While this book has been around awhile (orig. publication 2009, revised 2011), it should remain “timely” for quite some time to come for anyone interested in the church as a “missionary movement”. Steve Addison has packed this very quick read with a lot of descriptive history of movements that were successful in spreading the gospel. [It’s a good thing this book does read quickly—I found it very hard to put it down.] He aptly distinguishes the movements that succeeded beyond merely spreading the gospel and bore fruit for successive generations by “making disciples”. [Read more…]
Movements That Change the World: Five Keys to Spreading the Gospel by Steve Addison (A Book Review)
April 19, 2012 by 1 Comment
Viral: How Social Networking Is Poised to Ignite Revival by Leonard Sweet (A Book Review)
April 12, 2012 by 7 Comments
Only a few pages into this book, the thought struck: Leonard Sweet is a Renaissance Man for this generation! His breathtaking mastery of multi-disciplinary knowledge, powers of observation, and analytical skill in assessing the traits, tendencies and trends of this culture have been brought to bear in this newly released volume. Sweet has done his research and waded deeply into the waters of change—a “Gutenberger” immigrating from a tribe of Enlightenment-influenced navel-gazers into a country populated by relational, tech-savvy “Googlers”. [Read more…]
“I Am A Follower: The Way, Truth and Life of Following Jesus” by Leonard Sweet (A Book Review)
March 20, 2012 by 1 Comment
To abandon all, to strip one’s self of all, in order to seek and follow Jesus Christ naked to Bethlehem where He was born, naked to the hall where He was scourged, and naked to Calvary where He died on the cross, is so great a mystery that neither the thing nor the knowledge of it, is given to any but through faith in the Son of God. __John Wesley
For more than half a century I’ve lived in a “church culture”. For the first four decades it was a Methodist culture that, before my eyes, seemed to fulfill Wesley’s foreboding:
I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out. __John Wesley
Where did all the power go—not just in the Methodists—but in the entire Protestant church in the West? The power is only available to those who follow Christ, even to Calvary. The power belongs to those who “die” and rise with Christ to walk in New Covenant resurrection life, spreading a New Covenant Kingdom! I’m convinced the Western Church has lost its power because it’s following the wrong leaders, cluttered with errant Old Testament (and wrongly interpreted New Covenant) teachings, splintered into too many factions—each of which is focused more on self-preservation than on the Lord Jesus Christ. [Read more…]
Easter From the Backside: A Book Review
March 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment
First published as a Facebook Note on Friday, February 8, 2011, this seems like a timely review to open my new blog…just in time for Easter!
It approaches—the moment for which my soul yearned through the dark time of winter! It approaches—the day that returns annually to mark the most important event in the history of humanity! And with its approach, the Spirit would have us grasp with finality and victory the indisputable fact that the Day we herald is not a mere Day, but the very portal of ETERNITY! It is NOT coming…it has ARRIVED! Finally, I know, it has been MY day, all along! [Read more…]
