Communicating for Change – Andy Stanley

Book Flap: In Communicating for a Change, Andy Stanley shares the seven imperatives that define his approach to challenging people’s minds in order to change their lives: Determine Your Goal – Pick a Point – Create a Map – Internalize the Message – Engage Your Audience – Find Your Voice – Start All Over

These seven concepts will simplify your approach to communication and transform your sermons, lessons, and presentations into powerful life-changing experiences for your listeners.

My take: I love Andy Stanley’s style of communication and podcast all his stuff. He is one of very few pastors that I make sure to listen to every week. Since I find him to be an excellent communicator, I want to learn everything he’s got to share about how he does it.

Quiet Strength – Tony Dungy

Book Flap: People of all ages crave heroes. But it’s rare to find someone—especially someone in the media spotlight like Tony Dungy—whose life and work reflect positive, value-driven precepts.

In Coach Dungy, many have found a role model. Sports fans admire the way he intensely pursues success without sacrificing his team members’ well-being. Parents point to his example when teaching their children about the importance of hard work, persistence, and graciousness whether they win or lose. Even his fiercest competitors acknowledge that Coach Dungy is a class act who knows how to get the job done and who keeps his priorities intact while he’s doing it.

To all these people and more, Tony Dungy is a real-life hero—one who teaches us about the importance of quiet strength, fierce determination, and a humble heart.

My take: I may not be a Colts fan but I have always been a Tony Dungy fan. To me this man represents integrity in a profession ripe with self-worship. I am looking forward to starting this book.

Your Life in Christ (DFD1) – NavPress

Book Flap: This concise, easy-to-follow Bible study reveals what it means to accept God’s love for you, keep Christ at the center of your life, and live in the power of the Spirit.

My Take: I absolutely love this resource. It is simple, easy to follow and provides a great starting foundation for one-on-one discipleship. I take all my leaders through this study no matter how long they have been Christ followers. Through the lessons in this book I can easily determine how much of a person’s identity is wrapped up in Christ and how much is based on past, possessions, peer groups or performance.

One of the benefits of this book is that it is short–only four chapters. Because it is short, if enables me to gauge the accountability of a person without investing too much time.

I also use the follow-up books in the DFD series.

7 Practices of Effective Ministry – Andy Stanley

Book Flap: Every church leader needs to know how to win, and every congregation needs to know when to cheer. This insightful book speaks to every church leader who yearns for a simpler, more effective approach to ministry. An engaging parable about one overwhelmed pastor is followed by an overview of seven successful team practices, each one developed and applied in a ministry setting. Reinforced by relevant discussion questions, these clear, easy, and strategic practices can turn any ministry into a winning team.

Your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you are currently experiencing. If you are satisfied with those results, you don’t need this book. If not, it’s time for a change.

Like your own personal trainer, 7 Practices of Effective Ministry is an insightful guide for any leader who yearns for a simpler, more effective approach to ministry. Here are seven strategic principles that when put into play will bring focus and clarity to everything you do and turn your ministry into a winning team.

My Take: I was so impacted by this book that I began moving everything we do at Lakeside Wesleyan Church under these practices. The best way to get your team on a winning track is to know the rules of the game and this book details what it takes to have effective ministry in our age. I love the fact that this book isn’t the latest “ministry fad,” but a timeless system for evaluating and tuning the effectiveness of what is already happening and will happen. This book cannot come with a higher recommendation from me.

Creating Community – Andy Stanley & Bill Willits

Book Flap: In Creating Community, Andy Stanley and Bill Willits take you on their amazing journey of developing the small group culture at North Point Community Church. They reveal their five key discoveries about what it takes to create a compelling small group ministry. These discoveries have helped connect almost 8,000 people into North Point’s adult small groups.

This is not just another book about community; this is a book about strategy—strategy that builds a small group culture. Creating Community shares clear and simple principles to help people connect into meaningful relationships. The kind God desires for each of us. The kind He uses to change our lives.

My Take: Good stuff on small groups. I would have liked more “how-to” details, but it did challenge some of my preconceived ideas about small groups, particularly in the area of open vs. closed groups and the strategy of having a predetermined built-in lifespan to each group. Those two (very related) concepts were worth the price of the book.

If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat – John Ortberg

Book Flap: You’re One Step Away from the Adventure of Your Life Deep within you lies the same faith and longing that sent Peter walking across the wind-swept Sea of Galilee toward Jesus. In what ways is the Lord telling you, as he did Peter, “Come”? John Ortberg invites you to consider the incredible potential that awaits you outside your comfort zone. Out on the risky waters of faith, Jesus is waiting to meet you in ways that will change you forever, deepening your character and your trust in God. The experience is terrifying. It’s thrilling beyond belief. It’s everything you’d expect of someone worthy to be called Lord. The choice is yours to know him as only a water-walker can, aligning yourself with God’s purpose for your life in the process. There’s just one requirement: If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat.

My Take: I’ve never read straight through this book, but instead read portions of it at a time. I’m never disappointed. It is great for inspiration and motivation. Ortberg has a completely unique way of telling stories that I like.

Purpose Driven Life – Rick Warren

Book Flap: The most important question you can ask in life is, What on earth am I here for? But it’s not about you. If you want to know why you were put on this planet you’ve got to look at God, not yourself.

Colossians 1:16 “For everything – absolutely everything – above and below, visible and invisible everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.”

God has never created anything without a purpose. Every rock, plant, animal and human being He made for a purpose. If your heart is beating, it means God has a purpose for your life. The purpose of your life is greater than your own personal fulfillment, your career, or even your happiness. To know why you exist, you must first know the One who created you and the five purposes for which you were created.

My Take: Great book, despite all the griping that jealous evangelicals and puffed-up legalists spout. I refer to this book on a regular basis.

Prayer: The Great Adventure – David Jeremiah

Book Flap: Want an adventure of a lifetime that will bring you closer to God? Know God and His plans for you by learning how to prayer more effectively. This book offers a step by step approach through the Lord’s Prayer, the same prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Discover the importance of praise, petition, protection and provision as elements of your prayer life.

My Take: Written after a very scary battle with cancer, Dr. Jeremiah’s take on prayer is powerful, personal, and authentic. My prayer grew by leaps and bounds as I listened to the sermon series that produced this book.

Biblical Preaching – Haddon Robinson

Book Flap: “Biblical Preaching balances the practical how-to with sound homiletical theory. Ten sermon preparation stages surface that are content-oriented and follow the process of sermon-making from start to finish. . . . Robinson’s analogies and picturesque language, sprinkled with intelligent humor, produce a painless learning experience.”-Moody Monthly

My Take: The longer I preach and teach the more applicable this book gets. When I first read it as a rookie preacher, I felt Dr. Robinson had some “good ideas” about sermon prep and delivery. As I’ve become more entrenched in preaching every week I am amazed at all the wisdom that magically appeared in the book in the past few years. I’m still learning from it.

The History of the Church – Eusebieus

Book Flap: Bishop Eusebius broke new ground writing the “The History of the Church” and provided a model for all later ecclesiastical historians.

My Take: This is an essential foundational work for anyone studying early Christian church history. But it is also a great asset to the Christian wanting to understand the origin of doctrine and the defense of orthodox Christianity against spurious beliefs that are with us even to this day. C. S. Lewis warned of the danger of becoming isolated from the faith of our fathers so that we lose not only the heritage of that faith but the sound foundation of teaching they prepared. Study to scriptures to show yourself approved but study church history (a.k.a., tradition) to identify errors in your own understanding. It was because I had read this book early in my Christian life that I was able to very easily identify and discard the myths put forth by the DaVinci Code and the like. When you read a book like this (written around 420ad), you find out first hand that not a single heresy we encounter is new.