I’ve read my fair share of books. Thought I’d share my top ten that have influenced my leadership and ministry. I’m sure you’ve got Spurgeon and Shakespeare on your list but books are a little like doors… they only influence you when you’re ready to walk into their message. So timing is everything… these came at just the right time to help clarify the fogginess in my brain or challenge what I thought I knew.
I'm honored to call Earl Creps my friend. He wrote the book Off-Road Disciplines, is director of the Doctor of Ministry program and associate professor at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, is planting a church in Berkeley, CA and finds time to talk with me.
He has a new book out and I know first-hand that he practices what he preaches. It's called Reverse Mentoring: How Young Leaders Can Transform the Church and Why We Should Let Them. He was kind enough to answer a few of my questions:
1. Why in the world would you leave a comfy job and move to Berkeley, CA to plant a church?
Some people have said this to me: "Berkeley,..what a weird
place….you'll be a perfect fit out there!" So maybe that explains it.
But I would like to think our transition has to do with two things: the
pull and the call. Jan and I could feel the "pull" of Berkeley the
first time we walked its streets and campus. I read that the town was
once known as the "Athens of the Pacific," and that reminded me of the
"men of Athens" mentioned in Acts 17 who were fascinated with
everything new. Berkeley is about developing new ideas, technologies,
and policies that spread all over the nation and the world. You have
handicapped access and no smoking in the public buildings of your city
because those notions started in Berkeley. Changing the world is what
we do out there, so being associated with that is pretty cool, a really
strong pull. But anyone visiting the place or reading the Wikipedia
articles could see that. The other side is the "call." That's the part
we don't have vocabulary for, the thing that just changed in our hearts
allowing us to walk away from our career and our house on 5 acres
without feeling like it was a sacrifice. Actually we feel like the
luckiest people in the world to be involved in something like this at
our age. So what we are doing is not heroic in any sense, it's just
necessary.
3.
I'm 39. Already "not cool" to many (especially my 14 year old). How
will this book help me understand that I can and should be mentored by
those younger than me?
4. Andy Stanley made this statement at Catalyst 08, "The
best idea for reaching the next generation isn't going to come from the
existing generation, it's going to come from the next generation." Assuming this statement is true, how will Reverse Mentoring help
generations in "power" learn from those in the generation that is
emerging?
Andy is absolutely right. The next generation already knows
what we need to do to reach them. Our job is to help them tell us and
then to create the conditions for a thriving "indigenous church" among
them. We will not lead that church, but we can help to catalyze it. In
my mind, that is God's retirement plan for all of us.
Click here to buy Reverse Mentoring from Amazon.com
This morning I taught at a gathering of pastors and staff members. I used a recent book that has been and continues to be a timely help in all that our church is experiencing right now.
Here’s a brief overview:
"Because management deals mostly with the status quo and leadership
deals mostly with change, in the next century we are going to have to
try to become much more skilled at creating leaders."
Leading Change by John P. Kotter
Kotter’s Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change
1. Establish a sense of urgency.
2. Create the guiding coalition.
3. Develop a vision and strategy.
4. Communicate the change vision.
5. Empower broad-based action.
6. Generate short-term wins.
7. Consolidate gains and produce more change.
8. Anchor new processes within the culture.
Our Elders read a book every two months and usually write a response paper of +/- 1000 words. But this month we opted to ditch the paper for a discussion of the book, Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer & David Putman.
Every church staff, Elders (or whatever you call your governing board) and extended leadership team should read this book and take the time to ask the difficult questions it raises!
Here’s a couple quotes that stood out to me…
"The church is God’s missionary to the world."
"If it is true that God has sent Christ and Christ has sent the church, then we must take seriously the fact that the church is God’s instrument for mission."
"With few exceptions, people come to Christ after they have journeyed with other Christians-examining and considering their claims."
"It is amazing but consistent-churches that need to grow think they can do it without change!"
Read The Big Idea on the flight from London to Seattle. First of all, I really appreciated the way Dave Ferguson (and his co-writers) wrote this book. It was well laid out and thought through. Tons of stories and emails that really made the principles and disciplines of the Big Idea come to life. However, I found myself about 20 pages in skipping the stories and emails. But that’s just me.
Personally, I don’t need convincing that focusing the messages and aligning the age groups to communicate the same thing is advantageous. We have been discussing this and making slow changes towards implementing the Big Idea for some time now.
This books worth is in the practicality of making it happen. Christian Community Church (the church Dave pastors) has a system that works for them and this book is the best "one-stop resource" that I have found on this subject.
I highly recommend The Big Idea on the merit of its "nuts & bolts" second half. It really walks you through how to begin in your own church.
It’s a good read that took me about 5 hours but my team and I will be referring to it for months to come as we make adjustments. Just ordered 6 more.
