I was curiously, also (in addition to my thankful list nomination by Jessica) nominated by Ben to share 10 books that Ive read that have changed my life (besides the Bible of course). My list is below but before I forget, I respectfully request/nominate Jim Turner, Jeff Herring, Dr. Gary ONeal, Larry Barker, Todd West and Dr. Joel Slayton to do the same. FYI...part of Bens challenge is that we NOT take a lot of time to do this or over-think the list...(though I loved Marks list!) 1))) Experiencing God (Henry Blackaby) made it impossible to gloss over the fact that God, the Creator of the Universe, desires a relationship with me??? that is real and personal and... That God is always working around me...I must prayerful discern where He is working, what He is up to and join Him there vs. expecting it to work the other way around :) 2))) Re-Discovering Church (Bill & Lynn Hybels) awakened in me that Acts 2, not modern traditions set in the early 1900s, should be the template for the local church. 3))) The Spirit of the Disciplines (Dallas Willard) revealed how easy it is to forget that spiritual disciplines are the means to an ends (deepen our intimacy with God), not the ends of the means. 4))) Purpose Driven Church (Rick Warren) confirmed and exhorted a lot of things I was already seeing in scripture...one of those being reminded of the importance of balance and total reliance on the Tide (catching Gods waves instead of making our own). 5))) The Dirt on Learning (Thom and Joani Shultz) forced me to realize something thats actually quite obvious...God has wired people to learn in different ways therefore, to only teach a certain way is to summarily leave various large segments of the population out of the discipleship process. The R.E.A.L. approach to teaching is something I still struggle to incorporate into my teaching to this day. 6))) Breaking the Missional Code (Ed Stetzer) showed me that just as different people learn in different ways, different cultures and sub-cultures learn in different ways and that America is far from being a melting pot...its more like a diverse chunky stew. We should contend for the faith while contextualizing the faith in each of these cultures and sub-cultures instead of assuming a one-size fits all approach in methodology will reach everyone. The come and see model is not nearly as effective as the go and tell model. 7))) Externally Focused Church (Rick Rusaw) informed me of both the OT and NT commands of God to His people to serve their community as well as Jesus blatant undeniable example of doing so. Turns out, grace still amazes some people ;) Its not about trying to make people like Jesus at all, its simply about being like Jesus and letting the chips fall where they may. 8))) Hinds Feet on High Places (Hannah Hurnard) stirred my soul deeply while at CBC. 9))) The Cost of Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) was pretty much one gut blow after another...reminding me how shameless shallow the typical western disciple has become in the last half century or so. Oh that we would see our calling as Christs followers so clearly and be so compelled to follow Him no matter the cost. 10))) Im cheating here but pretty much every book John Ortberg has ever written...especially The Me I Want to Be which reminded me that we should measure spiritual maturity by the amount of spiritual fruit evidenced in ones life (Jesus approach) vs ones visible devotion to spiritual disciplines and command of scripture (the Pharisees approach). as well as If You Want to Walk on Water You Gotta Get Out of the Boat...put wind in the sails of my calling to church -planting and God is Closer Than You Think which revolutionized how I viewed every moment of every day of my life and so on. ***)))There are so many more I HATE ending the list here...fear I my cheat someone of another equally valuable read so I hope those I challenged fill in the list as well as read the list of those that have already accepted this challenge like Adam and Aaron and Scott have provided in recent days. Adrian, Woody, Michael, AJ, Tyler, Jeff, Jerry---FYI...I think you guys would benefit greatly from each of the list on any of these guys pages I have tagged here in the post :)
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 15:36:29 +0000
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