Change or Die by Alan Deutschman
Change or Die is an excellent presentation of how people change. I found more useful information in Deutschman’s book than in anything I have read all year. What DOESN’T change people? Facts. Fear. Force. Yet these three Fs represent most of our efforts to get folks to change their ways (and most of my sermons). What DOES work? Three Rs - Relationships with a community of changing people; Repetition of the disciplines and practices that change us; and Reframing our view of the value of change. It sounds like stuff the church ought to be good at.
I give Change or Die a 9 out of 10.
Thanks to MHCC member Chip Eichelberger for recommending the Fast Company article by Deutschman that preceded this book.
Sunday Seven
- Vinyl records may kill the CD, according to this persuasive, nostalgic Wired story. And check out Amazon’s new and growing vinyl store.
- Sleep-deprivation can set kids back several years. Chronic sleep-deprivation during formative years can cause permanent changes in brain structure. From NY Magazine via How to Change the World.
- Don’t let shame over sexual sin destroy you. A frank article by John Piper on a healthy, healing way of dealing with failure. From Christianity Today.
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins blog. Regularly-updated thoughts on character and faith from Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite.
- Something has gone wrong with caring. People respond by the thousands about the plight of an animal in a TV show, and shed not a tear for a murder victim. This Wired article demonstrates clarity on the problem but a lack of moral language to name a solution.
- Your National Do-Not-Call registration may soon expire. It has been five years since the list originally went into service, which means that the earliest adopters need to sign up again. From Lifehacker.
- Rob Bell’s teaching. If you have been enjoying Rob Bell in the Nooma video series on Sunday nights, here’s where you can find his weekly teaching. He’s also on iTunes, of course.
Sermon: Following Jesus downward toward greatness
2. Following Jesus downward toward greatness.
October 28, 2007
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unChristian - by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
We’ll know in a year if unChristian really is as life-changing as I have made it out to be in my preaching. I’ve gotten hot about other books or concepts before, only to forget them. But the truth in unChristian is too important for that.
The research behind this book shows that 91% of those under 29 think that the best word to describe evangelical Christians is “antihomosexual”. 87% choose the word judgmental and 85% said we’re hypocritical. And Kinnaman and Lyons show that these aren’t people who don’t know us. This generation has a surprising familiarity with church. They have been to our Sunday Schools and VBSs and camps. And this is what they see?
unChristian lays out not only problems but paths toward solution. With God’s help, the truth here will help focus my preaching and our church into a rebirth.
unChristian gets a 9 out of 10 from me.
Thanksgiving and our new way of thinking at MHCC
Dear friends and MHCC family,
I have been speaking the last few weeks about our desperate need to turn our focus outward and let our light shine before men and women so they may see our good deeds and give glory to God. Thanksgiving provides us with a chance to do just that.
Our annual MHCC Thanksgiving Dinner will happen on Sunday, November 18 at 6p. I look forward to this event more than almost anything we do all year - because of the food, of course, and also the friendship.
There is absolutely no question that many of us (most of us) have been blessed this year with much more than we need. The fact is, my Thanksgiving meal with you will be only the first of several I eat this year. It is probably the same with most of you.
That blessing gives us a great opportunity to provide for many others before we sit down to our Thanksgiving meal. I want MHCC to do this in three ways:
- Let’s raise $1,074 for Knox Area Rescue Ministries’ Thanksgiving Dinner fund. According to their Thanksgiving letter, KARM offers homeless folks “a traditional Thanksgiving meal, including turkey and all the trimmings”...plus “a chance to get off the streets for good through counseling, job training and the message of hope found in Jesus Christ.” The price for each Thanksgiving meal is a surprisingly low $1.79. I figure we could have 300 or so at our dinner, so why don’t we pay for twice that many at KARM? 600 dinners there amounts to $1,074.
- Let’s collect those 150 gift boxes for the Lakota kids we met on this summer’s trip to South Dakota. The information you need is here. Remember that these shoe boxes of small gifts will be Christmas presents for some desperately poor kids (perhaps their ONLY Christmas presents). Many of you have brought in blankets and we thank you for that.
- Let’s welcome to our dinner those guests we have served recently through our food pantry and benevolence fund. Over the next several weeks we will be inviting these friends and praying that they will come. Can I count on you to warmly welcome and share a table with ANY guests who happen to eat with us?
I LOVE our annual Thanksgiving dinner, and I want to stress that none of this grows out of guilt for enjoying a blessing. On the contrary, it is out of thanksgiving for our great blessings that we can rejoice to respond in this way. Let’s make this meal a time of great celebration for what God has done through us for some of his beloved people in Knoxville and South Dakota.
Enjoy God today.
Dennis
P. S. - A few details…
- The KARM offering must be concluded by Sunday, November 11. We prefer that you make your checks directly to KARM, but please bring or mail them to MHCC or put them in the plate. You CAN make checks to MHCC if you will designate it for KARM on the memo. Also, any funds KARM raises in excess of its needs for the meal will be used in other ways for its ministry. We’re good with that, right?
- The Lakota gift boxes must be turned in by November 18, the night of our meal. If you include a check to help with transportation costs, make it out to MHCC.
Deadly Viper Character Assassins by Mike Foster, Jud Wilhite
I didn’t have high expectations for Deadly Viper Character Assassins. After all, it was a free gift at Catalyst. But after hearing an interview with the authors, Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite, I decided to give it a try. I loved it.
DVCA is a beautifully-designed book that plays on a tongue-in-check tribute to martial arts, graphic novels and even a little of Kill Bill. And the content on the pleasingly-designed pages is practical and valuable. DVCA takes on the temptations that threaten our character - money, sex, power, busyness, ego, out-of-control emotions, and self-deception. Each chapter is pointed in its application and interesting to read. DVCA is the kind of book I’d like to build a small group around. The excellent Deadly Viper web site adds to the whole experience.
I give this one a 9 out of 10 - highly recommended.
Marshall Goldsmith: What Got You Here…
In this blog’s sidebar is a fairly current list of books that I have been reading. For the next little while, I plan to post brief summary-reviews of the books I have finished this Summer and Fall. You should be able to read each review in under a minute. Most of the older books in my library (see bottom of sidebar) already have short reviews. Enjoy.
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What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith
8 out of 10
This is one I need to re-read often. I expected What Got You Here to be about organizational change - how the things that helped our church grow to 300 won’t get us to 500. But instead the focus is on behavior and personality issues that hold leaders back, especially after they rise to a certain point and are responsible for inspiring a larger team. Goldsmith identifies 20 Habits which tend to get in the way of a leader’s ability to lead. The 20 Habits are simple things like failure to give proper credit, “adding value” to everyone’s work (putting your own imprint on it for no good reason, a flaw of mine), not listening, etc. The concepts are simple but the applications are profound, and they attack the obvious flaws we tend to overlook.
Thanks to my father-in-law David Osborn for recommending this one.
Sermon: Greatness as God sees it
October 21, 2007
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unChristian
I have been talking a lot about the new book unChristian, by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. Today I found out that Kinnaman did an interview with Time magazine a short while ago on the basics of the church’s image problems with twentysomethings. It’s a short article with a good summary of Kinnaman’s research and the challenge before us.
Sermon: How to change and live
#4 - October 14, 2007
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