Love Wins Chapter 2

So I actually read this chapter a couple weeks ago but I was really struggling with it. I wanted to postpone blogging until I had a better grasp of it.

I feel a lot more confident about my position now so here it is: I felt like this chapter was Bell using two terms interchangeably that weren't meant to be used interchangeably! Eternal life and heaven have a lot in common; but to use them in place of one another seems to be shaky ground.

The title of the chapter is: Heaven! This chapter doesn't really touch heaven too much though. He starts off with the story about the Rich Young Ruler questioning Jesus about how to obtain eternal life? (Matthew 19)

I think Rob is dead on when he says that eternal life is not just life that goes on forever; but a quality of life that is to be lived now. "Eternal life is less about a kind of time that starts when we die, and more about a quality and vitality of life lived now in connection to God." (59) I think you catch glimpses of that in Jesus conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 and the Samaritan woman in John 4.

Rob does bring up that fact that this Young Ruler was not instructed to Accept that he's a sinner, Believe in Jesus, Confess him as his savior, and Demonstrate his obedience. This bothered me for the last week! He's right it doesn't say that this man must trust God for his salvation; but it does! He's trusting his own wealth; not God...but to say that it doesn't say anything about Jesus is not really reading the whole of this conversation. THIS observation becomes really scary when Rob (apparently) takes this conversation as the rule. On page 52 he makes this statement: "Heaven, it turns out, is full of the unexpected."

To illustrate his point, he offers this example: "Think about the single mom, trying to raise kids, work multiple jobs, and wrangle child support out of the kids' father, who used to beat her. She's faithful, true, and utterly devoted to her children...She never goes out, never takes a vacation, never has enough money to buy anything for herself. She gets a few hours of sleep and then repeats the cycle of cooking, work, laundry, bills, more work, until she falls into bed late at night, exhausted. With what she has been given she has been faithful. She is a woman of character and substance...She can be trusted. Is she the last who Jesus says will be first?"

The question I have is this: "What about Jesus?" Circumstances don't get you in! Works don't get us in the party!" In the illustration, he never mentions Jesus changing her life and her decision to trust Him. This may be reading too much into it...but never the less it can become a slippery slope.

Frustratingly...this chapter really raised a lot more questions than it did answers! I am still getting used to his writing style! He doesn't so much have an outline when he writes, but I think he just lets the argument progress...It was a real struggle to outline this chapter. His view of heaven is rather cloudy it seems and he seems awful reluctant to come down on a correct translation of the greek; a certain view of Old Testament passages; and a certain picture of heaven. I think he is using the argument between "transcendence" and "this worldliness" of heaven to hide behind. Heaven is a deep topic; one in which I don't have a ton of research on outside of Alcorn's book and a couple other articles. The fact is: Jesus brought God's Kingdom to this earth. I agree with Bell on this point...but I don't really know where he is drawing the line.

We will see what he does with Hell?

Love Wins Chapter 1

Some of you will call for my head! Others will look to me for a judgement! Others still will denounce me as a heretic, but for you, my adoring fans, I am writing this for you!

In the face of current and past warnings, I am reading the book "Love Wins" by Rob Bell.

I got the emails (21 of them to be precise) warning me of this heresy! I have read the blogs that warn of the dangers of this book so I thought I would check it out myself.

I want to blog after every chapter just to make sure that I am interacting with this book. So you will get to see my thoughts here. I am going into this with an open mind so I am asking for some latitude from you if I don't denounce this book quickly enough.

The Theme of chapter 1 is this: Rob Bell is confused and he wants the rest of us confused as well!

Rob is not really asking any new questions. My jr. high students every week fill out cards with prayer requests and any questions they have so that I can pray for them and answer their questions. Not one of the questions Rob posses in chapter 1 is something that I don't see on those cards! Do babies who die go to heaven? Do people who have never heard the gospel go to heaven? Can you fall away from the faith? Are you saved by faith or deeds or a combination? It all centered around a high school atheist who died in a car accident. Upon his death someone said that there was now no hope for him. Bell countered with "No hope? Is that what Jesus offers this world?" (3) I think Rob took the question too far...Jesus offers hope to the world but we just have to accept it...while we are alive!

The other confusing aspect to Rob is: How exactly are you saved? baptism? sinners prayer? righteousness? Rob brings together texts from all over the New Testament showing salvation in various ways (speech [Luke 7; Luke 18; Luke 23]; being born agian [John 3]; being worthy [Luke 20]; forgiving others [Matt 6]; do the will of the father [Matt 7]; Stand firm [Matt 10]; saying what we will do [Luke 19]; someone else's faith [Mark 2]; being married to the right person [1 Cor. 7]; or giving birth [1 Tim 2]; asking the right questions [Acts 22]; being born to the right nation [Romans 11]).

Im not real sure that all of these texts are talking about "salvation" issues necessarily, but it is awful early and he said he would explain them later. What bothers Bell most is that Salvation seems to not be as cut and dry as he would like it (which a study of conversion in Acts will show you that it is difficult to put it into a formula but has some major themes to it). When I was interviewing at CPCC the longest discussion we had during the process was about baptism. I grew up in a church where baptism was a necessity. When one of the elders was reading through the bylaws of the church the question of whether baptism was needed for salvation came up. I thought so. We discussed for probably 15 minutes about it. The thief on the cross was the dominant point. I would argue that he was more an exception that the rule. I think we just moved topics letting that one rest.

Bell's goal is to raise questions about these issues: How are we saved and who gets saved? Rob is frustrated...and as his way he wants the rest of us frustrated too! My mind is still open and he promises to answer these questions in the next couple chapters!

The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make

The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make by Hans Finzel

Leadership has always been one of my short comings. When I was in High School we had a great group of leaders our youth group. Travis Mckinley, Jason Colvin, Lindsey McClellan and Aaron Brent were really good leaders because the set the tone in youth group and led by their examples. Once that class of about 12 seniors graduated; it was mine and my classmates turn to lead the youth group. Needless to say it was a few dry years for leadership (the likes of which it still hasn't quite recovered). As a youth leader myself I still find it difficult to lead my group of sponsors. I really struggle with what to do to train and lead them. We have such a strong and Godly group of Sponsors here at Central Park, that I almost feel as though I should be learning and being led by them instead of the other way around. So I read this book to try to become a better leader.

Since leadership is all about influence; essentially this book marks the 10 mistakes that people make to lose any influence they have.

(1) The Top-Down Attitude: the domineering, autocratic leadership style in use; in contra to a servant-style leadership model. The use of knowledge to keep people in line and in place. Though top-down leadership is easiest to exercise; it breeds contempt and distrust.

(2) Putting Paperwork before Peoplework: Viewing people as opportunities instead of interruptions. The higher we ascend in leadership, the less time we have to invest in people. Experts actually say that effective leaders spend most of their time with people doing people work.

(3) The Absence of Affirmation: Breaking news: people like praise!

(4) No Room for Mavericks: Penning in creative thinkers with rules and regulations. Essentially legislating out the creative process. He points out that the mavericks were the creators of facebook and google. There is a reason college graduates wanted to work for Mac over IBM or a new .com company over a mom-and-pop run organization. Younger generation employees want the room to explore and act. "Mavericks are messes by nature--but good messes-messes that institutions need." He also tracks the lifespan of an organization and shows where mavericks are needed most in the life cycle of an organization.

(5) Dictatorship in Decision Making: Understanding that the major players on a team should have a say in the direction of the organization.

(6) Dirty Delegation: "Overmanagement is one of the cardinal sins of leadership." Giving people tasks and letting them run with it is a chance for them to show their creativity and to feel excited about the path of the organization.

(7) Communication Chaos: Not knowing whose in charge of what and when. Keeping people in the loop.

(8) Missing the Clues of Corporate Culture: Embracing the culture at the organization. Changing the culture when it needs to be changed.

(9) Success without Successors: training up other leaders to replace you. Knowing you wont be here forever.

(10) Failure to Focus on the Future: Not looking ahead. Turing into kodak in a digital camera world.

When I read through this book I realized over the last year I was guilty of at least 8 of them. I still on a weekly basis find myself struggling with these things. But I am trying to practice at least one of them a week so as to further myself in leadership ability.

I don't believe leadership is a natural trait in humanity; but I think it can be developed. This book helped me realize how.

The Me I Want to Be

The Me I Want to Be

by John Ortberg

You wanna know what a life caught up in the Spirit of God looks like? You wanna take a distant look at the life you live?

In this book John Ortberg wants to get one single point across: Jesus came not to make you something different altogether; but to redeem you! Jesus wants to take our gifts and abilities (pre-conversion) and use them to honor him (post conversion) Its something that I see in youth group all the time. A lot of teens think that there are only a couple ways to really worship God. You have to be able to sing or play guitar! But God gave them the gifts that they have to worship him. Why try to be something your not! That is where this book starts. It starts with the frustration of trying to be something he never created me to be. But once we get in tune with the Spirit. The Spirit is our guide to becoming this version of yourself. The version that God has redeemed and saved.

Parts 3-6 are all about the journey that you take, with the Spirit as your Guide, to become the version of you that God really desires. He talks about changing the way that you think; allowing God to ignite desires in you life and removing the worry. He talks about how we spend our time by filling it with Prayer and removing the things that steal our time. The Spirit deepens our relationships with God and with the people who help with the flow of the Spirit. Finally our experience needs to be transformed. From work to suffering to family. All of these things come in flow of our existence; a flow that is meant to be with the Spirit.

Ortberg's book was a great read. Though it wasn't as strong as some of his other books; the two chapters on work (19-20) were worth the price of the book! He really makes you think about your giftedness and the things that help you feel a connection to God. His goal is to bring you into a close transforming relationship with God through the very means that God has already given you!

Plus with this book, you get to take a personality test online via monvee. It is something that really makes you think.

Book 2 of the new year!

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

In the Spirit of full disclosure: “I must confess that I did not read all of this book.” I skipped a full 2 and a half pages as he was describing his twin sons’ circumcision. The rest of the book was awesome. A.J. Jacobs is a Jewish-born-agnostic author who takes an entire year and devotes it to living out the commands of the Bible. He doesn’t shave (in keeping the command not to cut the corners of his beard [Leviticus 19.27]); he wears white clothing in accordance with Ecclesiastes; and he refuses to touch or sit where a menstruating woman was [Leviticus 15.18]. He attempts to follow the Ten Commandments and he starts tithing. It is an interesting social science experiment.

The book was great. He does some great research on the background of a lot of the Biblical laws. What really made the story great were the people who he was in contact with during his time. There was his eccentric ex-uncle Gil who is a former cult leader turned orthodox Jew who holds a Judaism study weekly in Jerusalem. There was Mr. Berkowitz, the orthodox Jew, who comes to his house weekly to make sure that he didn’t have any mixed fibers in his house [Leviticus 19.19]. Then there is the Jehovah’s witness who came over to meet with him about the Bible. He had to leave after 3 ½ hours of discussion. Jacobs mused that he out talked a Jehovah’s Witness about the Bible. He made a trip down to a snake handling church in Tennessee and met up with Jimmy the snake handler. That seems like something that I need to explore! There was the Pastor to Pasture, the atheist club, and his neighbor Nancy. This Biblical journey was by no means individual.

Finally there is Jacobs wife: Julie. Julie is the most interesting character. She has opened her life to this guys antics. When she found out that he couldn’t sit where she had; she sat in every seat in the house so he couldn’t. She is patient as he refuses to jaywalk anymore and as he builds a tent in the living room to celebrate the festival of booths. She allows him to write about her in vitro fertilization. She puts up with his trumpeting every first of the month and she even allows him to describe the birth process as she gives birth to the aforementioned twins.

As a youth pastor this book had a lot of things that made me think. He devoted much of his day to study; as an agnostic. I could definitely eek out a couple minutes. He also strove to live according to the commandments. He kept God at the forefront of his mind. He prayed for 10 minutes 3 times a day; all of these things that should be central to my own life.

He is admittedly a liberal guy; but one thing that I appreciated about this book was his ability to show both the fundamentalist and liberal views of scripture. I felt like he was able to walk

that line very well. If you need something to read that will make you think and laugh! The Year

of Living Biblically should be on your list! Devotionally I even got a lot out of this book.

I grew my beard the entire time I read the book (12 days) and this is all the further I got!

Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series (1)

Finished my first book of the year and it was a good one. Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series was really well done (A brief summary of the book can be found here). I have read Josh Peter before in Fried Twinkies; Buckle Bunnies and Bull Riders (another great book) but honestly Death to the BCS was an even better read.

The authors put forth a complete case for a playoff system based upon solid arguments and research. And in bringing foreword a case; the authors don't cease from importing history and story into their argument. We all want to know why Boise State has blue turf or how College GameDay came to be a national tailgate party (K-State gets a shout out). Everyone wants to know how the BCS came about; but I also wanted to know that the Big Six (a precursor to the Big 8) was one of the first conferences in the nation; Rutgers and Princeton shard the national title in 1869; and Les Miles wife coined the phrase "undefeated in regulation" to argue LSU's title contentions in 2007. You meet a guy who has formulated the national champion based on algorithms all the way back to 1869 and a guy who thinks he has found a way to bring the whole system down.

The book shows: the ineptitude of voters; the flawed formulas; the fraudulant and underhanded contracts; the instability of the system; and the greed employed by commisioners in the entire system. As large as all these things are, the book paints a clear picture of the injustice done towards college football fans with the entire system. This was a phenomenal book that really shows how a college football is messed up; but it also gives a view of the problems that constantly face the game today (like conference realignment and a lack of quality teams playing each other regularly). The whole BCS can be summed up in two words: Greed and Control. I didn't know much about the BCS prior to this; but this book was a phenomenal read that explained in detail all the inner workings of athletic programs and the men behind the most confusing system that we have in the world of Sports!

If you are thinking about reading this book check the summary (linked here again) and get ready for a couple hours of really thought provoking stuff. It was a pretty easy read; but highly entertaining.