Saturday, August 11, 2012

Saturday Blogsweep

Five top books on ministry

I suspect that most contemporary Christians who are immersed in “pop-Christianity” today have never heard of them. I’m hoping that this post will change that for many.

Craig Groeschl at the Global Leadership Summit


  • “When I turned 40, I began to ask myself, ‘Are the best years of ministry behind me?’”
  • “God values maturity. If you’re not dead, you’re not done.”
  • “Don’t just delegate tasks to the next generation. If you delegate tasks, you create followers. Instead delegate authority to create leaders.”
  • “Authenticity trumps cool every time.”
  • On entitlement with the younger generation: “Back when I was a kid, you actually had to win to get a trophy.”
  • “You’ll likely overestimate what you can do in the short run but underestimate what you can do in a lifetime of faithfulness.”
  • “Respect is earned, honor is given.”
  • “If you are not intentional, it will not happen.”
  • On learning from a mentor: “Don’t copy what they do. Learn how they think.”
  • To the younger generation: “You are the most cause-driven, mission-minded generation in recent history.”
  • “Let us stand together for the glory of Christ and make his name known.”
The whole Summit is being blogged here


When identifying what we need to get done, it’s easy to think in terms of individual tasks. We need to fight against this tendency and think first in terms of mobilizing, equipping, and empowering others. If you keep a project list or task list, for some reason it becomes especially challenging to do this. Something about to-do lists seems to naturally incline us to think of things we need to do ourselves, rather than the things we need to do to equip others to get things done (which is a critical part of leadership).

“Do first things first” is the takeaway from Laura Vanderkam’s new eBook What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. Morning is “prime time for self-improvement,” USA Today reports in reviewing Vanderkam’s work. The article says,
Here are some of the things she says go-getters do before most people finish their first cup of coffee:
Exercise. A dawn workout is common among CEOs and other high-powered types.
Meditate or pray. Monks aren't the only ones who start the day on a spiritual note.
Work, often on personal or long-term projects outside the scope of their daily duties.
Fix a family breakfast — sometimes as a substitute for a family dinner — or play with their kids.
The Third Option 


If you can find a way to combine the best elements of the seemingly two different solutions into one remedy, then you have found the third option.
This third option is much more than a compromise which gives up something to quickly settle a dispute. The third option represents an elegant solution to a problem. It is the discovery of something better than the first two presented.


Jesus never said to plant churches 

Jordan reminds us that it's not really about planting churches. It's about making disciples. He ​warns us against the danger of cloning the ministry of others. He talks about the one overarching quality that it takes to plant a church. He talks about those who will come along and try to hijack the vision. He gives practical advice on things like naming a church, raising funds, and choosing a governance model. He warns that some of your greatest opponents will be pastors of other churches, and offers advice on how to deal with this. This is a book that was born out of the experience of a real church planter, and it shows.

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Saturday blog-sweep

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