Book Review - The Next Generation Leader

***click the link on the right sidebar for the 2009 reading list***

The Next Generation Leader
by Andy Stanley

Book Summary

This is a short little book for the men and women who are rising up to be the next generation of leaders. Stanley covers 5 elements to being a good leader: competence, courage, clarity, coaching, character.

Book Review

Stanley writes well on the topic of leadership because he is one of the extraordinary ministry leaders of our day. This book is too small to be a very comprehensive treatment of leadership, but it is a good introduction to the topic. The book itself could actually be easily condensed down to a short booklet because it is filled with so many stories, much of which can easily be skipped over. Overall, a good quick read on leadership.

Next 3 books up
1. 10 Great Ideas from Church History
2. Made to Stick
3. Pierced for Our Transgressions

Reminder - AWANA Awards Ceremony

Just a reminder...

The AWANA awards ceremony is this Wednesday at 6:00pm in the Sanctuary. We want all adults to join with us reguardless of whether or not you worked in AWANA ministry. Please make a special note of the time. We are starting at 6:00pm.

Blessings...

Mark

Book Review - The Heart of Evangelism

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The Heart of Evangelism
by Jerram Barrs

Book Summary

Barrs has written a simple and straightforward book about evangelism and the principles involved in sharing the gospel with others. There are four sections to this book: Mission to the World, The Kindness and Perseverance of God, Barriers in the Way of Communicating the Gospel, Making the Gospel Known

Book Review

I like this book very much. It is Scripture-saturated from cover to cover. If you have been a Christian for long you probably already know the content of the gospel. This book will help you greatly, particularly the final section which deals with principles in sharing the gospel.

Many evangelism books will give you techniques of sharing the gospel. Many evangelism books give you a canned presentation of the gospel that you can just unload on anybody. Barrs does none of this. He is very big on the importance of the individual and the necessity of tailoring the gospel presentation to the person or group you are speaking to. Barrs gives us principles by which we are to work when sharing the gospel. Excellent.

Book Review - Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches

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Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches
By John Hammett

Book Summary

Hammett has written a thorough book outlining Baptist ecclesiology (doctrine of the church). Hammett himself is a member of the Southern Baptist denomination and teaches at Southeastern Baptist Seminary. The book is divided into 5 parts covering the basics of the nature of the church and then diving into Baptist specifics of who the church is, how the church is governed, and what the church does. Hammett concludes part 5 by writing about where we are headed.

Hammett spends significant time dealing with the weaknesses that have crept into 20th and 21st century Baptist churches. He writes at length about regenerate church membership and how Baptist churches can return to what has been a historic Baptist practice, but was abandoned in the 20th century.

Book Review

This is an excellent book. I would recommend that this book be read by anybody who is interested in seeing how a healthy Baptist church should function. Hammett makes no bones about the departures that the Baptist church at large has made from historic Baptist principles.

This is a hard read, but a good read. It pulls in at 354 pages, so buckle down.

Of particular interest should be parts 2 and 3. Part 2 answers the question, “Who is the church?” by addressing the issue of regenerate church membership and church discipline. These are practices that Baptists have abandoned and which have caused our churches to greatly weaken over time. Case in point with our own church…we have 650 members and about 180 average attendance. In centuries past, Baptists would have never allowed this to happen, but in our day it seems to be normal practice. Part 3 answers the question, “How is the church governed?” by stating that Baptists should be congregationally governed (ch. 6) with plural elder leadership (ch. 7) and served by a deacon body (ch. 8). Hammett provides excellent Scriptural and historical evidence for this model. Again, on this issue, modern Baptists find themselves to have departed from this pattern.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book if you have the desire to see how the Baptist church should properly function according to Scripture and history.

Great Commission Resurgence

I have just signed the declaration called the Great Commission Resurgence.

What is the Great Commission Resurgence you ask??? Good question.

In the 1980's Southern Baptists experienced what is now called the the "Conservative Resurgence" where the "battle for the Bible" was won. During that time Southern Baptists firmly reclaimed the belief in an inerrant Bible. Fast forward to our day now, some 25 years later, and we find that the Conservative Resurgence thus far has been a failure in terms of producing the fruit it should have produced. Yes, our seminaries are solid again, as those who did not affirm inerrancy were asked to leave, but the Conservative Resurgence has failed to produce a Great Commission resurgence. That is, the Conservative Resurgence has failed to propel our churches forward in their effectiveness of reaching the world for Christ.

Much has been said of the decline of the Southern Baptist Convention. I will not write again what others have already said in a manner better than I can say it. So I will point you to 2 articles that fully explain the extent of Southern Baptist decline.

• Please read this article by Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, written in April 2009.
  
• Also, please read this article also written by Ed Stetzer in April 2008.
  

The basic summary of these articles is this:

• The SBC rate of growth has been slowing for decades. (see chart on the 2nd article) At the end of any growth curve is a plateau. After a plateau comes a decline. Currently, the SBC has just passed its plateau. As a denomenation we have now entered into our period of decline. If we want to avoid our own death as a denomination then we must do something about it!!!
  

We are desperate for a Great Commission Resurgence to send us into a new growth curve.

Below are the 10 statements of the Great Commission Resurgence. Each statement is explained in fuller measure at the website. Go here to read it in entirety, see who has already signed it, and sign if you wish. I have debated whether I will expound on these individually here on the church blog or if I will commit to speaking about them on Wednesday nights later this year. If you have a preference please leave me a comment.

I. A Commitment to Christ’s Lordship. We call upon all Southern Baptists to submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in all things at the personal, local church, and denominational levels. (Col. 1:18; 3:16-17, 23-24)

II. A Commitment to Gospel-Centeredness. We call upon all Southern Baptists to make the gospel of Jesus Christ central in our lives, our churches, and our denominational ministries. (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:17-21)

III. A Commitment to the Great Commandments. We call upon all Southern Baptists to recommit to the priority of the Great Commandments in every aspect of our lives and every priority we embrace as a network of local Baptist churches. (Matt. 22:37-40)

IV. A Commitment to Biblical Inerrancy and Sufficiency. We call upon all Southern Baptists to unite around a firm conviction in the full truthfulness and complete sufficiency of Christian Scripture in all matters of faith and practice. (Matt 5:17-18; John 10:35; 17:17; 2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)

V. A Commitment to a Healthy Confessional Center. We call upon all Southern Baptists to look to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as a sufficient guide for building a theological consensus for partnership in the gospel, refusing to be sidetracked by theological agendas that distract us from our Lord’s Commission. (1 Tim. 6:3-4)

VI. A Commitment to Biblically Healthy Churches. We call upon all Southern Baptists to focus on building local churches that are thoroughly orthodox, distinctively Baptist, and passionately committed to the Great Commission. (Matt. 16:13-20, 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-47; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 5)

VII. A Commitment to Sound Biblical Preaching. We call upon all Southern Baptists to affirm and expect a pastoral ministry that is characterized by faithful biblical preaching that teaches both the content of the Scriptures and the theology embedded in the Scriptures. (2 Tim. 4:1-5)

VIII. A Commitment to a Methodological Diversity that is Biblically Informed. We call upon all Southern Baptists to consider themselves and their churches to be missionaries in non-Christian cultures, each of which requires unique strategies and emphases if the gospel is to penetrate and saturate every community in North America. (Phil. 2:1-5; 4:2-9)

IX. A Commitment to a More Effective Convention Structure. We call upon all Southern Baptists to rethink our Convention structure and priorities so that we can maximize our energy and resources for the health of our local churches and the fulfilling of the Great Commission. (1 Cor. 10:31)

X. A Commitment to Distinctively Christian Families. We call upon all Southern Baptists to build gospel-saturated homes that see children as a gift from God and as our first and primary mission field. (Deut. 6:1-9; Psalm 127, 128; Eph. 6:4)

Coracora Team - 4/23 Report

Hey church...great news from Peru. Check out below the final report from the April team. Thanks for praying.

We made it back to Lima this morning, arriving at the guest house at 9am. What a great trip. We had several discipleship sessions with Yulber and a couple with Edgar. We led 3 to Christ, two were co-workers of Yulber and another was the crippled father of one of his students. We also had a meeting with Yulber, Pastor Jose (from Nasca), and Bro. Porfolio Morales from the baptist church. Edgar was out of town and couldn't attend. We all agree the work in Coracora needs resurrecting and everyone at the table is on board. Bro. Jose has been working on getting a Peruvian missionary from Lima to go to Coracora and commit to 2 years. Churches in Nasca and Ica have offered to underwrite the support needed. So far he has not been able to get this together, but He has a renewed commitment to try. There is still an interest to get into the baptist church building, but all agreed that an alternative location must be found. Bro. Porfolio has a cousin who owns 2 locations near the center of town and he believes we can use one of them. It sounds like the Lord is leading us to revive this work. We all agreed that there two urgent needs. First, to find a place to meet for those we have been working with as well as many scattered believers throughout Coracora. Second, we need someone to step up to lead. Edgar, who I know none of you have met, is the the one I, Greg, and the enhancement team have the most cautious optimism to be out in front. Yulber and Edgar have already begun to talk. We all agreed that we believe a larger, strong church can be built in Coracora which will reach a larger number in Coracora, and be a "sending church" for that region. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe great things are about to break out in Coracora. Pray hard! The enhancement team will be in Coracora for 2 more weeks. They will be trying to keep Yulber, Edgar, and bro. Porfolio in contact with each other and get them to begin meetings, as well as monitoring the meeting location issue.

Book Review - The Pursuit of Holiness

***see the 2009 reading list link on the right sidebar***

The previous book reviews have been a little long, sorry about that. I’m going to try and keep them shorter.

The next 3 books I will be reading and reviewing are: The Heart of Evangelism, The Next Generation Leader, and Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches

The Pursuit of Holiness
by Jerry Bridges

Book Summary

The Pursuit of Holiness is a short book on the topic of personal holiness. It is practically written with a focus on how to live it out in daily life. Jerry Bridges communicates the absolute necessity of holiness for the believer and the disciplines that will lead the believer into a holy life.

Book Review

YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!

The Pursuit of Holiness is a short book (approx. 200 pages) with a really powerful punch. If you want to live a holy life then you need to allow Jerry Bridges to help you. Every page of this book is packed with the meat of the Word of God.

Go get it now. Click here.