Blogging Through The Complete Works Of Francis Schaeffer

A few years ago I had the great pleasure of being introduced to the works of Francis Schaeffer. He was first and foremost an evangelist and a pastor who sought to speak Christianity to the world he lived in. He believed that the Christian worldview alone could speak to modern man and his need. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend his documentary (and companion book) "How Should We Then Live?". Not long ago, I was able to buy his complete works from a former professor (for 20 bucks no less!) and have had them sitting on my book shelf ever since. It's time I take them out and read them.

In honor of Dr. Schaeffer's 100th Birthday, I shall be reading all five volumes of his complete works and will be blogging my way through them. It's something I'll be working on for the rest of the year. I will also be reading through some thoughtful criticisms and evaluations of Schaeffer's work. What I really want is to learn from a man who's writings are still making a mark in people today and hopefully see how his ideas speak to where I'm at in my time and space. My first post will be next week. Til then, here is a post I did last week on the anniversary of his 100th birthday. I posted video of his sermon titled "A Christian Manifesto"

How do you pick a book?

As this is a book blog, I have tried to gather some good ideas on how to pick a book. Hopefully this can be of use to you all. Since many of you may be Christian, I will jump ahead and focus on how to get a feel for a book by a Christian author (though I think this would also apply to non-Christian authors too).

1. Amazon
If you are like me, you spend time on Amazon.com just browsing to see what's around, what's coming up, and what people generally think. I usually do this when I buy, am about to buy, or read a new book. Read the reviews. Does it have one, two, or five stars? Do the reviews seem fair? Are there any recurring problems mentioned? Many older theology books are notorious for having bad binding. Are you better off buying it used or in a newer digital format?

2. Blurbs
Who blurbed the back of the book? Blurbs are the endorsements given to an author by other recognized authors, personalities etc.. They're usually found on the back of the book. This one can say a lot or a little. I once thumbed through a book that was endorsed by Donald Miller. He is the author of "Blue Like Jazz" which many of you know makes some "interesting" theological statements. I almost put the book away, but it turned out to be a great book on how to do church discipline today. If I could remember the title of said book I'd recommend it (Something like 10 mistakes churches make)! Of course, seeing well known, respected leaders recommend a book helps. But you must go deeper still. Does anyone who's opinion you trust like the book you are about to read?

3.Table of Contents
Yes, at some point you have to pop open the book and read what the author intends to communicate (you knew you were going to at some point). Is there a structure? What are the headings? Is there an apppendix? If it has a scripture index, does it have a lot of scripture? How long is the book? Who gets mentioned a lot in their bibliography or endnotes? I once had to read a book that had a lot of end notes referencing Carl Jung. It was by a Christian psychologist and it made me be a bit more wary about what the author had to say. 

4. Publisher
Who published it? A company like Crossway is known to publish Reformed authors. The same goes for P&R Publishing and Reformation Trust. Zondervan is one of the bigger evangelical book  publishers. Though recently, I've been concerned as they are cashing in on the Emergent movement with an Emergent line of books. This doesn't mean that all Zondervan books are bad. And yes, to be fair some Emergent books are decent (sometimes). If anything Intervarsity Press is guilty of publishing many questionable books (the openess of God anyone?). I should also add that a publisher's website could have some helpful information-maybe even a free copy of the book. 

5. Time
What year was this published? If this is older than a decade, the information maybe outdated. But, there are those few books that stand the test of time, so don't hold onto that too hard and fast to this rule.

6. Author Info
Who is this person that you are about to let into your thoughts? Thanks to today's world, you can find a ministry website for almost all Christian authors. Just be careful that their book isn't just an endorsement for even more (and more expensive!) material from them. What is their testimony? What school do they teach at? Have they made controversial statements in previous books? Is their church a good place? Do they have a blog? Are there incriminating pics of them with Lady Gaga?

7. Your own interest
Why do you want to read this? What is it that you need to know? Some books need only a quick glance and a read through a chapter or two to get what you need. Others demand a lot of time, and are worth every hour of reading. In other words, "what's the point"?
8. Does your enemy hate or like it?
You either see this one or you don't.

9. What are the bloggers saying?
Tim Challie's page Challies.com is now THE place to get a good Christian book review. He truly is the Christian Uber-blogger/book reviewer. I trust his judgement when it comes to reviews.

10. Author's intent?
Why was this book written? To inform? Persuade? Make a point? Share an experience? These are things you want to keep in mind. If it's just an angry screed, it would be best to leave it at Borders.

11. Would I want to own this?
Or would I be happy borrowing it from the library? There are a few books I wouldn't want to be caught dead with. Seriously.

12.The friend test
Ask your friends what they think about it (if they have read it). They may save you a trip to the bookstore.

13. Re-read factor
Is this one of those books you'll want to own long enough to read again? Granted some of those books are hard to spot at first, but some you just know you'll read again and again.


Ok there you go, pray, reflect, but for goodness sake tell people. We need to have more open discussions about the books we're reading. 

Kinda Christianity

What would Christianity look like if we were all college sophomores? That is the question Ted Cluck and Zach Bartels try to answer. Their answer? Kinda Christianity. The first book published from Ted and Zack's newly formed Gut Check Press, it it setting the pace for the kinds of books they will be publishing (many of them being aimed at men). This first book get's the laughs at every page. With so many people declaring the death of the Emerging church movement, it had to happen that someone would take a funny look back at the movement that gave us such phrases and ideas as:

-Chastised Epistemology

-Greco-Roman Bound Set Theory

-Glocal

-Post-Evangelical

-Village_____ Church

I read through the book today and it is FUNNY! Read it with this warning in mind:

“We know that the late emergent church movement® is pretty much dead. But if emergent taught us anything, it’s that nostalgia sells. Hence this book, which is a guide to emerging, but is also a nostalgic look at a movement that shaped at least six years worth of evangelical history. Let’s remember it together. This is a humble, generous, incarnational, missional, community-based, grassroots guide to becoming emergent. So roll up the sleeves of your intentionally distressed Dickies work shirt, made entirely out of recycled cardboard, and enjoy!”

As you can tell, this isn't a book to seriously discuss at your weekly group at Starbucks or in your incarnational community. It's just a good chuckle. It even comes with a free and equally hilarious study guide.

To be honest, I think we need this kind of book. Some subjects deserve mockery, and ECM is not immune. More so, part of the reason we don't see more books liek this is because people are afraid to poke fun at what clearly deserves to be made fun of. No subject is spared. Starbucks, Post-Modern feminist Theory, and Warehouse churches get taken to the woodchipper. It also includes such subjects as:

Fashion Personal Grooming Finding the Right Workspace Choosing an Emergent Vehicle Naming Your Church Acheiving the Right Atmosphere

Everyone from Brian Mclaren to Che Guevarra and even D.A. Carson (who is strangely made to look like the Joker) show up and get a little pounced on. Though some get more pounced than other's. If you're in the mood to laugh, I can't recommend this book enough.

Hopefully I'll be putting up an interview with the author's soon.

Review- PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and GOD

 Frank Warren has been called the world's friendliest stranger. Mainly because every week he gets anonymous post cards with people's deepest secrets (Sounds like something out of Stephen King). These secrets, usually on a creative post card, get posted on-line at his blog for all to see. For many, it fosters a sense of community and understanding, in knowing that there are others out there who feel like them-and that there is a place to express those feelings. Warren started the blog as an art project back in 2005. Since then, he has traveled the country with the cards as a traveling art exhibit.

In the case of "Confessions on Life, Death and God", the secrets were from an exhibit called: Every Faith Beautiful. Warren explains that one of the first cards he ever received was from a woman in Texas who's husband was a Baptist pastor. Her secret? No one suspected she was an atheist. The fact that a lot of the post cards are about issues related to faith, doubt, life, and death is what led to this book and the exhibit.

The cards are almost always creative with a lot of attention to detail. No wonder they can be a part of an art exhibit. Some are funny ("I don't hold my farts around you"), some are very revealing (a suicidal psychiatrist), and some-to Christians- are thought provoking and sad.

That's where the God part come in. One that made me think was from a woman who lost her unborn child at 16 week. "That was the day my baby, God and my heart died".

The cards make for a pretty fast read. However, some images in the book are very inappropriate (along with some of the content). Thus I would be careful with who you get this book for.

So why is this important? I think to those of us in ministry, this is the kind of research you sometimes can't get. It's a peek into the lives of everyday Americans. Maybe even the man next door. And since this book is specifically about faith issues, I think it's one worth looking at.

To finish I wanted to share some observations I made while reading the book:

1. People are desperate to communicate.

Even if it's telling a stranger their darkest secrets,people want to talk. The image of the God who is not silent, makes us want to communicate. Facebook, Twitter, etc.. are further proof of that  (See Ch.1 of James White's "Scripture Alone" for a great argument on this point). This leads me to the next point....

2. We must learn to listen.

I know it's been said before, and it bears repeating: James 1:19 reminds us to be "quick to hear, slow to speak". Many of us who are called to evangelism and apologetics, can get a little too eager to make our points at the expense of the person. We must learn to cultivate the discipline of listening.  If ever we needed the ministry of listening, it is now. I know I speak this to myself as well.

3. The arts are our friends.

A simple post card becomes a medium for communication and a work of art at the same time. Many people have noted (i.e. John Frame) there can be variety to our apologetic. In the Bible, this includes parables, metaphors, images, etc... Is it any wonder God speaks to us not only in language, but with literature? (A great resource for this would be the Literary Study Bible). And yet, many churches think it odd to try and include the arts in its worship and evangelism. This isn't the place to discuss arts and the church (but you're free to) so I will just say two things.  In the book, Warren, talks about visiting a Buddhist temple, and being attracted by a garden and pond there. He then went on to have a pretty interesting talk with one of the visitors in the temple.

The first thing I thought was: I wish my church had a garden! I know a lot of us are stuck with store front churches, but that shouldn't be reason to ignore the aesthetic possibilities our buildings can have. Neither should we ignore the value the arts can play in our worship and communication.

#4 People still have questions.

The classic questions of evil, exclusivity claims, and the nature of God keep coming up. People are looking for an answer. they're looking for a word from God. I have been of the opinion that our churces have been weak in teaching and preaching. At a time when people are asking the classic questions (in the face of personal and national troubles) we hide our bible to our shame and detremement. This is connected to my last obserevation...

#5 We need to teach our people

Many times while reading Confessions, I just kept seeing people who gave up on church or God because of a bad tradition, or interpretation of scripture. Whether it was tongues or the place of people with gay tendencies, God basically gets a bad rap sometimes. We must teach the whole counsel of God's word and help our people develop a robust world view. To give our people any less, is to put them in danger of not being able to answer the big questions that are being thrown at them by the man next door. Or without the means to minister to them.

How I review books-3rd update

[Note: I wrote this as my first post and have updated it over the year. I have added a few more ideas. Feel free to let me know what you would add. Thanks!]

 I did want to begin by sharing some ideas on how to judge a book before your read. Since many of you may be Christian, I will jump ahead and focus on how to get a feel for religious book.

1. Amazon!
If you are like me, you spend time on Amazon.com just browsing to see what's around, what's coming up, and what people generally think of books you either just bought, or are about to buy or read. Read the reviews. Does it have one, two, or five stars? Do the reviews seem fair? Are there any recurring problems mentioned? Many theology books are notorious for having bad binding. Are you better off buying it used?

2. Blurbs, or those personal endorsements on the back
Who blurbs the back of the book? Blurbs are the endorsements given to an author by other recognized authors, personalities etc.. this one can say a lot or a little. I once thumbed through a book that was endorsed by Donald Miller. He is the author of "Blue Like Jazz" which many of you know makes some interesting theological statements. I almost put the book away, but it turned out to be a great book on how to do church discipline today. If I could remember the title of said book I'd recommend it (Something like 10 mistakes churches make)! Of course, seeing well known, respected leaders recommend a book helps. But you must go deeper still. Does anyone who's opinion you trust like the book you are about to read?
3.Table of Contents
Yes, at some point you have to pop open the book and read what the author intends to communicate (you knew you were going to at some point) Is there a structure? What are the headings? Is there an apppendix? If it has a sripture index, does it have a lot of scripture? How long is the book? Who gets mentioned a lot in their bibliography or endnotes? I once had to read a book that had a lot of end notes referencing Carl Jung-it's still a somewhat decent book, but now I read it with caution.
4. Publisher
Who published it? I'm not too happy with Zondervan now that they are cashing in on the Emergent movement with an Emergent line of books. This doesn't mean that all Zondervan books are bad. And yes, to be fair some Emergent books are decent (sometimes). If anything Intervarsity Press is guilty of publishing many questionable books (the openess of God anyone?) Where as a company like Crossway is known to publish Reformed authors. Ditto for Christian Scholars Press and P&R Publishing.
5. Time
What year was this published? If this is older than a decade, their info maybe outdated. But, there are those few books that stand the test of time, so don't hold onto that too hard and fast.
6. Author Info
Who is this person that you are about to let into your thoughts? Thanks to today's world, you can find a ministry website for almost all Christian authors. Just be careful that their book isn't just an endorsement for even more (and more expensive!) material from them. What school did they go to? What is their testimony? What school do they teach at? Have they made controversial statements in previous books? Is their church a good place? Do they have a blog? Are there incriminating pics of them with Miley Cyrus?
7. Your own interest
Why do you want to read this? What is it that you need to know? Some books need only a quick glance and a read through a chapter or two to get whatyou need. Others demand a lot of time, and are worth every hour of reading. Pray, reflect, but for goodness sake tell people. We need to have more open discussions about books.

Later on I will write about how to read a book. Suffice it to say, my uncle once told me that you don't let books affect you. The only one that should affect you is the Bible. You must take a wait and see approach to books. That can be very hard if the book is really good. More on this later. Oh yes I expect you to tell what you think ofmy somewhat sage advice. Go ahead, I dare you.


** Update
A few more things to consider as you read a book;

8. Does your enemy hate or like it?
You either see this one or you don't.

9. What are the bloggers saying?
Tim Challie's page Challies.com is now THE place to get a good Christian book review. He truly is the Christian Uber-blogger/book reviewer. I trust him.

10. Author's intent?
Why was this book written? To inform? Persuade? Make a point? Share an experience? These are things you want to keep in mind. It will help you decide if you want to read the whole thing and if they are making substantial arguments or if they are being honest.

11. Would I want to own this?
Or would I be happy borrowing it from the library? There are a few books I wouldn't want to be caught dead with. Seriously.


3rd Update

12. What's the point?
So what are you going to get out of the book once you read it? What are you going to do about it?


13.The friend test
Ask your friends what they think about it (if they have read it). They may save you a trip to the bookstore.





14. Re-read factor
Is this one of those books you'll want to own long enough to read again? Granted some of those books are hard to spot at first, but some you just know you'll read again and again.


Ok there you go, READ. But think as well. I might also add, that I will talk about how to read a Christian book in the future.

Book Review- "The Power of Less"

As the new year starts,  Tim Challies (Uber christian book blogger) has this to say

I am going to continue on a trajectory I began several months ago—a trajectory leading toward control and simplicity. In a wired, digital world, I’ve too often felt like technology owns me and drives me instead of the other way around. I’ve started to try to regain that sense of control, sometimes scaling back, sometimes changing the way I do things. I hope to continue that through 2009 and beyond.

I find this interesting because I've seen a rise in blogs, websites andbooks (as my title suggests) on the idea of simplicity. I've also been reading through "The New Media Frontier" (review forthcoming) and have been wondering about our life in the digital smorgasborg. As someone described it, it is like trying to drink water froma fire hydrant. So what are we to do? Blogger Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has written a book on just that.

"The Power of Less" is a short read on a big subject: simplicity. Who knew we were so cluttered we needed to be taught be simple again? From multiple e-mail accounts, to extra appointments, to lots of work projects, we are dying in a culture of paper and digital clutter.Taking the paper and digital beats is what Babauta does. The two essential steps he begins with are quite "simple": find the essential and get rid of the rest. If you can do that, the rest of the book is pretty easy. Steps like focusing on what is at hand, starting small, focusing on a few things to do per day.
As an example he cties going to the gym and eating  as things that need to be simplified. He suggests you start going to the gym for 10 minutes at a time and staying longer every week. As for food, he suggests you chew slowly and not do anything else. I'm guilty of trying to read, watch tv and listen to music while I eat. You would think that doing less might be counter intuitive, but doing exactly that Leo has trained for a few marathons, started a business and quit smoking. Pretty impressive for a guy who was working more than 40 hours per week and only ate junk food.

So is simplicity the new "going green"? Possibly. Zen habits is a very popular blog, as is The Slacker Method and Life Hacker. Getting control of clutter in an easy way is going to become more of a need as we become a more cluttered culture. The main culprit however is the internet. So try a no-media hour today. Take an hour where you won't be on-line, on a computer, or with a cell phone. If you can't  do that, you should pick up this book.

Pollution and the Death of Man- Book Review

Tim Challies (uber christian blogger) has written a very good review of Francis Schaeffer's "Pollution and the Death of Man". It makes sense, given our culture's current obsession with the environment. As a fan of Schaeffer, I thought I'd take a look. Challies has some great insights into the book, among them are:

He launches into what I’d consider classic Schaefferian thought: “Pantheism,” he says, “will be pressed as the only answer to ecological problems and will be one more influence in the West’s becoming increasingly Eastern in its thinking.”

“The only reason we are called upon to treat nature well is because of its effects on man and our children and the generations to come. So in reality…man is left with a completely egoistic position in regard to nature.” “Having no absolutes, modern man has no categories. One cannot have real answers without categories, and these men can have no categories beyond pragmatic, technological ones.” “A pantheistic stand always brings man to an impersonal and low place rather than elevating him.” In the end, pantheism pushes both man and nature into a kind of bog, leaving us unable to make any kind of necessary and rational distinctions.

He affirms that our understanding must begin with the world’s creation when God created things that have an objective existence in themselves. Despite the claims of pantheism, creation is not an extension of God’s essence. It is only the biblical view that gives worth to man and to all that God has created. Nature begins to look different when I understand that, though I am separate from it, I am related to it as something God has created. “So the Christian treats ‘things’ with integrity because we do not believe they are autonomous. Modern man has fallen into a dilemma because he has made things autonomous from God.” As we love the Creator, we love the creation.

Over all a great review. I didn't even give you some of the best parts. I will leave you with what one thoughtful commentator said about the article:

Thanks for the article - this is a great book. You can’t “love your neighbor as yourself” by polluting their air, water and land!

So I saw this book was coming out this year and I knew I would want to read it. Of course, I also thought,"Dang, they stole my idea!". I didn't know I would laugh so much. I'll be writing as I read through the book. It's ideas are pretty much what a lot of us have felt about the Emerging Church movement/conversation. It begins with a little bit of a bio for both authors. One is a pastor from Michigan and the other a sports journalist. They begin by acknowledging that not everyone will agree with their assesment, but are open to correction and strive to be respectful.
I appreciate the approach, because if we are going to disagree with our brothers and sisters in Christ, it should be done in a Christ honoring way. And yes, it is possible. They continue with what it is they find hard to swallow in the church. The fact that there is no statement of faith, leaders and so forth however can be dealt with. If you have a group of people who agree with each other, endorse each other and have similar rants against the church (that are being podcasted, printed and preached) you generally have similar ideas that can be critiqued. It isn't scholars doing the critiquing, but ordinary guys who love the Lord and his church.

The first thing dealt with is the idea of journey in the Christian life. Indeed, in our culture, it's all about the journey. Not the destination! Of course we don't live that way. i don't get out of bed and meander around with no particular place to go. Likewise in classic thinking and in the Bible, a journey has a definite end. In the emergent church, we see an affinity for the contemporary idea that it's all about the search. It's paraded around as a mark of humility.
I remember recently reading about Paul Washer dealing with a man in Spain who quoted a famous philosopher of theirs who taught that truth must be sought but never found. Indeed Washer replied that he knew why. If he ever found it, it would mean that it would have a demand on their life. In the book, one of the author's meets with a church guitarist who tells him that in music circles, it's cool to search for God, but not to find him. It is this idea that pervade a lot of modern Christianity.

The other idea that underlies this notion that truth can't be found is that we humans are in a sense speculating about God. To be certain is to not have God at all. But this assumes that God can't tell us about himself. If it isn't possible, how can we know who we are really loving? How can we know if they love us back? In the popular tale of the blind men and the elephant, all they can do is guess as to what they are touching. But the author's suggest, what if the elephant started to talk and tell them what he was?

As I finish , I wanted to leave you with a few quotes lines and ideas I gleamed from the first few chapters:

We're plodding visionaries trying to learn the Bible, love one another, share the gospel and worship God in spirit and in truth.

Heaven is the recreation of the entire cosmos.

It's cool to search for God, but not to find him.

My idea: God is there, but he's not just there, he's everywhere! (one of the criticisms in the book is that transcendence is places against immanenced and thus God is so far away you can't see him-which is an idea that John Frame points out in his fine books)

You "know" those you love.

Paul didn't say,"I see you worship an unknown God. Great! So do I."

I'll have a the next few chapters in soon.

Book Review: Socrates Meets Jesus

Socrates Meets Jesus
Peter kreeft
Inter-Varsity Press 1985
Amazon rating: 3.5 stars
Fusion's Book-o-meter™ scale: 4 for style and 3.75 for content

After a long time I have brought yet another book review. This time I picked an interesting book called "Socrates Meets Jesus" by Peter Kreeft. For those in the know, Peter Kreeft is known in apologetics circles as an apologist. He's also a C.S Lewis fan and a fan of Socrates. He teaches Philosophy at Boston College and lectures on Religion. He also stands out because he was once a Reformed believer and after thinking (or over thinking?) he defected to Roman Catholicism. Many of you know I am Protestant believer, so why am I reading this book?
I have to admit first and foremost that I like the style of the book. He writes the story in a socratic dialogue. It involves Socrates waking up (after his death?) in Have it (a pun on Harvard) with an enrollment slip for the divinity school.
A fish out of water type story. More so, as soon as we wakes up, the questions begin. From progress since his day to theology, he has questions about a lot of things. In the divinity school he and Bertha Broadmind, dialogue a lot about evil, faith, Jesus and God. He questions the assumptions of liberal academia and makes some good points. In a way, this Socrates sounded more like C.S. Lewis (which doesn't surprise me). If you know someone who has to deal with liberal Christians, this would be the book to read. What's interesting is that a new book looking a the resurrection has been released by Geza Vermes. It ends with the view that states that resurrection happened in people's hearts. Such ideas are discussed in this book.

But what is it that I liked about the book? The questions! I have been want to find people that deal with the use of questions in evangelistic dialogues. However there are a few . Kreeft knows how to craft a question. Why is that important? For now, it just matters that in dialoguing with unbelievers, questions are the tools that can help you to find out what the other person's presuppositions are.

Now what didn't I like? For the most part, the first two-thirds of the book were well done, but the last part was what bothered me. Kreeft, via Socrates, makes it seem that the truth of the OT prophets is close to the Classic Greek Philosophers and the Myths of times past (an idea I'll deal with later) However, as we read in Romans, no one seeks after God, and people don't want to know God. If the Myths point to God the question is why? It's not salvific, and it wouldn't lead to God without him first reaching out to the person.

Having said that, it was a decent reading and might give you an idea of how to talk to people in an apologetic dialogue. More so, John Frame of Reformed Theological Seminary recommends Kreeft's books for the same reason. So there!

Update: I might add, no I do not endorse everything Mr. Kreeft writes. He's catholic (I completely and utterly hope he changes his mind for the good of his soul) but I can respect good scholarship for the same reasons I would protest an abortion clinic with an atheist. So there!

Book Review: Lyrics by Sting

I'm a Police fan. I first learned to sing along and modulate my voice with Sting. I got to see them at the Staples Center this year with my sister and it was amazing. As an aspiring song writer, I love to read about different people's process for writing songs and lyrics. Sting goes through all the albums he's ever done and explains the origin of all his lyrics. Yelling at the sky as he rode home, or hearing a crow give him a lyric for "If I ever lose my faith". At times it feels like a book of poems (he was an english teacher) but you can see a strange beauty in these lyrics. He adds notes on some of the more interesing songs. For instance, what is the real story behind "Don't stand so close to me?" A song about a girl falling in love with her teacher (keep in mind he taught for a while) He made a note that it had no connection to real life. It's always about the song for Sting. Its feel, its mood and the message he wants to convey. For instance, "Every little thing she does is magic" was put in one of his more somber albums. "Fields of Gold" was written while he lived in a castle near barley fields. Very inspirational stuff. If you're a sting fan, you'll love it, if not, just read it to get into the mental process of a great song writer.

Leadership is an art by Max De Pree

Let me say that I believe that as books go, we must strive as best as we can to read the best. Having said that, brevity is king! Max DePree said in about one hundred pages, what Stephen Covey said in about three hundred! I did however wanted to give you some insings from both "Leadership is an Art" and from "The 8th Habit". I've recently been taking a class in leadership at my school and both were required reading. I was rather surprised at what I learned. Those of us who fancy ourselves leaders, or are leaders, should learn from believers (DePree) and by God's common grace learn from unbelievers (Covey who is a mormon) I debated whether to include the second book, because I didn't want to push the limits of common grace, but I also realize that I have a mature audience who will indulge me. Thanks in advance!
Who is Max DePree? His website states

"He is perhaps best known for his work as the CEO of Herman Miller, Inc. Herman Miller was founded by his father D. J. De Pree, who ran the company until the early 1960’s, when Max and his brother Hugh assumed responsibility for its leadership. During his tenure, Herman Miller became one of the most profitable Fortune 500 companies."

He was a student at Whedon College, served in Would War II, and still speaks on leadership from a Christian perspective. What stood out about his view of leadership was that it was other centered. He describes leadership as,"liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible". How that happens is the thrust of his book.
He tells the story about his dad. He owned the company first and had to go tot he funeral of his millwright. At the home, the wife of his millwright asked to read aloud some very beautiful poetry. He asked who wrote the poetry, as it turned out it was his millwright. He writes,

"[I]t is fundamental that leaders endorse a concept of persons. This begins with an understanding of the diversity of people's gifts and talents and skills....When we think about leaders and variety of gifts people bring to corporations and institutions, we see that the art of leadership lies in polishing and liberating and enabling those gifts".

I couldn't have said it better. Covey in his book has the eight habit as "find your voice and help people find theirs". We best serve the people we lead when we know who we are and know what we have to do, and help others do the same. The real point is that we must treat people as people. THEY ARE NOT THINGS! They have talents, gifts and abilities that can be harnessed to contribute to the growth of your organization, company etc.. Mr. DePree listens to his people. His company was the first to introduce the scanlon plan. In it, people contribute ideas to help the company. If it works out, the person benefits financially from their idea. He states that the results of your leadership are seen in the people.

The current writers strike is a perfect example. They are basically striking for a few pennies more in royalties from DVD sales and some compensation from internet sales and presentations. Every time I watch Grey's Anatomy on the web, there is a commercial every fifteen minutes. Since this isn't on TV, they don't' get a cut from the commercial (where TV shows get their money) Not that one side is better than the other per se, but the writers are being treated like things, not people. They give the shows ideas, it gets put on a new media like the web, and get little compensation for it. Things must change.

This doesn't mean that we don't confront, indeed we must, but if we do, we must do it in the hopes of encouraging people to do what they re capable of doing. But there are certain things that are obligated of leaders that I wanted to highlight.

He prefaces these obligations by asking us to think of leadership to mean as one who serves (found in the book of Luke) We serve our subordinates(Jesus served Peter), those above us (Peter served Christ)and the organization we are a part of(Paul labored for the church).

1. We must leave behind us assets and a legacy

Leave behind the tools, programs etc.. that are needed to do the best job.
We owe future leadership, by training people
A covenant by promising our best (more on this later)
Rationality-don't be crazy all the time
Space (freedom) for people to do their best
A very helpful question to ask is this: What is it without which this institution would not be what it is? (John Frame says for the church this would be worship, evangelism and preaching-don't quote me though!)

2.Leaders must provide and maintain momentum
We have to make sure people are working effectively towards our goal. This happens as we have a vision of what we as a group are to be.

3. Leaders are responsible for effectiveness
We do that by enabling others to reach their potential, and by encouraging roving leadership, that is giving people permission to do their best (no micromanaging here). On a personal note, two people have given me space recently to do my best.Prof. Larkin, my leadership professor, gave all of us in class extra time to turn in work. He chewed me out first, but he did it with kindness (eventually!) and he encouraged me by giving me extra time. This blog is the result of someone helping me find my voice as well. Darrin, the leader of the college group who may (or may not!) be reading this blog, saw that I couldn't go the the meetings. But he didn't cut me off. He gave me a place to put up my work and still be a part of the group. Space, it is great. I might also add that the meetings may soon be put on podcast so I can listen to them. I take full responsibility!
4. Leaders are responsible for values
This is the hardest part because poeople value different things! We must strive to set an example and guide the values of the group we are a part of.

Before I finish (I've only dealt with the first part of the book) I must highlight something Mr. DePree points out. He writes that we must be in covenant with our people. A covenant is usually an agreement between two parties (sometimes between a stronger and a weaker party) and both are obligated to respond to each other-simply put. Likewise, when we lead people, we can easily think in terms of people being obliged to us. But we must got the extra mile. We must be committed to the people we lead. As covenantal leaders, we not only expect something from people, but we are committed to them as well.

As I talked to Steve Macasill, one of the bloggers at biblicalthought.com, He mentioned that as he leads people at his job, he keeps in mind Ephesians 6:7-9

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

God is watching as we lead people. We do not threaten them, but see them as equal, having gifts and talents that can contribute to our organization. All this as done to the Glory of God, that is the kind of leadership that makes a mark. Part two will come out in a few days. Frank!