Week #21: Help I'm A Student Leader by Doug Fields

This book WILL be a textbook for me to use with my student leaders for years to come. In this case the subtitle was completely accurate... the overwhelming value of this compact tool is its practicality. Beginning immediately this book will be a must-read for all of my students who are in leadership positions.

OK... all of that aside... I have but one regret in my lack-lustrious career as a minister to students. I only wish that I had embraced the concept of students as ministers a bit earlier. This past year was year #1 of what I hope to be my legacy to the ministry I now serve. We began a concept called Ministry Teams which is really just students learning to serve according to the gifts that God has put in them.

Doug Field's manual is my heartbeat wrapped in a readable and instructive adaptation. The biggest reason that I believe Doug hits it out of the park with this rendering is that he agrees with my theory that students are NOT the church of tomorrow... Instead, they are the church of today! We will never train students in the art of serving if we politely (or otherwise) insist that they wait until they are "all grown up" to do so.

True ministry starts now! As students clinch the value of learning to serve NOW they will become better servants... better followers... better leaders tomorrow.

Week #20: Seizing Your Divine Moment by Erwin McManus

The thing I love about McManus is that he can say the same things that someone else is saying and for some reason they sound different when he says them. Perhaps it's the poet in me that resounds with this creative soul. Once again (my second McManus book of the year - see Week #10) my soul has been stirred and pushed.

The singular emphasis of this book seems to be... ACT! Too many of us who are Christ-followers are equal parts faith and inaction. McManus calls (dares) us to take hold of that divine moment that has been afforded us and do something with it. I feel equal parts stung and motivated as I read his rebuke/encouragement.

Part of me believes that God is the superintendent of all things good and as such I must be careful not to "orchestrate" (or believe I am) His will in my reality. Most of the time - in my world - that is a cop out. I know that God is in control of my life. I seldom (almost never) struggle with that. Where I struggle is knowing when it is God's plan that I take action. That was precisely the takeaway of this book for me.

It is still about God creating the moment... but it is also about me acting upon His creation!

Week #19: The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan

Last week I did what any truly good person should do... I listened to the advice of a confidant who was telling me to do something I would NEVER have done on my own. The person happened to be my wife (it usually is in these types of moments). And the advice she gave was that I desperately needed to take a week's vacation.

I had originally planned to read this particular book a bit later in the year. Because of the purpose of this week... I thought it would be appropriate to read this book while trying to take a rest.

For those of us who have been trained as I have, having a strong work ethic is tied to everything. Being a good husband = being a good worker. Being a good Christian = being a good worker. And on the list could go. So no one could ever (accurately) accuse me of being sluggardly when it comes to work. The resting part comes much less naturally for me.

The thrust of this book was that it is equally important to rest. The author demonstrates what over-stressed workers look like. He described me. The one thing that stood out above the others was his description of a man who gets irritated by the noises (laughter) of his children. Yuk! That's me on occasion.

I was reminded that I need to develop a rest habit... with the same intentionality that I came to a philosophy of work. Lord, help me to rest and find you in those moments.

Week #18: Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton

The first rule these authors break is the age-old myth that good leaders and managers need to be good at numerous and varied tasks. They contend that, in fact, we should do the hardest work to discover the things that are truly strengths for us and then accentuate those strengths.

I will admit that this concept is very difficult for me because of some of the ideas that I have grown up with (not necessarily a comment on their merit). My ideas of "good leadership" included the well-rounded leader, the life-long learner and a host of other thoughts that are now being challenged as I consider the "strength" of this volume.

At the same time I can see that this concept also has the potential to be VERY freeing. If I am concentrating on knowing what I am good and doing it, there is great possibility for focus. Also it demands that I rely on others for the success of the whole. This is always a good thing.

Week #17: Breakout Churches by Thom Rainer

This great book was inspired by the modern-day business classic Good to Great by Jim Collins. In fact Rainer makes no bones about the fact that he has completely borrowed (with the appropriate permissions) the Good to Great model. And why should that be a problem on the face. Collins' book was a well-researched and widely acclaimed textbook for moving a business from the mediocre to the meteoric. Rainer's theory is that some of these same principles can be used in helping churches to recover from declining or heading toward extinction.

The one word summary is that churches that pass through the simple growth of adolescence and are able to maintain growth into adulthood are willing to CHANGE. Rainer gives "live" examples of churches that were once vibrant and are now anemic or deceased. Sadly of the list of the top 20 churches from only a few decades ago only a handful continues to have any measurable impact in terms of ministry.

I have thought about this much. I believe in this. I believe that churches that refuse or are simply unable to change will die out. As present a reality as this is, it is equally important that we not embrace change without boundary. There must be something that guides our decisions for what to change and when. I have chosen to pattern those changes (especially the theologically) after the Bible. That is not always a simple thing. That is not always an easy pattern to follow through on. And there may even be times where the truths of the Scripture seem to impede the very changes I seek to embrace. But without a template there will never be an adequate guide for what to change or when to change it. This is the path I have chosen to journey.