Archive for Books
The Forgotten God
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Well, it’s September 1st and I’m back from my summer blogging break but more importantly today is the official release date of Francis Chan’s latest work, The Forgotten God.
If you have been a fan of Chan’s speaking and his previous book, Crazy Love, you will not be disappointed by The Forgotten God. Chan writes in a real, relateable, style and treats the topic at hand (the Holy Spirit) in an honest fashion. Some may be intially put off by a book about the Holy Spirit and others may feel like they have a theological “corner on the market” and there is nothing new to learn. I would strongly encourage both camps to set their intial bias aside for a little while and judge the book after reading it.
Personally, I was greatly encouraged to seek a deeper, more full dependence reliance on the Holy Spirit in my life. I realized that I can’t follow Jesus quite as well as I could be without getting to know the Holy Spirit better.
A word for youth workers…
What part does the Holy Spirit play in your youth ministry? Is the Holy Spirit “the forgotten God?” Is the Holy Spirit focused on more that Jesus or the Father? Do yourself and your students a favor. Read this book, do some thinking about your view of the Holy Spirit and go from there.
Check out a sample chapter HERE
Simple Student Ministry // Review
Posted by: | CommentsSo many of us in youth ministry have been talking about how to be more effective in ministry, how to change to reach the culture, or how to be more focused in our ministry. Tim Schmoyer has had a pretty big response to some changes that he is planning on and Youth Ministry 3.0 has been reverberating through the youth ministry world for months now, it seems that a lot of us are yearning for something more simple in youth ministry.
Simple Student Ministry by Eric Geiger & Jeff Borton has come just in time for many of us! Although the majority of the info in this book is basic, youth ministry 101 type stuff, it is a reminder that is much needed, at least among many of the youth workers that I interact with. The basics of a simple student ministry are having clarity, movement, alignment, and focus in the discipleship process.
The authors move us through
- defining what a simple student ministry is
- achieving clarity in your ministry
- creating movement through the ministry
- ensuring alignment of your programs
- focus on your process
The book also includes a number of real life examples of simple student ministries from a number of settings, including large churches, parachurch ministries, and small churches.
Do yourself a favor, don’t jump to conclusions about the basic nature of this book and be honest with yourself, is your student ministry really simple? If it’s not, you need to pick up a few copies of this book and work through it with a few key members of your team. I already have two extra copies that I’m giving to my jr high directors so we can work through it!
Here Comes Disappointment
Posted by: | CommentsWell, the disappointment is coming to all those that entered the contest to win the signed copy of Reggie Joiner’s new book, Think Orange, that’s because we have only one winner here!
The drum roll please…
Nick Whittenhall is the winner!
Don’t despair though, just by following along with what is going on at Orange right here on CoffeeWithChris you’ll all be getting some great stuff!
Think Orange Giveaway!
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You don’t want to miss out on this one! Think Orange, a new book by Reggie Joiner (founder of reThink) is releasing in June BUT at The Orange Conference next week it will be available for sale, so if you are going make sure you pack a couple extra bucks to get it!
Here is the real fun part though, I have a copy, signed by Reggie, to give away to one of you! Here’s how this is going to work.
You simply leave a comment below with:
- Where you are from
- What you are most looking forward to this summer
That’s it! I’ll randomly pick one winner and announce it here on Saturday morning!
Church Online?
Posted by: | CommentsLately I’ve noticed many arguments on both sides of the online chuch debate. I was kind of ambivelent on the subject and although I still have not really made up my mind, I am starting to lean.
In reading Eugene Peterson’s The Jesus Way, I got to thinking about how the “ends,” (our goal) must have “means,” (the how) that are aligned with the end. What I mean is simply this, if we are going to follow Jesus, we need to have a congruent way of life, a “Jesusy” life. This means thatwe need to find ways of helping ourselves to live better and I really wonder if online church does that.
It seems to me that the best way that we have of learning to live better is by having people around us in our live that are there for us to help us live better. We need brothers and sisters that are willing to say the hard things at the hard times so that we can grow. Can online church really do that? Can online church help us to really live better? I’ve not totally made up my mind yet, but it seems to me that the relationships that are developed online can’t usually take us to the places that we really need to deal with in our lives.
There is no doubt that one can find great teaching and encouragement in the online world, but do we really have relationships that help us to live better?
Ways and means
Posted by: | CommentsI began reading The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson today (3/9) during my flight from Syrscuse to Chicago on the Kindle app for my iPod (which by the way is a very fine way of reading.)
Now I am sitting on my flight from Chicago to Denver thinking about the first section that I read.
It absolutly amazes me that so much of the Christian life has become about “getting things done.”.
It seems that in our focus to get things done we look to the people who have conquered our culture so that we can learn to do the same “in the name of Jesus.” Why has this become the norm when we call ourselves Christ-followers and Jesus said that He is “the way the truth, and the life?”
Refuel
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An Uncomplicated Guide To Connecting With God. That’s the subtitle of this book and that’s what this book is.
Refuel, by Doug Fields is a really simple, uncomplicated book that lays out a sort of un-formula for connecting with God. Stop, be quiet, & make a connection are the phrases that are at the core of this book and they are the “steps” that Fields suggests as the way to refuel our lives. Fields doesn’t give the slightest impression that has everything figured out or that his way is the only way to connect with God in order to refuel, he simply presents what has worked in his life.
Although Refuel is not a youth ministry book or resource it seems to me that this book could very easily be used to help teenagers in connecting with God. It is not overt and won’t get in the way of adult readers but youth ministry is obviously in Fields blood & each chapter ends with an action point and the book ends with a group study guide.
Whether you are looking for a way to refuel yourself, help some others around you to refuel, or lead some teenagers into connecting with God to refuel on a daily basis, Refuel is a great place to start.
My “Must Read” List
Posted by: | CommentsSo what are the “must reads” off of that 2008 reading list of mine?
This list probably won’t be relevant for too long since my favorite books seem to change about every month or so! However, these are a couple books from different categories that were pretty important to me in 2008. Just like in my other book lists, you can click on the title of the book to see what I wrote about it.
Christian Life Category:
The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordiero (buy it
Leadership Category:
Sway by Ori & Rom Brafman (buy it)
Youth Ministry Category:
Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Oestreicher (buy it)
Books I read last year
Posted by: | CommentsThis is the official list of books that I read in 2008, enjoy! You can click on the title of any of the books to see what I thought about it. Sorry I didn’t get to writing about Sway, let’s just say that it was really good and has the potential to help you enormously in your decision making!
)))The total, 29 books. Not nearly what I had set my goal at (40) but just maybe I’ll reach 35 in 2009!
The Prodigal God
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Timothy Keller’s latest book provides us with a deeply refreshing look into this parable of Jesus that we know all too well.
The Prodigal God presents a compelling picture of a lavishly loving God, the grace that this Father offers to us, and the responses to this grace that are available for us to act upon. Keller helps us to look into our own lives so we can understand what our current position is in the parable at hand.
This is a book that you will certainly want to read, especially if you take the time to listen to Keller’s sermon on this topic.
