dangerous political undertones.
    • Team leaders must create an environment that does not punish vulnerability.
    • By building trust, a team makes conflict possible because team members do not hesitate to engage in passionate and sometimes emotional debate, knowing that they will not be punished for saying something that might otherwise be interpreted as destructive or critical.
    • …teams that avoid ideological conflict often do so in order to avoid hurting  team members’ feelings, and then end up encouraging dangerous tension.
    • …it is key that leaders demonstrate restraint when their people engage in conflict, and allow resolution to occur naturally, as messy as it can sometimes be.
    • …reasonable human beings do not need to get their way in order to support a decision, but only need to know that their opinions have been heard and considered.
    • …it is better to make a decision boldly and be wrong – and then change direction with equal boldness – than it is to waffle.
    • One of the most valuable disciplines…a team should explicitly review the key decisions made during the meeting, and agree on what needs to be communicated to employees or other constituencies about those decisions.
    • …one of the best tools for ensuring commitment is the use of clear deadlines for when decisions will be made, and honoring those dates with discipline and rigidity.
    • The enemy of accountability is ambiguity…
    • Teams that are willing to commit publicly to specific results are more likely to work with a passionate, even desperate desire to achieve those results.

    Over the years I’ve learned that sacrificing conflict around ideals among team members for the sake of “harmony” is only a vain attempt at unity.  Rather, this type of behavior only promotes unhealthy amounts of tension, and the conflict, in the end, is always messier than the conflicts that should have occurred.

    In the end, the goal of effective teamwork for a leader is not to stand in front of your team and have all the answers or see your team as a group of people who carry out your goals.  Rather, a good leader invokes the honest evaluations and even opinions of those around them, understanding that the goals set by a collective effort are always better than the decisions of one person – no matter how exceptional that one person is.