Reading

Just finished Church Shift and Church of the Perfect Storm.  Both of them were pretty short reads.  Thumbnail reviews...

Church Shift is a "step up to your church's calling" type of book by Sunday Adelaja.  Sunday is a Nigerian-born pastor of the largest church in Ukraine.  (God has a good sense of humor.)  What I liked about the book--Sunday's story and his personal devotion to Jesus are compelling, his leadership boldness in the marketplace was inspirational, and the manner in which he carries his pastoral burden while challenging people to live out their personal mission was soul-stirring.

Adelaja's views about political influence and the church was borderline mixture of church and state which for me is a big "don't go there."  I felt at times that he was advocating Christians should engage in culture war, fighting to lead the nation.  To be fair, this is balanced with a heavy dose of serving the poor and broken.  But the agenda behind it seemed to be national leadership by Christians.  History has not shown that to be very God-honoring. 

Church of the Perfect Storm is by Leonard Sweet, a guy that I've been hearing from more and more lately.  I like him.  He's a little freaky in a prophetic, futurist sense and that's probably why I like him.  He's strong on the Gospel and the church living out its calling in a culture that is heading into a "perfect storm" and he is ready to partner with anyone who gets those two things.  Right on.

This book is an edited volume which typically means uneven quality.  Some of the authors hit home runs:  Sweet's two chapters, Bill Easum, Mark Batterson, and Younglae Kim.  Every author offers some valuable nuggets making every chapter have value.  The book whips you around a bit but stays surprisingly on point with its concern for how the Church is meant to navigate the perfect storm of a post-modern, post-Christendom, and post-scale culture. 

I would have bought this book again just to read Easum's chapter.  To me, it is the defining chapter.  In it he offers formulas for the church of the future.  They are stretching and faith-provoking.

Comments

[Brian]

Kevin,

If you haven't heard it yet, you might want to check out Chris Tomlin's song; God of this City.