So several days ago I finished 9 Marks of A Healthy Church by Mark Dever. It defines what a healthy church should look like.
Last night (and, in a technical sense, this morning), I read Confessions of a Reformission Rev by Mark Driscoll.
Some of you are wondering why I was reading a book by Mark Driscoll. Some of you are wondering who Mark Driscoll even is. The rest of you are probably disinterested.
Known as "One of the 50 most influential pastors in America", Driscoll pastors a church in Seattle of 4000+. He has been praised by many for building a megachurch literally from the ground up. He has been criticized by others for his church growth practices (which might be referred to in some circles as accomodation - although not directly accomodation of the gospel) and vulgar speech. He has been nicknamed Mark the Cussing Pastor because of said vulgar speech.
So in answer to the first question above: I got the book for free and I was curious how much God was at work in Mars Hill Church where Driscoll pastors, and how much of his success was church-growth methodology that simply put people in seats with no real fruit in their lives.
After reading it, I have mixed feelings about it. I came away from it with a higher opinion of Driscoll than I had before in some ways, and my feelings confirmed about him in others. I disagree with a lot of his methodology, although he seems to sincerely desire to pattern his life and ministry on the bible.
Mark Driscoll is a funny guy. He is a man who loves God very much. He has devoted his life to building a church whose purpose is to bring people in to save them and train them as missionaries who go out into the culture and continue the process. I'm not fully in agreement with his purpose of the church: He talks very little about holiness or the importance of it.
Much of his success has actually come from the church being centered largely around young married couples and college kids with messed up lives (for various reasons). They are very open about letting people who live in sin come into the church if they are open to hear. He has no interest in those who are simply 'dead weight' - who come in claiming to be saved, but have no desire to minister to others. I actually agreed with him on that.
I also was not skeptical of stories he told of dreams he had received 'from God'. He describes one as showing an event that later took place and scripture came to him in the dream that later prepared him to deal with that situation. He also tells the story of 'bad angels' visiting his young daughter during the night. After this and some personal study, he rejected cessationism - the idea that some spiritual gifts have ceased since the early church. For the moment, anyway, I still hold nominally to cessationism. But at the same time, I don't reject the possibility of exceptions to the general rule. I don't believe it's a regular pattern of God, but it's obviously something we see God using throughout scripture.
In theology, Driscoll studies the bible carefully and uses that as his foundation for making decisions. Where his problem comes, in my mind, is on issues that the bible is less clear about. Obviously, his word usages and poor attempts at humor can be extremely objectionable, and, in my mind, is absolutely unscriptural. I think Driscoll tends to be too worldly, although it's somewhat understandable based on his upbringing and the fact that he really had no strong spiritual mentors while building his church. Let me be clear, though, while I understand it, I don't excuse it. Just to put it in perspective, Martin Luther had similar problems with extrememely vulgar speech and God used him greatly.
While I have doubts about Driscoll's maturity at times, I came away with a profound respect for what God has accomplished through him. I do still have sincere reservations about many of his practices, but I'm not really in a position to criticize a man who has done far more for God in his life than I have. I was able to benefit from the book and to learn things (both positive and negative) from his example. And I was reminded yet again that we are all sinners - it is pointless to focus only a person's shortcomings, as important as they are - our larger goal as believers is to be more like Christ and to seek to draw others to Him. Mark Driscoll is working very hard on the latter part - I'm trusting God to be working on him in the former.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
A Book Review and Recommendations for September
Today, I finished 9 Marks of A Healthy Church by Mark Dever. Many who have talked to me in the past about certain subjects are probably aware of my opinions on Dr. Dever. Truthfully, outside of our church, Mark Dever has been one of the more influential...influences on my thoughts; particularly in relation to the church.
I had long wanted to read through this book and finally got around to starting it several weeks ago. I had meandered through a couple of chapters prior to vacation in July, but I really only started reading it in earnest over the last two weeks.
It is, quite simply, excellent. There's very little here, if anything, that I would disagree with, let alone change. Frankly, if you want to know what it means to be a part of the church and are uncertain, he makes it quite clear. It is not exhaustive in any way. What Dever does is go through 9 basic areas that are foundational to the church, but in which we have, in recent generations, dropped the ball.
Those areas are: 1 Expositional Preaching, 2 Biblical Theology, 3 Biblical Understanding of the Gospel, 4 Biblical Understanding of Conversion, 5 Biblical Understanding of Evangelism, 6 Biblical Understanding of Church Membership, 7 Biblical Church Discipline, 8 Biblical Understanding of Discipleship, 9 Biblical Understanding of Leadership.
Do you have a clear understanding of what the Gospel is? Would you be able to present it clearly? Do you know what it isn't?
Do you know what the responsibilities are for you as a member of the church? Do you know what the consequences of neglecting those responsibilities has been in past generations?
Do you understand what discipleship is and how you are involved in that?
If you want to have a clear understanding of any of those fundamental points (and they are fundamental), it is well worth taking time to read. Lord willing, October will be our month to read books about the church. I would highly recommend this one.
------------
Recommendations for September:
This month Dad and I will be reading books relating to the Christian life and/or sanctification (they're essentially the same thing. The difference being that the former is from our perspective and the latter is more theological: relating to God's perspective - the point is we're leaving it somewhat open in terms of what applies).
I've got a number of books that I'd like to read, among those are:
The Mortification of Sin by John Owen - This one is part of the Puritan Paperbacks collection. Small book, but don't interpret that as meaning an easy read. Puritan works, small or not, are not quick reading material.
Many puritan works would fall into this month's category. One I'd like to finish is Dying Thoughts by Richard Baxter, but that'll probably be held back for later.
The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes is another excellent puritan title.
I'd like to read Holiness by J.C. Ryle at some point, but I'm not certain that that will happen this month. It is long.
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges is another one I've wanted to read for some time.
Others that I have read and would recommend include:
The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies is a good book on...surprise: discernment.
The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur.
The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steven Lawson. Not a biography strictly speaking. Lawson takes positive elements from Edwards' life example and uses those to exhort others to follow his lead. Short, but worth reading.
Humility by C.J. Mahaney is a good, easily readable short work.
Most books by Wayne Mack would fall in this category.
This month is probably the easiest to find books that fit the guidelines. The basic goals of this challenge are to encourage reading, and by reading the same types of books to jumpstart conversations on what we're reading. In future months, the goal will be to encourage reading types of books we might not ordinarily get into.
The challenge is for two books this month. For the most part, the year is split up with 2 books per month. If you can't get through two books in the month or you don't have enough time available to finish two books in a month, don't stress over it. #1: Devotions are primary - Make sure you're not cutting devotions time to make room for other books. #2: If you're feeling short of time, dedicate 15 minutes a day, or even every other day, to reading. That's not a lot of time, but you'd be surprised how much you can get through in a month by spending 15 minutes a day.
In setting the guidelines, I wanted the setup to be fairly loose so that we could read either shorter or longer books, depending on how much time is in our schedule.
My personal desire in setting this up initially, was so that I could supplement my devotions time with other christian works. The key is to be reading something: Not how much you can read, or how much you can wish you could be reading, but actually sitting down and spending time and doing it.
God bless.
I had long wanted to read through this book and finally got around to starting it several weeks ago. I had meandered through a couple of chapters prior to vacation in July, but I really only started reading it in earnest over the last two weeks.
It is, quite simply, excellent. There's very little here, if anything, that I would disagree with, let alone change. Frankly, if you want to know what it means to be a part of the church and are uncertain, he makes it quite clear. It is not exhaustive in any way. What Dever does is go through 9 basic areas that are foundational to the church, but in which we have, in recent generations, dropped the ball.
Those areas are: 1 Expositional Preaching, 2 Biblical Theology, 3 Biblical Understanding of the Gospel, 4 Biblical Understanding of Conversion, 5 Biblical Understanding of Evangelism, 6 Biblical Understanding of Church Membership, 7 Biblical Church Discipline, 8 Biblical Understanding of Discipleship, 9 Biblical Understanding of Leadership.
Do you have a clear understanding of what the Gospel is? Would you be able to present it clearly? Do you know what it isn't?
Do you know what the responsibilities are for you as a member of the church? Do you know what the consequences of neglecting those responsibilities has been in past generations?
Do you understand what discipleship is and how you are involved in that?
If you want to have a clear understanding of any of those fundamental points (and they are fundamental), it is well worth taking time to read. Lord willing, October will be our month to read books about the church. I would highly recommend this one.
------------
Recommendations for September:
This month Dad and I will be reading books relating to the Christian life and/or sanctification (they're essentially the same thing. The difference being that the former is from our perspective and the latter is more theological: relating to God's perspective - the point is we're leaving it somewhat open in terms of what applies).
I've got a number of books that I'd like to read, among those are:
The Mortification of Sin by John Owen - This one is part of the Puritan Paperbacks collection. Small book, but don't interpret that as meaning an easy read. Puritan works, small or not, are not quick reading material.
Many puritan works would fall into this month's category. One I'd like to finish is Dying Thoughts by Richard Baxter, but that'll probably be held back for later.
The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes is another excellent puritan title.
I'd like to read Holiness by J.C. Ryle at some point, but I'm not certain that that will happen this month. It is long.
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges is another one I've wanted to read for some time.
Others that I have read and would recommend include:
The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies is a good book on...surprise: discernment.
The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur.
The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steven Lawson. Not a biography strictly speaking. Lawson takes positive elements from Edwards' life example and uses those to exhort others to follow his lead. Short, but worth reading.
Humility by C.J. Mahaney is a good, easily readable short work.
Most books by Wayne Mack would fall in this category.
This month is probably the easiest to find books that fit the guidelines. The basic goals of this challenge are to encourage reading, and by reading the same types of books to jumpstart conversations on what we're reading. In future months, the goal will be to encourage reading types of books we might not ordinarily get into.
The challenge is for two books this month. For the most part, the year is split up with 2 books per month. If you can't get through two books in the month or you don't have enough time available to finish two books in a month, don't stress over it. #1: Devotions are primary - Make sure you're not cutting devotions time to make room for other books. #2: If you're feeling short of time, dedicate 15 minutes a day, or even every other day, to reading. That's not a lot of time, but you'd be surprised how much you can get through in a month by spending 15 minutes a day.
In setting the guidelines, I wanted the setup to be fairly loose so that we could read either shorter or longer books, depending on how much time is in our schedule.
My personal desire in setting this up initially, was so that I could supplement my devotions time with other christian works. The key is to be reading something: Not how much you can read, or how much you can wish you could be reading, but actually sitting down and spending time and doing it.
God bless.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Christian Book Monthly Reading Challenge, 2010-2011
Recently, I was reminded of the story that Karl Rove - Senior Advisor to George W. Bush when Bush was president - told of the book challenge he and the president engaged in from 2006-2008: Who could read the most books. Over those three years, Rove recorded 250 books read while Bush read 186.
Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary regularly reads about a half dozen books a week by his own statement. This would put him at close to 300 books read in an average year. Many of these books are quite large and intimidating for the average person to attempt to wade through.
Books are an important part of our lives. By reading discerningly, we grow as people and as believers in Jesus Christ. I've been bothered about my personal book reading laxity. In view of that, I recently challenged my Dad to a book reading challenge. Over a twelve month period: September, 2010 through August, 2011, we will read between 2-3 books per month. Modest, perhaps, but a good man has to know his limitations.
Each month has specific guidelines as to what type of books are read - the purpose of these guidelines is for variety and to encourage reading in other areas than I might otherwise engage in. Some months even specifically list particular books to read - chosen because of their spiritual significance and importance.
So far, I have my Dad and myself lined up to take a shot at it. Several others I have spoken to have also expressed interest in trying the challenge. So I'm leaving it open: Prior to the start of each month, I will list the requirements for the upcoming month. Anyone who is interested in joining in is encouraged to do so. If you start and find that time is not working with you on the endeavor, feel free to abridge the month's load as necessary for yourself.
For each book I read, I will try to post a short review of it as I finish it so that the rest of you will have some idea as to whether it's worth reading in the future. Any of you who take the challenge, feel free to send me reviews of the books you read and I will post them on here for you.
Part of my purpose in creating this was to stimulate conversation for Dad and me about the books each of us was reading. With the subject being similar, I felt we would be able to talk about what we learned from the books we were reading. That kind of conversation is what the church is about: Encouraging and building up other belivers.
One note in closing: If you do take up the challenge, please do not press yourself to finish each book so much that you neglect your personal devotions. While I want to encourage you to read more and would argue the importance of us all reading more, I want to point out that doing so at the expense of your devotions is no service to God.
The reading for the first month is on Christian Living/Sanctification
Soli Deo Gloria
Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary regularly reads about a half dozen books a week by his own statement. This would put him at close to 300 books read in an average year. Many of these books are quite large and intimidating for the average person to attempt to wade through.
Books are an important part of our lives. By reading discerningly, we grow as people and as believers in Jesus Christ. I've been bothered about my personal book reading laxity. In view of that, I recently challenged my Dad to a book reading challenge. Over a twelve month period: September, 2010 through August, 2011, we will read between 2-3 books per month. Modest, perhaps, but a good man has to know his limitations.
Each month has specific guidelines as to what type of books are read - the purpose of these guidelines is for variety and to encourage reading in other areas than I might otherwise engage in. Some months even specifically list particular books to read - chosen because of their spiritual significance and importance.
So far, I have my Dad and myself lined up to take a shot at it. Several others I have spoken to have also expressed interest in trying the challenge. So I'm leaving it open: Prior to the start of each month, I will list the requirements for the upcoming month. Anyone who is interested in joining in is encouraged to do so. If you start and find that time is not working with you on the endeavor, feel free to abridge the month's load as necessary for yourself.
For each book I read, I will try to post a short review of it as I finish it so that the rest of you will have some idea as to whether it's worth reading in the future. Any of you who take the challenge, feel free to send me reviews of the books you read and I will post them on here for you.
Part of my purpose in creating this was to stimulate conversation for Dad and me about the books each of us was reading. With the subject being similar, I felt we would be able to talk about what we learned from the books we were reading. That kind of conversation is what the church is about: Encouraging and building up other belivers.
One note in closing: If you do take up the challenge, please do not press yourself to finish each book so much that you neglect your personal devotions. While I want to encourage you to read more and would argue the importance of us all reading more, I want to point out that doing so at the expense of your devotions is no service to God.
The reading for the first month is on Christian Living/Sanctification
Soli Deo Gloria
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