Book Review: Leaders Who Last (Kraft)

To start off, the necessity of this book cannot be overstated. Statistically speaking only 30 percent of leaders finish well (for more on this, see Bobby Clinton’s landmark book The Making of a Leader), and only 1 out of 10 seminary graduates will finish in the ministry (let alone finishing it well, loving the Lord, etc.). So with pressures such as burnout being more and more a statistical probability than a far-off danger, what can we do to cultivate leaders who last?

Dave Kraft gives us a book that is to the point, extremely helpful, and one of the books next to the Bible that a leader should be extremely well acquainted with. Kraft approaches the writing of this book not with academic theories to implement, but practical life lessons to learn from.

One way in which Kraft presents this is through examining how the role and dynamic of a leader has changed over time (for instance, leaders in the past were organizational and characterized by command and control whereas today leaders tend to be more relational and permission-giving). One final (key!) area in which Kraft examines elements of leaders who last is by looking at the “areas” in which leaders ought to live:

With Jesus Christ in the center as their power,

With Jesus Christ as they develop a purpose,

With Jesus Christ as they develop a passion,

With Jesus Christ as they set priorities,

(and) With Jesus Christ as they develop pacing for how much they accomplish and how fast to do it.

This book is a book widely needed, especially within the church, and I am thankful to have the opportunity to read it on the front end of my ministry journey to safeguard against burn out, becoming a (negative) statistic, and further harming the perception of Jesus. This book is a necessity for all church leaders and is a quick, pointed, and necessary read.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review purposes by the Crossway Publishing. I was not required to post a positive review and the views expressed in this review are my own.

We Must Die to Live

As some of you may know, the last 12 months have been the most trying, overwhelming, difficult months of my life. I went from having a stable and comfortable job of which I was passionate about to being jobless for 8 months. I went from having a reliable car to having issue after issue, leading to thousands spent in repairs and ultimately being car-less for 2 months. I could go on, but that’s not the point of this post.

I struggled through so much in trying to reconcile just why God would put me through such trials; I mean, I was being faithful, wasn’t I? [note: I do not believe (intellectually) that my works provide God any sort of incentive or necessity to bless me or give me a comfortable life; I do not control God nor does he owe me anything, but if I’m being honest, this is what I often felt (functionally).] I struggled as everything around me was shaking. Everything was being “tried by fire” so to speak, and I was really wrestling with what God meant to do with all of this. My job, my car, my savings, all of it was being pressed–and hard.

As this season continued I had to press into the scripture. I needed to hear from the living God. Throughout this season I was able to hold on to a couple promises to provide hope and joy in the midst of it. Hebrews 12:26-28, one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, speaks of the removal of “shakeable” things, that the unshakeable foundation of Christ will remain–needless to say, this rang truer to me in this time than in most others I had felt. Another portion of scripture which rang particularly true to me in this time were the Psalms. These were raw accounts–frustration, heartache, confusion, pain, turmoil, temptation, anger–of prayer to God, and the turning to trust and hope in Him, knowing He is faithful, worthy, steadfast, and ALWAYS true to His word.

Today I came across another verse which I feel gives peace to a lot of my frustrations, questions, confusion, and doubt amidst these circumstances.

John 12:24 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

I would often plead to God, “Why is this happening to me? How could this be your will? What lesson are you trying to teach me?” and I am honestly starting to feel that John 12:24 is exactly it. Jesus Himself compares his true followers to a grain of wheat, which must die and be put into the ground in order to bear fruit. Just the same, I see this to mean that we are stretched, we are tested, we struggle, and this serves to reveal to us where our devotion truly lies. I like to say “You only know what a person believes in by what they suffer for–not what they say.” Paul says that we die to sin and in turn are Alive in Christ (Romans 6:1-14); he continually uses the terminology of a “new self” in comparison to the “old self” which has been ‘put away’ or died (crucified).

So put bluntly: I believe God was allowing my (false) foundations and securities to be shaken. He was removing the idol of my job, the idol of comfort, the idol of security, the idol of thinking that I can do well enough on my own, and continually revealing to me that HE Himself is the only one that will never leave me or forsake me (Joshua 1:5, 2 Corinthians 4:9), that will never change (Hebrews 13:8), and will be with us [me!] always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20b). This ‘death’ was that I may ‘bear [more] fruit.’

The purpose of me writing this is to provide hope. Maybe you’re going through an exceptionally rough time in your life; maybe God seems distant to you or inactive in your life; maybe all the things you thought were secure and comfortable in your life are being ripped away, altered, and shaken.

I write this to breathe life into the situation. God is not absent, far from you, or uncaring. He is working out something so unimaginable in ever single thing that He does. God knows what He’s up to, His promises are sure; and He can be trusted [always]!

In closing, here are a few more verses which have ministered to me over the past 12 months, and I pray that the Holy Spirit will ignite your spirit with these truths:

Isaiah 48:10 – “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.”

             (our affliction is refining us, not destroying us)

Daniel 11:35 – “..and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.”

            (we may stumble, but there is a purpose and a promise within it)

James 1:2-4 – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

            (these trials are for our joy, steadfastness, and sanctification)

Romans 5:3-5 – “…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

             (this suffering, this season, these tensions yield more endurance, character, hope, and confirmation of the Holy Spirit than could ever be accomplished without it; God is working something amazing out. Keep your eyes open!)

Book Review: Purpose Driven Life (10th Anniversary Edition) [Warren]

Some book reviews I put up are long winded, comprehensive, or thematic in nature; I do not believe that sort of review would do this text justice.

Rick Warren has been ridiculed, put under the microscope, and constantly pressured by a “lie that won’t die” (“Chrislam”), and yet remains passionate about the Gospel, consistent in his lifestyle, and committed to leaders and pastors around the U.S. and around the world.

At the end of the day, this is a book review, not a biography of the author. Purpose Driven Life (PDL) was extremely helpful for me to frame some of the Gospel truths which I’ve wrestled with over the years, and provides a straightforward, practical way of presenting the content.

One struggle I had with the text is that he consistently bounces between a great number of bible translations–which, though I don’t believe is inherently wrong, is a little difficult for me with continuity and I believe the temptation to utilize the version which best illustrates your point is greater.

This 10 year anniversary edition comes with two new chapters addressing barriers to living out our purpose. This is useful because Rick Warren is acknowledging the fluidity of our culture and seeks to maintain the relevance of the message in as precise a way as possible. In addition to the two new chapters, he has provided 42 chapter introductions and 42 audio messages to expand on the content within each chapter.

If you’ve not read PDL, do so. It may not be the most ground breaking thing you’ve ever picked up, but it definitely has that potential to be exactly what you needed.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review purposes by the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review and the views expressed in this review are my own.

Jesus, Risks, and the Hobbit

[[WHILE THIS POST IS A COMPILATION OF IDEAS, IT IS A LITTLE SCATTERED AT TIMES. PERHAPS I WILL COMPILE AND BETTER ORGANIZE MY THOUGHTS IN THE NEAR-FUTURE, BUT FOR THE TIME BEING I JUST NEED TO GET THE CONTENT onto paper AND I PRAY THAT IT IS COHESIVE ENOUGH TO GET MY POINT ACROSS.]]

 

As I was watching The Hobbit tonight, I had a few key things come to mind (don’t worry, I won’t give any spoilers).

I think it’s pretty clear that we all love epic tales. We love stories of mass adventures and journeys into the unknown. Lord of the Rings, Narnia, the Bourne movies, the list goes on and on.

I started to think about why that is, and at the end of the day, I think it’s because we all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

We flock to theatres, buy novels, plaster our walls (both physically and electronically) with posters and visual content, and much more to express our interaction with these themes; but for me, this exposed in me (and surely in others) a dangerous reality.

We long for the interaction and involvement in grander themes, something “bigger” than us, having a greater purpose, and yet we leave it to the movies we watch, the pages we turn, and the stories we read. We long to play a part and yet settle for living vicariously through a character while we are a passive observer.

Why?

I think it’s because we know that it will cost us.

We know that with these sorts of involvement, there is risk. We want the benefits without the costs, we want the enjoyment of being significant without the dangers of being disliked by some.

Allow me to hone in on this a little bit. I do not want this to be some generic, conceptual argument with vague intentions which significant, tangible realities are swirling around this.

There is a higher calling for our lives than observing adventures happen on a television screen. Jesus calls us to follow Him. We are being called upon to be agents of reconciliation and proclaim His Gospel to the world (2 Cor 5:18-19). We are being called to advance His Kingdom and live in such a way that the world will see that we value something more than anything else this world can offer us.

We are being called by God to make much of HIM, not ourselves.

The truth is.. it will cost us, but His promise is sure.

Jesus says we may lose everything (see the book of Job), but He is enough.

The Bible says that you may be rejected by men (John 15:18), but He alone will sustain you and never leave you (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Without fragmenting this too much, I look at how I’m living and look at the scriptures and see a great imbalance. I read stories in the Bible and desire the interactions and communing with God that these men and women had, and yet I often seek to do as little as possible to receive it. Perhaps it’s my Westernized, American mentality or perhaps we’ve just used that as an excuse for far too long. All I know it that there’s an imbalance, and I don’t wish for it to be a defining factor for me any more.

At the end of the day, we must risk. We must venture into the unknown, but in doing so, we can hold firm to the fact that our God will remain with us, and that He is ever-victorious; that either in our life or our death, He will be made much of and magnified.

Joel Houston (lead singer of Hillsong United) says, “all too often we look at injustice and say to ourselves ‘that’s not right; that’s not fair’ and then chance the channel or get on with supper.”

We identify with it, but that’s often times all we do, because for us to ever do something about it will actually cost us something.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be the generation that can hold doctrinally-sound beliefs and do absolutely nothing about it other than debate people.

I desire to be a part of a generation that acts on those beliefs. A generation that lives them out. I want us as Christians to be known for our intentionality and urgency in what we believe–while being characterized by love. I want to live in such a way that even if my friends don’t believe the same things I do, they know I believe it, and it shapes the way I live.

Are we believing in God to move in impossible situations? Are we even asking Him to? Or are we writing Him off before we even give Him the chance to do something?

The Bible says that God is able to do abundantly more than we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20), and so even the most far-fetched, impossible-seeming, most ridiculous aspiration you have in reaching someone or doing something for the sake of the Gospel, God can do even more.

God desires to make His name great and for our lives to be consumed with bringing Him glory. May we stop settling for adventures and epic tales on a movie screen when we have one laying right in front of us.

May we live with a Gospel urgency and intentionality, knowing that not just what we think about Jesus, but how we live for (and proclaim!) Him is necessary in making Him known in our specific contexts.

May we live out this Gospel, depend on Jesus, and love God passionately as we seek for His Kingdom to advance.

Praying for this.

He Went About Doing Good

“Who went about doing good.”—Acts 10:38.

Few words, but yet an exquisite miniature of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are not many touches, but they are the strokes of a master’s pencil. Of the Saviour and only of the Saviour is it true in the fullest, broadest, and most unqualified sense. “He went about doing good.” From this description it is evident that He did good personally. The evangelists constantly tell us that He touched the leper with His own finger, that He anointed the eyes of the blind, and that in cases where He was asked to speak the word only at a distance, He did not usually comply, but went Himself to the sick bed, and there personally wrought the cure. A lesson to us, if we would do good, to do it ourselves. Give alms with your own hand; a kind look, or word, will enhance the value of the gift. Speak to a friend about his soul; your loving appeal will have more influence than a whole library of tracts.

Our Lord’s mode of doing good sets forth His incessant activity! He did not only the good which came close to hand, but He “went about” on His errands of mercy. Throughout the whole land of Judea there was scarcely a village or a hamlet which was not gladdened by the sight of Him. How this reproves the creeping, loitering manner, in which many professors serve the Lord. Let us gird up the loins of our mind, and be not weary in well doing.

Does not the text imply that Jesus Christ went out of His way to do good? “He went about doing good.” He was never deterred by danger or difficulty. He sought out the objects of His gracious intentions. So must we. If old plans will not answer, we must try new ones, for fresh experiments sometimes achieve more than regular methods. Christ’s perseverance, and the unity of His purpose, are also hinted at, and the practical application of the subject may be summed up in the words, “He hath left us an example that we should follow in His steps.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon (from Morning and Evening, a daily devotional; paragraphing added)