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Book Review: Restoration

I've been meaning to read Restoration by D. Thomas Lancaster for a while and I finally got to it. It was a good book. There's definitely stuff that I didn't agree with, but I think the first 30 pages should be required reading. If you've ever been curious as to how the divorce between Judaism and the early followers of Jesus took place, this book gives a great timeline as to how that went down.

This book is easy to read and loaded with Scripture. I'm not agreeing with his conclusion that we believers need to keep the Levitical dietary laws and the feasts, but he defines then and describes their significance well.

Wisdom

I spent the day in meetings and once again I am always blown away by the guys that God has put in my life. Leaders who don't have other leaders speaking into their lives are dead in the water. Yet guys who are open to receiving instruction have a much higher ceiling (memorize this verse). I think this is one of the lessons church planters need to learn: stop talking about how awesome you/ your vision/ your idea are and listen to people who are older and wiser than you!

Here's a truth you need to know: all the stuff you're sure is going to work before you've had your first service... it won't. You'll find out that you're just as clueless as the rest of us. That's why you can always tell the guys who are a year or 2 into planting and the guys who are yet to start. One has all the answers and the others has realized he doesn't know anything and needs to learn as much as he can as fast as he can :)

Watermark Review

My man Darren Plummer recently read my book Watermark and reviewed it on his blog. You can read the review here.

You can (Shameless plug alert) buy Watermark here.

If you want to order multiple copies and want to pay less than Amazon.com prices, e-mail me.

Thou shalt not covet...

Have you seen the new Amazon Kindle? It's basically an ipod for books with amazon.com serving as iTunes.

I love the idea for several reasons:

1. It reminds me of the data pads used on Start Trek :)

2. It's awesome to be able to carry 200 books with you at all times.

3. Books download into it in 60 seconds.

4. The books look like paper and not like .pdf's when you're reading them.

5. It can help me with my shelf space problem.

Let's be honest, this is where the future is heading. I'm just wondering if readers are ready for it. I know for me, I'd have to mess with one to make my decision (by the way, if anyone at amazon.com is reading this, feel free to send me a demo). I love the concept. I think the price ($399) is a little steep. But I'm interested to see how this catches on.

Thumbs up for Calvary Fellowship!

This article was sent to me this morning by a good friend who's pastoring a great new church called Epic in north Broward County. A few months ago, I got to meet Lew (the dude checking out all of these churches), his wife, and a couple of his friends (You can read his review of Calvary Fellowship here). He told me about his "Tour". He's visiting churches and reviewing them on his blog. In the world we live in, it might be a good thing to have a Zagat's Survey for churches. So far, I think he's visited over 20. I'm happy we made his favorites list :)

Book Review: The Exceptional Presenter

I usually don't just pick a book off the shelf without getting some kind of recommendation. But I grabbed The Exceptional Presenter by Timothy Koegel because the title got my attention. I read some of it at Barnes and Noble and I was hooked. This is a really good book for those of us who communicate regularly. I was shocked as he proceeded to list all of MY bad habits as a speaker :) It was as though he listens to me every week and kept a list of all my idiosyncrasies.

Needless to say, this book was all nuts and bolts about speaking. There's a lot of books out there that are more motivational about the importance of being of being a good speaker, but this gives a lot of practical advice.

Here's a few of my favorite quotes:

"Those who practice improve."

"Set the expectation within 60-90 seconds that your message is worth their undivided attention."

"People associate a strong voice with confidence."

"Presenters often make the mistake of talking about what is important to the presenter, not the audience."

"People tend to remember the story and the message behind the story longer than they remember facts, figures, and formulas."

I highly recommend this book.

Book Review: Going All the Way

First, let me say that I'm a huge fan of Craig Groeschel and Lifechurch.tv. One of the nicest things anyone has said to me this year was when a Pastor at a large church locally visited our church and said we reminded him of Lifechurch.tv. Also, I'm leading a small group for college-age students using Craig's book, Chazown, which has been a great experience.

Anyway, I was excited when I received Craig's newest book, "Going all the Way" in the mail. The book was great. It is a great book to give a high school student or single adult to prepare themselves for marriage. It's a book about learning how to choose God's best and be a person who's ready for marriage.

It's also a great book for couples that are getting ready for marriage. I'm thinking about incorporating it into our premarital counseling. Craig deal with all the tough issues: Premarital sex, living together before marriage, dating a non-Christian, etc...

I think the greatest compliment I can say is this: if my daughter did what Craig outlines in this book, I would consider that complete success!

I highly recommend this book! Buy it now!

Mediocre Movies

Carey and I haven't been to a movie in quite a while (we're not boycotting, we just have a little girl at home), but we've been renting movies over the last month to catch up on what's come out. I've got to tell you, we've been disappointed with what we've seen lately.

Here are my reviews on the movies that everyone in the known world has seen already:

1. Spider-man - Great message. Not so great of a movie.
2. Fantastic 4 - OK, but not fantastic :)
3. Live Free or Die Hard - Awesome! I love John McClane.
4. License to Wed - Good. Could of been better, but very funny.
5. Transformers - weak (I know many will disagree, but the story was weak)
6. Evan Almighty - great! Very funny and great message
7. Ratatouille - I wasn't into it.

Haven't Pirates 3, Shrek 3, or Ocean's 13 yet. So there's still hope...

I'm Thankful for...

- Jesus
- My Wife
- Mia
- My family
- My friends
- Calvary Fellowship
- The Red Sox
- My health
- America
- The New England Patriots
- Apple Computers
- The Celtics
- Hiro Nakamora
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
- Coca-Cola Products
- All of you

Happy Thanksgiving!

10 Budgeting Tips...

We are in full blown budget mode at Calvary Fellowship. I've seen more calculators in the last week than I have in the last 2 months around the office :)

Here's a few thoughts I'd share to church leaders about budgeting for 2008:

1. Remember that God's vision is bigger than yours (Eph. 3:20)

2. Remember the widow's mite (Mark 12)

3. Money spend on evangelism is not an expense, it's an investment (Matt. 28:19-20)

4. Ask, "Is this a want or a need?" (Phil. 4:19)

5. Am I being generous to missionaries and other organizations doing important kingdom work? (2 Cor. 8:7)

6. Is the staff being compensated fairly? (1 Tim. 5:18-19)

7. Am I maxing myself out in my new budget and limiting what God can do through me? (Prov. 24:3-4)

8. Is our vision seen in what we are investing in? (Hab. 2:2)

9. Are the poor factored into the budget? (Lev. 25:35)

10. A budget is only a plan and God can change that any time He wants (Prov. 19:21)