Published June 25th, 2016 by

What’s Best Next? How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done

WBNPermanI suppose it’s fitting I write a review of Matt Perman’s book What’s Best Next (WBN) toward the end of a day that I’ve spent piddling,  getting very little done, on the way to working myself up to settle down to watch a movie.

My cousin Nancy pointed me to What’s Best Next, while discussing our recent retirements. For Type A personalities or those of us who obsess over how much time we’re wasting, our first impulse is to prioritize and jump right into finding more time.  That’s universal and, if you don’t believe me, just scroll through the thousands of productivity products and strategies on the web.… Read the rest

Books • Literature Gospel-Centered Leadership Religion

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Published March 11th, 2015 by

BiblicalEldership.com Has An Improved Look

Leadership Missional Communities Planting

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Published February 4th, 2015 by

Well-Intentioned Dragons #3 New and Improved

Ministering to Problem PeopleMy new and improved edition of Ministering to Problem People in Your Church: What to Do With Well-Intentioned Dragons arrived in the mail last week and a quick perusal shows some needed updates and timely material in the original chapters. It also sports one of the most simple and attractive covers I’ve seen in a while (I’m a minimalist, in the tradition of the Swiss school).

Marshall Shelley has added two new chapters, which reflect our times. First, he grapples with the emergence of the internet and the challenges of social media that didn’t exist when the book was first published back in 1994.… Read the rest

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Published December 24th, 2014 by

Why Another Blog About This Stuff and Why Me?

In my last post, I kicked off a series on Christian leadership in the church. The question arises: “Why another blog about this stuff and why me?” I’ve always had a keen desire to see others grow in Christ and serve His Bride, the Church. But, my motives are always mixed and, if we can be honest, you may be serving Jesus out of a variety of not-so-Biblical or virtuous motivations, too. Let’s face it, if we were as pure in our devotion to Christ and His Kingdom as we like to believe or pretend, Jesus wouldn’t have spent so much time warning us to guard against pride, greed or selfishness:

The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do.

… Read the rest

Leadership Planting

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Published September 25th, 2014 by

Gospel Goodness: Gospel Coach by Scott Thomas and Tom Wood

9780310494324What does every church leader need in the 21st century? Perhaps you gave the standard Sunday school response: Jesus! Well, that is certainly true. Since we are imbibing some more Gospel Goodness, you may have thought I was going to wrestle you to the ground and pin you until you cried “GOSPEL!” You wouldn’t be far off. Authors Scott Thomas and Tom Wood lead off with this simple and succinct conviction:

Every church leader needs a coach. Every church leader needs to be coaching other leaders.

I’m inclined to agree with them. For church leaders, a relationship with Christ is a given.… Read the rest

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Published September 19th, 2014 by

Gospel Goodness: Gospel Fluency

Gospel Power

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16–17 ESV)

Because the gospel or good news is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” it just makes sense that I would want to be able to communicate that good news: I want to be fluent in the language of the gospel. But, more than that I want to gospel myself, remembering that the gospel that saves is the gospel that sanctifies – what Jesus has done for me is at work in me, transforming me into His image.… Read the rest

Gospel-Centered Planting

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Published September 11th, 2014 by

Gospel Goodness: The Gospel-Centered Life by Bob Thune

GCLNow that we’re a bit better at gospeling ourselves, thanks to Joe Thorn’s Note to Self (yeah, that’s gospel as a verb), we can look at another standard work on the Gospel-Centered Everything  bookshelf . The Gospel-Centered Life  (GCL) is a nine-lesson small group study and a helpful resource for individuals. There is also a Gospel-Centered Life Leader’s Guide.  These books are authored by Will Walker and blogger/writer, Bob Thune, one of the pastors at Coram Deo Church Community (yeah, you read that church name right and the word order is significant).

I’ve been known to claim GCL is the closest thing to a perfect book I’ve come across in a long time — I’m being mildly hyperbolic.… Read the rest

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