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Book Review: Primal

December 17, 2009 in Book Review, Discipleship, Ethos, Experience, Leadership, Life, Ministry, Mission, Resources with Comments Off

One of my favorite authors, Mark Batterson, has a great new book called “Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity.” I got my hands on an advanced copy and finished reading it earlier this week. I want you to know that this is Mark’s best book yet.

The challenge of “Primal” is to get back to the basic element of Christianity. Len Sweet once remarked that the best picture of the church is that of a swing. The power of a swing comes from the point where we lean back and kick forward. In order for the church to make an impact in the future we must be willing to lean back- past all church traditions and dogmas- all the way into the arms of Jesus. When we do that, we can then move powerfully into the future with the Gospel message. For Mark, the essence of the Gospel message- the most basic element- is living out the call of the Greatest Commandment. That’s the heart of the Gospel. Well.. the heart, soul, mind, and strength of the Gospel.

If Jesus said that loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is the most important commandment, then doesn’t it logically follow that we ought to spend an inordinate amount of our time and energy trying to understand it and obey it? We can’t afford to merely good at the Great Commandment. We’ve got to be great at the Great Commandment.”

The book divided into 4 sections to highlight the different facets of the Greatest Commandment that Jesus brings to our attention. Mark “reimagines” these elemants as follows:

The heart of Christianity is primal compassion
The soul of Christianity is primal wonder
The mind of Christianity is primal curiosity
The strength of Christianity is primal energy

Mark’s power as a writer comes from his ability to weave his heart and passion for the things of God into every story, every bullet point, and every conclusion. You become enthralled in the quest because Mark is enthralled with the quest. Mark Batterson is the real deal. He is a loving husband and father who loves his church and wants to introduce everyone to his Savior. You will not be disappointed by this book.

Here’s a great challenge for you. Make “Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity” the first book you read in 2010. As we start a brand new decade begin by working out your heart, soul, mind, and body to reconnect to the Gospel of Jesus. Start 2010 as a part of the primal movement to rediscover the Greatest Commandment for your life.

Disclaimer:This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.

Matt Chandler’s Philippians Top 10

August 27, 2009 in Bible Study, Discipleship, Ministry, Mission, Wrestling With Scripture with Comments Off

In this blog post from The Resurgance Matt Chandler writes the top 10 reasons he wanted to teach on the book of Philippians. Gotta love this list.

1) How the church began. Acts 16: Lydia is a wealthy Asian (Thyatira); the slave girl is an oppressed Greek, and the jailer was a middle class Roman. All were transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the diversity of that cast.

2) The book teaches that the gospel advances regardless of circumstance (Phil. 1:12-18). In an age where it is not uncommon to hear that you can put God into your debt by behaving, I thought this was extremely important.

3) Paul’s cry “To live is Christ and die is gain!” How could he not say that! Lydia was wealthy, religious, and empty; the slave girl was bitter, oppressed, and angry; and the Roman jailer was indifferent and cruel. All were lost in their lives. What else would you live for?

4) The book clearly teaches humility in the life of a believer. We can’t hear that topic enough (Philippians 2).

5) Paul ferociously outlines the reasons to pursue Christ (Phil. 3:1-11).

6) Then, he follows it up by teaching how to pursue Christ (Phil. 3:12-21).

7) Chapter 4 talks about what the heart and mind of a man of God look like. This is invaluable information as there seems to be some confusion on this matter.

8) Contentment is a gift more precious than jewels (Phil. 4:10-19).

9) It gave me a chance to remind everyone that Philippians 4:13 isn’t about playing sports, making the team, or being successful in business.

10) Because if I can help us be “the lights of this world holding fast to the word of life” I would humbly and gladly spend my life doing so.

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Mission Trip 09 Part 2

August 17, 2009 in Awesomenessness, Discipleship, Mission, Prayer, Summer, Youth Ministry with Comments Off

So I had just found out that the homeless shelter that we had planned to serve while on our mission trip was broke and on the brink of closing. We would no longer have a place to serve. That’s it. End of story. This was creating a giant black hole right in the middle of our mission trip.

When I was scheduling places for us to serve, a food bank in Atlanta had given me a list of non-profits that could host our group. I called the first one on the list: Project Open Hand.

Within 20 minutes we had scheduled time to deliver meals on Friday and Saturday and to pack meals on Monday for the clients of Open Hand.

Remember when I had prayed to God to step in a save our trip? He was about to deliver… big time.

On Friday & Saturday we delivered meals all over the city of Atlanta. We were welcomed into apartments and homes and we were able to pray with many of the families. It was an eye opening experience for all of us. We saw men and women of all shapes and sizes, backgrounds and classes. We met disabled people and we met the terminally ill. It seemed that no matter what the circumstance, these people were thankful for the little bit that they had. Some even offered to pray for us! It was such a blessing. Of course, we met difficult people and some simply reached a hand out the door, snatched the bags of food, and were gone. These were few and far between though.

We overwhelmingly had an incredible few days at Open Hand. On that Monday, I think we pack closed to 3000 meals. That is not a typo – Three thousand meals for people in Atlanta. Only by the grace of God!

The whole focus of our trip had started out to be aimed directly at ministering and serving the homeless of Atlanta. We were still scheduled to do this on Saturday night and Sunday morning. However by Saturday afternoon I had begun to wonder whether or not we would still be able to do this in a meaningful way. Again, I guess I underestimated how God would answer our prayers.

To Be Concluded in part 3

Mission Trip 09 Part 1

July 31, 2009 in Mission, Prayer, Youth Ministry with 1 Comment

Three weeks out from our mission trip to Atlanta I knew something was wrong.

I had been planning for this trip for the better part of the year. My desire was to take my teens to another large American city similar to the DFW area to work with homeless and those living below the poverty line. After talking with a few Atlanta ministers back in February I contacted a local homeless shelter and signed our group up to work there for the week of our trip. After Spring Break, I call just to reconfirm and iron out a few details. Everything seemed on track. We would work for the better part of the days in the shelter serving, meeting, and sharing with the men and women of the shelter. I was excited. My teens were excited. This was going to be a great trip.

Like I said though, three weeks out I wasn’t so sure. As we were returning from camp, while my teens slept in the van, I called the shelter again just to re-reconfirm.

“Who are you again?” the voice on the line said. “When are you coming? Ok, Someone will call you back.”

That day came and went without a phone call. The same story the next day. Something was up.

Very long story short… The shelter was nearly bankrupt. They had been cutting staff right and left. Our trip had been lost in the turmoil. They had no idea we were coming and they couldn’t promise to even have something for us to do once we got there. Oh snap!

Have you ever had a moment where the bottom dropped out? That is exactly how I felt. What were we going to do? Time was running out and the bulk of our trip was now, not just in jeopardy but, out of commission.

God, what are we going to do now? Father please help me, help us! You have to step in right now God!

If I had ever doubted whether or not God hears the prayers of the desperate I was about to be shown the power of what an Almighty God can do. Yes, he heard my prayer(s) but not even I could have expected how greatly these prayers would be answered over the course of our trip.

To Be Continued…
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