What are You Reading?

Back in January of this year my oldest son, Justin, challenged me to increase the amount of time that I dedicated to reading and to personal enrichment. He had made a personal commitment to read 35 books this year and dared me to do the same. Bravely, I accepted the challenge. Now, I must confess that I am behind the pace that I need to be on, but in the process I have read some tremendous books and some not-so-good ones. Below is a brief synopsis on some of the books that I have read this year.

Radical

David Platt challenges 21st century Christians to trade in the selfish and misguided goals that have been labeled "The American Dream" for the purpose of using their time, talents and possessions for a global purpose. This is an excellent book that I highly recommend for our church family.

The Reason for God

This is tremendous book on contemporary apologetics. Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, answers many of the questions that are being asked by today's post-modern world: Why does God allow suffering? How could a loving God send people to Hell? Why isn't Christianity more inclusive? This book might take you some time to carefully read, but it is well worth the effort.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer

Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Deitrich Bonhoeffer was an emminent Pastor, theologian and author that lived in Germany during the 1930's and 40's.  He is best known for his classic book The Cost of Discipleship. In this book you will not only read about Bonhoeffer's ministry, but also his involvment in the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.  This is an extremely enjoyable book, especially for those that enjoy reading about WWII history.

Love Wins

Without a doubt this is one of the most controversial and debated books of 2011.  Rob Bell, who had previously written Velvet Elvis, takes a critical look at the beliefs of evangelical Christianity. He completly deconstructs everything that we believe the Bible teaches about Heaven, Hell, the death of Christ on the cross and our eternal future.  By no means do Bell's belief's fall within mainstream evangelicalism, and I would find them to be heretical.  As Pastor Kevin DeYoung declared in his critic of the book http://tinyurl.com/4mje4xd Bell is weak in his exegesis, history, eschatology, Christology and soteriology.  In other words, he is trying to reinvent what we believe as evangelical Christians.  

Other recommended books:

The Cost of Discipleship - Deitrich Bonhoeffer
Crazy Love - Francis Chan
Forgotten God - Francis Chan
A Hole in Our Gospel - Richard Stearns

Confessions of a New Pastor

In just a few weeks I will complete my first nine months as Pastor of Hollywood Community Church. Although I have been in ministry for almost thirty years, this is my first Senior Pastorate in the United States. It has been a remarkable experience. Below are some random and sometimes rambling observations of my first nine months as a pastor.

1. I love what I am doing! I can honestly say that I am having the time of my life. One pastor expressed such feelings this way, "A job may pay the bills, but a calling feeds the soul. I am so blessed that I get paid to exercise my obsession." That is certainly the way that I feel.

2. I am humbled by the love and the praise that my church family heaps on me. There is rarely a day that goes by that I am not showered by love and undeserved praise.

3. I am constantly reminded that I can only do my job and fulfill my calling by the power of the Holy Spirit. This reminder comes after regular failures of trying to do minstry by my own power.

4. I am called to model holiness. WOW! How hard is that? That just might be my most important calling and responsibility as a pastor.

5. Prayer is the most important thing that I do every day.

6. I do not pray enough! Why can't I begin every day remembering that prayer is the most important thing that I do every day? It's like I have to learn the lesson over and over again every day.

7. I need more faith!

8. There is not enough time in the day to get everything that I think that I need to get done.

9. My greatest weakness is my inability to realize that my identity is not found in my success as a pastor, but rather in my daily relationship with Jesus Christ.

10. I am continually learning the important role that the pastor's wife plays in her husband's ministry. Quite honestly, I could not do my job or fulfill my ministry without the support and the assistance of my wife, Vickie.

11. I must spend more of my time encouraging, mentoring and listening to our staff. They are an extremely talented team and they play a major role in the success of our minsitry.

12. The involvement of lay leaders and volunteers is one of the key ingredients in successful church ministry.

13. I am continually learning the importance of a long-term pastorate. I am praying that God will allow me to spend the rest of my ministry years at Hollywood Community Church.

Well, that is all for now. I am confident that I have much more to learn in the next nine months. Please pray with me and for me that God would enable me to be the servant leader and the loving pastor that God desires for me to be.