matt h

Nesredna Divad is now reading a book. (see 2 more books added to shelf)

Nesredna Divad reviewed a book.

“Great book! Really engaging characters. I didn't want it to end.”

“Great book! Really engaging characters. I didn't want it to end. ”

Nesredna Divad reviewed a book.

“An excellent book. A quirky and dark western that spent all of its energy on the characters. I read this as a best of 2011 pick. It was worth it.”

Nesredna Divad plans to read a book. (see 3 more books added to shelf)

Nesredna Divad reviewed a book.

“A decent book on time management from a pastoral perspective. It's a little unfocused and he spends about half the book covering material found in greater depth in his Stretch book. This is great material, but it has nothing to do with time management.”

“A decent book on time management from a pastoral perspective. It's a little unfocused and he spends about half the book covering material found in greater depth in his Stretch book. This is great material, but it has nothing to do with time management. ”

Nesredna Divad plans to read a book.

Nesredna Divad reviewed a book.

“Great sci-fi book that explores the possibilities of the multiverse. Good read.”

Nesredna Divad plans to read a book. (see 5 more books added to shelf)

Nesredna Divad reviewed a book.

“This book has been most influential in my life. A must read for anyone in business or life in general!”

Nesredna Divad reviewed a book.

“I read this book because Bell is so influential in the church these days that I feel it necessary to read his books so I can spot his influence.

When I finished this book, I found his specific point to be eluding me. I feel like Bell has some very specific theology which he is hiding...”

“I read this book because Bell is so influential in the church these days that I feel it necessary to read his books so I can spot his influence.

When I finished this book, I found his specific point to be eluding me. I feel like Bell has some very specific theology which he is hiding just outside of view the whole time he is writing. I would like to just sit down and talk with him about what he really believes. "Love Wins" helped clarify some of that, but it seems like each of his books is working toward something not yet revealed that he plans to give us in a future volume.

I may write another review after I've had some more time to consider it.

But here's the main points I gleaned for now:

Bell is suggesting that God is ahead of us pulling us toward a new understanding. I don't really have a problem with this notion, other than Bell seems to be suggesting it is something well outside the bounds of the traditional faith.

God is so head-over-heels in love with us that he wants us to flourish and be the best me I can be. Jesus came to show us that we could be full of God, but not in the Christian sense. It seems Bell means "full of God" in the pantheistic sense (God is in everything atom). What we have to do to embrace this isn't clear, other than traditional notions of denying self and taking up crosses and things like that are not what he means.

Bell uses this image of God pulling us forward to demonstrate a model where we are maturing as a species in relation to our God. And as we mature, we don't return to the way things were, but we move forward to something new (like not believing in a literal Hell, divine creation or the exclusivity of Christ for salvation - as per Love Wins).

I am unable to restrain myself from pointing out that none of these ideas are actually new and that they've been espoused many times from within the church over the past 2,000 years and have been consistently rejected as heresy. What, I ask, is different this time? Are we THAT enlightened?

The key issue I see with Bell's own argument is that he misunderstands the direction God is pulling us toward. When Jesus made his famous, "You have heard it said...but I say..." statements, he was taking the Mosaic Law and making it MORE restrictive, not less. Adultery is wrong, but Jesus ups the ante to even lusting after a woman as being wrong. Bell somehow reasons that God is expecting less and less from us as we mature in relationship to him.

It'll be interesting to see what destruction this volume of Bell's ambiguous theology causes within the already fractured and apostate American church.

Anyway, maybe this book will make sense in the future when Bell chooses to sit down and talk more directly about his proposed way of thinking. ”

Nesredna Divad reviewed a book.

“This is the grim first-hand account of a young Jewish boy during World War 2 under the Nazis. He recounts his personal experience of the evil of the Nazis, concentration camps, and the loss of his faith in God.

I read this book because it was assigned reading for my son in public...”

“This is the grim first-hand account of a young Jewish boy during World War 2 under the Nazis. He recounts his personal experience of the evil of the Nazis, concentration camps, and the loss of his faith in God.

I read this book because it was assigned reading for my son in public school. I understand that Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize for his subsequent work, and it seems he regained some measure of faith in God later in his life, but that doesn't appear in the book. A major theme of the book is exploring the idea that God had abandoned Wiesel during his struggles.

I have no issue with the book itself, and it is a gripping reminder of the evil human beings are capable of.

I have an issue with this being the unbalanced selected text for a freshman high school class. I'd be OK if the book were balanced by accounts from Bonhoeffer or one of the other Christian Germans who opposed the Nazis. The truth of personal accounts need to be known, and we gain significant depth from hearing the stories of both those who lost their faith and those who died for it.

But that's not what happened. My son was given a text that taught the horror of the Holocaust and the atheistic response of one person in that experience. In short, bad things happen so God isn't real. So much for balanced inquiry and the sharing of ideas.

The book, however, is worth the read and explores the psychological horror of the Holocaust along with the physical atrocities. Gripping. I recommend it for all readers, but I encourage you to read broadly about the Holocaust as others found God in the midst of, or despite, the horror. ”

Nesredna Divad reviewed a book.

“An excellent resource for medium to large churches. The best and most practical book I've read on structuring ministry that is scaled for growth. What is so great about this book is that it's written by a pastor for pastors in a very simple way. So much of what is written about ministry growth...”

“An excellent resource for medium to large churches. The best and most practical book I've read on structuring ministry that is scaled for growth. What is so great about this book is that it's written by a pastor for pastors in a very simple way. So much of what is written about ministry growth is written in imposing technical or corporate jargon, which can be intimidating for pastors who have never worked a day in the business field.

Here are the two questions Wideman asks in the first chapter that were compelling for me:
1. If God sent you 100 volunteers this weekend, would you be able to place them all?

And, if the answer is "no":

2. Then why would God send you 100 more volunteers?

This is a balanced approach to partnering with God in the practical work of the church. Wideman is saying that our part is to build healthy structures that set people free to share and explore their gifting within the safety of the church, but in the end, it is God who sends the people. Our part is to plant and water - his is to grow. If we don't do our part, we shouldn't be surprised when growth doesn't come.

But instead of just waxing dogmatic and leaving us hanging, Wideman goes on to provide simple practical steps to structure ministry for growth. So often these kinds of ministry books can be ambiguous and ethereal. But not this one.

The only drawback is some of the scriptural application. I'm not sure Jesus was providing us with a model for project management when he fed the 5,000 with the fish and the loaves of bread. I suppose you can read this perspective into the story, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the point.

I highly recommend this book for anyone in a church that wants to be open for growth.”

Nesredna Divad reviewed a book.

“I read this book because it was a 2011 best book from Leadership Journal. Hmmm...Skye Jethani is the chief editor for Leadership Journal...

This was a good read, dealing with the different attitudes, what the author calls "postures", we have toward God. He uses a series of prepositions...”

“I read this book because it was a 2011 best book from Leadership Journal. Hmmm...Skye Jethani is the chief editor for Leadership Journal...

This was a good read, dealing with the different attitudes, what the author calls "postures", we have toward God. He uses a series of prepositions to describe these postures. Four of them are lesser postures: Life UNDER God (appeasing the angry deity), Life OVER God (reducing God to a series of maxims and principals and then leaving him behind), Life FROM God (prosperity gospel) and Life FOR God (a view where the mission God gives essentially becomes an idol itself).

The author rightly articulates that Life WITH God (life for the sake of God himself in Faith, Hope and Love) is the posture God intended for us to have toward him.

A good read.”