Coming to the Resource Center April 6, 2014

Here are just a few of the new books you can find in the church Resource Center tomorrow, April 6, 2014. In this edition, we offer two more works by David Wells, a book celebrating the power and passion of Easter, and a gospel-driven book on productivity that will both challenge and encourage you regardless of your occupation. (All text copy from Goodreads unless otherwise stated):

God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams (1994) David F. Wells

David F. Wells’s award-winning book No Place for Truth -called a stinging indictment of evangelicalism’s theological corruption by TIME magazine - woke many evangelicals to the fact that their tradition has slowly but surely capitulated to the values and structures of the modern world. In God in the Wasteland, Wells continues his work on a biblical antidote to the modernity that has invaded today’s church.

Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World (2005) David F. Wells

In our postmodern world, every view has a place at the table but none has the final say. How should the church confess Christ in today's cultural context?

Above All Earthly Pow'rs, the fourth and final volume of the series that began in 1993 with No Place for Truth, portrays the West in all its complexity, brilliance, and emptiness. As David F. Wells masterfully depicts it, the postmodern ethos of the West is relativistic, individualistic, therapeutic, and yet remarkably spiritual. Wells shows how this postmodern ethos has incorporated into itself the new religious and cultural relativism, the fear and confusion, that began with the last century's waves of immigration and have continued apace in recent decades.

Wells's book culminates in a critique of contemporary evangelicalism aimed at both unsettling and reinvigorating readers. Churches that market themselves as relevant and palatable to consumption-oriented postmoderns are indeed swelling in size. But they are doing so, Wells contends, at the expense of the truth of the gospel. By placing a premium on marketing rather than truth, the evangelical church is in danger of trading authentic engagement with culture for worldly success.

Welding extensive cultural analysis with serious theology, Above All Earthly Pow'rs issues a prophetic call that the evangelical church cannot afford to ignore. (Publisher’s description)

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter (2009) Nancy Guthrie, ed.

This collection of readings, drawn from the writings and sermons of 25 classic and contemporary theologians and Bible teachers, focuses on the wonder of Christ's sacrifice.

In a culture where crosses have become little more than decorative accessories and jewelry, how easy it is for even the most well-intended Christian to rush from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without thoughtfully contemplating the cross and all that it means. Yet we miss out on spiritual riches when we do.

So that we all may linger at the cross during the Lenten season-and stay near it the whole year through-editor Nancy Guthrie has compiled this special anthology. It draws from the works and sermons of classic theologians such as Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon, Ryle, and Augustine, and from leading contemporary communicators such as John Piper, R. C. Sproul, Francis Schaeffer, John MacArthur, Skip Ryan, and Joni Eareckson Tada to help readers enter into an experience of Christ's passion and anchor their hope in the power of his resurrection.

Each essay in this collection holds to a high view of Scripture and expounds on a particular aspect of the Easter story using the appropriate Scripture passage from the ESV Bible. These readings are sure to prepare people's hearts for a fresh experience of the cross each and every Easter season.

What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (2014) Matt Perman

Do work that matters. Productivity isn't just about getting more things done. It's about getting the right things done---the things that count, make a difference, and move the world forward. In our current era of massive overload, this is harder than ever before. So how do you get more of the right things done without confusing mere activity for actual productivity? When we take God's purposes into account, a revolutionary insight emerges. Surprisingly, we see that the way to be productive is to put others first---to make the welfare of other people our motive and criteria in determining what to do (what's best next). As both the Scriptures and the best business thinkers show, generosity is the key to unlocking our productivity. It is also the key to finding meaning and fulfillment in our work. What's Best Next offers a practical approach for improving your productivity in all areas of life. It will help you better understand: 

Why good works are not just rare and special things like going to Africa, but anything you do in faith even tying your shoes. 

How to create a mission statement for your life that actually works. 

How to delegate to people in a way that actually empowers them. 

How to overcome time killers like procrastination, interruptions, and multitasking by turning them around and making them work for you. 

How to process workflow efficiently and get your email inbox to zero every day. 

How your work and life can transform the world socially, economically, and spiritually, and connect to God's global purposes. 

By anchoring your understanding of productivity in God's purposes and plan, What's Best Next will give you a practical approach for increasing your effectiveness in everything you do.

A Loving Life Paul E. Miller

A Loving Life: In a World of Broken Relationships (NF 2014) Paul E. Miller
Crossway, $12.99
ISBN 9781433537325

A few years ago I read Paul Miller’s A Praying Life (2009), a book that continues to change my prayer life. It’s a book I’ve recommended it to others and have sometimes given as a gift. When I heard about Miller’s new book, A Loving Life, based on the Book of Ruth, I was certainly eager to read it. 

Miller does a wonderful job of describing hesed love, which could be translated “steadfast love” and thought of as “love without an exit strategy.” It’s certainly not a self-centered, “What-can-I-get-out-of-this-relationship” love, but a love that gives, even when that love is not reciprocated. Such a love, as Miller often points out, is not based on feeling, which often drives a lot of what we normally call love. It is rather a love based on serving others, a love that loves in spite of the dangers of that love not being returned or even acknowledged. In short, hesed love is the way Jesus loves. 

Miller provides many examples of hesed love from the Book of Ruth, as well as from other Scriptures and stories he has encountered in his own life. The vast majority of the book is filled with helpful, biblical information and teaching. I particularly appreciate Miller’s idea of “God in the Shadows” (Chapter 19), giving examples of how Jesus often deliberately kept to the outer edges of several situations, humbly allowing others to have space in order that faith might emerge. (Examples include the sinful woman crashing the party in Luke 7, the woman caught in adultery in John 8, Jesus hiding his identity on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, etc.) When we love rightly, we often “disappear” so that God can be discovered. 

A Loving Life is filled with many such valuable ideas based on biblical teaching. I do, however, want to make sure I’m not misreading parts of Miller’s book. For instance, while suffering in silence can certainly be an important part of hesed love, I can think of some situations (such as abusive relationships) where suffering should not be silent. I also felt Miller sometimes points a finger at our culture (Oprah, in particular) in a way that clearly identifies a problem (or the symptoms of a problem), but harps on those problems with more force than is necessary. Again, these instances could all be misreadings on my part. 

A Loving Life is a book that will challenge your thoughts on how we think about love in a biblical, God-honoring way. Please consider reading it. 

Some Interesting Thoughts about the Source Material for Noah

I hadn't really planned on seeing Noah, but I thought this review from Dr. Brian Mattson and the video follow-up to it were worth reading and watching. 

A Few Thoughts on Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans

Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions (NF 2010) Rachel Held Evans

(The following is not so much a review as a few thoughts on the book.)

Imagine being a Christian when your hometown is Dayton, Tennessee, home of the famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. You’d have to have a strong faith and some strong strategies for defending it. Yet after defending her faith for several years, Rachel Held Evans found she had some questions. Some serious questions. 

Evolving in Monkey Town is an honest look at questioning your faith, a memoir of discovery, and a candid examination of why we believe what we believe. It’s also an unflinching look at doubt. Is doubt necessarily a bad thing? It depends. Evans says (p. 219), 

Doubt is a difficult animal to master because it requires that we learn the difference between doubting God and doubting what we believe about God. The former has the potential to destroy faith; the latter has the power to enrich and refine it. The former is a vice, the latter a virtue. 

Doubt and questioning can be very strong components of drawing nearer to God. (Another excellent book on this topic is The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark.) 

Evans spends a significant amount of time in the first part of the book describing how convinced she was that she was right (and, by implication, that others were wrong) about faith and belief. This really hit home for me. I’ve been a part of churches that had the “We’re right, you’re wrong” attitude that can really cause you to distance yourself from the very people you should be trying to help. I still often ask myself, “Am I trying to serve others or just trying to be right?” 

“Most of the people I’ve encountered,” Evans says (p. 222), “are looking not for a religion to answer all their questions but for a community of faith in which they can feel safe asking them.” Sadly, when they find that they have disagreements with others, some Christians withdraw, saying, “Well, we have nothing further to talk about.” No, that’s when the conversations should just be getting started. Please don’t misunderstand: no one’s saying you have to water down your beliefs or change your convictions to talk to someone else, but differences in faith should not end conversations and/or relationships. 

  

Some of Evans’s struggles may surprise you, maybe even shock you. I know I found myself in many of these pages at different stages of my life. Maybe you will too. I was also reminded of some hard lessons. Maybe you will be, too. Evans isn’t afraid to ask hard, controversial questions, some of them questions I continue to struggle with as a Christian. Maybe you do, too. Evolving in Monkey Town is an excellent book for anyone who has questions, doubts, fears and struggles. It’s an even better book for those who think they have all the answers. 

Coming Soon to the Resource Center - More in Early April

Here are just a few of the books you can find in the church Resource Center in early April, 2014. In this edition, we feature a title mentioned at our recent missions conference, a resource for pastors, a book on youth ministry, a book on writing in the margins of your Bible (really!) and other titles we hope you’ll want to read. (All text copy from Goodreads unless otherwise stated):

Serving as Senders: How to Care for Your Missionaries While They Are Preparing to Go, While They Are on the Field, When Then Return Home (1991/2012 reissue) Neal Pirolo

The title says it all! A missionary needs care in at least six areas: Moral Support, Logistics Support, Financial Support, Prayer Support, Communication Support, and Reentry Support. This book gives scores of practical ideas in how a team can provide the necessary care for a missionary. Chapter One tells "when" and "why" a missionary needs care. Chapters Two through Seven deal with each of the six areas of care. Chapter Eight brings it back to the individual's involvement in care giving. A Study Guide for groups is included.

Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home (2013) Gloria Furman

Sometimes life feels a lot like a burden--day-in and day-out its the same chores and tasks, challenges and discouragements, anxieties and responsibilities. Dust bunnies show up on the stairwell, social commitments clutter the calendar, and our families demand daily attention and care. At times, just catching our breath seems like an impossible feat.

So where is God in all of this? Does he care about the way we unload the dishwasher or balance the budget? Do the little things like changing diapers or cooking meals make a difference? And how can we use our spheres of influence for God's glory and our joy?

Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a working woman splitting time between the office and home, Gloria Furman--writer, pastor's wife, cross-cultural worker, and mom--encourages us to see the reality of God's grace in all of life, especially those areas that often appear to be boring and unimportant. Using personal examples and insightful stories, her richly theological reflections help us experience the gospel's extraordinary power to transform our ordinary lives.

Reading for Preaching: The Preacher in Conversation with Storytellers, Biographers, Poets, and Journalists (2013) Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. 

In Reading for Preaching Cornelius Plantinga makes a striking claim: preachers who read widely will most likely become better preachers. Plantinga—himself a master preacher—shows how a wide reading program can benefit preachers. First, he says, good reading generates delight, and the preacher who enters the world of delight goes with God. Good reading can also help tune the preacher's ear for language—his or her primary tool. General reading can enlarge the preacher's sympathies for people and situations that she or he had previously known nothing about. And, above all, the preacher who reads widely has the chance to become wise.This beautifully written book will benefit not just preachers but anyone interested in the wisdom to be derived from reading.

Works that Plantinga interacts with in the book include The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario, Silence by Shusaku Endo, How Much Land Does a Man Need? by Leo Tolstoy,Narcissus Leaves the Pool by Joseph Epstein, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo . . . and many more!

Why Study History? Reflecting on the Importance of the Past (2013) John Fea

What is the purpose of studying history? How do we reflect on contemporary life from a historical perspective and can such reflection help us better understand ourselves, the world around us, and the God we worship and serve?

In this introductory textbook, accomplished historian John Fea shows why Christians should study history, how faith is brought to bear on our understanding of the past, and how studying the past can help us more effectively love God and others. Deep historical thinking can relieve us of our narcissism; cultivate humility, hospitality, and love; and transform our lives more fully into the image of Jesus Christ.

Writing in the Margins: Connecting with God on the Pages of Your Bible (2013) Lisa NIchols Hickman

No other time-honored spiritual practice is as immediate, raw, and engaged with Scripture as writing--responding to God--in the margins of the Bible. Composers like Bach to theologians like Barth, botanists and saints--all have written their thoughts directly in their Bibles. In doing so they engaged their fullest selves with our most significant text. Some people have lived with Scripture all their lives and yet feel estranged from it. This book inspires a new encounter with the living Word --and jump-starts a deep, creative, and hands-on approach to reading Scripture. As you sit, with pencil, pen, crayon, or marker in hand and Bible in lap, at whatever edges of life you are living within, now that invitation is yours. The creative practice of writing in the margins creates a divine conversation that transforms and guides. Meet God in the margins. Let God shape your character from the living interaction on the pages of your Bible. Writing in the Margins is a book about making connections on the pages of your Bible--and introduces a devotional and scriptural path of engagement that is life-changing."

Miracle Work: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Supernatural Ministries (2013) Jordan Seng 

We are a supernatural people. Made in the image of God and called to follow a risen Lord through the world God made--we're anything but normal. Given all that, it should not be surprising to us when miraculous things happen in our midst. Still, many of us are intimidated at the thought of it, and we stop short of trying so we won't disappoint God with our lack of faith, or--if we're being honest--so we won't be disappointed when God fails to deliver. In Miracle Work Jordan Seng tells remarkable stories of physical healings and prophetic messages. He reflects on the possibility and limitations of a contemporary ministry that believes in the power of God, and helps us train and prepare ourselves for when God works through us in the lives of others. Read Miracle Work for a better understanding of what it means to be agents of grace, healing and even miracles in a world that desperately needs the good news of God's loving, healing touch.

Youth Ministry from the Outside In: How Relationships and Stories Shape Identity (2013) Brandon K. McKoy

We tend to organize our youth ministry from the inside out. We give gathered groups of individual youth tools and teaching to form their souls around a Christian identity. So far, so good. But what if our identity is not merely or even primarily rooted and established somewhere inside ourselves? What if our identity is shaped and cultivated in the relationships we inhabit--each with their own distinctives and demands--and in the overlapping stories we find ourselves in? Prefabricated approaches to ministry that focus on the interior makeup of our youth may make for good youth group members, but these limited approaches don't reach beyond the youth room into other corners of their lives. Rather than centering them on the faith, our inside-out approach may be pushing their faith to the margins of their life. Brandon McKoy mines the insights of social construction theory to help us locate Christ not in our hearts but in our midst. We learn to embrace him as our own and our students as whole people engaging in a life's worth of encounters. Approaching youth ministry from the outside in, we discover our students in a whole new light--and with them, the fullness of our faith.

The Up Documentaries (1964-2012 so far)

Every seven years, Michael Apted films the same small group of people and shows us how they’re doing. That’s a very simple overview of the “Up” documentary series which began in 1964 with Seven Up, a half-hour film that focused on the lives of 14 British children from various classes and socioeconomic backgrounds. Apted didn’t actually direct the first film (Paul Almond did, but Apted was a researcher), yet directed all the subsequent films, so he knows these people pretty well. (Can you imagine a man wanting to interview and film you every seven years for half a century?) I just finished watching all of the “Up” films, ending with the most recent film, 56 Up (2012) and decided to share a few thoughts. 

The seven-year-old children are asked several questions in Seven Up, such as “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, “Do you want to have children and if so, how many?”, “What do you think of rich/poor people?” and the like. These seem innocent enough questions to ask seven-year-olds, but what’s interesting is how much their answers change or don’t change over a 50-year period. In fact the entire series starts with the Jesuit motto “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.” 

One can view some of the children at age seven and see many characteristics - good and bad - that will shape the rest of their lives. Some live up to their initial expectations, hopes and dreams. Some do not. Some change in remarkable ways. Others don’t. I’m not going to give you any spoilers and I urge you not to look at any online information about any of the participants. Just watch these people move through their lives and try not to reflect on your own life. It’s impossible. 

With that in mind, the staff of our church’s college ministry (I am one of the staff of four) decided to try an experiment. Students and staff watched Seven Up together, then we passed out journals to everyone. We asked them to write about what was going on in their lives at age seven and whether they were aware of God or not at that age. (This is a great exercise; you certainly don’t have to be a Christian to do it and to gain a tremendous amount of understanding from it.) The staff journaled as well. We all wrote for about 20 minutes, then got back together to share some general thoughts. The entire process was private, so no one had to share with the group anything they didn’t want to share. We were all amazed at what we remembered and how those events and memories helped shape us. 

At our next meeting, we watched Seven Plus Seven. For most of the students, they were 14 only seven years ago, and while that seemed not that long ago, so much had changed. We asked them to journal again, focusing on how God had guided and led their lives over the past seven years. At the next meeting, we watched 21 Up, the age (or close to it) that most of the students are now, and journaled. Then two weeks later, we saw 28 Up, and journaled about where we thought God might be leading us in the next seven years (regardless of our ages). 

This was an amazing exercise. It’s not the same experience as having someone film you every seven years, but it does cause you to think about your life, where it’s been, where it’s going, and so much more. While watching the “Up” documentaries, we’re literally watching these people’s lives pass before our eyes. And we’re also watching our own.   

Watching these films leads Christians to think of so many things: the sovereignty and protection of God in our lives, the limitations of our relatively short time on earth, the influence of our environment, the influence of our parents, our purpose in life... and I’m just scratching the surface. One of the things that most astounded me about the project is how each of these people is a unique creation of God. No two of them are alike and no two of them go in exactly the same direction, yet God is sovereignly watching every moment of their lives. Not one second of their existence is beyond God’s control. To me, that’s staggering, and we’re only talking 14 people here, not 1,000, not a million, not 6 billion, although God’s in control of each and every one of those lives as well. God is teaching us so many lessons over what seems at the time long stretches of years, yet is a very brief period, made even more brief by looking at snapshots of these people every seven years. Yet in between those seven years, when we didn’t see these people, God did. He saw their joys, sorrows, sufferings, celebrations, their monotonous routines, their spontaneous acts, everything. These people are different than they were seven years previously, yet they are the same people. You carry all those years around with you every single day. And God knows all those years better than you and I ever could.    

The films are not perfect and Michael Apted will be the first to tell you so. Early on, he realized that the initial films should’ve included more female subjects and certainly should’ve reflected more diversity. (All of the subjects are white, with the exception of one boy who had a black father and white mother.) Apted also admitted in an interview to Roger Ebert that it was very tempting to “play God” and steer certain parts of the film in the direction of where he thought certain characters were going. There’s one participant Apted was convinced was going to end up behind bars, so the director shot some footage of a prison to use in the next film. The participant did not end up in prison, and Apted humbly learned his lesson.

At several points in the films, Apted is taken to task by the participants (often rightly so) for editing the scenes and interviews to paint an inaccurate picture of their lives. By no means do we get a complete picture of these people. It’s just not possible. That realization is part of what you need to understand going in. By its own nature and popularity on British television and DVDs, the films also can’t help but overshadow any accomplishments the participants might have achieved apart from the films. One participant states (with humorous resignation) in 42 Up, that he hopes he’ll be remembered more for his work than for his participation in the films, but he knows that will never happen. 

What’s fascinating is the number of people who have remained a part of this project. All of them are still living and although two of them have chronic conditions, 56 Up finds most of them in good health. Without giving away too many spoilers, one participant dropped out after 21 Up and has never returned. Some drop out from time to time and return, sometimes to promote some project that they are passionate about. One woman frequently mentions that she loathes the project, but continues to do it out of a sense of obligation. And others seem happy to participate. 

Apted (who has had a long and successful directorial career, directing films such as The World is Not Enough, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Amazing Grace, Gorillas in the Mist, Coal Miner’s Daughter) has stated that he would like to keep the project going at least until the participants turn 70. In the Ebert interview, he stated that his ultimate goal would be to film them through their 84th birthdays. The only problem, Apted stated, would be that he himself at that point, would be 99. 

The entire Up documentary series can be viewed on Netflix streaming or on YouTube. 

Gospel and Pornography

Gospel and Pornography from David Platt on Vimeo.

This short (7-minute) video from David Platt (author of Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream) won't take much of your time, but it's so, so important in our culture. I picked this up from Tim Challies' excellent blog, which is filled with great stuff, including book and ebook news.