Ramblings On. . .

So I went online to start placing books that were recommended for me on hold. And I decided to look for some other books that I have been contemplating reading for a while now. I was surprised by how many of Brian McLaren’s books were available. I was also surprised that I only had to wait for a day. I got A Generous Orthodoxy, as well as The Secret Message of Jesus.

McLaren is an interesting Author because there is so much stuff that he writes that I love and totally agree with, but there are other things that just infuriate me. And I have been putting off A Generous Orthodoxy because I had a feeling that I would just get angry with some of the things that he had to say. But you know it’s better to read it and find out for myself what he says than just assume that I know.

I initially discovered his books by reading A New Kind of Christian, which was a very enlightening book about Post-modernism and how the church should respond. It was told in the form of a story which was very interesting, because this way McLaren could say things that seemed controversial but it was a Character in a story and not actually a stated position by McLaren. This method of writing can be infuriating because you don’t really know what the author is saying he holds to be true and what he is just floating out there. It ingenious for the exact same reason. I really like this book and found it to be very helpful.

A New Kind of Christian actually became a trilogy of books floating around the same characters.

The second in the Series was, The Story We Find Ourselves In, this dealt a lot with creation and evolution, history and our role and God’s role. It was interesting, but he started to lose me with some of his evolution theories. But what he said about history was very enlightening and I enjoyed it.

The Third was The Last Word and the Word After That. In this book McLaren addresses Eternity and basically says that Hell doesn’t exist. This made me very angry because it attacked one of the things that I have always believed. But it also made me think, that Hell shouldn’t be the driving force for our evangelism.

Somewhere in there he wrote a book with Tony Campolo called, Adventures in Missing the Point, which also makes some rather controversial claims, but is most definitely thought provoking.

So now here I am preparing to delve into some more of his works knowing that controversy is just around the corner, and I will be thinking a lot. So that’s always a good thing.

I can’t say that I whole heartedly endorse any of these books, but they are interesting reads, and If you want to think and figure stuff out for yourself then have at it. But if you know that reading them will make you angry the steer clear.

Well I have been busting out a lot of books lately with my riding the bus, and I am looking for some great reads. People ask me for recommendations all the time. I would like to hear from you, what books should I read, just hit the comment button if you have any ideas.

I do have some guidelines, i will not read Romance Novels, or Horror Novels. I love to read but those two things I just won’t bother with.

Thanks I look forward to hearing and reading your recommendations.

Riding the bus has given me great opportunities to read and process things that I normally don’t get to for some reason. Like today, I ended up working through a book, The Perfect Program: and Other Fairy Tales. It’s a youth ministry book, by a guy named David Chow. It’s a great book, and it’s a nice reminder that all the aspects of youth ministry, all the criterion for success, all the standards and metric, all the people, and everything you do is a process. It’s never going to be perfect.

It’s just a good reminder from time to time, that there is always more to do, more to learn, and more to improve upon. It’s a great little book for youth pastors to read, and I greatly recommend it.

Well I finished reading Driscoll’s book, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. Great book! I have talked about it before in the blog, but it is really a great read. I was challenged and inspired. What’s really amazing is the church has grown so fast in so short a time. Amazing.

I was also challenged because they are not done yet. They are still striving to grow and reach more people. And I think that’s something that all churches should try to do. The idea that a church should stay small because it builds a nice sense of community is laziness.

And I gotta say the same thing about youth ministries. I am currently leading a ministry of about 25, regular attendees, and 60 on paper. But it’s really the 25 that count. I’m doing good as far as the national average goes, and in proportion to my church’s size we are alright. But there are so many lost, hurting kids that need to know Jesus. I shouldn’t ever be satisfied with the size of my ministry. I shouldn’t ever feel like we’ve arrived, because there is always work to be done.

That’s the biggest thing that I took away from Confessions, there is always more to be done.

It was also encouraging to read about how Mars Hill went through several stages of chaos and during that Chaos they were actually able to keep growing. Things that would have ruined other churches actually became sources of unity and strength in their community.

Driscoll also writes in such a way that he sounds smart, funny, and like a regular dude all at the same time.

I’ll be honest, I really respect Driscoll and all that he and Mars Hill have accomplished, I like his preaching style and I tend to model my preaching after him a little bit because it just feels comfortable.

But yeah this book is a great resource for leaders in churches, or people aspiring to church leadership. It paints a real picture of what church life is like.