Pocket Guide to the Bible

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I'm long overdue for some comments on Jason Boyett's Pocket Guide to the Bible: A Little Book About the Big Book.

1. The Boring Details. 

Boyett_1 This book, at just under 200 pages, comes in five parts...
    - The Biblicabulary (a glossary of terms)
    - Know Your Characters (a biblical role call)
    - The Bible at Breakneck Speed (an ill-advised plot summary)
    - Versions and Perversions (a guide to modern translations)
    - The Brief History of Holy Writ (an exhilarating timeline)

2. The Point.

From the introduction...

...a handy, easy-to-read, occasionally amusing guide to the Bible and its characters, events, translations, and history.

...the bible is the all-time best-selling book, one that most people own but apparently don't read, that lots of people read but apparently don't understand, and that people allegedly understand but in a way that makes them jerks....Let's see what the Pocket Guide can do about that. (p. xii)

3. The Skinny.

It's true.  Boyett has succeeded in putting together a Bible handbook for people who typically wouldn't read the Bible.  I found much of the content helpful and well-stated.  I occasionally didn't like the way he worded something, or presented the content.  But not more than most any other book.  And more often than not I was impressed with Boyett's ability to make the truth simple and concise.

It's funny.  I had to be careful where I read this book.  I caught myself laughing out-loud at Starbucks in front of people on more than one occasion.  At times the humor goes a little too far, but I typically enjoyed it and felt it not only made the book entertaining, but often aided in understanding.

Example entry from Biblicabulary...

BLOOD
    You know what blood is, so quite acting all uninformed.  Biblically speaking, blood becomes one of the most important symbolic concepts of the Jewish and Christian faiths.  Blood smeared on the doorframe protects the Israelites during the Passover.  Priests sprinkle the blood of sacrificial animal on the altar, and the people of God (in the Old Testament, at least) are prohibited from eating blood.  The blood of an animal -- because it represents life -- is the necessary ingredient in the process of atonement.  Which leads to the New Testament, in which people gain atonement for their sins through the innocent blood shed by Christ on the cross.
PLEASE USE IT IN A SENTENCE OR TWO: At the Last Supper, Jesus tells the disciples that the wine represents his blood.  But good Southern Baptists know that, though he says "wine," he really means "grape juice."
BIBLICAL EXAMPLE: "The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exod 12:13).

4. The Warning.

Look, if you spend all day trying to invent new ways to misrepresent and broadbrush young Christians as goatee-wearing hipsters who must be theologically liberal because their clothes weren't bought at the Men's Warehouse or they read magazines that have a sense of style, then this book isn't for you.  It will just make you mad because you probably really, really like to get mad at things that help younger generations learn the Bible in non-traditional ways.  So just move on and call LifeWay for less helpful resources (apologies to my many friends at LifeWay, who should do more to get the bulletin shell creators to stop putting soldiers on the cover every other week).

5. The Recommendation.

If you dare encouraging others to laugh and enjoy learning truth at the same time, get this little book for your young friend who needs a handy reference as they learn to read the Bible.  Some of the humor may be over-the-top for youth, so I recommend it for all twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings, but only thoughtfully for high-schoolers.

I also recommend Michael Spencer's 12 reasons to buy this book. 

I'm looking forward to reading Jason Boyett's other Pocket Guide books (Adulthood, Apocalypse) as well as A Guy's Guide to Life. 

600 Pages

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I recently read three books, each running about 200 pages.

Hsu_2 The first was The Suburban Christian by Albert Hsu.  I thought it was a very helpful book on suburban Christian spirituality that fills a gap in understanding life in suburbia.  There are points Hsu makes that I don't completely agree with, but all-in-all this is a good book worth checking out.

Simple The second was Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger.  I really wasn't sure what to expect since I hadn't read Rainer in near a decade.  I really enjoyed the book.  It was similar to something Andy Stanley might say (and at times has said), and I say that as a compliment.  If you are a pastor or church leader, this book will have plenty of good advice for you.

Speaking_1 The third and final read I both started and finished last night.  It was Speaking of Jesus by J. Mack Stiles.  This book has been on my shelf for a few years at least.  I really was looking to read a book that gave some practical, conversational helps.  I wasn't disappointed.  There were a few places where I wish Stiles would have taken a more missional approach, but as a whole I liked the book and would encourage my people to read it.  If you are looking for some practical advice on talking with people about Jesus there are many good things out there, and this book is a good one too.

The World Reconciled

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From whales to waterfalls, the whole created order has in principle been reconciled to God.  Like a sovereign making a proclamation and sending off his heralds to bear it to the distant corners of his empire, God has in Jesus Christ proclaimed once and for all that the world which he made has been reconciled to him.  His heralds, scurrying off to the ends of the earth with the news, are simply agents, messengers, of this one antecedent authoritative proclamation.

N.T. Wright in TNTC: Colossians and Philemon (on Colossians 1:23), p 85.

The Task of Evangelism

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The task of evangelism is...best understood as the proclamation that Jesus is already Lord, that in him God's new creation has broken into history, and that all people are therefore summoned to submit to him in love, worship and obedience.  The logic of this message requires that those who announce it should be seeking to bring Christ's Lordship to bear on every area of human and worldly existence.  Christians must work to help create conditions in which human beings, and the whole created world, can live as God always intended.

N.T. Wright in TNTC: Colossians and Philemon (on Colossians 1:19-20), 79-80.

Sermon Cloud

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My buddy Drew Goodmanson has some good news about Sermon Cloud.  This is a cool idea you need to check out.  Here's some info...

Sermon Cloud is a website for a community to interact with sermons. What are the powerful sermons people are listening to? Who are the up-and-coming preachers of the day? Where are the messages about themes that you need to hear? How can you find a great preacher in your home town? Sermon Cloud was designed to help you with all of these questions.  Sermon Cloud users help let each other know which sermons they amen. An 'amen' is a recommendation of the sermon. Users can post comments about their interaction with these sermons (even the comments can be designated as helpful or unhelpful). Sign-up for free to begin interacting, commenting and recommending sermons
today!

For Churches and Preachers: Sermon Cloud offers churches FREE Advanced Sermon Syndication & mp3 services. Are you interested in podcasting, syndicating and using all the other 'Web 2.0' buzzwords for your church? Sermon Cloud Features include Resampling mp3's to be optimized for the internet, Syndicating content (Integrating directly into iTunes store, syndicating through RSS feeds.), Displaying recent sermons on your church website, Podcasting mp3, Sermon Streaming capability in our Jukebox player, Tagging System, Commenting on sermons, Community recommending sermons, Searching for sermons and more...

Suburban Christian: Place and Anonymity

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When we speak of "community," we usually mean it in the sense of affinity groups, like the arts community, the African American community, the gay/lesbian community, the Christian community.  Lost today is the sense of physical community, in which "community" refers to a particular geographic area or neighborhood that anchors us and defines us. (p 117)

The chief antidote to suburban anonymity and isolationism may well be the Christian practice of hospitality. (p 132)

Both from Albert Hsu's The Suburban Christian.

SWBTS & Tongues

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Gotta love the SBC.  Dude shows up at Southwestern Seminary to preach at their chapel service.  He drops the prayer language (tongues) bomb on Paige Patterson and the bunch.  Hilarious man.  Who could have called this one?  So Paige "rebukes" him and refuses to make the video of the message public like other chapel sermons.

Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson has issued anextraordinary rebuke to the Rev. Dwight McKissic, a seminary trustee and prominent Arlington pastor, for acknowledging during a chapel service that he sometimes speaks in tongues when he prays.

Burleson responds,

Private prayer language is not the issue. The issue to me is that a man who holds a position that is well within the bounds of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message Statement is being silenced and censored.

We’ve got to create a climate within the Southern Baptist Convention where dissent is welcome, where dialogue is open and where disagreements can be accepted.

Suburban Christian: Creativity

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The opposite of consumption is production.  It takes far more time and energy to create something than to consume something.  It takes a novelist a year to write a book that someone can read in a few days.  A cast and crew of thousands spend years to create a film that will be viewed in two hours.  Often our only recreational activities are actions of consumption.  What an alternative it is, then, to rediscover the wonder and delight of creativity.

Albert Hsu in The Suburban Christian, page 87.

The Suburban Christian

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HsuI just got Albert Hsu's The Suburban Christian and immediately read about half of it last night.  I'm really enjoying it.  What I find fascinating is the way Hsu speaks of suburbia in much the same way some speak of the city.  Here are a couple of quotes.

Suburbia has become the context and center of millions of people's lives, and decisions and innovations made in suburbia influence the rest of society.  If Christians want to change the world, they may well do so by having a transformative Christian impact on suburbia and the people therein. (27-28)

While an individual suburb might not be a microcosm of the total city, it is an essential slice of the larger metropolis that cannot be partitioned off or seen in isolation, just as a traditional local urban neighborhood is an essential component of the whole city. (29)

Future of Church Planting

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Drew Goodmanson has given Five Trends for the Future of Church Planting.

1.  A move from denominationalism is going to radically alter church planting. Local smaller churches will partner together to plant churches.  Larger churches will follow in Redeemer's footsteps and be more concerned with planting gospel-centered churches, than churches of their own denomination. Already, our church in San Diego  has leaders as well as partners from multiple denominations.

2. Church planting networks will merge, collaborate and partner to more effectively plant churches.  For example, Todd Wilson, behind the 2006 National New Church Conference  started a Church Planting Network, whose aim is to, "help champion an explosive expansion of new reproducing churches through an alliance of collaborative church planting networks."  He has already seen this shift begin in a couple networks.  Even next years New Church Conference states the goal of, "helping church plant leaders to the next level of collaboration.  Together we can experience exponential growth of new churches in our generation."  At last years conference, Bob Roberts of Glocalnet gave an impassioned plea to the leaders of many of the church planting networks in this regard at a dinner for church planting networks and sponsors of the conference.

3. In America, churches will be planted at a faster rate in the next twenty years than we have witnessed before.  God, Technology (see #5 re: video venue), technique (mutli-site) and theological urgency will drive this.  More and more of the pastors will come from the laity.  In this same period, established churches clinging to methods will die at a faster rate than ever before.

4. Philosophy/worldview, world events and a renewed focus on kingdom/gospel/mercy ministries will contribute to a revival in America.  First, in America postmodernism (particularly the view of truth being relative) will be replaced as people are confronted with radical and extreme views.  Second, the increase in chaos in the world and a shift in our economy will drive people away from worldview complacency.  Lastly, expressions of mercy and a greater gospel cooperation (1 & 2) will create a greater witness of the church. Those who hold to the gospel and focus on gospel ecumenism will thrive; liberal churches will lose their identity trying to be relevant.

5.  More churches will be planted without the role of a preaching pastor. Many church plant organizations will promote the use of 'best of' or license videos from top preachers across America.  Already there have been churches who have licensed Willow Creek material for tens of thousands (I heard $50k) a year.  Others will simply pick series that they believe will draw the biggest crowd.  There already is one church plant that has grown to over 600 within a couple months using this method.  (Someone could probably make some good money by contacting all the 'big name' pastors and create a company that licenses their work to churches.)

Gospel & Our Culture Network

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The Gospel and Our Culture Network has a revamped site which looks good.  If you are unfamiliar with GOCN, here's some info from their site...

The Gospel and Our Culture Network has been spawned by:

  • the cultural currents of Western society and ethnic tradition that have shaped how we live in North America.

  • the rapid changes taking place as we move from a "modern" to "postmodern" form of society.

  • the growing un-ease of the church as it experiences a dislocation from its prior places of importance.

The aim is to explore what these things mean, under the light of the gospel, for the life and witness of the church.

[...]

The network offers companionship for Christian leaders and groups eager to work together with others who share similar concerns. It brings together people from a wide spectrum of churches -- from Mennonite to Roman Catholic, from Anglican to Southern Baptist -- and a range of local ministry settings.

  • It puts theological educators and ministry practitioners into fruitful contact with each other so that effective strategy and sound theory may be wedded together.

  • It provides mutual encouragement between denominational administrators and local congregational leaders to discover models of the church capable of sustaining a living and faithful witness to the gospel in our contemporary world.

  • It encourages the formation of local groups in which pastoral and lay leaders of congregations work together to develop practical responses to contemporary challenges.

  • It makes available resources and materials to facilitate vision and change in the missional life of the church.