On the Shelf update

I’ve neglected my “on the shelf page” so thought today I would dust it off. Every month we are sharing with our staff team what we’ve been reading through. Thought this would be a good chance to share some of that with you. And. want to give you the chance to share back as well. What are you reading this summer?

Books:
Here I Stand
Genre: history / bio
Subject: Martin Luther Bio
Author: Roland Bainton
Page count: 302
Comment: Recommended to me as the best out there on Luther. Bainton does a good job telling the story and not just listing facts. Reads like a novel. 4 out of 5 stars.
Learned: Even Martin Luther needed a host of other people to make his words have any real force behind them. Fredrick the Wise was as crucial to the reformation as Luther was in many ways as he was basically the govenor of Luther’s area of Germany. Lesson: You cannot do it alone. Luther held to doctrinal purity and trusted God by trusting his life to others at times. Love jesus, trust God, and work as a team.

Total Church
Genre: Church Health / Contemporary Bio
Subject: Examination of church fundamentals by British Church Planters
Author: Steve Timmis & Tim Chester
Page Count: 208
Comment: We got a detailed handout on it last staff meeting. I encourage you to go read the whole book. WORTH IT
Learned: There is the gospel and the people of God. The most important thing we can do is be a healthy church. We’ve got to see the church not as our volunteer pool but as the bride of Jesus. Cherish, love, and care for these people.

The Dangerous Book for Boys
Genre: Fun / Parenting
Subject: 2 Dads take on stuff every boy should know
Author: Gonn & Hal Iggulden
Page Count: 267
Comment: John Posey gave it to me when I found out I was having a boy for my first child. Best gift I got. I continue to learn from it.
Learned: I think I blogged recently about this one. More available there. But the other day I learned the 5 essential knots every boy should know. So watch yourself in the hallways as I have a 100ft rope and now know how to use it.

Religion Saves
Genre: Christian Living / Culture
Subject: Mark Driscoll on 9 issues christians have questions about right now
Author: Mark Driscoll
Page Count: 288
Comment: Confess I didnt read all of this one but found it a helpful resource I will go back to for commentary on those issues
Learned: Specifically found some help in the first issue he addresses: Birth Control. Working through that issue right now and found his pastoral tone and insight helpful. Along these lines I recommend Randy Alcorn’s pdf-book Does The Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? which you can download for free online at epm.org.

Sermons: ADVANCE ‘09 – all worth a second listen, but specifically Matt Chandler’s message and Mark Driscoll’s Idolatry message.

Blogs:

• Between The Times: Bruce Ashford Series “On Disciplined Reading”
• C.J. Mahaney’s view from the Cheap Seats: “Tools for Preaching Proverbs”
• Steven Furtick: “How do I get into THAT circle?”
• JD Greear
• Mark Driscoll Blog / The Resurgence

Monday on the Links…East Asia driver’s ed

Ok, normally Monday on the links is reserved for good edifying discipleship materials. But today, I bring you one and only one, awesome link. actually, I am posting the text here for security reasons but they live in a large country in East Asia and just recently received their driver’s license. In case you dont know people there drive like madmen & traffic is chaos. Now i know why. Below is a series of questions straight from their test. Oh, and Mutiple Choice Question 2 is my favorite. What is yours? And I begin quote “

True/False:
1. When a head-on collision is unavoidable, the driver should free the steering wheel, raise the legs and lie sideward on the right seat at the moment of the head-on collision. This can ensure his body is not struck by the steering wheel. Answer: True

2. When making a U turn on a slope, the foot brake instead of the hand brake should be used. Answer: False.

3. When a driver senses he will inevitably be thrown out the of vehicle, he should violently straighten both his legs to increase the force of being thrown out and jump out of the vehicle. Answer: True. WHAT??????????

4. When a wounded suffers bleeding in the forearm or shank, the rescuers may place a cushion in the armpit or in the rook of the arm, crook the armpit or rook and tie up. Answer: True .

5. When encountering old people walking on the road and obstructing the traffic, the driver may continuously honk to urge them to yield. Answer: False .

6. When driving at night, the driver should reduce speed and go forward if the vehicle coming in the opposite direction fails to turn off the high beam light. This is designed to prevent an accident from happening when there are pedestrians crossing the place where the lights of the two vehicles meet. Answer: True

Multiple Choice:
1.When the engine catches fire, the wrong measure is to_________.
a. swiftly turn off the engine
b. extinguish the fire by covering
c. open the bonnet to extinguish the fire
d. use the fire extinguisher to put out the fire
Answer: C Don’t you dare open that bonnet!

2. After a vehicle falls into water, the wrong method for the driver to rescue himself is to _________.
a. close the window to prevent water from flowing into the vehicle
b. immediately use hand to open the door
c. let the water fill up the driver’s cab so that the water pressure both inside and outside is equal
d. use a large plastic bag to cover the head and tight the neck closely

Answer: A Yes, that’s right, D is one the right methods. make sure if you use a plastic bag that you “tight the neck closely”

3. When encountering a flock of sheep crossing a road, the driver should _________.
a. honk continuously to drive away the flock
b. speed up and bypass the flock
c. drive slowly and use the vehicle to scare away the flock
d. reduce speed and go slowly, or stop to yield when necessary
Answer: D

4. When causing a road accident involving only slight property damage and the basic fact is clear, the parties to the accident__________.
a. should not leave the scene
b. should report to the police immediately
c. should first leave the scene and then discuss how to solve the problem
d. should park the vehicles in the original place and discuss compensation
Answer: C

So how did you do??? You’ve gotta get 90% to drive in this country! “

Huge thanks to my friends, ummm, Chuck Norris & She-ra for their awesome contribution to my life with that blog post. Hope you laughed as much as I did. Happy Monday.

Small groups in the summer

Summertime is always a slow time in small group ministry. Likewise, it’s going to be a little bit slower here on the small groups guy blog. I’m taking this time to do some more in-depth writing on various issues that I will be making available in article form to you on here. I will still be blogging regularly, just not as frequently for the month of July. Happy. Summertime!!

I’m a michael jackson fan…

Time for all of us (Michael fans in hiding for the past 7 years) to start making our way out of the shadows to pay tribute to the last guy to single handedly alter the landscape of music in his time. I loved michael jackson. I learned his dances…as much as a clumsy white boy from the suburbs can learn such masterful rhythm. I had tapes, then cds, and at one point a dvd I bought in china (probably pirated) with a concert of his on it. So allow me to go “groupy” on you and drop some michael memories I hope you enjoy sharing. then a word about the blog to follow in a couple of days..

I mean do you remember the music videos? COME ON! EPIC! Let’s take a stroll down michael memory lane together: Smooth Criminal (The lean? what a move!) / Thriller (first two chords…you are so there right now) / Black or White (McCauley!) / JAM (M.J. meets M.J. my 2 favorite icons in one place) / Bad (Whose bad? freaking michael jackson thats who) / Beat It (best knife fight scene ever) Scream (not his best) /  BILLIE FREAKIN JEAN! (Lit up side walk. Dont know why, but that was so awesome) / Heal the World (that song may be a little lame, but its untouchable. if you bust on it, you are a racist who hates poor people) / Remember the time (magic johnson cameo in an Egyptian theme? nowhere else would that be tolerated, much less COOL)

each of these, and I probably am missing some, were worthy of academy award short film nominations (again except for scream). I think Thriller might have won something actually. If I am missing something, let me know in comment section.

I learned what a beat was from this music and I loved it. I learned some quality wedding reception dance moves from this guy and I used them. For a couple years I was, sorry to say, “That guy” that the dreaded dance circle formed around to do his mj dance moves. Still hear comments from the Ussery wedding moves I did to “Beat It.”

Bottom line, its sad M.J. is dead. Sad that with all his fame, success, and wealth I think its safe to say he couldnt buy happiness. Sadder so many people worshipped the guy. He was a great entertainer, maybe the best ever, and now he’s gone. Maybe some people around the world will be open to talking about real life issues for a brief window because of his passing. I encourage you, Christain, to use this window while it is there and talk with your friends and family about it. Death comes to us all. Jesus brings hope in the face of death because he overcame the grave. Speak the truth in love, see what happens!

Back to my tribute: So long M.J. Your music will live on in my house. Leg kick + shoulder shrug + neck/head swing + arm stretch + “He Hee” + hip grab (PC MJ grab) + thrust + Beat It in the background = Spence’s Michael Tribute.

Happy Fathers Day me…The Dangerous Book for Boys

Father’s Day is today. Made me think of my favorite dad resource. Happy Father’s Day to you dad’s out there.

When we had Zeke a friend here at the Summit, John Posey, gave me what is fastly becoming my favorite book. Gonn & Hal Iggulden’s The Dangerous Book for Boys is a blast. let me read you some of the chapter titles…

Essential Gear / The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World / The five knots every boy should know (I learned them last night!) / Making a Bow and Arrow / Navajo Code Talker’s Dictionary / Making a Paper Hat, Boat and Water Bomb…

I could go on. Bottom line, if you are a parent of a boy, you will find this to be a fun manual for creating a life of adventure for your son.

What should you read?

One of our own small group coaches here at the Summit has put together an awesome set of blog posts that I want to commend to you in case you haven’t seen it. Bruce Ashford is a member and small group coach at the Summit, and when he isnt doing that role he is a husband and soon to be dad, and in his spare time the dean of the college at southeastern. Love this guy and am always encouraged by him. The blog post series is titled “On Disciplined Reading” and its been one of the most helpful blog series i’ve read in the past year. Thanks Bruce for this series and for your commitment to making disciples at the Summit!

Bruce is one of the regular contributors to the blog “between the times” that is sponsored by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Our lead pastor at the Summit, J.D. Greear, is also a contributor.

Leader Development at the Summit Church

Below is part of a letter I mailed out to small group leaders here at the Summit talking about a shift in focus we’ve made (in house) over the past few months and how it is affecting them beginning this summer. I was hesitant to share this with you as I openly convey some regret in this letter about our ministry’s past. However maybe you will glean something from this to help you in your own setting. Also, our resource list for leader development this year shows up towards the end. Again, for your general knowledge in case it helps. Really looking forward to ‘09-’10!!

Dear SummitLIFE Leader,
I hope your summer has started off well. I want to take a second to say thank you for your diligent leadership of your SummitLIFE group this past spring. Just to catch you up, we had more people involved in a SummitLIFE group this spring than ever before! Praise God we are really starting to develop a family of believers here at the Summit!

Our growth is exciting, and with that God has given us a great responsibility to be not just a ministry growing in number, but growing in our capacity to make disciples as well. To my regret, we have not been emphasizing leader development as much as I’ve come to see we should have been over the past few years.  The result has been a small group ministry largely pointed towards numerical expansion and not focused enough on the spiritual health and maturity of its leaders. Thankfully, this is no longer the case.

We made up substantial ground this past year (Fall-Spring) by connecting most of our group leaders to experienced small group leaders and/or pastors who we are calling “coaches” as a prayer and support line for you. Our coaches meet monthly with myself and our SummitLIFE staff to discuss and take steps to improve the health of your group.

This summer, we are beginning the next phase in our shift towards becoming a healthy discipleship ministry. Your elders have affirmed this move and are behind us in this effort. The Summit will be issuing you a series of resources over the course of the year (Summer ‘09 – Summer ‘10) for you to work through. They include:

•    The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney
•    Emergency Response Handbook for Small Group Leaders by Groups Publishing
•    The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
•     “Organic” Series by Pastor J.D.

We believe out of all of the resources we looked through, this combination along with our coaches and our ongoing sermon-based group material, will help us create an environment for a healthy year of discipleship for the small group leaders of the Summit Church. We will be both supporting and challenging you like never before.

I love my role here at the Summit Church.

Monday on the Links…a good word

I found the article below on Leah Rade’s blog. Leah is part of a the staff of fellow local church here in the area and focuses her time on creating community in the church much like I do. Like her, I find this short word from James D. Berkley challenging.

Is there anything simpler or more natural than members of a church looking out for their own interests? We like to park conveniently. We want our pew available each week. We expect our kind of music to be sung—not that other ungodly stuff! We like things our way, to our convenience and taste.

How easy it is to make church nice and comfortable for us! And how wrong! Why? Because church isn’t meant to be comfortable. No pioneering, radical, countercultural organization has the leisure to be comfortable. A country club can be comfortable. A golfing foursome can be comfortable. A family gathering can be comfortable. But a church—that culture-shaking, eternity-changing band Jesus commissioned to turn the world upside down—doesn’t have the charter to be comfortable. It’s commissioned as activist for the kingdom of God!

My pleasure, my ease, my way are really not important. God’s glory, God’s tasks, others’ benefit—that’s the reason for the church. The apostle Paul makes clear that Christians must treat one another as more important than themselves. They are to be “put out” by the interests of others. The church is not my personal vending machine. Instead it is a lifesaving station to reach out to those in peril needing to be made safe.

How does that happen? When leaders decide their responsibility is to follow seriously the One who came to seek and save the lost. That, however, gets expensive, when the church has to add parking and pews and programs for those not yet in the church. That becomes difficult when the comfortable become discomfited by change. That becomes messy when the sacred mixes with the profane. Granted.

But Jesus emptied himself, humbled himself, and died on a cross for us—and that is to be our mindset (Phil. 2:5-11). As leaders we must proclaim to the comfortable the message of Christ. And then refocus our thinking and strategy on the outsider, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

—James D. Berkley

To note, I think the Summit Church is a body of believers who “gets” what berkley is saying. But we must never forget it. especially as we enter a season of growth in our small group ministry.

Stuff a Small Group Leader should know pt.3 : Disciplines vs. Habits

We continue our ongoing series of stuff a small group leader should know. This one is useful both as a tool to keep your small group from avoiding “routine” and to keep you personally from putting the gospel on cruise control in your life. Today we talk about

Spiritual Disciplines vs. Spiritual Habits

I’ve been trying for some time to work out this principle because I experience it on a regular basis as a follower of Christ who is also a habit loving human. I love the routines I have in my life. Take showering for example. I have a showering routine. Warm the water up, get in facing away from the water, rinse, shampoo, wash body, rinse shampoo, finish Bohemian Rhapsody Chorus, and get out.

Why do I love this routine? because I dont have to think about it. I can go through the motions, get the job done, and not have thought about a thing. I rarely forget to do it, but I exert no thought towards it. Does that make sense?

Sometimes personally I can get into a spiritual routine. I crack open my bible, let my eyes go over a chapter of a book, shut it and pray for my family, my church, my friends, and world peace. On the surface, I appear like a pretty mature christian right? I mean I “read” my bible and I “pray” every day. Or at least, I go through the routine. I even sing the songs on Sunday at church. All of em. Every week. Another place for routine to kick in. I pay my tithe every month online through bill-pay. Another routine.

The spiritual disciplines (bible study, prayer, fasting, worship, evangelism, tithing, etc) are called disciplines because they require mental engagement. One must discipline himself or herself because he or she is not naturally inclined to fully engage such an exercise. We are CREATED to carry out these disciplines as they are all forms of worship, but our sin nature pulls us away from these acts of worship. (Paul expresses this struggle in the second half of Romans 7)

So here is my point: A group leader has got to fight against spiritual habit. Going through the motions is Satans way of pulling you away from communion with God himself. Fight it. As John Piper said at Advance09 this past weekend: “You will not know what prayer is for until you know that life is war.” Something like that.

You and your people are in a constant spiritual battle. Discipline your heart and mind to ENGAGE the scriptures, to pray with conviction and specificity, to make your words a concious conduit of your faith in your worship, to consider the sacrifice of the gospel in your tithe, to feast on Christ in your fasting, and most of all to rejoice in your salvation as you tell others.

You were created for worship. you are in a war. avoid cruise control at all costs.

Advance09 update

I’m sitting here in the DPAC attending Advance09, a conference on the resurgence of the local church. 2 sessions in and I’ve already been challenged by some pretty major stuff. Also been affirmed in some things we are doing at the summit. Here is a little bit that has stuck with me:
challenging thoughts:
– less than 17% of people age 17-29 are in a evangelical church in the west.
– we must engage in long-term active repentance to see a resurgence of the local church.
– the local church must revolve around Jesus
– we have done a poor job in Christian education

Affirmations
– Sunday school is not welcoming to non-believers
– Small groups studying the same thing the pastor is studying creates unity in the church.

More to come