Water, Water Everywhere!

What a blessing it was to cooperate with God in changing our Advent and our Christmas during "The Advent Conspiracy" series! Many of us made changes that surely blessed God and made a difference in our celebration this year. Thanks to the obedient and generous response of God's people, $20,138.86 was raised in just five weeks (above and beyond our regular giving) to provide desperately needed clean, safe water for people in Peru and Burma. That will translate to a total of NINE NEW WELLS in nine different communities, where our 2009 Advent season will flow outward in blessing, day after day, year after year, for many years to come!

One of the wells is already under construction, under the oversight of our dear friends Don and Christie Latta and their Villa de Triunfo church in Arequipa, Peru.

The other eight wells will be dug in communities through Burma (Myanmar), through the work of Operation Blessing.

Our church is so blessed to have the missions committee we have, who are personally connected with each of these ministries, AND such generous, vision-oriented Christ-followers, who respond so beautifully to the call of God!

Praise God from whom all blessings FLOW!!!

The One-Day Way

I'm a sucker for diet fads. There are few things I want more than to lose 10 pounds in a week or tone my belly in time for bikini season.

But this isn't that.

The One-Day Way, by Chantel Hobbs (wife, mother of four, and author of Never Say Diet), is one-part motivational and one-part common-sense, easy-to-follow approach to losing "all the weight you want, one meal, one pound, one day at a time" (as the back cover says.

Hobbs is herself a testimony to the potential of her approach; she once weighed 350 pounds, and says she lost 200 pounds--and has kept off the weight--using the same tactics she prescribes in this book. She also includes in the book inspirational stories of others who have benefitted from her approach.

Check out the meal plans; they're actually doable.

Check out the exercises; they don't require a gym full of equipment, or the flexibility of a fourteen-year-old.

But especially take the time to savor the first half of the book, and absorb her emphasis on changing the way we think in order to change the way we live.

Learn more about or purchase this book here.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Church of the Week: Russells Point Church of God

The lovely Robin and I had a great time just before New Year's Day. We drove north to Russell's Point, Ohio, between Troy and Lima, where our friends Bill and Lorraine Riley live and lead a church.

This is their church, Russell's Point Church of God. Soon after arriving in town, we joined Bill and Lorraine for the Wednesday night prayer gathering in the fellowship hall of the church, and were so blessed at the warmth of the fellowship and the beautiful love of this church for their pastor.

It's only a few blocks from the shores of beautiful Indian Lake, and while I tried very hard the whole time I was there to drive the Cowsills' song, Indian Lake, from my mind, I should have known I could easily (and fairly appropriately) have replaced it with the old Chuck Girard song, "Little Country Church":

Little country church on the edge of town
Doo-do- do-dn-do-do-do
People comin' everyday from miles around
For meetin's and for Sunday school
And it's very plain to see
It¹s not the way it used to be

Preacher isn't talkin' 'bout religion no more
He just wants to praise the Lord
People aren't as stuffy as they were before
They just want to praise the Lord
And it's very plain to see
It's not the way it used to be

They're talkin' 'bout revival and the need for love
That little church has come alive
Workin' with each other for the common good
Puttin' all the past aside
Long hair, short hair, some coats and ties
People finally comin' around
Lookin' past the hair and straight into the eyes
People finally comin' around
And it's very plain to see
It's not the way it used to be.

Consensus Sucks

Tony Morgan posted this a few days ago, and it's an interesting perspective. I'd love to hear what others think. I can say I've experienced all five of these downsides to trying to lead by consensus....in the last week! Okay, that may be stretching it. But not by much. Take a look, and let me know what you think. And I love the way he ends the piece:

I’m growing more and more convinced that the worst thing an organization can do is try to reach a consenus about something. Think government. Think church committee meetings. Think declining big business.

On the surface, reaching a consensus seems like a positive thing because it means people have agreed to move in the same direction. That’s a good thing isn’t it?

Actually, I’m not convinced that’s the case. For example, here are:

5 Reasons Why Consensus Sucks

1. It embraces the status quo. Change, whether positive or not, is not human nature. We would prefer for things to remain the way they are today. So, when people get together to discuss the possibility of doing something a little different in the future, it’s normal for the majority to avoid making changes.

2. It gives the malcontents an equal voice in your decision. Reaching consensus gives everyone a voice at the table. When that happens, even the negative, bitter folks that don’t really embrace the vision have the opportunity to pull the rest of the group away from what could really be the most desirable outcome.

3. It short circuits the radical ideas that lead to the biggest breakthroughs. The big, bold ideas won’t see the light of day. Yet those are the ideas that could potentially lead to the best innovations. Consensus brings people back to the middle where the majority approves but mediocrity reigns.

4. It leaves unresolved conflict on the table. At the opposite ends of a decision are distinct opinions which, if left unresolved, could potentially lead to division. Consensus prevents tough conversations from happening. It gives people the freedom to jump to compromise without engaging a healthy debate.

5. It discourages people from dreaming big dreams. Want to neuter the creative-thinkers and entrepreneurs and visionaries in your organization? Force them to reach consensus with the rest of the crowd. These are the people that make you uncomfortable. They can drive you crazy. That’s OK. They’ll just go work someplace else if you keep forcing them to compromise their dreams.

What do you think? Do you agree? Or, have you actually seen consensus work? What would you add or delete from the list?

Let’s try to reach a consensus on whether or not consensus sucks.

A Pastor's Annual Reading Plan (Part Two)

I began to blog yesterday about my practice of devising an annual reading plan every New Year's, and shared some of the thought and planning that goes into that list of intended reads. But my reading is not entirely void of spontaneity. The list usually accounts for only thirty or so books; I often read twice that number in a year (I read 69 in 2009). So there’s ample opportunity to read a book on a whim, pick up the latest blockbuster at the mall, or borrow a book from a friend. Nor do I carve my reading plan in granite; I’m free to substitute books or shift my priorities at any time (it’s my plan, after all, not the Ten Commandments). I also keep a record of the books I read each year, a practice which helps me recall the titles and authors of books I want to reread or recommend to friends.

So let’s take a look at my 2010 reading plan as it stands now:

Biography:
Blood and Thunder (Sides)
Alexander Hamilton (Chernow)

Memoir:
LIT: A Memoir (Karr)

Classics
The Pilgrim’s Progress (Bunyan)
Lorna Doone (Blackmore)
The Forsyte Saga (Galworthy)
A Modern Comedy (Galworthy)

Writing:
Surviving the Writer’s Life (Lipsett)

History:
No Ordinary Time (Goodwin)

New authors:
A Soldier of the Great War (Helprin)
I, Elizabeth (Miles)
Libra (DeLillo)
Cosmopolis (DeLillo)
From Growing Up Pains… (Plass)
The Sacred Diary… (Plass)

Poetry:
Beowulf (Heaney, tr.)
The Book of Hours (Reeves)

Favorites:
The Heritage of the Desert (Grey)
Code of the West (Grey)
The Virginian (Wister)
Catlow (L’Amour)
The Broker (Grisham)
The Brethren (Grisham)
The Jesus Way (Peterson)
The Bookwoman’s Last Fling (Dunning)

Christian/Inspirational:
The End of Religion (Cavey)
Everybody’s Normal Till… (Ortberg)
The Naked Life (Banks)
The Lost Message of Jesus (Chalke/Mann)
Conversations with Jesus (Fickett)
God on Paper (Loritts)

Church Growth/Church Planting/Leadership/Ministry:
Antagonists in the Church (Haugk)
Revival That Reforms (Hull)
The Servant Leader (Blanchard/Hodges)
Derailed (Irwin)
The Power of Loving Your Church (Hansen)
Deep Church (Belcher)
The Pastor as Minor Poet (Barnes)

New discipline/field:
None

Related books; (read in order):
Beowulf (Heaney, tr.)
Grendel (Gardner)

Children’s:
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Robinson)

Re-read… International and inter-cultural:
None

Contemplative/Devotional:
Dug Down Deep (Harris)
Praying Through the Bible (Fuller)
The Best of Robert Murray McCheyne (McCheyne)
The Way of Perfection (Teresa of Avila)
The Mystic Way (Underhill)
When the Trees Say Nothing (Merton)

Books about books:
Walking a Literary Labyrinth (Malone)

Mule-choker:
Blood and Thunder (Sides)
Alexander Hamilton (Chernow)
A Soldier of the Great War (Helprin)
I, Elizabeth (Miles)
The Forsyte Saga (Galworthy)
A Modern Comedy (Galworthy)

Other:
Something Rotten (Fforde)
The Wager (Myers)
Just Think (Nordenson)
For the Love of Books (Schwartz)
The One-Day Way (Hobbs)

Eesh! That’s fifty-two books, and SIX mule-chokers!! I usually plan only thirty or so, but there’s a whole lotta books I’ve been waiting to get to! And I can't wait. So I better stop blogging...and start reading!

A Pastor's Annual Reading Plan (Part One)

For many years now, I have taken time at year's end to devise a “Reading Plan." In that plan, I set a goal of the number of books I intend to read in the coming year (usually between fifty and seventy). I determine that number by taking into consideration such things as the workload I face in the coming year (which generally limits my reading) and the amount of traveling I plan to do (which tends to increase my time for reading).

But volume is far from my only concern. I also develop a plan that will allow me to derive maximum variety and quality from my reading throughout the course of a year. I pursue a variety of authors, genre, and forms in my reading plan not only for the entertainment value, but also because such a course of intentional reading does more than broaden my horizons; it broadens me. As Clifton Fadiman writes in The New Lifetime Reading Plan, “It is rather like what is offered by loving and marrying, rearing children, carving out a career, creating a home. [Such a variety of books] can be a major experience, a source of continuous internal growth.”

I also design my reading in order to achieve a level of quality that will challenge and inform my writing and preaching...and living. My annual reading plan typically includes:

• a minimum of one biographical title, like this year's Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow and Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides.
• at least one memoir. Last year, I read three.
• a healthy dose of classics.
• a writing book or two.
• at least one history book, such as Larson’s Summer for the Gods, about the Scopes trial, or Sterling Seagrave’s The Yamato Dynasty, about Japan’s Imperial family.
• at least two books by authors I’ve never read before. I must sheepishly admit that if it were not for this annual goal, I probably would not have read such authors as John Irving, Flannery O’Connor, and Anne Tyler.
• a minimum of one poetry book each year. In 1990, for example, I read Spoon River Anthology, and the next year, The Poems of Richard Wilbur, and in 1992 Robert Frost’s A Boy’s Will;
• a couple books from among my favorite authors, such as William Faulkner, C.S. Lewis, and Mark Twain.
• some Christian/inspirational books.
• a couple books in a new discipline or field of interest. For instance, one year, I explored logic; another, it was gardening.
• at least one children’s book, since I am still a child at heart and a great admirer of picture books and juvenile literature like Chris Van Allsburg’s extravagant picture books, Roald Dahl’s delightful stories, and C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia.
• two selections from a short list of books I’ve decided to re-read every few years, some serious, some life-changing, some fanciful.
• a healthy dose of leadership and ministry-related books (last year I read thirteen in this area).
• a couple "related" books. I discovered a few years ago how fun it can be to read a few books that are related in some way, such as Jane Eyre and Rebecca, two similar novels with contrasting heroines, or following Robinson Crusoe with the nonfiction In Search of Robinson Crusoe, and adding J. M. Coetzee's Foe.
• a few books on prayer.
• and some international or inter-cultural literature, such as books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Bharati Mukherjee.

Finally, for good measure, I require that at least one of the books on my list (in any category) must be what I call a “mule-choker,” a book of great heft, the intimidating sort of book I might not otherwise read. In past years, these have been books like Anna Karenina (Tolstoy), An Incomplete Education¬(Jones, Wilson), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Hugo).