Two years ago, I sat in a session by Joe Myers at an Off the Map event. He shared some about his upcoming book Organic Community, which, at the time, was due to be released within 4-6 months. That turned into 18 months and the book was finally released this past spring. I ordered a copy, but it sat with the 60 or so other unread books on my bookshelf…up until a few weeks ago. Having now read it, I can say it has been worth the wait.

The primary thesis that Joe advocates is that genuine community does not from master planning, but organic order. Master planning falls short in that it tends to have every thing figured out in advance, and then tries to program everything out so that the desired results come about. Organic order leads to organic community that is “not a product, not an end result. Organic community — belonging — is a process, a conversation, a jazz piece, an elegant dance. It is not the product of community that we are looking for. It is the process of belonging that we long for.” (pg 125) Through a series of chapters, each related to a different concept, Joe contrasts how master planning vs. organic order might look.

In one sense, it is a very easy read. The writing style is easy to follow and the concepts are explained pretty well. On the other hand, it is a book that should be given some time to digest. Though it could pretty easily be read in a few short hours, it shouldn’t be. Ideally, this book should be read with others, whether in an established community, or in order to dream about one. Though everything Joes says might not be adapted or agreed with, it can certainly stimulate some worthwhile discussion.

I picked up a copy of The Golden Compass this week and I started reading it last night. I’m very enamored with the idea of reading children’s books of this type right now — maybe that’s because they capture the imagination better then anything else.

I probably don’t really have time to read it right now, but I want to read it in case I actually get a chance to see the movie next month. There’s also a lot of chatter against these books in Christian circles right now. I have some opinions that will likely be forthcoming about all that, but I figured I wanted to have actually engaged with at least the first book before commenting on it all.

I started reading Real Sex, by Lauren Winner early in September. I was wanting to read it in conjunction with a series on sexuality we were doing at Pathways. The fact that I only finished it last night seems incongruent with how much I really enjoyed reading this book. Maybe I was just savoring it…or maybe I’ve got too much other reading going on at the same time.

I’ve read two of Lauren Winner’s books this year, and I think she is moving into the category of an author who I will want to read everything she writes. Real Sex is a thoughtful book in that it is just not a bunch of traditional Christian thought about sex touched up in new packaging. She is thoughtful and reflective about sexuality and is more bent on exploring the why than the what…and that’s what makes this book worthwhile. Unlike many books which seem to state their whole point in the introduction and the belabor it, Real Sex was engaging throughout with it’s thoughtfulness, fresh insight, and honesty.

I think what I especially appreciated was something unintentional by the author. She began the book as a single woman, but in the course of writing met her husband and got engaged (and perhaps even married?) So, with that, she uniquely writes as both a single woman and a married woman, and I think it adds a lot to what already would have been a valuable read.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Dave Kinnaman since college; our wives have been good friends going back to their glorious Jr. High days. The time we have spent together has been sporadic, but I always know a thoughtful and engaging conversation is in store when we spend time together. Most of all, Dave and I share a passion for how the church can have a meaningful engagement with our culture, and I know that when we talk, I will walk away with a number of new ideas to mull over.

Several months ago, Dave told me he was working on a book. Based on the conversations we have shared over the years, I expected he would have worthwhile things to write.A few weeks ago, Dave and his family were up for a visit, and he gave me an advance copy of unChristian. My expectations have been met.

Dave is now the president of Barna Research, and unChristian is based on some intensive research they have done on the perspectives of 16-29 year olds regarding Christianity. Dave’s conclusion is that the way that the Christian faith is viewed by this age group is, well, unChristian. Somehow, as followers of Jesus, we have become known for exactly not what we want to be known for.

I’d recommend this book for anyone who desires to help shape the church in the next decade. The research alone serves as a good wake up call, but Dave — and some other notable Christian thinkers and practioners who comment at the end of each chapter — offer good thoughts on how the church can find a way forward…and undo the un.

Several weeks (er, months?) ago, I received a copy of Off-Road Disciplines, by Earl Creps, for review. With some reading for school behind me, I was finally able to sit down and give this book some proper attention.

After reading this book, more than anything, I am struck by Dr. Creps’ humility. It is clear that he is a lifelong learner who does not approach the discipline of writing as a chance to tout his wisdom, but to stimulate dialogue that even he wants to continue. I am thankful for the posture he takes, and I think it gives this book a broad appeal.

The premise of the book is helpful — he offers practices for a church leader who wants to be thinking more missionally. The book is not groundbreaking in terms of the content it offers, but is helpful for reflection. Perhaps because they most jive with my personality, I was especially appreciative of his words in chatper 7, on Assessment, and in chapter 9, on Reflection. Those two chapters add the most value to the book in making it a worthwhile read.

Here’s a few samples of the humility and thought that I found helpful, with my comments in italics:

• “I conclude that virtually every major error in judgment on issues of guidance in my life stems from attempting to go it alone, insisting on acting as the one others depend on rather than the one who needs to depend on others.” (pg. 81) That would be a taste of the humility I alluded to.
• “Statistical measurement addresses the important issue of what we are doing, but it neglects the more important question of why we are doing it. If the why question lacks priority, the what question ultimately tells us very little, and the potential of performance management to guide the ministry dissipates.” (pg 89)
• “But in our context, these fine ideas collided with the reality that our growing people had spontaneously found their way into informal networks that required minimal administrative support. In other words, all the good stuff happened in the cracks between our complicated programs. Our discussion that night led us to the question of how God was at work among us, and what God’s activity implied for our own.” (pg 136)

I probably only read 2-3 fictional titles a year. Reading a book like The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, reminds me that this is a genre I should probably dive into more.

The use of language is exquisite. Several times, I found myself rereading sentences just so I could appreciate how her words formed images and emotions in my mind.

The depth of the characters is equally stunning, and that is precisely what caused my soul to ache while reading it. The book is written in a first person narrative. However, it is not limited to the perspective of one. Each chapter is told through the perspective of one of four sisters as they experienced the life as the daughters of an ambitious, if not oblivious, missionary to the Congo. Each voice is unique, each soul is experienced, each character is real. And the daddy in me longed for a different life for these girls…

Quality of writing aside, Kingsolver provides a pointed critique of the colonial methods so prominent in 20th century missions. I’m not aware of what her background is, or what her intentions were in writing the book. I can only say that she brought me to a new place of considering what it means to be involved in the mission of the church, not just abroad, but across the road.

Last month, I read Exiles by Michael Frost. I resonated with his prior writing, The Shaping of Things to Come, a collaboration with Alan Hirsch. I was hoping that Exiles would pick up on some of the ideas from Shaping and help to take them further, and it was what I hoped for.

Exiles is deeply thoughtful in eccclesiology and theology, and yet I appreciate that it seems to be written not with the theologian or pastor in mind, but with any one who desires to be a follower of Jesus. This is critical since much of his premise is that it is lay people who need to be involved in thee real work of mission.

Here are a just a few bits that I underlined that I thought were worth further reflection:

• “Whether it is as simple as joining the local jogging club or as complex as owning a third-place business, most Christians can’t do it because they simply don’t have the time. The reason for this is that for most Christians their church has become their third place. Their churches soak up every bit of their spare time.” (pg. 62)
• “This plays into the classic postmodern belief that the truth can never be found at the center of society. It’s assumed these days that powerful hegemonies such as the legal system, the political system, big business, and the church can never be trusted because they have too much to lose if the truth were told.”… Conversely, many others believe that the truth can come only from the margins, from those who have nothing to love by telling it the way it really is. Only the most marginalized people — the gay and lesbian commnity, artists, filmmakers, the poor, the young–can show us the way forward.” (pg. 72)
• “When the language used by clergy and worship leaders is always loaded with hyper-real images and unlikely expectations, audiences slowly develop, first, a feeling of alienation. Public Christian discourse seems to regularly concern itself with happy Christian families, answered prayers, and parables with an obvious moral inserted in the punch line.” (pg. 96)
• “In fact, I realized that the inclusivity of sharing possessions, eating together, and gathering under the apostles’ teaching, as delicious as it seemed, was actually a contravention of Jesus’ command for them to take the gospel to the very ends of the earth.” (pg. 107)
• “In her book A Royal Waste of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World, Marva Dawn builds a biblical case against those who advocate turning worship into the congregation’s evangelistic tool, because this notion lets all believers cop out of their responsibility for reaching out to their neighbors by actually being the church. It is Dawn’s assumption that when a community of believers, churching together, meets to worship, they are formed more deeply into the people of God.” (pg. 287)

I haven’t posted reviews of anything I’ve been reading in quite a while. I have a few books that I want to devote a full post to, but these are some notable books that I thought were at least worth a recommendation:

Exclusion and Embrace, by Miroslav Volf
This book is probably one of the most important theological reflections of the last few decades. I read through it in a few weeks for a class. I know there is far more to it than I was able to fully digest, but the parts that stuck with me were profound. Definitely worth another read…

Silence, by Shusaku Endo
Read this next time you are in the mood for a novel. It’s translated from Japanese, but the writing is still beautiful in its descriptions. The story is haunting and is being made into a film to Francis Ford Coppola. Like most movies, I’d suggest you read the book first.

Affluenza, by John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H Naylor
I mostly read this book for a teaching I did at Pathways, but the content was intriguing. The presentation is fun without minimizing the serious message of the book. It would serve as a good introduction to anyone wanting to explore the effects of our consumer-driven and unsustainable culture.

Sex God, by Rob Bell
Rob continues to be a fresh voice for the church. The style of writing here is once again pretty simple to read through, but some of the thinking behind it deserves some time for processing.

The Last Week, by Marcus Borg and JD Crossan
Borg and Crossan have gained enough noteriety that I wonder if they just wrote this book knowing that it would sell based on subject matter and their names. The book was only average for me, but a few highlights made it worthwhile. The highest point was the chapter on Palm Sunday, which Mike Devries blogged about here.

Girl Meets God, by Lauren Winner
The title of this book is unfortunately trite, and does not do justice to the words tucked inside. This memoir of the author’s journey from Judaism to Christianity is both emotive and intelligent.

I finished a handful of books in the last month or so that I’ve not yet been able to get posted on here, but here’s a few thoughts on each:

The Writing Life — by Annie Dillard
This was an easy read, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped I might. I think I was hoping for something similar to Bird by Bird, but it read more like a memoir than some guidelines for writing. Maybe it was just discouraging because it made writing sound hard and lonely.

The Rise of the Creative Class — by Richard Florida
I can’t say I normally enjoy reading about sociology that much, but this one held my attention. The best synopsis I can give comes from a paragraph late in the book: “I fear we may well be splitting into two distinct societies with different institutions, different economies, different incomes, ethnic and racial makeups, social organizations, religious orientations and politics. One is creative and diverse — a cosmopolitan admixture of high-tech people, bohemians, scientists and engineers, the media and the professions. The other is a more close-knit, church-based, older civic society of working people and rural dwellers. The former is ascendant and likely to dominate the nation’s economic future. Not only are these places richer, faster growing and more technologically savvy, they are also attracting people.”

Extra Credit: For a good treatment of this book from the always thoughtful Tim Keller, download Christianity and the Creative Age.

Slaves, Women and Homosexuals — by William Webb
You’ve got to be intrigued about this one just because of the title. Webb describes how all three of these categories of human have something in common in that how they are treated in the Bible is often considered archaic by today’s culture. Webb does an in-depth study of how they are treated and shows the the Bible is always trying to advance the cause of women and slaves, but does not treat homosexuality in the same way. I think the first section alone is a worthwhile read for any serious student of the Bible.

Extra Credit: Read some of Scot McKnight’s thoughts on Webb’s work.

The Resurrection of the Son of God — by NT Wright
Geez. I started this one last summer sometime. 700-something pages later, I’m just happy to say I’m done.

I read Henri Nouwen’s Can You Drink the Cup? for a class I have this weekend. It’s a short and easy book, but stunning in it’s content.

I did a lot of underlining, but one simple little phrase jumped out for me:

That’s community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world.

One of the things we’ve wrestled with at Pathways is that it seems like community and mission can live in tension with each other. How can we balance the care for one another in the community with a receptiveness to those who aren’t a part of the Pathways community? I think Nouwen wipes that tension away here. Any understanding of community that does not include a sense of the mission of making God visible to others is incomplete.

I finished Soul Cravings on our vacation. (Out of the 10 or so I brought, it was the only one I finished…I guess I was feeling ambitious.)

I haven’t read Erwin McManus’ last few books after not really connecting much with Uprising. This one was a gift (thanks Dean!) so I thought I’d give it a try…glad I did.

Soul Cravings takes on a very conversational tone…almost Donald Miller like. It is divided into three sections, with each section have 22 or so “entries”. The entries are typically 2-3 pages. I like the basic format with the bite sized reads to reflect on. Each one contains plenty to think about. The lack of page numbers kind of drove me crazy — I find that I often glance at the number when I turn a page just to make sure I’m not skipping one.

The three sections are Intimacy, Destiny, and Meaning. Maybe the reason the book was so appealing to me was that I connect with these topics right now…especially the first two. The book apparently was written for anyone who is curious about the Christian faith, and these topics in general, but I think someone who is at any level on a Christian faith journey is going to appreciate the profound insights that McManus is able to bring again and again.

For the third year in a row (2004, 2005), here are my favorite books of the year. As I looked over the list of books I’ve read, I asked myself which ones have stirred the most thought and helped shape my thinking. Which ones initiated thoughts that continue to swirl around in my mind? There were other books that did some of this, but these books, I think, did this to the greatest degree. I recommend any of them. Here they are, presented in the order in which I read them:

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, by Anne Rice
Blog entries: christ the lord: out of egypt, theology as fiction
Her personal thoughts at the end make this book worth reading, but I loved the depth of her research into cultural setting of Jesus’ youth.

The Last Word, by NT Wright
Blog entries: the last word
I think much of the church in North America elevates the Bible almost to a position of idolatry. Wright’s thoughts helped me to clarify my own views of how the Bible should be valued and respected, but not elevated into a fourth member of the trinity.

Jesus Creed, by Scot McKnight
Blog entries: relationship, not perfection, jesus creed
I appreciate McKnight’s deep scholarship that is evident behind this book, yet how accessibly it is written for anyone to read. This book is an excellent look at how Jesus’ core teaching of loving God and others permeates his entire message.

Leadership and Self-Deception, by The Arbinger Institute
Blog entries: leadership and self-deception, the anatomy of peace
So many leadership books seem run of the mill to me as they offer their unique spin on a few steps to make a great leader. This book spins that all around as it forces the leader to look inward rather than just modify a few of their practices.

Colossians Remixed, by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat
Blog entries: colossians remixed
I consider this a new kind of commentary that takes a deep look at the historical context to which the text was written, and then tries to translate that message into our context. It has furthered my own interest in how important the historical context of any Bible text should be taken.

Simply Christian, by NT Wright
Blog entries: so what is christianity about?, simply worship, the field guide for new creation, simply christian
This book will be a valuable resource for years to come I think. I anticipate using it regularly as a book study for those who are new to or interesting in being part of our church community. Lays out an excellent and accessible groundword for what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, by Shane Hipps
Blog entries: right again, zach, the hidden power of electronic culture
This is a worthwhile read for anyone in church leadership. Hipps is well thought out on why kind of messages are sent out based on how we choose to communicate. Ultimately, the medium is the message, and he shows us just how true that is.

Confessions of a Reformission Rev, by Mark Driscoll
Blog entries: confessions of a reformission rev
Driscoll’s candor and openness make this an important read for anyone who has or hopes to plant a church. As arrogant as he comes across at times, there is a lot of transparency in this book as he shares things he learned in his own church planting journey.

Leadership Divided, by Ron Carucci
I read this book while I was deep in the midst of coursework, and sadly I never got around to blogging about it. This is an important book that describes the gap between the older generation of leaders and the up and coming generation. It is a noticeable gap that I’ve spent a lot of time trying to navigate. As a leadership consultant and a faculty member at Mars Hill Grad School, Ron is uniquely poised to speak to this gap, and I think his words are critical to anyone trying to grapple with this issue.

The Resurrection of the Son of God, by NT Wright
I’m kind of pulling a Zach by including this, because I haven’t actually finished it. But, because it’s so dang long, I’ve already read more pages of this book than any of the others listed above. Despite my bellyaching this summer about how lost I felt in my philosophy class, I learned a great deal about just how much Plato’s dualist thinking still influences our views of spirituality today. That class formed a great foundation for my reading of this book. Wright’s work goes to grand lengths to help us reconsider what a less dualistic view of resurrection — both Jesus’ and the future of humanity — looks like.

When I first saw Cities of God, the subtitle hooked me: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome. That captures two passions I’m carrying right now — the need to plant churches in urban areas, and Roman history. How could I not like this book?

Truthfully, I didn’t like it as much as I expected. It wasn’t a bad book, but it was as much about it’s own historical method as anything. I found value in much of the content, but the book was written more at a meta level of the role of churches in large urban settings rather than a more specific look at the life of the early church in the urban areas of the Roman Empire.

Those who are passionate about history will probably enjoy this book. Based on the subtitle, others might hope that this will help them form some kind of ecclesiology based on the methods of the early church’s expansion. They will be disappointed.

With the fall semester now officially behind me, I see lonely books calling from my bookshelf, wondering if they are doomed to be wallflowers. Each is pining to be sitting on my nightstand and catch drool as I struggle to stay awake.

So…with a vacation and then another few weeks without school ahead, here are some books I’m hoping to dig into a bit:

When I first saw that Donald Miller was going to release a book about growing up without a father, I was a little disappointed. It’s not that it’s a great subject, but I was never without my dad, and it just seemed like such a serious turn for him to take in his writing.

The flipside is, I enjoy Miller’s writing so much, I decided to pick it up anyway. So glad I did.

The book continues to carry his style which is so readable and so insightful all at the same time. I can’t express enough how much I appreciate this.

Even more than his writing, I appreciated his perspective on manhood. I think the homophobia that is so prevalent in Christian circles creates this need for a macho image of the Christian man. I loved Miller’s perspective that it is okay for him to own the John Hughes DVD collection and still be a man. So much is lost in a manhood that leaves no room for tenderness and creative expression. That message alone made the book worth reading for any man as far as I’m concerned.

Miller is a great thinker, and hopefully that isn’t lost in his ‘boy next door’ persona. I look forward to more books themed around difficult subjects.