Staying amazed

Recently I had the great privilege of meeting some missionaries who work in a challenging part of the world. What struck me the most about them was not the incredible stories (although they certainly had those). It was how they talked about some of the individuals who had come to faith as a result of God's work through their ministry. They were still excited about the salvation of these friends even though it had happened some time ago. Their thankfulness to God was really clear.

I found that so convicting and inspiring. We can easily become numb to the significance of someone becoming a Christian. Maybe it is because we already know a lot of people who have become Christians. Maybe it is because we underestimate the importance of salvation because all we can see is any outward change, not what is going on spiritually. Whatever the reason, it is easy to slip into living like people becoming Christians doesn't matter that much.

It matters. It really does. That someone who was in rebellion against God would become a child of God, that Jesus would take their sins, that they would move from spiritual death to life is astounding. It is amazing and worth being thankful for.

That amazement should also fuel how we work to spread the message. It is easy to get complacent about talking about the gospel or to get frustrated with the administrative side of running evangelistic events. I try to remind myself when there is yet more organizing to do for the ministry I'm involved in how significant it would be if someone we were reaching out to became a Christian. With that in mind the effort seems so much more worth it.

Book review: John MacArthur- Slave

Slave
John MacArthur

In Slave, John MacArthur teaches readers what it means to be a slave of Christ

The idea of being a slave to Christ is a good one to discuss as it isn’t something we talk about often. Some of the historical detail of what slavery actually entailed in the 1st century were also quite interesting. Despite this good potential, I wasn’t particularly impressed by the book. One weakness of the book is that it feels a bit repetitive. I occasionally wondered if I had accidently skipped the audiobook back a chapter or two. It would have been much better to deal with this material in the context of the other ways the bible explains our relationship to God rather than stretching it out to a book on its own. That would solve the repetitiveness and give a much fuller understanding. The other thing that frustrated me was the extensive discussion about how the Greek word for slave has been allegedly mistranslated in many English Bible translations. While it is quite possible that slave is indeed the better translation, I worry that the force with which it was argued may lead some new or weak Christians to doubt the reliability of their English bible translation.

I “read” this book in audiobook. It was nice to have the book narrated by the author as many audiobooks are not. His speaking style works well for audiobook.

Overall, this book didn’t impress me enough to recommend reading it in full. Reading the concluding summary chapter is probably enough.


Review copy courticy of christianaudio.com

Book review: Sheila Walsh- The Shelter of God's Promises

The Shelter of God's Promises
Sheila Walsh

In The Shelter of God’s Promises, Sheila Walsh seeks to show readers the promises God has made that they can rely on when life is tough.

Too often I have seen biblical promises misused- often giving the impression that God has promised to always bless them materially, always heal straight away and generally solve all their problems promptly. Thankfully this book does not fall into that trap. The book is clear that while God does not always make things happen the way we would like or hope but is even clearer that God is faithful and trustworthy. The book is full of illustrations, both from her own life and the bible. I was particularly struck and moved by her exploration of Mary’s faithfulness to God in difficult and confusing circumstances.

Sheila’s books often seem to be marketed towards women however I think this one could be of benefit to any Christian. It would be of particular benefit to someone facing difficult circumstances. The book also includes extensive study questions so it may be a good choice for some book groups.


Review copy courtesy of booksneeze.com

Book review: Tony Morgan: Killing cockroaches

Killing Cockroaches
Tony Morgan

In Killing Cockroaches, Tony Morgan shares some of what he has learned about leadership, particularly in the church context.

Style wise, the book reads like a not very well organised blog. The chapters are short and don’t seem to be grouped into any topical or logical order. This style is not a necessarily a bad thing, it may be quite a good thing for busy leaders looking for some quick help and encouragement. Given the structure of the book it may be easier to read one chapter a time than to try readings straight through many chapters in the same sitting.

A lot of the advice deals with the style and structure of how we do church ministry. Some of it is quite worthwhile. I do wonder though if the importance of being relevant is over-stated in the book. It is indeed a good thing to not create unnecessary barriers due to style however it is God not our efforts that change people and sometimes what needs to be said and what people are interested in hearing is different. Some of the people I’ve seen who are most effective at reaching out probably wouldn’t rank highly on most measures of being cool or relevant. It would be best to read this book alongside something about the substance of the message that the style and structure Killing Cockroaches talks about is meant to serve.

Other advice is more general and includes topics like focusing on what matters most, delegation, and creating healthy organisations. This material could be useful for people in any leadership context, not just the church.


Review copy courtesy of B&H Publishing Group and NetGalley

Resource roundup 9 March 2011

Free Elevation Worship remixes
Elevation Worship have put out some remixes of some of their latest songs for free. I really enjoyed them. The remixes don't sound like typical worship music.

Free R.S Sproul audiobook
This month's free audiobook at christianaudio is The Holiness of God by R.C Sproul

9Marks eJournal
The current issue of the 9Marks eJournal looks at issues surrounding para-church ministries. As someone involved in an interdenominational campus ministry, I found it to be interesting and thought provoking reading.

Book review: Michelle McKinney Hammond- The Real Skinny on Losing It

 The Real Skinny on Losing It
 Michelle McKinney Hammond

In The Real Skinny on Losing It, Michelle McKinney Hammond tries to encourage and empower women to loose weight by sharing what she has learned on her own weight loss journey.

The author has quite a distinctive writing style involving a quite conversational tone and a lot of American slang. Unfortunately another aspect of her writing style was being a bit repetitive at times. One of the big ideas of the book is taking personal responsibility for your weight. This is true and important but hearing it over and over again started to get a bit wearing. She also tends to quote scripture fairly often but due to the out of context way it tended to get used this is not a good book to look at for a biblical perspective on health and weight-loss.

The book gives a lot of advice in regards to various diets. Some of it is solid common sense stuff that is worth people being reminded of however I am not convinced that it is all good advice. The author is not a doctor or nutritionist and some of the diets she recommends seem a bit questionable.

While some readers may find her stories encouraging and the book to be motivating, on the whole it is not one I would recommend.



Review copy courtesy of Tyndale Blog Network