Archive for the ‘Book Reviews’ category

The Rabbit & The Elephant

June 1st, 2009

Back in April, I was asked by Tndale House Publishers to do a review of their upcoming book, “The Rabbit and The Elephant.” As a church planter, and someone interested creating self-replicating groups, I was intrigued by the synopsis of the book which reads as follows.

If you put two elephants in a room together and close the door, in 22 months you may get one baby elephant. But two rabbits together for the same amount of time will result in thousands of baby rabbits! In The Rabbit and the Elephant, “micro church” planters Tony and Felicity Dale use the “rabbit” illustration to show the pace at which the Christian faith can (and should) be growing—through evangelism that is explosive and transformational. The Rabbit and the Elephant contains the key to 21st century evangelism—taking the gospel to where the pain and the people are.

This book tells the story of Tony and Felicity Dale’s journey toward Simple Church.  With occasional input from coauthor and researcher, George Barna (see my interview with Barna here).  The authors use the rabbit and the elephant analogy to say that smaller church is much easier to reproduce than a larger and more complex church.  The Dales see themselves as fulfilling a specific call from God and as forerunners to a reformation that will be as big as Tyndale’s reformation (24).  The Dale’s vision for Church is promoted through their magazine, conferences, and two websites www.simplechurch.com and www.house2house.com.

A summary of why they value simple church is found on pages 13-15.
1. Jesus ministered in homes, and much of the Gospel narratives takes place in homes…
2. New Testament Christians primarily met in small group or home settings…
3. It is difficult to obey the commands of the New Testament in groups that are too large…
4. Jesus entrusted his ministry to ordinary untrained men…
5. Most aspects of ministry are better in a small setting…
6. Simple churches multiply more quickly…
7. Simple churches allow all the members of Jesus’ body to be fully functioning…
One of the refreshing positives of this book, is that while the authors promote the strengths of the “rabbit”-sized simple church, they do not make an enemy of the “Legacy” or traditional church.  They write,

Please do not think this is a criticism of individual legacy churches.  We personally owe a lot to the legacy churches of our formative years, and we are thrilled that two of our four adult children are seeking God with all their hearts at wonderful legacy churches.  We believe that God continues and will continue to use legacy churches in remarkable ways (31).

Unlike other books, and blogs, I am pleased that the authors are not turning “Simple Church” into another denominational divide.  I am glad that the Dale’s have chosen to value friendship and co-ministry with the Legacy Church.  For this reason alone, it is a good book, worth reading and I hope more folks will take a step in this direction of corporation for God’s Kingdom.
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Posted in Book Reviews, Ecclesiology, Emerging Church

"Praying in Community" is out on Amazon

May 26th, 2009

My small group study went live a little faster than expected, but you can now get copies of my new 6 week series, “Praying in Community” on Amazon.  

There is a LEADER GUIDE and STUDENT JOURNAL available for purchase.

The following is from the Intro to the study.

Several years ago I was pastoring in a large church and was asked to create a Wednesday night discipleship program. I wanted to do more than just teach people about God, I wanted to create opportunities to experience both the love of the Father and the power of Divine-community. As I searched all the major publishing houses, I quickly became frustrated at the quality of materials on prayer. Most studies lacked depth and the ones that provided it were focused almost exclusively on passing along the cold-hard facts about prayer. I wanted something more. The people of God deserve and need something more! This group study was born out of my passion to help people both learn about and experience the power of praying in community.

This 6 lesson series is designed to help every disciple of Christ master the art of communal prayer. So much of our culture emphasizes the private nature faith, that we have forgotten the power of praying in groups. This series has been used in my own ministry to help both the brand new Christians and the mature Christians experience the power of praying as a church Family.

Each lesson is designed to last 1 1/2 hours. Unlike most group studies, this material puts an equal emphasis on teaching the mind and engaging the spirit. The first half of each lesson teaches one of six disciplines; The Prayer of Jesus, The Prayer of Brokenness, The Prayer of Evangelism, The Prayer of Healing, The Prayer of Intercession, and The Prayer of Persistence. The second half of each lesson is your opportunity to move beyond talking about prayer and actually engaging in prayer. How much time you spend in each will vary depending upon the experience and comfort level of the people in the study. As a whole, this study teaches the value of using the Scripture as our primary book of prayer.

My prayer, is that each person in this study will come to know the joy of prayer and the power of praying in community.

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Posted in Book Reviews, Discipleship, Spiritual Formation

Praying In Community

May 15th, 2009

All too often, prayer is limited to private rumination and the internal groaning of the soul. The church in the West must rediscover both the power of praying the Scriptures and the power of praying in community.

Seven years ago I wrote a 6 week series teaching the disciplines of communal prayer. I am so excited because just today I received my proof copies of both the Leader Guide and the Student Journal.

The series is titled, “Praying in Community: Giving Voice to the Heart of Our Father”

The first half of each lesson teaches one of six disciplines;

  1. The Prayer of Jesus
  2. The Prayer of Brokenness
  3. The Prayer of Evangelism
  4. The Prayer of Healing
  5. The Prayer of Intercession
  6. The Prayer of Persistence

The second half of each lesson is an opportunity to move beyond talking about prayer and actually engaging in communal prayer.

Here is a photo of my cover design.
and a pic of one of the study pages.

The materials will be available from Amazon.com in the next few weeks. I will announce the release here and add the books to my on-line store at www.EmergingLife.org. I hope you will consider buying copies for your small group, Sunday School class, youth group, or house church and discover together the power of Praying in Community!

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Posted in Book Reviews, Discipleship, Spiritual Formation

You can get my latest book on Amazon

February 28th, 2009

My 4th book is now out. This book titled, “Have You Not Yet Received the Spirit?: Finding Unity Through Baptism in the Holy Spirit” is the second in a series related to the Holy Spirit. The first one “Promise of the Father” was a look at the early history of Pentecostalism in America an how it shaped the theology of Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This newest book is over 200 pages and takes a fresh look at what the Bible teaches on the Holy Spirit.

From the book cover:

Faith in Jesus must produce a natural love and generosity toward others and a desire for unity within the one Body of Christ. Sadly, this is not the condition of our Church today. There is much debate regarding the topic of Baptism in the Holy Spirit and it is unfortunate that people on all sides quickly dismiss others as evil or apostate. My hope is that this book will take this debate out of the hands of those who would divide the Church and place it back within the context of the whole Body of Christ. Read and discover the power of the Spirit and the bond of peace only He can provide.

You can see my other books
and Bible Study materials
by scrolling down on the right.

All proceeds go to support my
work to plant churches!

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Posted in Book Reviews, My Publications, Pneumatology