The Unity Factor - review

The Unity Factor by Larry Osborne is a book on having and maintaining unity in church leadership.

Osborne sets the stage:

When I arrived at the church, I was armed with books and ideas on growth, evangelism, and reaching the community. Unity was the last thing I was worried about. If you'd told me to slow down and focus on camaraderie and unity, I'd have chided you for your inward, even self-centered, approach to ministry. We had a world to conquer. But it soon became painfully obvious that we were never going to change the world out there when we couldn't get along in here. p. 11

Osborne gives some great advice on church leadership and cultivating unity. One of his better points is on training the church leadership. Purposely training leadership, helps makes their service a time of spiritual growth instead of a valley where they feel distant from God. Growing leaders think about what is best for the people, not lobbying for particular pet items. Osborne also helps the pastor to negotiate change, think about their compensation, get good feedback, and see their own church dynamic appropriately. This book really scratches where quite a few pastors and other leaders itch.

This was a good dose of practical insight that is helpful whether you are in a large or small church. He really injects some sanity into some very frustrating situations - for the pastor, for church leadership, and for the church.

The Reason for God - review

The Reason for God by Timothy Keller offers, as the title says, reason for belief in an age of skepticism. What I particularly like about this book is the focus not on the existence of some higher power, but that the Lord God of the Scriptures can be believed in and trusted. This is really an apologetic for Christianity and, more specifically, the Gospel.

The book goes in essentially two parts: answering objections and offering positive evidences. For the first half, Keller offers answers for: the exclusivity of Christianity, the problem of suffering, the moral strictness of Christianity, injustice caused by Christians, a good God sending people to hell, science disproving Christianity, and the trustworthiness of the Scripture. The second half offers reasons to believe in the Lord God: clues of God, knowledge of God, problem of sin, differences between 'religion' and the Gospel, the purpose of the cross, the reality of Jesus' resurrection, concluding with a brief summary and a some direction on where to go next.

As with Tim Keller's sermons, his insights into culture are penetrating and his application of the Gospel is pervasive. Here is an excerpt from the chapter on Religion and the Gospel:

Religion and the gospel also differ fundamentally in how they treat the Other - those who do not share one's own beliefs and practices. Postmodern thinkers understand that the self is formed and strengthened through the exclusion of the Other - those who do not have the values or traits on which I base my own significance. We define ourselves by pointing to those whom we are not. We bolster our sense of worth by devaluing those of other races, beliefs, and traits. This gospel identity gives us a new basis for harmonious and just social arrangements. A Christian's worth and value are not created by excluding anyone, but through the Lord who was excluded for me. His grace both humbles me more deeply than religion can (since I am too flawed to ever save myself through my own effort), yet it also affirms me more powerfully than religion can (since I can be absolutely certain of God's unconditional acceptance). p 181

As a Tim Keller fan, it comes as no surprise that I would highly recommend this book.

I also recommend visiting Steve McCoy's collection of articles and sermons of Tim Keller.

Robinson Crusoe (audio) - review

Robinson Crusoe
Originally uploaded by Dunechaser.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe is a novel about the adventures of a sailor that spent much of his time marooned on a deserted island.

Random comments:
* It is VERY detailed. Almost everything is fully described and then reflected upon.

* Action is foreshadowed and developed slowly.

* What I didn't realize that so much (or any!) of the story had to do with Crusoe's conversion to Christ.

* The reader had a slightly off beat cadence. You get used to it.

* This is the sort of book that makes a great audio book. Librivox rocks!

* After 13+ hrs of audio, I learned that there is a part two. I didn't feel angry or betrayed, but I certainly didn't feel happy. It was a bit surreal.

The Religious Affections (audio) - review

The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards is a treatise on the nature of religion (religion used in a positive way), the heart, revival, true conversion, and the affections.

Note about audio books: This was a 15 hr audio reading that was one of the free monthly books on christianaudio.com. I like audio books when they are telling a story, but not as much when you need to listen (or read) carefully. Some may wonder why I listened to Edwards instead of reading him. I would have mush rather read Edwards than listened to him, but the car is not the place to read and so my choice was listen to him or not listen to him. And I would choose 'listen to him' all over again if I had to. (I do hope to read the book sometime too.)

A brief enticement to get us all to read the book:

The first foundation of the delight a true saint has in God, is his own perfection; and the first foundation of the delight he has in Christ, is his own beauty; he appears in himself the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. The way of salvation by Christ is a delightful way to him, for the sweet and admirable manifestations of the divine perfections in it: the holy doctrines of the gospel, by which God is exalted and man abased, holiness honored and promoted, and sin greatly disgraced and discouraged, and free and sovereign love manifested, are glorious doctrines in his eyes, and sweet to his taste, prior to any conception of his interest in these things. Indeed the saints rejoice in their interest in God, and that Christ is theirs: and so they have great reason, but this is not the first spring of their joy. They first rejoice in God as glorious and excellent in himself, and then secondarily rejoice in it, that so glorious a God is theirs.—They first have their hearts filled with sweetness, from the view of Christ's excellency, and the excellency of his grace and the beauty of the way of salvation by him, and then they have a secondary joy in that so excellent a Savior, and such excellent grace are theirs.