The New Books I Am Reading

Well, since I have some cool new friends who like to read and comment on the kind of books I like I guess I will share what I started into last night.

Actually, I got several new books for my shelf back in early December when I was online ordering Adventures in Odyessy stuff for our girls for Christmas. Then as my spirits were sagging lower than ever after some interactions with church leaders, I just sat the books (except for Brian McLaren's, More Ready Than You Realize) on the shelf and walked away from them...till now.

Besides the Brian McLaren one, the books I got are: Church After Christendom by Stuart Murray, No Perfect People Allowed by John Burke, Missional Church: A Vision For The Sending of The Church in North America by Darrell L. Guder, and Shaped By God's Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches by Milfred Minatrea.

Last night I started mostly into the John Burke one. By the title I was not sure if I was going to like it...I thought perhaps it was more about creating the style for *attracting* the culture (without the guts to flesh it out), but within the first 20-some pages I found out that John is a man after my own heart! He poses the question, "How do we become the kinds of attractive Christ-followers who draw spiritual seakers into the family of God like Jesus did?"

Later he reminds us that the model was set when God: "...dove right into the sewer of life Himself in the body of Jesus." Saying we (believers) must be, "Christ's body re-presented" he challenges: "This must be the first priority for leadership in the church in a post-Christian world: making the invisable body visable."

I think Burke got me most with the following statement as he was looking at the way Paul did things vs. how modern north American churches are: " Those of us currently leading in churches need to prayerfully consider this: Are re raising up a generation of leaders ready to lay down their comfortable lives to dive into the muck of cultural America? Or are we just playing church--developing spiritual dependants who consume the goods off whichever church shelf will "feed me," or "puff me up with more knowledge," or even "feel postmodern"? A few lines down he states: " No longer can we idly sit by, bemoaning change and wishing to turn the clock back to nostalgic days gone by."

*sighs* Do any of you feel as I do? Sadly knowing this is the truth, wishing the answer was easier? Once not long ago I asked Roy to "proof read" an e-mail where I was sharing these type sentiments with a church leader we are connected to and as he agreed with my thoughts, Roy shared his thoughts..."too hard."

Thanks Jesus for sending me friends and giving me the opportunity to talak about these things with people seeking you heart as I am.