Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

Max Lucado’s books have always life-changing for me. He has a way of writing that illuminate Biblical passages and concepts in practical ways that really impact people. I was very interested when I heard his new book looked at how all of us can address social justice issues in a real and personal way.

I really like the book. Lucado masterfully weaves stories of the early Christian church with other stories and illustrations to show how the Bible relates to many issues in today’s world. The chapters are concise and to-the-point.  Each chapter leads the reader through a new topic, such as breaking out of comfort zones and looking at their world with a fresh perspective. Lucado doesn’t offer easy fixes, but shows how even small efforts can make big differences.

I really appreciate the reflection questions in the back of the book. They would be really useful for small groups going through the books together. The accompanying action plans provide practical ways to apply each chapter’s main theme to everyday life.

I would highly recommend Outlive Your Life to anyone interested in making a difference in the world by the best with what you have to make a difference in the lives of others.

Disclosure of Material Connection: 

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

One Hand, Two Hands by Max Lucado

Children find hands very interesting. One of the first things that fascinate children is discovering their hands. As their parents use hands to caress, cuddle, squeeze, tickle and play, children become captivated with their parents’ hands. Our son can play with my fingers for hours, giggling and moving them around.  It is no surprise, then that Max Lucado’s newest children’s book focuses on our hands and the wonderful things we can do with them.

Lucado presents the message of how we can use our hands to help others in a simple way for children to understand. Illustrator, Gaby Hansen, using a subdued, almost pastel palette, makes the illustrations creative and fun – especially as she gives imaginative life to the little girl’s stuffed animals.

Lucado’s note to parents at the book’s beginning shares his heart for helping kids understand the difference between helping hands and hurting hands. His focus on the positive side seems a wise choice.

My favorite part of the book is the closing section that lists ways for hands to be helping, kind and loving. Though I would recommend this book to anyone with a small child at home, having the narrative focus on just a little girl instead of a boy and a girl limits the interest of little boys in the book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: 

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Summit 2010 - Session 6 - Dr. Zhao Xiao

.:Beyond Economy: China's Transformation with the Cross

Four Stages or Platforms that Countries can have Influence

1 - Economics Stage - China was everywhere

2 - Political Stage - China is on U.N. Security Council

3 - Sports Stage - China hosted Olympics

4 - Faith Stage - Rarely see Chinese influence

Leadership is not just about influence. It also must be about thgoing the right direction

We must recognize, accept change.

What is the significant change between now and 500 years from now?

The most significant thing in the 20th century is not the two world wars or the rise and collapse of the soviet union. It is the rise of china because it will influence generations centuries into the future.

Summit 2010 - Session 5 with Adam Hamilton

.:When Leaders Fall

This is not an inspirational talk. But I think that for some of you, this may be the most important talk and could save your ministry or your church.

A study that was done in 2005-2006 of 1050 pastors had 30% admit to some sort of sexual impropriety during their ministry life.

Though there is not a one size fits all approach, our story might help.

I want to talk about three things
1 - Share about how my church handled a situation in this area
2 - Why Church leaders have a hard time in this area
3 - Five "Rs" for resisting temptation in your own life

Summit 2010 - Session 4 - Craig Groeschel interviews Tony Dungy

.:The Mentor Leader

"Stubbornness is a virtue - if you're right."

Being a pastor is similar to being a coach:

• What do you do the rest of the week?
• People watching can call better plays from home (or the pew)
• You can work yourself into the ground.

Known for encouraging a life of balance

• We are going to win, but you can't make football your life.
• You can be passionate about it, but you need to have other interests.

Summit 2010 - Session 3 - Christine Caine (Founder of the A21 Campaign)

.:Leading from a Place of Hope

I'm sorry that it took me so long to respond to God hearing your cry that I didn't come sooner.

The Cry of the World to Us:

If what you believe is true, then where are you? Because we live with no hope.

This is Our Time of Greatest potential

Ephesians 5:14 - wake from the dead, you who sleep.

Jesus Christ is the hope of the world and His church is still the best vehicle to bring that hope to the world.

It is our Job to Lead from a Place of Hope.

If we don't have hope, then how on earth can those without Jesus have any hope at all?

God's Word is true and it Brings Life to Everyone

A confident expectation that God's word is true is how you can keep leading from a place of hope and confidence.

If I think about 27 million slaves on the earth today, I can be overwhelmed because numbers are numbing and desensitizing. I have to think of each of them as an individual.  We must keep breaking it down and put faces to that number.

Summit 2010 - Session 2 with Jim Collins

.:Never, Ever, Give Up


There are 5 Stages of Decline

Step 1 - Hubris Born of Success

It is not success that leads to failure, but outrageous arrogance that inflects suffering on the innocent

Bad decisions taken with good decision are still bad decisions

Three very different leaders

Darwin Smith - Kimberly Clarke

Had a charisma challenge

Funky looking guy, socially inept introvert

"I was just trying to be qualified for the job."

Anne Mulcahy - Xerox

She was magnetic

She did not expect to become CEO, but was determined to fix the company

She was surprised that she became CEO and never sought it

"I was an accidental CEO."

Herb Kelleher - Southwest Airlines

Not normal

Rents a stadium and resolves a trademark dispute with the CEO of other business with an arm wrestling match.

"When the going gets weird, the weird become CEO."

What do these three leaders share in common?

1. It is not about them
2. They never, ever give up
3. They are level 5 leaders

(What separates the Level 5 Leaders from the Level 4 Leaders is humility of a very special type - it is an absolute commitment to do whatever it takes)

Summit 2010 - Session 1 with Bill Hybels

I though I'd give blogging through Willow Creek's Leadership Summit this year.  We'll see if I actually make it through the whole thing.

.:From Here to There

Getting stuck in a leadership slump

Half-a-dozen problems around Willow Creek that he just couldn't seem to resolve and right about this time, his secretary came in and dumped half-a-dozen new leadership books on his desk.

Then he started looking at the books and thinking about the problems and thought, "Maybe I've come to the end of my run."

Then had a wedding to do, and thought, "This will be good, because I know I can do weddings. Not my favorite thing to do, but I know I can do them. I've done hundreds of them."

Went through the whole wedding and everything went fine until the very end when he gave the nod to the vocalist to sing the final song, but she shook her head no.

"I can't even do a wedding right!"

He was in a slump.

Told God, "I need help. I don't know anything."

God told him, "Bill, you've been leading for 3 1/2 decades. You know a few things."

Leaders move people from Here to There.

We are HERE (current reality), but someday we are going to wind up THERE (preferred future) and we will all love life, our church will be stronger and better and more like Jesus.

He used to think the first step was to just describe "There"

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Angels and demons are commonly thought to be the two sides of the ethereal coin forever battling each other at the direction of higher powers. In her debut novel, “Angelology,” however, Danielle Trussoni introduces us to a third strain of the otherworldly, the hybrid Nephilim. Formed from the union of angels and humans, the Nephilim first appear in Genesis 6: “The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives … [and] whenever The sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.” The Nephilim survived the Flood by sneaking onto Noah’s ark and set about infiltrating every level of human power.

Centuries later, the Nephilim live among humanity and are on the search for a cure to a mysterious illness endured by many of their greatest. Against this backdrop, secret correspondence between a former mother superior and Abigail Rockefeller bring together Trussoni’s heroes a young nun named Evangeline and Verlaine, an art historian. Together they begin to unravel the ages-old mystery of angelologists, a secret society dedicated to the eradication of all Nephilim.

While Trussoni’s narrative weaves biblical, historical and mythological threads into an entertaining and engaging whole a few moments bring the reader out of the world she has so carefully crafted. A flashback designed to illustrate the brutality of the Nephilim is a small moment of unnecessarily graphic gore that is out of place in the novel as a whole. Another flashback provides a clue to Evangeline’s ancestry so obvious that when it is revealed with a dramatic flourish 200 pages no one is surprised.

Though it’s impossible not to group this in with the recent spate of Dan Brown-inspired thrillers that redefine something “we thought we knew,” Trussoni’s novel is better than most. It’s a good read for those with more than a passing interest in biblical spirituality or history, but goes too far afield from established belief for strict adherents.

A Guy's Guide to Life by Jason Boyett

Jason Boyett is the author of several books in the guide/handbook genre.  It’s no wonder that he is the man behind A Guy's Guide to Life: How to Become a Man in 224 Pages or Less. Divided into three sections the book addresses cultural myths about manhood, sexuality and spiritual development.

Though Boyett relies on the Q & A troupe more than I care for, his writing is solid and easy to follow.  Despite its subtitle, it’s not a book of quick fixes. Instead it addresses the critical issue of becoming a man. Along the way, Boyett finds time to handle issues as varied as shaving, how to tie a necktie, dating, purity, exercise, peer pressure and faith.

A quick, but helpful read, I recommend it to teens and fathers of teens looking for a book to guide them along the tumultuous path from boy to man.

Disclosure of Material Connection: 
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

What's In a Word? by Webb Garrison

While studying Spanish in college, I became interested in the little idiomatic phrases (actually insults) that don’t really translate into English. Even after years of classes, they’re really all I can remember.  If I get lost sometime in a Spanish-speaking country, all I could do is just insult the people trying to help me. It would be a disaster.

That’s why when I heard about the book. What’s in a Word?, I was pretty excited.  Unfortunately it didn’t take long for my excitement to deflate.


What’s in a Word? is a collection of short entries explaining the origins of words or phrases you hear in everyday speech. If you share my fascination with the origin of those odd phrases, this book might be for you more than it was for me.

It isn’t so much that the book isn’t well written. I found the individual stories for each entry to be sly, witty, and occasionally rather clever.  It’s just that many of the “fascinating stories” are kind of mundane (In the Groove), obscure (Best Bib and Tucker) or out-of-date (Floppies). An updated version of the first chapter in a revised edition would go a long way to making the book a better read. For now, though, it’s short entries means it’s the kind of book you’ll want to keep in the bathroom for quick reads.


Disclosure of Material Connection: 
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Review: The Voice New Testament

The Voice New Testament is a new personal devotional Bible brought to us from Thomas Nelson Publishers.  It is the latest installment in the Voice Project, which the preface describes as “a Scripture project to rediscover the story of the Bible.”  I was excited to get the chance to check out this full-testament version as I had come across the previously released single volumes of Luke and Acts.

I found this Bible to be a pleasantly readable and beautifully written translation.  The use of scholars and creatives on the same team seems to be more than just a nod to the recent postmodern ascendance in ministry, but an honest attempt to bridge the gap from original language to English.

Among the most enjoyable aspects of the reading experience for me is the screenplay structure that identifies speakers and helps set the stage for reading.  Take this example from Luke 18:

Jesus: What do you want Me to do for you?

Blind Man: Lord, let me receive my sight.

Jesus: Receive your sight; your faith has made you well

Nice isn’t it? 

Though I wouldn’t recommend it for serious study, the Voice is a solid choice for everyday and devotional reading.

Disclosure of Material Connection: 

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Trying not to Suck.

A couple of years ago, I was on a list to preview books and give feedback.  I'm not sure how I got on this list (I probably signed up for it somewhere), but I wasn't very good at it. Since then I've had the opportunity to write and be written about a few times and realized how valuable my input could've been to those writers.

Over the same time period I've become more and more perplexed by how fractured and distant the "christian" world has become.  It seems with the full coming of age of the internet, civility has lessened a great deal.  When one can post whatever they want in very short order, the filters that keep us polite tend to go by the wayside.

This blog is my small attempt to correct both of these things.

I'll post book reviews and thoughts about our current situation.  If you think it's worthwhile, awesome. If not, no worries.