The Tipping Point

Like a worship song that was written in 2000, this book was good, but there were times where it felt as though it’s irrelevancy with today caused doubt to be casted upon it’s relevancy for today.

What do I mean?

First off, let me just admit that this is a well written book with probably a wealth of information that was groundbreaking at the time it was released. It didn’t become a “#1 Best Seller” because it told a story of love that attracted “teeny-boppers” and their mothers alike.

This was a book with great insights to what things can make the biggest difference.

Because there is so much out there in the blogosphere about this book, I won’t waste your time to tell you what every knows is great about this book. What I will tell you is what I’ve taken away from this book – and that’s this:

You don’t have to have a comprehensive plan to make a comprehensive difference.

Have you read “The Tipping Point?”

What were your reactions?

Deliberate Simplicity by Dave Browning

“The current reformation is not so much a reformation of faith…but a reformation of practice.” Yet for the church – which often institutionalizes its practices – reforms in methodology can prove every bit as epic as reforms in theology. – pg.20

Put simply (no pun intended) the basic premise of this book is that in the equation of church development, less can equal more. Reading this book was both a breath of fresh air, and an affirmation of everything I’ve felt about how the local church could healthily function in a new generation.

In typical “pastor-esque” fashion, Dave lays out what he believes are six principles for leading a “deliberately simple church.”

1. Minimality
2. Intentionality
3. Reality
4. Multility
5. Velocity
6. Scalability

In his book, Dave says things that we already believe as followers of Christ, but in the complexity of what we’ve made church to be, we have somehow moved from them. For instance, he tells about how after talking to a group of people about the missional vision of his church, a woman stands up and asks, “Isn’t the church for those who are believers?”

His response was what we already know, but it spoke directly to the sometimes selfish and self-centered view we take on describing what the church is about. He replied by saying:

“No, the church is not for us. The church is us, but it’s not for us. We are here for the lost.”

For the most part, the book was engaging and thought provoking. The only part he lost me and began to sound a lot like Niel Cole in his book Organic Church was when he began to describe various models of dysfunctional churches. He too jumped on the bandwagon of criticizing “purpose driven churches” and “seeker churches.” It was the only part of the book where I felt he was coming off as he had the answer and that these other models could not attain the same results.

To sum it up, I highly recommend this book – not only to pastors and vocational ministers – but for any believer in Christ. Reader beware…if you like your church in your own “little box,” this isn’t for you.

The CASHFLOW Quadrant

Financial freedom is a vastly different from financial security.

For those of you who have read Rich Dad Poor Dad this book is basically an extension of the lessons taught in that book. Robert Kiyosaki gives a brief description of his journey as an adult going from a short stint living in his car to financial freedom by taking advantage of tax laws and creating assets that create passive income. (My personal gushings about this book can be found here.)

The title of the book, The Cashflow Quadrant, describes an image that separates people into 4 categories: employee, self employed, business owner and investor. (below)

Many distinctions are drawn in regards to the “left side” and the “right side” of the quadrant and what it takes to be on each side.

Kiyosaki believes strongly in the fact that if you are an E or an S you play an old game that makes sense for governments and business owners because you pay the highest amount of taxes and build large amounts of debt thinking that by doing that you are avoiding taxes through credits or refunds.The left side of the quadrant works the hardest, and is obsessed with going to school to find a job and maintain their “security.” Those who would be considered an S are people who are self employed and lose their income when they are not at work. (doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc.) People on the left side of the quadrant can, and some do, make a lot of money and are very successful. The problem with this success is that the more success you encounter the less personal time you have and the harder you have to work. Again, many people choose this route because they feel secure in the fact that they know where their next paycheck is coming from.

People on the “right side” of the quadrant are not concerned with security and are interested in creating income both as a business owner and investor. Business owners and investors enjoy tax breaks, are seen as visionaries and risk takers and when success comes they are the people who enjoy more free time.

This book is a learning tool for those of us interested in moving from the left side to the right side of the quadrant. Kiyosaki is methodical and slow in his approach and encourages people to keep their jobs while they take “baby steps” towards the B and I quadrants.

This is a very simple break down of a book that I would HIGHLY recommend to anybody interested in owning their own company through the creation of a system and investing. Kiyosaki speaks of creating a system that will continuously grow and can run in your absence. If you are not interested and what I just wrote seems like a conspiracy or the rantings of a person jaded by unemployment you wouldn’t make it through and this book may anger you.

Hope this finds you well.

~jc

Steering Through Chaos

Change is constant. Sometimes change happens slowly and is missed by those closest to it and sometimes it is abrupt and can have positive or negative consequences.

In Steering Through Chaos Scott Wilson provides a clear path to not only expecting change, but embracing it.

Throughout the book it becomes increasingly clear that we as church leaders, vocational or lay leaders, need to understand that it is God who owns the church and not us. This is especially important for the generation that “pays” for the church because they will often resist change and try to keep the church, that they spent so much time building through blood, sweat and tears, just the way they like it.

There is something very attractive about an organization that has a clear purpose and is driven by its mission. In the book Made to Stick this principle is called “commanders intent” and when employed properly will guide each and every decision made by every member of the organization. In that same vein Scott has clear goals written for the leadership at his church and, through those goals, decisions are made and the church is allowed to ebb and flow with the community as it grows and changes. This is especially important as the church should continuously be moving to better reflect what their community needs.

At our church (and yours too), we are called by God to reach the lost and build disciples who love him above all else. That was our calling from the first day, and it will be out calling on the last day. But our strategy to accomplish that objective changes over time as God leads us in new directions to touch more people.

This is so important for people both young and old to understand.

If we confuse vision and strategy, we’ll rigidly cling to buildings and programs, and we’ll fail to adjust our sails to go in the direction God leads us.

I would certainly recommend this book to every pastor I know as well as any person that is in any way involved with their church. As a lay person this book provides a blue print on how we can best serve our pastors as well as recognize a great leader within the church. Many people spend their lives looking for the perfect church or feeling like there is something better our there. This book is a great tool for recognizing a leader who will keep the Word fresh, exciting and most important challenging.

Leaders aren’t perfect but they are in constant pursuit of change and recognize what they have to offer as well as what they can work on.

Hope this finds you well.

~jc

Knockout Entrepreneur

We all know George Foreman in one way or another. He has been the boxing heavy weight champion of the world multiple times, lived and fought through boxings most popular time and reinvented himself as a pitchman for an essential college cooking device.

My advice to George, and others like him, is to stay FAR away from writing books like this. It would be very difficult for me to recommend this book to anyone beyond the earliest conception of business ownership.

The advice given within the pages of Knockout Entrepreneur can be found in thousands of other books written around analogies just like this one. While I appreciate that George promotes “The Good Book” and being ethical, the book seemed to drag on as George continuously talked about the George Foreman grill and fighting and then applying those same principals to being an entrepreneur.

The part that I really struggled with is that George doesn’t have the experience of creating, bootstrapping and building from the ground up. His public reinvention made him millions and made him a household name for a second time and to a second generation but he was the face of a product that had been developed and one that he has since sold his interest in.

While it is convenient to compare preparing for a boxing match and creating a company they are no where near the same. Training yourself physically and having the discipline it takes to do that day in and day out it is mindless work. Creating a concept for a business and bringing it to fruition are eons apart.

I would only recommend this book to you if you love George Foreman or if you are looking for a very simple breakdown of the basic concepts of entrepreneurship.

Hope this finds you well.

~jc

The Way of the Heart by Henri J.M. Nouwen

“What I found once I started reading this book was that I didn’t agree with 90% of what it is said.”

I was first introduced to this book a little while ago by a member of the staff at Maple Grove Evangelical Free church. This person did warm me that the theological and philosophical perspectives of this author were most likely different than the average evangelical, but I was captured by this passage in the book:

Anger in particular seems close to a professional vice in the contemporary ministry.  Pastors are angry at their leaders for not leading and at their followers for not following.  They are angry at those who do not come to church for not coming and angry at those who do come for coming without enthusiasm.  They are angry at their families, who make them feel guilty, and angry at themselves for not being who they want to be.  This is not an open, blatant, roaring anger, but an anger hidden behind the smooth word, the smiling face, and the polite handshake.  It is a frozen anger, an anger which settles into a biting resentment and slowly paralyzes a generous heart.  If there is anything that makes the ministry look grim and dull, it is this dark, insidious anger in the servants of Christ.

It was this passage from the book that brought tears to my eyes because I knew that – for me – these words were too close to home.  I have seen pastors who embody this description and I myself have been and know will be faced with the temptation to be the “angry pastor.” So I asked to borrow the book to see if I could find more encouraging and edifying insight for my life.

What I found once I started reading this book was that I didn’t agree with 90% of what it is said.

While much of the book has very interesting “insights”, it was in my opinion one person’s enamored response to an investigation into the lives of what we refer to as the “Desert Fathers”.  And it was this enamored perspective that Henri tries to make applicable for today’s christian minister.

Because the book is very short (less than 100pgs and the size of a gift book), I will restrain myself from going into it much.  Even though it isn’t one I agree with wholeheartedly, I will say that it is a very good read to ponder and think about. So I don’t seem like a “book basher” I will share some of my more positive insights from this book.

Regarding the “busy life”:

“…we are busy people just like all other busy people, rewarded with the rewards which are rewarded to busy people

Regarding setting a time and a place to be with God and Him alone:

“…a real discipinle never remains vague or general.”

A quote I am still digesting is:

“The goal of our life is not people.  It is God.”

So do I recommend it? Sure

Will I personally buy it?  No.

Revolutionaries by Matt Brown

Many times when I say the I “know” an author, I am saying that I’ve read his or her stuff. When I say I know Matt Brown, what I am saying is that I remember when he was a young high-school kid whose passion for music was only eclipsed by his passion for the Lord.

So when Matt told me about a book he just finished writing, I wasn’t surprised. I’ve always known that God was going to to great things through him – and he has. This new book, Revolutionaries, is simply a record of the men and women God used to advance and build His kingdom.

What I liked about the book is that it is wonderfully organized in sections covering the lives of revolutionary men and women each century from the birth of Christ up to the present. In reality, this book is kind of a Church History for Dummies because of the amount of information it covers.

The format is simple. Matt gives a brief summary of a “Revolutionary” man or woman’s life, then brings application from that person’s life into how we can become revolutionaries. I will admit, that I found some of the examples of people described as “Revolutionaries” was bit controversial. But what I realized at the end of the book, was that Matt wasn’t trying to find the “most perfect” or “best behaved” “most theologically sound” men and women of faith. He was simply telling the story of how God utilized people to accomplish his will.

That truth is encouraging because on any given day I may not feel like a Billy Graham or a Martin Luther – but what Matt’s book beautifully displays is that people like Billy Graham and Martin Luther were not anything more than simple people like you and me, who allowed God to use them extravagantly. And that’s a good enough reason to pick up this book.

Upstarts

When I began this challenge it was these pleasant surprises that I was hoping I would come across. Donna Fenn wrote Upstarts which is a book that chronicles the stories of young, motivated and, most of all, talented entrepreneurs. I found the author on twitter (here) and reached out to her without really knowing what the book was or what it was about. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

First of all I love the layout of the book. While it has all the usual sections (intro, acknowledgements, chapters, etc) there is a “playlist” between each chapter. The playlist is basically the cliff’s notes of the preceding chapter and I love that.

On to the content. The book is the story of a generation that refuses to play the corporate game invented for them my their parents and grandparents. It used to be popular to learn a trade, go to work everyday, collect your paycheck, have little, live simply and 45 years later the company that you built with your blood, sweat and tears would take care of you in retirement. My generation is faced with a much harsher reality which includes making investment choices within our own retirement vehicles (with little to no education on investing), dozens of jobs throughout our lifetimes and the shattered image of stability that huge companies once provided.

There are a few nuggets I got from this book. The first of which is that while we see the corporate monsters and their lack of commitment to employees who work diligently to improve the company and the bottom line we don’t like the game. While most of us don’t run companies with the big corporations resources we know what loyalty and commitment are. Todays small business requires results and when those results are achieved the rewards are more responsibility and a loyalty that exceeds the walls that make a company. While the status quo is seeking a candidate that has a certain number of years within a field we demand results. A company that is not highlighted within this book but easily could have and, presumably, would have been had Donna heard of it, is partnerup.com. In one of their current job listings they ask for 3 years of experience and then add this:

“At least 3 years of experience are preferred, however drive and accomplishments are more important than the exact number of years experience, please highlight these in your cover letter”

We are changing the face of corporate America and how it is run. Those who adapt early will survive and those who refuse will fail to attract the truly creative, world changing people they so badly need.

Second, we will not demand a defined block of time but an end result. The expectation has already begun to change among some of America’s biggest corporations including electronics giant Best Buy. They began using the Results Oriented Work Environment (ROWE) in 2006 (This story is highlighted on page 169 of the book) and their reward was a 35 percent increase in productivity. People stopped punching the clock and started getting their work done. Best Buy is swimming against the strong current that is corporate America and saying we don’t need to see you, we need to see your results.

We are a generation that wants it all. We want the amazing job, long coffee breaks, recognition for the hard work and results we achieve and we don’t want to wait until we’re in our 50′s to experience it. We are capable, we are chomping at the bit to achieve great things and companies like Best Buy provide the avenue for us to do exactly that.

Finally, I want to talk about what separates an entrepreneur and a dreamer. It is a simple one word answer that takes creativity, dedication and discipline. EXECUTION. Every story in this book represents a dream, a plan or a hobby that turned into something bigger than most people thought it would. From moving and trash companies to website development all entrepreneurs find themselves doing. They don’t wait for their big break, they create it. Some come from families with money, some shut themselves in their bedrooms and offered free website enhancements to their favorite bands and others learn to bootstrap not only their companies but they sacrifice a lot of comforts like real food (eating ramen) and time off but they all took action.

That is the biggest piece of the puzzle that most people refuse to acknowledge in their quest for happiness, riches or success. They all wait for it to come to them. WAKE UP! It is not coming to you, you have to make it. Change your life, your family’s life and the lives of so many within your community by getting up and doing something great.

I would not recommend this book to those who are comfortable and have no desire to be inspired by the stories of young people building successful companies. If you have the desire to change or need that extra boost of encouragement to get up and get out of where you are then this is the book for you. For me it fanned the flame, I have started a few companies and have yet to be truly successful but without question I will get there and the best part is I will know when I’m there and it may not be your picture of success.

Hope this finds you well.

~jc

The Vaccine Book

Vaccines are a tough subject to approach. People feel passionately for or against them and the topic seems to stir up a deep emotional response. Those who are passionately pro vaccination often tell stories such as the eradication of smallpox and believe that in long term the good will outweigh the bad that comes with them. On the other side are people who have either had children become ill after being vaccinated or have done research and have decided that not vaccinating is a better risk than what the immediate or long term possibilities are from choosing to vaccinate. Most frustrating of all is that both sides claim to be correct in their way of thinking but neither has solid proof.

This book offers something for people like me who are seeking information on how vaccines are made and what vaccines are made of. Dr. Robert Sears is the author of the book and while he is cautious about using vaccines he doesn’t take the zero vaccine approach. This book is the culmination of 13 years of research done by Dr. Sears and it is amazing what little and vague information was collected within that time frame. I am grateful that he spent the time compiling information and then boiling it down into terms that I could easily understand.

Modern medicine is still relatively young and often naive when it makes claims that something is completely safe and in a perfect world we would all take an interest in what we are told about medicine, all of the research would be clearly laid out and we would consider the long term ramifications of our decisions. Herein lies the problem. More and more people are taking this interest and the deeper we look the less we find, especially when it comes to vaccines. Dr. Sears is seemingly confused when looking at why our government doesn’t require a warning label on vaccines that contain a toxic amount of aluminum. Here is a quote from page 197 of the book where he is discussing the studies done on the effect of toxic amounts of aluminum in a persons blood stream:

“Now, none of these documents or studies mention vaccines. They look only at IV solutions and injectable medications. I’m not sure why that is. Nor is it clear why the FDA does not require aluminum warning labels on vaccines when it does require a warning on all other injectable medications. Vaccines apparently have some sort of exemption.”

The CDC states that we can handle 4-5 micrograms (that is 1/1000 of a gram) per pound of body weight of aluminum per day. It is common practice to inject a new born baby with the Hep B vaccine which contains 250 micrograms of aluminum. An injected baby would have to weigh 50 pounds for this vaccine to fit within those parameters. Also, many hospitals don’t even discuss giving this shot they just give it. (Why do we give newborn children this shot? It is possible for an infected mother to pass this through childbirth otherwise Heb B is nearly always transmitted sexually.)

Toxic levels of aluminum can cause tissue build up and neurological damage.

The bad news continues when you consider that in the past vaccines that were produced using monkey kidneys actually caused cancer because they were not aware that a certain virus was present or that it would eventually cause cancer. Here we are 35 years later still using monkey parts (along with cow blood, etc) to produce vaccines but we go along with it because they test the animals for well known diseases. How long has mad cow been around and how long did we not test for it? A long time. (No diseases have been proven to come from mad cow, it’s just an example of what we could be missing>) Other alarming substances used in the production of vaccines include: mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde and many many more.

Vaccine creators are quick to point out that the amount of these substances is small and that our bodies are able to handle the amount given. Our own government acknowledges the toxicity of aluminum and even worse when it comes to formaldehyde. (Excerpt from page 209 in regards to formaldehyde)

“This chemical preserved the frogs, cats, or whatever types of cadavers you dissected in biology class. It is present in several vaccines in very tiny amounts as a preservative. The Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and other agencies all lies formaldehyde as a carcinogen and state that it can cause kidney damage and genetic damage. Most of the research on formaldehyde, however, deals with inhaled levels of the chemical. I could not find information on injected formaldehyde. Fortunately, the amount in each vaccine in minuscule.”

Am I crazy to think that even small amounts of this substance may be harmful? After 13 years of research Dr. Sears is unable to find any information in regards to research done on injected formaldehyde and he is quick to write it off as a “minuscule” amount. I’m not satisfied, but I am only one voice and it will take millions to create change within this arena.

So what will Sar and I do? Great question. There are some vaccines we have already ruled out such as the Heb B vaccine. No harm in getting this done later since Sar isn’t infected and there is little probability that our new born will be sexually active. For many of the others the jury is still out. We have friends on both sides of the spectrum from those who have chosen the vaccine free route and those who simply follow the recommended schedule. We will fall somewhere in between.

This book is written for those of us who want more than the token information given to us by doctors at our clinic or hospital but aren’t looking for extremes for one way to another. As my bro in law Aaron said the other day, “Sometimes a little information is worse than no information.” This book did not quench my thirst for knowledge but it was able to show me that my desire to know all that there is to know about vaccines may actually be unattainable.

Hope this finds you well.

~jc

What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do by Cloud and Townsend

As a book review blogger for Thomas Nelson, I received Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend’s book, What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do earlier this week.  I was surprised at how small the book was when I first got it.  But this isn’t a review on how the book looks, so let me get into my review.

Summary
If I could describe this book in a few sentences, I would say that it is a short book on “right to the point” principles on how to to biblical handle trials and hardships in your life. The advice in this book probably isn’t anything that you haven’t heard before, but the difference is that it is clearly being said, and Cloud and Townsend support their advice with solid biblical references.

My Thoughts
What I enjoyed most about this book also was one of my annoyances – it was really short.  I read it within a couple of hours.  The brevity of the book leaves the reader with really impactful principles, but I wonder how well such a short book would connect with someone who is sincerely looking for answers.  In my experience in pastoral counseling, sometimes the quick answer isn’t the helpful answer.

The truth is that everything that Cloud & Townsend offers is simply what the book says it is about – principles.  Principles in their definition implies clarity and simplicity, so a long drawn out book concerning principles would be an oxymoron in itself.  Here are a couple of things that I found insightful:

• …personal valuse are not created in a vacuum; they are formed in the contect of community
• Sometimes we have to take responsibility for situations that are not our fault…Determining who is at fault in your situation isn’t nearly as important as determining who will do something about it…What matters most is taking ownership through God’s strength and wisdom to d o something about it.
• …expect pain as a regular part of life…the more we bluster, the harder it is to learn the first lesson of trouble: It must be accepted as a normal part of life.
• View your problems as the next steps of growth for you.
• The steps: Set goals, record progress, gather resources, acquire information, identify tasks, evaluate progress, explore preferences, remain flexible, pray continually, pace yourself.

Of all the things that this book covers, the main point that spoke to me was the importance of being vulnerable with you trials and problems in the context of close relationships.  In my life, I know that I can be isolated.  If I was to be at fault in handling life’s problems, it would be in this way.  As a pastor, you sometimes feel the need to be guarded.  You feel like there is an unwritten rule that pastors are not allowed to have pain, feel depressed, or go through trials – much less share it with others.  But that’s not biblical.  It’s not healthy.  It’s not right.

So would I recommend this book?  Sure.  In fact, I think I’d like to stock a few in my library just to give out.