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I just finished reading another book by Bill Hybels, Holy Discontent (see product info at Zondervan.com). Last week I finished When Leadership and Discipleship Collide, which I wrote about here. I wanted to include both books in my dissertation, at the last minute.

As I said before, Hybels is one of my favorite writers/leaders. Not only is Holy Discontent an excellent book, but I strongly consider it worthwhile reading for every Christ-follower (especially every Christ-following leader) who wants to make a difference in the world!

This book, Hybels states, began with the question, “Why do people do what they do?” (13).

Hybels reflected on this question for a couple years, then concludes …

I believe the motivating reason why millions of people choose to do good in the world around them is because there is something wrong in that world. In fact, there is something so wrong that they just can’t stand it (23).

That’s what Hybels refers to as “holy discontent.” Hybels writes, “Once that frustration and anger is understood as being your holy discontent … it’s as if an enormous wave of positive energy gets released inside you” (26).

Hybels shares the stories of some people who were driven by holy discontent, including, Mother Teresa, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bob Pierce, among others.

All of this leads Hybels to ask: “What can’t you stand?” (34).

I hope this question grabs your heart, as it has mine, and that it won’t let you go until you’re able to answer it, because we must change the world around us!

Hybels argues that there’s “a danger in opting out of your holy discontent pursuit” (51). He writes that in opting out, “you also opt out of tackling the good works God has wired you up to accomplish” (51).

This is a matter of growth and maturity. Hybels asserts …

… over time, Christ-followers should in fact begin to look less like themselves and more like Christ. Therefore, on an ever-increasing basis, Christ-followers should be abandoning their self-seeking viewpoints and taking on an heaven’s perspective. They should be loosening the grip on self-centeredness and instead be looking for ways to serve others (52).

Hybels encourages readers to constantly “be on the lookout for that one cause or purpose or problem that grabs you by the throat and just won’t let go” (53).

In Holy Discontent, Hybels suggests feeding your frustration (i.e. don’t isolate yourself from your holy discontent): “the best thing you can do,” Hybels writes, “is move toward your area of holy discontent until you have clear direction from God as to what action you should take to resolve it” (67-68).

If we don’t feed our holy discontent, Hybels warns …

The fuel will dry up. The firestorm will fizzle out. No matter how amped up we are about something that wrecks us, time and repetition take a toll … Determine now that you will never insulate yourself from what wrecks you. Instead, increase your exposure … and then hang onto your hat, because real living is going to rock your world when you begin to share space with your holy discontent! (74)

Hybels also talks about “magnetic living.”

“If you are full of darkness and despair,” Hybels contends, “then the only type of ‘magnetic living’ you will be doing is the kind that sucks people into your black hole of despondency” (126).

If you still believe that with God all things really are possible, you owe it to yourself and to the people in your sphere of influence to determine each and every day to keep your level of faith-based optimism high. In other words, you simply cannot allow what ‘wrecks’ you to wreck you (132-133).

And that, according to Hybels, is an area of self-leadership. “… only you can keep your hope meter high” (133). Further, “This area of self-leadership, Hybels states, “is absolutely critical because everyone you lead … takes their cue from you” (134-135).

Holy Discontent is making an impact on me. It’s also going to impact the opening section of my dissertation which lays out my “holy discontent.” As I wrap up my defense draft in the next week (mostly technical revisions, at this point), and as I prepare to continue advancing God’s kingdom in my part of the world, I need to wrestle with the question (which will probably someday be the topic of another post) …

What can’t I stand?

Hybels writes …

I assure you there is a holy discontent with your name on it. There is something out there that God is waiting for you to grab on to so that he can use you to help solve it. It wrecks you, it wrecks him, and he is ready for you both to do something about it (54).

In the context of talking about David’s stirring against Goliath, Hybels offered the following prayer, which is a good prayer for us to pray, as well …

What you care about, God, is what I want to care about too. What stirs your spirit, God, stirs my spirit too. And however you want to use me to help solve the problem that we both see … I’m in (70).

I’m in. Are you?

One of my favorite writers/leaders is Bill Hybels, founding/senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, IL). Hybels has more than 30 years of leadership experience, and I am always inspired and challenged when I read his stuff.

It’s no different after reading When Leadership and Discipleship Collide, a brief book with about 57 pages of text from start to finish (see product info at Zondervan.com).

In this short book, Hybels addresses a great question — “What do you do when the laws of leadership collide with the teachings of Christ?”

Hybels begins with the claim that Jesus “was the greatest leader ever” (12). Even so, Hybels writes that he noticed after reading through the gospel of Mark, that Jesus, on a number of occasions, broke conventional leadership laws, including …

• Build a team of highly qualified leaders
• Keep up the momentum
• Propagate good press
• Avoid unnecessary controversy
• Leverage time and influence
• Don’t bite the hand that feeds you
• Avoid sensational exploits
• Demonstrate unshakable courage

After sharing some of his own experiences of breaking leadership laws at times, Hybels asks the question, “What will be my response when the laws of leadership and discipleship collide?” (43)

Hybels writes that he has come to understand leadership laws as simply “descriptions of hard-learned lessons that, for hundreds of years, leaders have come to view as valuable guides toward mission fulfillment” (45). (For more on leadership laws, check out John Maxwell’s book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, which Hybels also refers to.)

Of course, anyone who is familiar with Hybels knows that he believes in the value of leadership. Hybels contends, “collisions between leadership and discipleship are actually quite uncommon” (47). In fact, “Jesus consistently manifested what we might consider ‘leadership laws’ throughout his ministry” (49).

Hybels writes …

It has been my strong bias for the last thirty-plus years that Christian leaders must take full advantage of the accumulated teachings of every leadership generation that has gone before them. What we work for in ministry leadership is the single most important endeavor on planet Earth–the building of the kingdom of God (48).

So, Hybels is by no means devaluing leadership. But he is saying that there will be times when what God calls you to do will collide with known/trusted leadership laws. Hybels writes …

In those rare cases when the humans laws of leadership and the scriptural demands of discipleship do collide, decide on the side of discipleship every time (50).

Further, Hybels challenges leaders …

to be the Christ-follower who really does seek God’s kingdom first. Be Jesus’ disciple in whatever arena you lead and conform yourself to his image in whatever situation you find yourself. Keep Christ first whenever the laws of leadership and discipleship collide (57).

Toward the end of the book, Hybels discusses the ministry of the Holy Spirit, writing, “the ministry of the Holy Spirit is a very real, very accessible gift to be opened by every Christ-follower” (57). Hybels continues …

Christian leaders cannot afford to wield influence apart from the direction of the Holy Spirit. It takes more than human-crafted leadership laws to be effective; the role of Scripture and of the ministry of the Holy Spirit can never be overestimated (58).

I think what I loved most about the book is this seasoned leader, through his own life experiences, has grown in his dependence on God. It’s all too easy for leaders to gain confidence in their own ability to lead and to subsequently depend on God less. Leaders must never forget, as Hybels writes, “the power of the Holy Spirit is the leader’s best friend” (64).

Hybels leaves readers with a great challenge …

If you know the laws of leadership and follow them when they should be followed, if you love God and readily follow the prompting of his Spirit when you sense he is guiding, then you will make it. And when there’s a collision, if you say, ‘I’m going to decide on the side of discipleship and the clear teachings of Scripture every time. I’m going to put my hand in the Holy Spirit’s hand all day, every day, and allow him to be my guide and my strength,’ then you will make it. In fact, you won’t just ‘make it’–you will thrive. You won’t just thrive–you will prevail! And you will be able to overcome whatever the forces of darkness throw at you, guaranteed (66).

I recently wrote about Andy Stanley’s book, Choosing to Cheat (see “Choosing to Cheat” 1.0). As I said, I want to share some personal reflections on how Joleen and I plan to cheat strategically so that we do not cheat our family.

To review, Andy essentially says that all of us have a limited amount of time, and certainly not enough time to do everything that is demanded of us, or everything that we’d like to do. Therefore, we’ve all got to cheat somewhere. The question is, who do we cheat? Many times, we cheat our families. The question the subtitle of the book poses is, “Who wins when family and work collide?”

This is an important question for all families to address. It’s certainly an important question for us — two full-time pastors, and now, two full-time parents. In the past, we’ve always tried to be intentional about taking time to spend with one another, and now that we have brought a child into our home, we will have to be even more intentional about family time.

Here are some commitments we’re considering as we move forward …

Be *more* focused in our work/ministries. We have a limited amount of time. In the past, if it took us extra hours to accomplish what we wanted/needed to accomplish in a week, that might not have been so bad. With a child in our lives, we will have to be more focused in our work. We will have to spend our workweek on the most important tasks (actually, focus is a good thing; we all should focus on the most important tasks, or what some call MITs). Our family life depends on it.

Prioritize Family Time. Periodically (and this will become even more important as Ethan gets older), we will schedule in family time on our calendars. We will place family events (or school/extra-curricular activities that Ethan will be involved in) on our calendars, and will treat them as any other important commitment in our lives. A few months ago, Joleen and I started more intentionally coordinating our schedules and blocking out time each week that we would both take off. We did this partially in preparation for life with a child. Click here to download a PDF of the “block schedule” we’ve been using.

Protect our evenings. It’s not uncommon for one or both of us to have 2-3 evening meetings each week. We will need to be more intentional about coordinating our schedules so that, if possible, at least one of us is home each evening, and both of us are home at a decent time to go through our evening routine (story time, prayer, and putting Ethan to bed).

Keep family commitments. Obviously, there will be times when things come up that interrupt family life. That’s true for everyone. It’s especially true for pastoral families, and particularly for families where both parents are pastors. However, we must do our best to keep family commitments as much as possible.

We will have to be intentional. Both of us are mission-driven people. God’s call and mission are extremely important to us. That won’t change. But the way we live that out may, naturally, need to undergo some changes.

We once heard John Maxwell, founder of Injoy, define success, saying, “Those who are the closest to me, love and respect me the most.”

That kind of success requires cheating strategically. What commitments have you made to give priority to the place of your family?

Awhile back, I read Choosing to Cheat: Who Wins When Family and Work Collide? by Andy Stanley. The book is must-reading for anyone who is busy AND has a family.

Incidentally, I try to read everything by Andy Stanley, lead pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. Previously, I’ve posted thoughts on two other books by him including, Communicating for a Change and Making Vision Stick.

I’ve been thinking about the book again now that we’ve brought Ethan home and have a few weeks to immerse ourselves in, and adjust to, this new way of life. Here are a few quotes quotes and thoughts on Choosing to Cheat …

So, what does it mean to cheat?

“When we cheat, we choose to give up one thing in hopes of gaining something else of greater value” (9).

Andy makes the case that none of us can do everything that we think we should do, or everything others think we should do. Therefore, we’ve got choices to make. In fact, he says …

“Daily you make decisions to give up one thing in order to gain something else. This is especially true within the arena of your schedule. You face a variety of responsibilities and opportunities: work … family … hobbies … clubs … leagues … the list is endless. Each competes for your attention. Each competes for your most valuable resource, your time. But to give each of these the time it demands or deserves would require more time than you have” (10).

As a result, every one of us must make choices. Since we can’t do it all, we’ve gotta cheat somewhere. Basically, we choose who we cheat. Why? Because …

“The problem is there is not enough time to get everything done that you are convinced–or others have convinced you–needs to get done” (21).

Choose wisely!

“Everyone is busy. All of us have more to do than we will ever get done. We all have to cheat along the way. When you cheat strategically, you leverage your busyness for the sake of what’s most important. Cheating strategically allows us to communicate the message our families long the feel–you are important to me. You are more important to me than anybody or anything else in the world” (58).

Andy argues that “the length of your workweek does not play as significant role as you might at first think” in your professional success. On the other hand, he says, “With family, success is always related to time” (99).

To help busy spouses make adjustments to their priorities, Andy suggests the following question …

“What change would your spouse most like you to make in regard to your schedule?” (93)

That may be a tough question to ask, and you may not be able to make the needed changes overnight, but it may be a good place to start, and you can at least begin working toward the goal.

When Andy asked his wife, Sandra, this question, shortly after starting North Point in the late 1990s, she said she’d like him to be home around 4:00 pm to help with their two young children. It was tough for Andy, the lead pastor of a new church, to do, but he did it. In fact, he also committed to working a 45-hour workweek. He prayed …

“Lord, feel free to build whatever kind of church You can with forty-five hours of my time. You know that’s all I have right now” (95).

This one might be tough for many Christ-followers, particularly pastors, to swallow. But if you know anything about North Point, it is an incredible church. God isn’t looking for workaholics and overachievers to build his church; he is looking for people of character and integrity, and part of that integrity is commitment to one’s family.

In 2.0, I will offer some personal reflections on how Joleen and I hope to cheat strategically so that we do not cheat our family.

The most impacting book I’ve (Randy) ever read on preaching/communication is Andy Stanley’s (and Lanes Jones’) Communicating for a Change (Andy Stanley is lead pastor of North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA). In fact, the book was so impacting that I read it two times back-to-back (which is unusual for me; I normally highlight and just review the highlights).

I read this book over a year ago and immediately began putting the approach into practice. Andy’s approach has given me a renewed passion for preaching!

Basically, the approach involves building the whole message around one point. This is very different for most preachers who were trained to prepare multiple point sermons; however, Andy argues, “In a preaching environment, less is more” (13).

After reading only the first two chapters, I preached my first one-point message in September 2006. Now, more than a year later, I have completed 58 one-point messages. With some experience behind me, I want to review the book and offer some reflection on the one-point preaching approach.

1. Determine your goal
Andy argues that the goal of preaching should be to “teach people how to live a life that reflects the values, principles, and truths of the Bible” (95). IOW, more than simply passing on information, the goal is life change.

2. Pick a point
Narrowing down the message to a single point is the heart of Andy’s approach. Instead of preparing multiple-point messages, pick one point and build everything around that point. It’s “the glue to hold the other parts together,” Andy says (103).

If you give people too much to remember, they won’t remember anything. … everything you say can be life-changing, but if they can’t remember it then it won’t change a thing. … You’ve got to narrow the focus of your message to one point. Then everything else in the message supports, illustrates, and helps make it memorable (39-41).

Narrowing the message to one point is probably the biggest challenge of this approach for many. Andy says that “if you have been preaching for any length of time [...] your challenge will not be finding the one, but eliminating the three” (105). Andy says that while “lists go on paper … single, powerful ideas have a way of penetrating the heart” (109). Single, powerful ideas have a way of penetrating the heart!

Andy suggests crafting a sticky statement, a statement that presents your point in a memorable way. This is a step that many communicators skip, but one that Andy is convinced “makes all the difference” (112).

Narrowing the message down to one point hasn’t been a big problem for me. I’ve enjoyed crafting sticky statements (although some of mine are better than others). Andy gives some examples of sticky statements he has used on page 111 but here are some of my favorite sticky statements that I’ve crafted in the past year …

• Lost hearts run away from giants; brave hearts run toward them!
• Peacekeepers want to make everyone happy; peacemakers want to make everyone healthy!
• Oneness is God’s dream for us!
• Choose your treasure wisely because your heart will follow!
• God blesses the world through generous people!
• To prevent heart disease, change your lifestyle.
• When God calls, just say yes!
• It takes a crew to complete a mission!
• God entrusts his work to trustable people!
• God-followers are mobile followers!
• When you get knocked down, bounce back up!
• God is leading a search and rescue operation!
• God can do a lot with a little!

3. Create a map
In this chapter, Andy offers a basic map (or outline) summarized by the words, ME-WE-GOD-YOU-WE. This map “is built around the communicator’s relationship with the audience rather than the content” (119).

• ME and WE are about finding common ground with the audience (how the day’s topic connects with the communicator and as many people in the audience as possible).
• The GOD section is where you talk about the text, God’s thoughts on the topic.
• The YOU section is where the topic is applied to the audience.
• The final WE section is for casting vision – “you paint a verbal picture of what could be and should be” (129).

4. Internalize the Message
Here, Andy talks about owning and internalizing the message. He says, “Until you can stand up and tell a story, you’re not ready to preach.” (53).

The secret is to reduce your entire message down to five or six pieces. [...] Remember, the goal is not to cover everything in your notes. It is to take your audience with you on a journey; to move them from mile marker to mile marker until you reach your destination (137).

The advantage of this approach is that it forces the communicator to reduce his or her material it to the bare essential minimum. Andy says, “If it doesn’t support, illustrate, or clarify the point, I cut it” (142).

5. Engage the Audience
Andy talks about the importance of engaging the audience, and suggests, “Attention and retention is determined by presentation, not information” (146). “It’s our preparation and presentation that will keep people engaged” (147).

Simply put, you have to manufacture interest. [...] your first responsibility is to pose a question your audience wants answered, create a tension they need resolved, or point to a mystery they have been unable to resolve. And if you launch into your message before you do one of those three things, chances are, you will leave them standing at the station (153).

6. Find Your Voice
Chapter 6 is about finding one’s own individual style. Every communicator is unique and has different gifts. Every communicator must find his or her own style (i.e. “voice”). Andy says …

Be who you are. But be the very best communicator you can possibly be. To do that you must be willing to sacrifice what’s comfortable—what has become part of your style—for the sake of what is effective (170).

Changing/Improving style is probably the hardest thing to do. The more practice one gets, the harder change becomes. As John Maxwell says, Practices does NOT make perfect, it makes permanent!

What I’ve learned/experienced along the way …

• Greater creativity. Switching from multiple-point preaching to one-point preaching greatly improved my creativity. Rather than being distracted by multiple points, I am more focused. Because of this, I’ve been a lot more creative.
• Freedom from notes. Switching from multiple-point preaching to one-point preaching has allowed me to preach (mostly) without notes. I have a small mind map with me with my map/oultine on one side and my Scripture text on the other side. I use the text side of my notes to navigate through my text.
• Now that I’m pretty comfortable with the basic approach, it’s time to start experimenting and finding ways to further develop/tweak the approach.

If you’re considering switching and wondering where to start, here’s what I’d suggest …

1. Read the book.
2. Listen to Andy Stanley’s messages (listen for his point/sticky statement; observe his map/outline)
3. If you’re having trouble narrowing your message down to one point, you could start by turning one of your multiple-point sermons into a series by making each of your main points a sermon in itself. BTW, doing so will not necessarily make your sermons shorter, but they will be deeper, more focused, and therefore, more penetrating.
4. Turn your point into a “sticky statement” - as short/concise/memorable as possible. Delete any unnecessary words. In my experience, Crafting a statement can take a while and it’s usually late in the process till I get the statement the way I want it (and sometimes I get it the way I want it *after* I’ve preached the message!).
5. Follow the ME-WE-GOD-YOU-WE map/outline.
6. Once you become comfortable with the approach, you can start experimenting with it.
7. Also, watch for a future post I plan to write on this topic on preparing one point messages. As you may know, I use mind mapping in my sermon prep (see my previous post on StoryMapping). It will include the questions Andy suggests in chapter 7, which I didn’t cover here.

If you’re a communicator, I hope this review has been helpful to you. Feel free to ask questions or offer observations in the comments section!

It’s been a little over a year since I first read The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus, lead pastor of Mosaic. Erwin is one of my favorite writers and Christ-following leaders; I consider all of his stuff must reading (especially for leaders).

Every Christ-follower who wants to live whole-heartedly and unabashedly for God should read, internalize, and live out this book! I’m still somewhere around stage two of this process.

In the book, Erwin laments the fact that “Christianity over the past two thousand years has moved from a tribe of renegades to a religion of conformists” (5). Erwin argues that “Christianity has become docile, domesticated, civilized” (17). The book is an effort for Christ-followers “to hear the barbarian call, to form a barbarian tribe, and to unleash the barbarian revolt” (17).

The Church has an identity problem. We don’t know who we are. We don’t fully understand why we’re here. Erwin writes …

God’s will for us is less about our comfort than it is about our contribution. God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance. (45).

Part of the identity problem, Erwin argues, is that, “When we are born again, we are dropped not into a maternity ward, but into a war zone” (126). Because of that, Erwin adds, “Maybe the first word we hear should not be ‘welcome,’ but ‘jump’” (126).

Unleash the untamed faith within!

I find myself agreeing with Erwin when he highlights the difference between the way things are and the way things could and should be …

Somehow Christianity has become a nonmystical religion. It’s about a reasonable faith. If we believe the right things, then we are orthodox. Frankly whether we actually connect to God or experience his undeniable presence has become incidental, if not irrelevant. We have become believers rather than experiencers. To know God in the Scriptures always went beyond information to intimacy. We may find ourselves uncomfortable with this reality, but the faith of the Scriptures is a mystical faith (61).

Finally, one thing is clear from the book. Living the life of a barbarian, a Christ-follower with an untamed faith, is certainly not the safe route. Erwin writes …

The civilized build shelters and invite God to stay with them; barbarians move with God wherever he chooses to go. The civilized Christian has a routine; the barbarian disciple has a mission. The civilized believer knows the letter of the law; the barbarian disciple lives the spirit of the law. The religiously civilized love tradition; the barbarian spirit loves challenges. The civilized are satisfied with ritual; barbarians live and thrive in the mystical. For a civilized disciple, religion provides stability and certainty; for the barbarian, a life in God is one of risk and mystery (79).

Sign me up. I want to be a barbarian for God, a Christ-follower with an untamed faith!

Andy Stanley has written a must-read book for leader/communicators who want to maximize the adhesiveness of their vision!

Andy Stanley, founding and lead pastor of North Point Community Church, is one of a handful of writers that I read everything they write. You’ll find some of Andy’s books in the sidebar already, but the latest book I’ve read, and the latest addition to the list of recommended books for leaders is Making Vision Stick (see Google Books’ limited preview), part of the new Leadership Library series from Zondervan.

The first thing I love about the book is that it’s only 74 pages long. If all books were as short, I’d be able to read a lot more books!
Here are some of my favorite quotes:

One of the greatest challenges is making vision stick. Vision doesn’t have much adhesive (12).

To get people to sit still long enough to understand your vision is hard enough. But to get them to actually organize their lives around it is supremely difficult. The urgent and legitimate needs of today quickly erase our commitment to the what could be of tomorrow (15-16).

It’s the leader’s responsibility to ensure that people understand and embrace the vision of the organization (17).

5 things you can do to increase the adhesiveness of your vision …

1. State the vision simply.

Andy writes …

if your vision is going to stick in people’s minds, it must be memorable. [...] People don’t remember or embrace paragraphs. They remember and embrace sentences (19). [...] And, If the vision is too complicated, nothing changes (23).

2. Cast the vision convincingly.

In this section, Andy says leaders must define the problem, offer a solution, and present a reason for the solution. He writes …

Every vision is a solution to a problem (25).

Buy-in by others hinges on your ability to convince them you are offering a solution to a problem they are convinced needs to be solved (26).

Further …

A leader points the way to a solution and gives a compelling reason why something must be done now (30).

3. Repeat the vision regularly.

As committed as I am to the idea of casting vision on a regular basis, sometimes I feel a bit guilty. I like I’m repeating myself (35).

I was glad to read this statement. I’ve been saying/feeling something similar in the last couple of years. But as Andy points out, the repetition is an essential component of vision-casting.

4. Celebrate the vision systematically.

Celebrating a win incarnates the vision, bringing clarity in a way that words cannot. (40)

5. Embrace the vision personally.

Your willingness to embody the vision of your organization will have a direct impact on your credibility as a leader. Living out the vision establishes credibility and makes you a leader worth following. When people are convinced the vision has stuck with you, it is easier for them to make the effort to stick with the vision (47).

Andy wraps up the brief book saying …

If God has given you a picture of what could and should be, embrace it fully and refuse to allow the busyness and urgency of life to distract you. [...] Seeing a vision become a reality requires more than a single burst of energy or creativity. It requires daily attention. Daily commitment (72-73).

Making Vision Stick is more good stuff from Andy Stanley. A must-read for leader/communicators.

Helpful resource for leaders who love to read!

In a previous post, we talked about the importance of lifelong learning. If you’re a leader, you must be a reader.

If you need help knowing what to read, a great place to start is 800ceoread. This resource includes a daily blog, an excerpts blog, a podcasts blog, and a recommended books section.

For a while, 800ceoread operated InBubbleWrap where they gave away books to random winners most weekdays. While it ran, entering the daily contest was a part of our daily routine (we got 11 free books out of it!). We hated to see it end!

BTW, this post introduces a new category on our blog: Resources. The Internet is loaded with helpful resources for leaders. We’ll try to highlight some of them, occasionally.

Eugene Peterson on how life slowly, almost unnoticeably leaks.

I love the stuff Eugene Peterson writes. He’s best known perhaps for his recent work, translating/paraphrasing the Scriptures in The Message. When I was in seminary I read some of his books; in fact, his book, The Contemplative Pastor, was one of the most impacting books I read back in the early 1990s.

Now that he has completed The Message, Peterson has returned to writing, and he’s churning out the books like crazy. We have three of them (I think there are currently four), so far, but may not get to them till after graduation next spring. However, Joleen and I are occasionally reading together a little from one of his latest books, Living the Resurrection. A section we read last night especially grabbed my attention (emphasis added):

It’s a curious thing but not uncommon for Christians to begin well and gradually get worse. Instead of progressing like a pilgrim from strength to strength, we regress. Just think of the Christians you really admire. Aren’t most of them recent converts? Isn’t it exciting? Then think of the Christians that you’re just bored to death with. Aren’t they people who have been Christians for forty or fifty years? They are wearing out—not just in body but in everything else too. There are exceptions, of course.

We lose our vitality. We become dull. We continue to go through these life-affirming, Christ-honoring motions, but our hearts are no longer in it.

The regression is rarely dramatic. It’s not sudden. We start out with life, life, life, and more life. God is primary and present in all we do. But then while we’re happily and innocently going about our work, our feet get tangled up in those cords of Sheol, those ropes of death. It is so casual at first that we hardly notice. But then one cord gets attached—who knows how?—to an ankle by a double half hitch. Then there’s another and another. Before we know it, we are regressing. We are hobbled. We become less. We lose the immediacy, spontaneity, and exuberance of resurrection life.

Interestingly, this often takes place at the same time we’re becoming successful in the eyes of our peers, associates, employers, or congregations. But the life is leaking out. God and life have become disconnected.

As we read that, I thought about the necessity of both gifts and character. In the beginning, we have only undeveloped gifts and we know we need God. But as our gifts develop, if we’re not careful, we begin to rely more and more on our own gifts, and therefore, rely on God less. As the life leaks out, our gifts outpace our character and that leads to all kinds of problems!

Like all leaders, I want to continually grow and develop my (God-given) gifts, but no matter how much my gifts develop, I must be intentional about maintaining my connection with God and growing/developing my character. Truth is, my (God-given) gifts are only of real value when my character is at least as developed as my gifts.

What are you doing to guard against the inevitable leaking of life?

Reggie McNeal addresses six new realities the Church faces today!

I’ve read many leadership books in recent years as part of the Doctor of Ministry program at Asbury Theological Seminary, and Reggie McNeal’s The Present Future has been one of the most impacting books I’ve read during this process (see other recommended leadership books in the sidebar).

Here’s a brief overview …

1. The collapse of the church culture
Each chapter addresses a “wrong question” and a “tough question.” In this chapter, the wrong question is, “How do we do church better?” The tough question (i.e. the right question) is, “How do we deconvert from Churchianity to Christianity?”

“Unfortunately,” McNeal writes, “the North American church has lost its influence at this critical juncture. It has lost its influence because it has lost its identity. It has lost its identity because it has lost its mission. [...] The need is not a methodological fix. The need is for a missional fix” (18). McNeal believes the church’s mission is “to join God in his redemptive efforts to save the world” (19).

2. The shift from church growth to kingdom growth
“How do we grow this church?” (IOW, “How do we get them to come to us?”) is the wrong question. The tough question is, “How do we transform our community?” (ie. “How do we hit the streets with the gospel?”)

McNeal describes “missional spirituality,” saying, it “requires that God’s people be captured by his heart for people, that our hearts be broken for what breaks his, that we rejoice in what brings him joy (27).” Such a spirituality ought to lead us “to take the gospel to the streets,” not “short forays into port off the cruise ship,” but “an intentional 24/7 church presence in the community, not tied to church real estate” (42).

3. A new reformation: releasing God’s people
The wrong question is, “How do we turn members into ministers?” and the tough question is, “How do we turn members into missionaries?”

McNeal suggests two things: 1) “create a culture informed by missiology,” and 2) “create venues where people can practice being missionaries” (61).

This bring me to my favorite part of the book where McNeal contrasts “member values” with “missionary values.”

McNeal writes, “Member values clash with missionary values. Member values are all about church real estate, church programming, who’s in and who’s out, member services, member issues (translated: am I getting what I want out of this church?). Missionary values are about the street, people’s needs, breaking down barriers, community issues (translated: am I partnering with God’s work in people?). One of these value sets will triumph over the other. They do not coexist peacefully” (65).

4. The return to spiritual formation
The question, “How do we develop church members?”, is the wrong one. The tough question is, “How do we develop followers of Jesus?”

Here, McNeal talks about spiritual formation. He says, “It includes personal spiritual disciplines, but it also includes the stewardship of our relationships, our work, and our life mission” (73).

5. The shift from planning to preparation
The wrong question is, “How do we plan for the future?” The tough question is, “How do we prepare for the future?”

McNeal writes, “Jesus taught us to pray, ‘thy kingdom come.’ That phrase is the fast-forward button in the Christians’ prayer life. The kingdom is a future that is already present. Our mission is to introduce the kingdom into this world, with its preferred future for humanity. The future is the best place to start” (119).

6. The rise of apostolic leadership
The last new reality McNeal deals with is leadership development. The wrong question is, “How do we develop leaders for church work?” And the tough question is, “How do we develop leaders for the Christian movement?”

McNeal laments, “We are training leaders to address the leadership challenges of a world that is quickly passing away” (122). He adds, “Most have never understood that the call to be missionaries means a shift from the member, business-as-usual approach to church life. The shift from ‘doing’ church at the clubhouse to ‘being’ church in the world is a paradigm shift that has apparently eluded many church leaders” (131).

Several skills are needed by leaders who wish to lead missionaries, according to McNeal, including but not limited to, “vision cultivation and casting, communication, team building, change and transition leadership, mentoring and coaching, corporate culture management and resolution, networking, project management, systems thinking, and interpersonal relationships” (131).

Again, this is one of the most impacting books I’ve read in recent years. The Present Future continues to shape my understanding of leadership!