I was at my favorite bookstore, Master’s Loft, in Winston-Salem over the weekend. I love the store, not just because of the free wifi and good coffee and deserts, but because they have a great selection of both new and classic Christian books and music. I also like the live music they host every weekend. As I was walking through the store, a new book by Phil Vischer caught my eye, Me, Myself, & Bob. I had previously posted about the downward spiral and bankruptcy of Big Ideas, the parent company of Veggietales. This book looks like an in-depth look at all the details.

I also bought two books I hope to read and review soon.
The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus, Pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles. I have listed to his podcast for a long time now. I love his passion, his vision, and the way he speaks to your soul.

The other book is The Truth About Spiritual Warfare: Your Place in the Battle Between God And Satan by the late Dr. Mark Corts. Dr. Corts had an incredible influence on my life. I had just graduated college, got married to Jennifer, moved to a new city, and taken a job as a crash test engineer in Winston-Salem, when I stumbled on Calvary Baptist Church. We loved it from the first visit. Dr. Corts had a great way of explaining Biblical truth. We ended up only living there for a year, but in that time I felt like a sponge, just soaking up truth as fast as I could. From the great messages on Sunday morning, to a Sunday School class in which I had the freedom to ask difficult questions and learn, to Sunday night messages by Gary Chapman, the Senior Associate Pastor and the writer of The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate, from all those experiences, I grew as a Christ follower and my commitment to serving Christ was solidified. I truly believe that God placed me there in that job for the purpose of preparing me for ministry. From time to time, I still go back and visit. I view Calvary similar to the stone altar at the Jordan River for the Israelites. I look back and remember how God has worked in my life.

The guys of Decemberadio had a pretty large audience on Sunday. They got to perform some of their songs and then sing the National Anthem for the Nascar race in Atlanta. That’s 180,000 people in the stands with a few million more watching on tv. It’s amazing to see how God is using these guys. They’ve got a bright future ahead of them. To perform in front of that many people is an incredible opportunity for a Christian band, but it also an incredible responsibility. So far the guys seem to be handling it well. And did I mention they’re local guys from southwest Virginia.

Check it out here

I got the chance to do some more reading during our trip to the beach. I’m about halfway through Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer and David Putman. I have really enjoyed reading through it so far. At first, it seems like such a simple concept, your church should function as a missionary to the culture you live in. Although it is easy to understand, it is hard to implement. I like the case studies throughout the book because they show you how real churches are functioning. I recommend this book to anyone struggling with the terminology of the missional/emerging/emergent church movement. I keep seeing Ed Stetzer’s name coming up in other blogs as well, so it’s good to finally read something by him.

Another book I read recently was The Creative Leader by Ed Young. This was a book that I couldn’t put down. Very easy to read and very informative. The engineer in me likes the practical common sense approach to books. This book was packed full of real life examples and practical ways to become more creative in your teaching. I liked seeing how he used “mind maps” to outline his sermons. I’ve been working on reducing my notes when I preach and teach. I feel like you connect to your audience so much better when you aren’t glued to your notes. The other thing I really liked reading about was having a creative team approach to messages. That appeals to me as well to get more people involved in illustrations, dramas, and other creative elements to the service. My only negative is that this book promotes Fellowship Church and Ed Young quite a bit, although not intentional, it does come across as a little ostentatious at times.

I just started reading a new book by Thom Ranier and I’m already excited about it! (Thanks Jenni for the B-Day Book) Simple Church: Returning to God’s process for Making Disciples. Just a few months ago, I finished his excellent book Breakout Churches, which conceptually was based on the business research by Jim Collins in Good to Great. Dr. Ranier studied churches all over America and only found 13 that fit his criteria for a breakout church. The churches had to breakout of a decline or plateau in growth, they had to be committed to evangelism evidenced by conversion growth, and they had to make the change under the same leadership. It gave me hope for churches that are struggling or just starting out. Even Cornerstone has really just been holding steady as we get organized and decided what type of church we want to be. We need to breakout of our rut and become focused on making a difference for the Kingdom.

Now this book is out, and it really hits us right where we are as a church. We complicate so many things, sometimes we just need to simplify and focus on the essentials. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about “what is the purpose and function of the church” and “how do we make disciples”. This is a book about having a common purpose and having a united effort as a church. You can have a ‘Simple’ church without being ‘Simplistic’ An organized church without being paralyzed by structure. It is not a book on a methodology, but a book to help churches realize the big picture of what they are doing. I’ve already ordered more for the elders to read with me. Here is the info from the book jacket.

The simple revolution has begun. From the design of the iPod to the uncluttered Google home page, simple ideas are changing the world.

Simple Church clearly calls for Christians to return to the simple gospel-sharing methods of Jesus. No bells or whistles required, so to speak. Based on case studies of four hundred American churches, authors Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger prove that the process for making disciples has quite often become too complex. Simple churches are thriving, and they are doing so by taking these four ideas to heart:

Clarity. Movement. Alignment. Focus.

Each idea is examined here, simply showing why it is time to simplify.