Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

I was reluctant to read this book. Many attempts to discuss religion fall into the critique of religion as a hollow faith existence of following rules and human structures. I was worried that Greg Paul may have been falling into that camp. I was pleasantly incorrect. Paul provides a clear, concise, practical examination of what religion is and how it is absolutely vital to the existence of the Christian faith. This book responds to two fronts that are dismantling religion as a vital human experience. The first is the "relationship over religion" argument. This grows out of an expression of faith seeking people. They profess that church conduct is no longer relevant. The structures that are in place have put a stumbling block in the way of people finding authentic faith. What matters more is the pursuit of a relationship with Christ. The other front is the generalized anti-faith argument that religion is source of community unrest and societal problems. This point is rai...

I have spoken of my respect for E . Stanley Jones . I return to his sermons and writings often times when I am in need of wisdom or learning. He is my favorite theologian of the 20th Century. In 1943, ESJ published a little booklet or large pamphlet, How To Pray . It is not long. It only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to read through attentively. It is very practical and down to earth, as was Jones' style. It is worth reading if you would like to transform your understanding of prayer. Because I am preaching a series of sermons on Improving Our Praying Lives. I wanted to offer some practical guidance on how to pray more often or longer. Essentially, I wanted to offer something to people so they could get more out of their time of prayer. ESJ's booklet has been one of my resources of study for this series. I didn't want to take his guidance and turn it around in my sermons. Instead, I have really distilled the information into my own offer of guidance. What he offers to...

I received an advance reading copy of Ron Carpenter, Jr.'s book, The Necessity of an Enemy, from WaterBrook Multnomah. I found this book through the regular mailings that pastors receive from Pastor Resources Magazine. What is an enemy and how do they apply in the Christian life? That is at the heart of this book. Enemies are not basic, minor annoyances of life. For Carpenter, enemies are the events/persons/choice we make that could potentially derail the journey of faith. Carpenter shares experiences from his own ministry of major events that could have ended his ministry, marriage, family unity, and even his life. The title implies that the true enemies that we encounter in life are part of the process of developing Godly, Christ-like lives. If there is an enemy present, there is potential to grow. But giving into an enemy is very easy. Therefore we need to protect ourselves. We definitely live in an age where dealing with "enemies" needs to be taught in the churc...

This ebook was provided by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. I have to say up front that this was a difficult book to read. Not because of content, but format. It did not work well on my Kindle. The content was easy to read and did press on some deep emotional stumbling block that do stand in the way of developing the Christ following so many desire. I believe that this book is helpful in identifying or defining each of the "enemies" in a more helpful way. And each response or counterpoint is something that the church needs to see more of today. I don't believe this will speak to non-churched individuals. It may speak to those marginally churched individuals who still have a spiritual hunger. It will also work with those in the church who are sincere in working toward true reconciliation. I believe it is a helpful and thought-provoking book for the church.

I'm back from a long summer non-break. I started reading Radical Together by David Platt before the break started and it got lost in the summer activity. I was able to finish it this week and am fulfilling an obligation since I was given a copy of this book free of charge by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. It really isn't a difficult book to read. It was my misfortune to read it when the summer got busy. This is a companion to Radical by the same author. I have not read that book, yet. The sentence that really stuck out to me in the entire book was, "individually and together, we are to selflessly serve a self-centered God." It was a powerful reminder to me to that God does expect us to put God's interests before our own as individuals and as churches. Platt focuses on the corporate in this book more than the individual (thus Radical Together). And I felt he was challenging contemporary churches to pause and refle...

Awakening: A New Approach to Faith, Fasting, and Spiritual Freedom Stovall Weems What makes fasting easier? How can you make fasting more effective? Is it necessary? Stovall Weems provides a pattern for bringing people into the discipline of fasting without making it a burden. He also proposes that following a fast can be effective in producing spiritual awakening. And he stresses the necessity of it if you desire a fresher, more passionate relationship with God. Awakening has two parts. The first two thirds of the book is the foundational teaching regarding Weems’ approach to fasting. The last one thirds of the book sets out a pattern for implementing fasting into your life. Early in the book, Weems makes a decent argument for the need of believers to re-emphasize prayer and fasting in our lives. He also makes a passing mention of the role of giving. And he is right on. Believers in the current generations of the church have left the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and giving ...

It is making waves in the talk show circuits. It is on the best sellers list. Wal-Mart has a whole pile of the book. It is a smash hit. Heaven Is For Real tells the story of a little boy, Colton Burpo, who undergoes a serious surgical procedure. While under the anesthetic Colton experiences the wonders of heaven, the very throne room of God. The story is told from Colton's dad's perspective. Todd Burpo is a Wesleyan minister. Colton begins to divulge little pieces of what he experienced long after the surgery. The book tells of the little pieces of Colton's experiences that he shared over the course of a couple of years. This is a sweet book. The innocence Colton portrays makes you want to follow in his dad's footsteps, "Tell me more." It is a very quick read. I got through it in just a few hours. But I can't say that I liked the book. I'm probably too much of a cynic. Maybe I'm ingrained in my own beliefs too much. But as I read through the ...

I am reviewing Gabe Lyons' *The Next Christians* that I received free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for this review. I wanted to read this book based on the title. What could the next generation of followers be like that would require this writing? I have watched the Postmodern flash and the emerging movement fade and wondered if this was the next passing claim. The first thing that I noticed is that it is not original in the emotion behind the writing. This is a restoration ideology - "let's get back to how Jesus did it". And Lyons gives a couple of passing references to the earlier moves in church history. But he does not give a full nod to what he sees as an original shift. Church history is marked by a large number of efforts to get back to the original message of the Gospel,the marks of those efforts in the lives of followers, and the impact those followers have on the world. The second thing that I noticed was the categories of chu...

I picked up a copy of Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow. Like many others in the church, I have noticed the growing absence of men in the church as a whole. Women are taking the majority of leadership positions, leading mission outreach activities, and showing up without their husbands. Murrow began to study the statistics and talk to men and women about this phenomenon. His answer can be summed up as: the church as it is in today's culture is a feminine haven where masculinity is shunned, retrained, or demonized. As I have been reading, I can see places where Murrow's argument is sound. He makes some very good points. And there are some times when I just cringe at what he says. One thing that really almost set me off of the entire book was in saying the men who are active in church are more feminine in characteristics than masculine. Basically he was saying that men who enjoy being in church fit a more feminine stereotype than masculine. And while that may strike...

There are some weeks where an image or an idea seems to follow you wherever you go. The past couple of weeks, the idea of hypocrisy seemed to be everywhere. I have been reading unChristian where they are discussing the attitudes of outsiders toward the church. In it they explore the opinion outsiders have of Christian's being hypocrites. We also had the very obvious case of Governor Spitzer: crusading law man turned simple, albeit it affluent, john. The word has also popped up in conversations I have been party to. Hypocrisy is a definite issue for the church to face and be honest about. The original understanding of the Greek words for hypocrite and hypocrisy come from the Greek theater. The hypocrite was the actor who performed a role behind the mask of a character. Hypocrisy was used in a broader sense. It could apply to any type of acting or faking. When we think about a hypocrite or hypocrisy in today's language, we think about someone who says or does one thing while hol...

Last week I got into a very opinionated conversation (Christian euphemism for an argument) with a friend over the issue of sharing our faith story with others. The substance of the argum....um conversation was whether our witness should be a life lived in the fullest sense of Christian faithfulness or should believers verbally witness to their faith with others. The context of the conversation was evangelism and youth. I came down on the side that believers should develop the skill to verbally express their faith with anyone who asks for the reason of their faith. I believe that includes other believers who want to learn from you as well as non-believers. As we discussed the positions, we were deadlocked in our position. Now that the moment has passed and I have had time to reflect I can see my friend's position. Our witness should be a life lived in faithful obedience to God through Christ. I can't deny that how we live is critical to our witness. If our outward life is not an...

I just finished reading The DaVinci Code . Some of you may be wondering, "Why?" Well, the first reason is I prefer to read a book before I see the movie. The second reason is that I am interested in historical religious fiction novels. The third reason is that there are a bunch of hysterical conservative/fundamentalists running around thinking that the AntiChrist has finally hit the best seller list. Let me tell you what I think about this book. It is a good read. I finished it in about 24 hours across 3 days. Most of it was done within the last 24 hours. That is a good read in my opinion. If it will engage me enough to drag me away from the computer for any length of time, it's a dandy of a book. It is mostly an action book. The majority of the narrative is about action. Dead bodies. Albino religious fanatic assassins. Police chases and guns and shooting and jet planes. Whoosh! It is exciting. It is a book that ties a lot of ideas together in a coherent form. If you read...