Book Review: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Like a worship song that was written in 2000, this book was good, but there were times where it felt as though it’s irrelevancy with today caused doubt to be casted upon it’s relevancy for today.

What do I mean?

First off, let me just admit that this is a well written book with probably a wealth of information that was groundbreaking at the time it was released.  It didn’t become a “#1 Best Seller” because it told a story of love that attracted “teeny-boppers” and their mothers alike.

This was a book with great insights to what things can make the biggest difference.

Because there is so much out there in the blogosphere about this book, I won’t waste your time to tell you what every knows is great about this book.  What I will tell you is what I’ve taken away from this book – and that’s this:

You don’t have to have a comprehensive plan to make a comprehensive difference.

Have you read “The Tipping Point?”

What were your reactions?

Book Review: Organic Church by Neil Cole

Have you ever been so ticked off at something, but felt like you didn’t have a platform to express it? I admit that I do.

This book by Neil Cole initially came across to me as this type of book.

I will admit that the journey that God has brought him through as a church planter is more than I will be able to adequately touch on in this short review. So please don’t think I don’t like this book.

In fact, this is probably one of the first books I have read that I completely agree with and disagree with at the same time. With that said here are my thoughts about Neil Cole’s book about effective church planting for a new generation.

As I alluded to, this beginning of this book came across as a Neil Cole who was ticked at what he saw as the “Church” in most of the western world and has not been able to have a platform until now to talk about it. In fact, he kind of admits to this in his book – not that he was ticked – but that he has been waiting to be successful enough to be able to put into some type of communicative form that he has been wanting to say.

Cue John Mayer’s “Say What You Need To Say.”

With that, he says some things that I understand, but maybe would say differently. For instance, in the beginning of the book he makes some strong statements about the church, but later quotes himself talking to a young church planter as saying, “Don’t bash the bride” referring to the Church as the bride of Christ.

While Neil’s writing is witty at times and has plenty of wonderful stories to tell, but he kind of gets caught up with overusing the Lord of the Rings movies as a way to illustrate his points…in my personal opinion. There are also some stories that he tells as a way to speak of the positive impact “Organic Churches” that honestly leave me wondering.

For instance, he writes of one church that met at a coffee shop that had some an influence that non-believers were either saved who came or they never came back. The result was that business at that coffee shop went down and eventually the business shut down. I get that salvations are positive, but I wonder what type of view the person who owned the coffee shop now has on believers. For those who are followers of UnChristian or Ed Setzers Lost and Found, you would probably see this not as a truly positive story.

So what are the good things?

Glad you asked! In my opinion, the best part of the book is found in the last few chapters. He speaks of how it’s not just good enough to have leadership to plant churches, but to have the right leadership. I really liked his comments about the negatives of “leadership that is too strong” or churches that are what he calls “leadership-dependent.” He also touches on the negatives of the “Event-Driven” church.

Another great thing he comments on is how having many leaders is not just good enough, but that you must have leaders who also share same values. When starting a church, having many leaders who don’t share the same values will often lead to failure because of differing intentions and desires.

If there was a “nugget” of insight that I really was inspired by, it was found in the last pages of his book where he writes:

“If you want to do anything of significance in God’s Kingdom, follow these suggestions: listen to the Lord’s voice and follow that lead. Create an environment that allows failure and restores people easily. Do not invest in potential, but in provenness. You can learn from our mistakes, but I think it also wise to learn from your own. So do not e afraid to take chances and make mistakes.” -pg.204

SUMMARY

In the end, I do recommend this book for people trying to understand what it means to reach people in this next generation. While I do find it funny that a book about starting organic churches finds within it slick acronyms and strategies, it doesn’t mean that what is contained in it is totally irrelevant. I would chose Missional Renaissance over this book, but in no way would I not include it in good literature to build an informed perspective for reaching a new generation.

p.s. This review is found on 53in52.wordpress.com – a website dedicated to regular reviewing of various books. Selfless plug over

The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield

Disclaimer: For those who are offended by the idea of a book written how beer and the religion of Christianity may have relationship with each other, you are invited to read my review, but remember that this is a review…not an endorsement.  With that said…my review!

As the son of two parents whose conversion stories included a turning from unbiblical standards of being “intoxicated”, I was taught that beer had nothing to do with God.  For years, I believed that the only type of people who touched beer were non-christians.

I think it can be safe to say that life has taught me otherwise.  There has been much debate on the issue of consumption of alcohol and being a follower of Christ.  These debates are not just among the “common people”, but even among those many would consider theologians or religious and biblical scholars.  History has proven to us that even respected church fathers have been recorded to have many a conversation over a beer.  That beer was most often made by Guinness.

The book, The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield, arrived at my home a little over 2 months ago from Thomas Nelson.  As a person who loves the study of history, I was very curious to see if this truly was a “biography of the beed that changed the world” as the book promoted itself to be, or if it was just another person trying to prove that it’s ok to drink beer and be a Christian.  Was this going to be a book of historical facts, or a collection of opinions?

My observation was that this was definitely a book of facts.

This may be the reason it took me so long to finish.  Intriguing as the information was, it did carry on at times like a text book.  None-the-less, there were many great things about this book.  Why was that?

Because this book not only told the history of Guinness, but it explored how the Guinness family’s faith shaped how influenced the world around them.  If anything, it showed how a family could be ministers in their community without actually being ministers by profession.  Though many of the Guinness family did chose vocational ministry over working at the brew house, the business of the Guinness brewery was always a motivator and empowering of benevolence.

Even though the current face of the Guinness company no longer looks like its humble and Christian beginnings (much like the many prestigious universities of the United States), a study of it’s history is one that portrays what a business that is lead by a follower of Christ can look like.

If you’re looking for more ideas on how to live “Your Best Life Now”…keep moving.

Or, if you’re looking for this book to replace a thorough personal study of God’s Word on the consumption of alcoholic beverages, then you’re going to be very dissapointed.

but…

If you’re a history buff who wants to see what Christianity in the “marketplace” looks like…pick this up.

Book Review: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

It’s not very often I pick up a book and read from cover to cover in one sitting.  This time I did.  All 255 pages of it. ok…I guess I did stop to make myself some ramen noodle soup, but other than that I was completely overwhelmed by Donald Miller’s new book.

The truth is that I have a copy of his older book, Blue Like Jazz, but have never finished it.  It wasn’t that it wasn’t good, it just didn’t overwhelmed me to finish it.   I think I’m going to back and finish reading that book too.

I guess it wouldn’t be too much to say that Donald Miller is probably one of the best story tellers I’ve come across in a while.  I haven’t been this mesmerized by an authors ability to pain pictures with words since I read Wilson Rawls’ Where the Red Fern Grows as a child.  Why?  Simply put, he tells a good story.

In the opening of his book, Donald writes this:

“…if what we choose to do with our lives doesn’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.”

This book basically is set on explaining this principle.  From sharing stories of how he when through the painstaking process of rewriting his life for a movie, to falling for a girl with a cute nose during a grueling trek through the mountains to Machu Picchu, he somehow inspires you to live for something more.  And subtly yet profoundly her establishes that this is best understood in living the life of biblical faith.

So what would I say about this book?  Probably what Max Lucado said when asked to submit a review of the book… “I already want to re-read this book.”

Book Review: Faces in the Fire by T.L. Hines

The quote on the back of the book by Publishers Weekly in describing the author T.L. Hines states “Hines dialogue is darkly funny as he explores the depths o the humans desire for authenticity….Fans of breathless suspense that’s a little off center will enjoy” is very similar to my thoughts of this book.  Personally, it is a lot darker book than that of what I usually read.  However, the suspense did keep me desiring to read it as I quickly finished it in 2-3 days.

The story is about 4 intertwined characters who each have a major setback in life ranging from amnesia, cancer, drug use, and assassin.  The book is set up in 4 distinct “stanzas” in which each character’s story unfolds.   As you read through each stanza you begin to see how the unknowingly intertwined characters are involved with each other.

As the plot (or lack thereof) unfolds I have to honestly admit that it was a struggle to get through the last few chapters.  The falling action and resolution are not very strong and as a matter of fact took me the longest to get through.

I would recommend it to someone else (as long as they were over 16) but would not go out of my way to recommend it to others.

(This book review was done by my wife)