being jake wood

7 Practices of Effective Ministry was an amazing read for anyone in ministry! I would give this an easy 10 out of 10… it was THAT good. I didn’t agree with everything, but a majority of the book was so good that I’ll be in the process of applying and breaking down the practices for our ministry. Some books get you thinking, others are enjoyable. This book was a catalyst for brain. I couldn’t stop brainstorming. I’m sure my wife got sick of my constant thoughts and opinions while reading this. Here are a few of the highlights:

• The tendency in business, or in church work for that matter, is to mistake activity for progress. We think that just because people are busy and doing a lot of stuff that we are being successful. If all that activity isn’t taking you where you want to go, then it’s just wasted time.
• It’s usually good things that knock you off target
• You shouldn’t try to do everything; you should do a few things well
• Teach less for more: The problem wasn’t that they couldn’t teach me one thing. The problem was they tried to teach me EVERYTHING.
• Don’t be concerned about keeping the folks you’ve got, that you neglect the folks you’re trying to reach.
• If you want your church to stand the test of time, then you have to be replaced.
• The principles and practices described in this book are not and cannot be a substitute for God’s blessing or power.
• People tend to stop showing up when an organization is not winning.
• The church should be more determined than any other kind of organization to “clarify the win” simply because the stakes are so much higher: Eternity hangs in the balance.
• If the win is unclear, you may force those in leadership roles to define winning in their own terms.
• Before you start anything, make sure it takes you where you need to go.
• When you think programs you start by asking, “What is the need?”… When you think steps you start by asking, “Where do we want people to be?”… and second, “How are we going to get them there?”.
• Narrow the focus: Do fewer things in order to make a greater impact.
• If you really want to make a lasting impact, then you need to eliminate what you do well for the sake of what you can potentially do best.
• Maybe you feel that you are obligated to teach all of the Bible to a specific age group. Don’t try to do it. You cannot effectively cram all of the Bible into a few hours each week for a few years. That would be information overload- you would be teaching more for less. Teach less for more.
• Presentation, not information, engages a student’s imagination.
• The object of communication is not to cover a lot of material but, rather, to make sure people learn… if the student hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught.
• If you are surrounded long enough by people who think like you think, you will become more and more certain that’s the best way to think.
• … churches all over this country are striving to reflect the interests, values, and needs of people who are already attending church. The church today is primarily characterized by the insiders reaching insiders.
• This decision can’t be based on who we will keep, but who we will reach.
• If you want the practice to become a habit in your church, you must recognize and reward it when it happens.
• Leaders don’t volunteer, they are recruited.

The War of Art is a book about breaking through the blocks in our inner creative battles. I picked up this book from a good friend who recommended it. Overall, I’d give it a 7 out of 10. It was a good book, but just didn’t pull a lot out of it. The descriptive chapters on “resistance” and “the professional” where great! Here are some highlights:

• Self Doubt: If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?” Chances are you are.
• Fear: So if you’re paralyzed with fear, it’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do.
• Professionals vs. Amateurs: The amateur plays for fun. The professional plays for keeps. To the amateur, the game is his avocation. To the pro it’s his vocation. The amateur plays part-time, the professional is there seven days a week.
• The pro views her work as craft, not art. She doesn’t wait for inspiration, she acts in the anticipation of its apparition. The professional is acutely aware of the intangibles that go into inspiration. Out of respect for them, she lets them work. She grants them their sphere while she concentrates on hers. The sign of the amateur is over-glorification of and preoccupation with the mystery.
• Technique: The professional dedicates himself to mastering technique… because he wants to be in possession of the full arsenal of skills when inspiration does come.
• The professional cannot let himself take humiliation personally. Humiliation, like rejection and criticism, is the external reflection of internal Resistance.
• … it’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.
• The Territorial Orientation: We humans have territories too. Ours are psychological. Stevie Wonder’s territory is the piano. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s is the gym. When Bill Gates pulls into the parking lot at Microsoft, he’ on his territory. When I sit down to write, I’m on mine.
• Destiny/Purpose: Here’s a test. Of any activity you do, ask yourself: If I were the last person on earth, would I still do it?
• Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.

THE WEEK THAT WAS:
The first part of the week started out busy and then we got hammered with snow on Friday night and all of a sudden we were snowbound in the house. It turned out really good. Some time to relax, watch a movie, read and of course eat bad food with an excuse. Because of being snowed in I was able to get a lot of reading done and future planning.
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ON MY TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:
March Madness. March Madness. March Madness…. oh and our student leadership retreat is this weekend. Lot’s to do!:)

BOOK I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF:

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus
By Ann Spangler & Loius Tverberg

The Great Emergence
By Phyllis Tickle

MUSIC THAT SEEMED TO CATCH MY ATTENTION THIS LAST WEEK:

Vampire Weekend
Contra

Brian Johnson
Love Came Down

MY UPDATED SUPERBOWL PREDICTION:
COLTS. Ok… so I was wrong! Good job Saints!

JW

Well, I just finished Ramsey’s book “Total Money Makeover” and I have to say it was amazing. Like reading an Andy Stanley book, it’s very simple and very practical. This book simply lays out a process for getting out of debt completely and achieving a money makeover, while dismissing some popular money myths that most people believe today. Ramsey’s reputation speaks for itself, from millionaire to bankruptcy he explains what he, and thousands of others have learned in the process of rebuilding their money.

I loved it. I loved it so much that Kim and I are beginning the process explained in the book of getting out of debt COMPLETELY and preparing for our future. My only regret is that I wish I would have had some of this wisdom when I first got married… or in high school. I would highly recommend this book to ANYONE who thinks they know little or a lot about money.

I love reading a good book. This book was thought provoking, inspiring and very well written. Eugene Peterson is the translator for the paraphrased version of the Bible called “The Message” (which I love). Eugene rips open your mind and discusses the art of spiritual reading. From history to applicable practices this book gave me a new passion and understanding for the Bible. Here are some good thoughts from the book, but most of the “best parts” were whole chapters of thoughts and not sentences:

• We open this book (Bible) and find that page after page it takes us off guard, surprises us, and draws us into it’s reality, pulls us into participation with God on his terms.
• … a book must be like an ice-axe to break the frozen sea within us!
• Reading is an immense gift, but only if the words are assimilated, taken into the soul – eaten, chewed, gnawed, received in unhurried delight.
• What I want to call attention to is that the Bible, all of it, is livable; it is the text for living our lives.
• Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love.
• When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God’s.
• We are not interested in knowing more but in becoming more.
• You can’t reduce this book to what you can handle; you can’t domesticate this book to what you are comfortable with. You can’t make it your toy poodle, trained to respond to your commands.
• Eat this book, but also have a well-stocked cupboard of Alka-Seltzer and Pepto-Bismol at hand.
• We talk of “making the Bible relevant to the world,” as if the world is the fundamental reality and the Bible something that is going to help it or fix it.
• It is not sufficient to place a Bible in a person’s hands with the command, “Read it.” That is quite as foolish as putting a set of car keys in an adolescent’s hands, giving him a Honda, and saying, “Drive it.”
• Many, many generations of our biblical ancestors believed and obeyed and worshipped God with a script.
• The more we are “in context” when language is used, the more likely we are to get it.
• … the centrality of the word of God in our lives is not about reading but about listening.
• Just because we read it doesn’t mean we have heard it.
• The Bible is written in the same language we use when we go shopping, play games, or ask for a second helping of potatoes at the supper table- and it requires translation into that same language.
• … we should always be asking “What does it mean and how can I live it?”

JW