Take the Lid Off Your Church by Tony Morgan

Recently I was awarded a pre-release copy of a book written by Tony Morgan entitled, "Take the Lid Off Your Church."  I agreed to read it and offer a review, so here goes.

The general idea of book is to assist churches with some answers to questions that are generally raised concerning building a  "senior leadership team." One thing I love about this book is the length. I would compare it to the book of Philippians in that you can read the whole thing in one sitting but the principles and ideas would take a lifetime to master. Tony gets straight to the major questions and offers both biblical and first hand advice on how to address leadership team issues like who should be on the team, what the team should look like,  when to build the team and re-build the team, as well as what the role of the team should be.

Little time is spent on church models that don't include this "senior leadership team" structure but I can only assume, that would be a whole book in itself. One thing I didn't like about the book was the commercial for other products offered by the author but most books these days are doing that. I just hope the web links are timely, meaning in twenty years, will they still be there and available.

Ultimate Recommendation: If you are on a church leadership team or even in a position of authority involved in church leadership, these are truly questions you should be asking. Buy the Book! It is a great resource to look back to and offers precise knowledge that can be found quickly. Totally worth it.

She Is Totally Famous

Wow, I remember a time when I used to blog. It most definitely has not been recent. I pray you are all doing well today. I have not stopped blogging because I have nothing more to say but because I haven't had the time to type it out. I need to invent a thought dictation machine then is waterproof so I can use in in the shower each morning. Of course then I would have to edit out the random thoughts like, "man I need to trim my nose hairs." But seriously, I do have something to blog about today that I should have said a few months back.

My awesome wife has been published! This may be old news to some but I happen to still think it is awesome and we just did a message on Providential Relationships at church and that is what this book is all about. What Book? Wess Stafford has published a book called Just a Minute. If you look at the photos on the top of this blog (sorry if your viewing in a reader or email) you will see the pictures of people in my life that had an impact on me. Most had more than a minute but some of the wisdom and humor that was imparted took just a minute to for me to digest. That moment when you all of a sudden "get it." I have heard it referred to as the "Ah Ha moment." So in Wess' book, my wife was chosen to be published and share her story about a person who had an impact in her life. I hope you will get a copy and read it. Oh yeah, the other stories are great as well.

Check out the book and video below and I hope you will take a minute to share your wisdom with a child in your life. Even if you only get a minute.

Why No More Dreaded Mondays?

This is my first attempt at a book review. I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. "No More Dreaded Mondays" by Dan Miller is about exactly what the title describes. The basic idea is to not dread Monday mornings anymore and how to like Mondays as well as Fridays.

In chapter one Mr. Miller tells you why you need to read his book and basically states the obvious about why you bought the book to begin with, you hate Mondays! He gives some background on his life because, well I don't know why, but he tells you about it anyway and it has nothing to do with Mondays but is interesting none the less. My favorite part about this chapter is the title, even though none of us can accomplish this: "Don't Be 'Stupid'."

The next chapters offer more of the same, stories about other people that have made career changes or changes at their workplace to help them feel "more" fulfilled along with random statements that you will find all the answers you need in this book. Maybe my review of this book is tainted since I wrote it on a Friday and not a Monday but in our time and our economy, making statements like, "No one needs to feel trapped in a dead-end-job -- there are too many choices available. It doesn't matter if you trained to be a plumber, an assembly-line worker, a physician, a dentist, or a schoolteacher. It's never too late to change careers or change things about your current career to make it a better fit." just offer false hope. This only works for some people in some areas with some levels of health and some level of ability to learn or comprehend.

Are there ideas I like? Yes. I like the idea of not blaming others including God for the things that happened to you in your life. I also like the fact that Mr. Miller seeks counsel in the Bible for making decisions and principles for living life. In fact, if you can't read any of this book at least glean the insight out of chapters 4 and 7. Readers would likely enjoy the standard "life coach" steps of identifying, planning, and doing stuff.

Finally, the real issue here is the entitlement being promoted. Do we really deserve to be happy all the time!? As people we need to realize and digest the fact that it is not about us. We are where we are because providence has placed us there. Why am I at a job I dread? My family needs to be taken care of so my happiness is a small price to pay for the joy one has in taking care of their home. Our hope is in Christ and living a Christian life requires a lot of suffering. Allowing your life to speak through the suffering a message of love is what will make others want to suffer along with you and partake of the joy you demonstrate. My recommendation, Don't quit your job to do what you want to do. Ever. You will thank me later.