I briefly stopped by Mike Cope’s blog recently, and he had linked this post from a member at his church. He was writing in response to Shane Claiborne’s recent book “Irresistible Revolution” which I haven’t read yet, but plan to soon. Anyway, it’s a pretty good post worth a read.
I finally broke down and bought a new Bible yesterday.
Why is that a big deal, you ask?
I have many Bibles, of differing versions and sizes. But, this one is not just another Bible. This one replaces 2 versions I’ve already had of the same type.
About 15 years ago, my mom bought me my first NIV Study Bible (compact size). It was my first Bible to have my name on it and everything. Nice blue leather cover.
To say I’m hard on Bibles would be an understatement. I wish I could say it’s mainly from my rigorous study habits, but it’s not. It’s mainly from carrying it around, bringing it to church, accidentally dropping it, and occasionally leaving it on top of the car as we started to pull away. In college, as a Bible major, I had to carry it around in my backpack for classes. Needless to say, the binding was in shambles within a few years.
After my first year as an intern at Heritage Church of Christ, the church gave me a hardback version of the same Bible. It lasted through the second half of college and my 2.5 years in Italy, but the binding fell apart in it beyond repair.
When the second Bible gave out, I pulled out the original, and discovered I could repair it enough to carry around. But recently, it gave out as well. I was starting to lose pages, and a minister with missing pages in his Bible is a bad idea…
So, the other day, I bought a new one. It’ll take a little while to break in, but it’s like catching up with a new old friend.
Subtitile: My Restoration #4- A Book Review?
Yeah, a book review.
A few weeks ago, when I told you I hit the decision point, I made my way to the Christian bookstore. I hadn’t been reading very much at all, definately nothing comprehensive about youth ministry. I came across a book entitled “Contemplative Youth Ministry” by Mark Yaconelli, the son of the late youth ministry patriarch Mike Yaconelli.
I’m not sure what urged me to pick it up. It’s been heavily advertised by Youth Specialties, which is certain to turn me off. I’ve gone to their conferences the past two years, and while I enjoyed meeting up with old college buddies and fellow spiritual warriors, I was sickened by the blatant marketing and gluttonous consumerism attached to the event. Everything was a commercial to buy this or that- guaranteed products to make your ministry grow, come to life, or be more dynamic. Still, there were moments of genuine, authentic mentoring, teaching and advice that helped me stomach all the rest.
Despite all this, I really believe God pushed through any barriers I had to buy a copy of this book. And I was very glad I did.
The title itself led me to believe it was about implementing contemplative exercises for youth. While I think that is useful, I’ve already done that on a certain scale, and have been exposed to that kind of material. Besides, it’s been trendy right now, and I’m wary of trendy. But, it’s much more than adding some exercises. It’s about how we approach youth ministry- not through programs and methodologies, but following the leading of the Holy Spirit.
The book is very deep, and the premise is simple: Learn to allow God to be present with you. Then, be present in the same way with youth. Learn to listen meaningful to God and follow His leading. Then learn to listen meaningfully to youth as they share their lives and stories. With both God and others, we spend more time worrying about what we’re going to say and little about how we plan to listen.
The book is not a how-to, but gives a lot of practical examples and exericises. It has a great balance between being theoretical and pragmatic.
The Youth Ministry world has for too long been worrying itself over approach is best in what setting: Purpose-driven, family-based, pastoral, entertainment-driven, relational, or whatever else is out there. This book calls us away from all that, to be grounded in our personal walk with God, where our ministry is an outpouring of that relationship- where the Holy Spirit is model.
This book was very challenging, inspiring, frustrating, and refreshing all at the same time. A few chapters early on drag a little, but anyone in ministry will be truly blessed if they work through this book.
This book is a MUST READ for anyone wanting to grow in their ability to minister to youth. That’s not because it has all the answers, but because it will help you allow God to guide you to the answers.
Guess now I’m blatantly marketing something… go figure.
Peace.
I’ve been reading this recent book by Donald Miller, “Searching for God Knows What”. I really like Donald Miller, and his book “Blue Like Jazz” made him an instant celebrity in the Christian book world. Dave says he’s whiney, because he gets to be part of a really cool community, but doesn’t realize how great he’s got it. I’ll admit, he comes across whiney sometimes, but he’s artsy, and artsy people are dramatic. Their whines are more dramatic, but they know how to party. They also see stuff the rest of us miss. My wife is artsy.
Anyway, It’s funny how you can read something and be drawn to totally different stuff than someone else. Dave told me Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell was great in the last few chapters. Eddie White said it started good, but the last few chapters weren’t that great. I think I really only liked chapters 4 and 6. Eddie Parish really liked “Blue Like Jazz”, but found “Searching For God Knows What” too slow. In just 2 chapters of “Searching for God Knows What”, I’ve been real impressed.
He talks about how for a long time he had this view that God was like Santa. This was beneficial for 4 reasons: 1)You didn’t have to interact with Santa, cause he just came and gave you stuff and only took a bite of cookie before disappearing for 365 days 2) He was black and white- you either made his list or not 3)He gave you stuff based on behavior 4) Bad kids got presents anyway. Interacting with Santa is a simple formula. Same with God.
(As a side note, isn’t it interesting that American depictions of Santa are way fatter than European ones?)
But it really isn’t like that. Simple formulas fall short, because following God means following a being with identity, desires, emotions, and character. He is love. He’s powerful and unchanging. And He is complex. We tell people to not cheat on their taxes or punch their annoying neighbor in the pie-hole, to read their copy of a 2000 collection of documents, and pray to this being (which consists of asking Him for a bunch of stuff). Then we’re good Christians and can go to heaven and not burn forever getting poked with a big read pitchfort.
What if I viewed being married as a simple formula? What if I said that all I have to do is buy flowers once a month, take out the trash, change a few diapers (Hudsons, not mine- I’m responsible for my own), and listen to her talk about her day? You’d say, sure, those are good things, but there’s more. Way more. Kate expects me to comfort her sometimes, to work, to stop working and listen, to leave her alone, and even to argue with her (yes, you do Sweetheart:) ) I need to know when it is the appropriate time for each. But more than all of it, she wants me to love her. The rest will come together if my inside is right.
God’s the same way. We can’t just do a bunch of stuff and say we’re his children. We need to walk with Him. The whole deal is relational. He’s not full of contradictions or cruelty, but He’s still complex and difficult to understand. We can only begin to understand Him and walk with Him when we start deciding we’re going to love Him and follow Him. The rest will come together if the inside is right. It’s not like Santa who never cries or gets upset and is always happy and jovial and gives presents to everyone because he’s a simple little genie-like creature. He’s real. When I see God the same way, I can’t believe in Him, and I’m right, because that God doesn’t exist.
Most of the time, I’d rather just leave God milk and cookies. It’s easier. But, it’s unfulfilling and meaningless to serve an imaginary God. So often, I hear people talking about what Jesus would think about such-and-such. Most of the time they are just trying to support something they believe anyway (and many times they have never really read the Bible to know anything about Jesus in the first place). They make references to an unreal, imaginary God who masquerades as the divine creator but is really just a hollow, empty shell.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Santa anymore. I want the real thing.
(Note: If you want any of the books listed in this post, buy them after clicking on their links. I’ll get a little percentage of the profits, maybe enough to buy a Jolly Rancher in ten years)
(This is the obligatory “I don’t have anything deep so I’ll post some random facts about me complete with links” post.)
My birthday was in the middle of September. I got some money, which was great, because there are a ton of things I would like to get, but haven’t been able to. Usually when I have a birthday, I go out shopping and get a bunch of stuff. This time, I sat on it and waited to get just what I wanted for the right price. It seems to be going a lot further this way. Here’s what I’ve gotten so far, and I’ve got a little still tucked away…
Smallville: Season 4- Come on Superman as a teenager, learning about who he is and the abilities he’s got? Way too cool! I actually bought this, watched it, then sold it and got most of my money back to buy these other things…
Searching for God Knows What- Supposedly good book by the author of Blue Like Jazz. I liked that one, so I thought I’d try this one.
Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell- I love Rob Bell stuff. He teaches with a modern approach, using a lot of Rabinic wisdom. Dave’s been raving about this one, and I finally found it yesterday. On a side note, if you ever need some class material, try his Nooma videos. They’re great for any setting.
The Niv Application Commentary: Acts- I’m teaching Acts for the High School class on Wednesday nights and the 6th grade class Sunday mornings. Can’t have too much reference stuff! This one adds a bunch of modern-day applications to the analysis of the text. I recommend it.
Niv and The Message Parraell Bible (Personal Size)- Just holding this Bible makes me want to start preaching. I like the way the Message words things, but I like the traditional and common use of the NIV also. This way, I can use the Message wording when it helps, and continue teaching with the NIV. Very cool.
I also bought Lifehouse’s and Switchfoot’s latest CD’s. With the exception of a couple tracks, I’m unimpressed.
I think I’ll spend the rest on burritos…
Blaine