Lack & Appreciation

I have been reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is a book about Lincoln's rise to position, and his ability to unite even enemies to become teammates for the greater good of the country.

I was struck by President Lincoln's history and boyhood. Particularly his passion for the written word. Education and good schools were rare and expensive. As such he, from his poor family, did not get a formal education. However, Abraham would walk for miles to borrow a book. He was always striving to learn. He always had a book with him, and whenever he had a spare moment, he was reading. "'When he came across a passage that Struck him,' his stepmother recalled, 'he would write it on boards if he had no paper,' and 'when the board would get too black he would shave it off with a drawing knife and go on again.' Then once he obtained paper, he would rewrite it and keep it in a scrapbook so that it could be memorized. Words thus became precious to him" (p. 52)

When i contrast that with today's world i see such a difference. We are inundated by words, facts, and ideas. We have volumes at our beck and call. We have only to type a query in, and we have all the information we could want... and a whole lot more that we don't. I see no one who cherishes the written word in such a way as Lincoln did. I see people who cherish their cell phone or their iPod. I see people who delight in facebook and "social connection". But, i do not see people so caught up in reading and learning that they will carry a book with them wherever they go and stop to read anytime they get a chance.

In a world inundated by words, facts, and ideas, the lack of appreciation appears to result from an inappreciation of lack.

Image from jonragnarsson used under cc license.

27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask

Dick Hardy is a pastor's pastor. He is a man that has a God given passion to reach out to other pastors to help them become more effective in the ministry. He is a Paul that speaks not only to Timothys, but also to other Pauls. You can clearly see this in his book 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask.

27 Tough Questions is a primer on what you need to know but chances are haven't been told about doing ministry in today's society. It deals with many of the pitfalls pastors run into that prevents their church from growing. It is not designed as a book that tells you how to run a church, but rather it assumes that you already understand many of the day to day basics of church life, and attempts to fill in the gaps to make you a better pastor. In fact, Dick states that his book is about "Everything but Preaching". Overall, the book covers concepts on the major areas of; Leadership & Management, Staffing, Conflict Management, Discipleship, Budget & Finance, and Hospitality.

Dick does a really good job of giving you the concepts and some different things to think about within these key areas. For example, he tells pastors that it is their job to lead; not the congregation, not the board, not the staff. Someone must do it, and that someone is the (senior) pastor. He also talks about building cultures of prayer, change, and reaching out... especially to young families. These and other concepts are key to having a strong and flourishing church as opposed to one that stagnates and dies.

While there is a great deal of good in the book, i did still have a number of qualms. For instance, it is clear that this is Dick's first book. The flow to the book is not very smooth overall. One example of this is in chapter 2 where the term "buy-ins" shows up. It seem very important. Yet, it is not very clearly defined, and after one chapter it is never used again.

The 27 Questions also feels like it is weighted a little odd. This is clear just by looking at the table of contents. There are two chapters on discipleship, two chapters on conflict management, and five chapters on hospitality (six if you count ch. 12 on phone hospitality). Now maybe i'm wrong and the weight is correct for what pastors are needing, but it just felt more than a little skewed when i read it through.

The final criticism i have is the followup. The chapters are small, and in most instances they leave you feeling like you have just seen the tip of the iceberg with a ton more information still buried well beneath the surface. In some of the chapters there are a few action points to work off of, but many times the reader is left feeling like there needs to be more. I felt like there needed to be either more application information, or there needed to be a list of resources to give the reader more to work with in finding the answers to these very important questions.

Overall, do not let the criticisms deter you. 27 Tough Questions Pastors Ask is a really good book that belongs up on every pastor's shelf next to books like Axiom by Bill Hybles and Be a People Person by John C. Maxwell.

Feel free to find out more about this book and other work Dick Hardy is involved in at The Hardy Group.