The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I heard about Jesse Rice's book, "The Church of Facebook: How the Wireless Generation is Redefining Community" from an interview he did on a podcast. The topic of online community and whether or not it can be authentic is of interest to me.
I wasn't sure what to expect; perhaps a Christianized critique of the whole social networking phenomenon complete with a set of warnings for believers and suggested rules for underage children. Thankfully this is not Jesse's book. Instead it opens with a fascinating story of the opening day on the Millennium Bridge crossing the Thames River in London. The unexpected shaking that day on the pedestrian footbridge is similar to the online spectacle of Facebook and other social networking sites. Jesse uses this and several other stories at the beginning of each chapter to create a historical framework for interpreting our online interactions. Jesse has done his research well and the book is very interesting because of it.
The science of connecting with others, of creating a "home" where we feel safe is the subject of chapter one. This is followed by a chapter on revolutionary changes to society and how Facebook is set up to be, if it not already is, a world changer. Chapter three delves into the controls people have of their online presence, of the information they choose to share online with others on their profiles. He poses the question of what we will do with the power we have to create, to shape society, with our online influence. Chapter four studies the impact that all of the new information has on an individual, understanding that people have adapted their behavior with this new way to connect with people, share information and collect new data. The fifth chapter focuses on the question of community and whether or not it can be experienced online. Are our relational needs truly being met? The final chapter speaks to implications of using social networking and some of the inherent behaviors that could be attributed to living life via an online presence. Jesse suggests some boundaries to keep the experience healthy, balanced and authentic.
Although the book could be categorized as a Christian book by a Christian author, it doesn't come across as preachy or fear-based. As such I hope it will be picked up by readers interested in modern communication, community development, sociology, and human psychology. It broadened my perspectives of social networking and has stayed with me as I've continued connecting with old and new friends online.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community



This timely release explores the community-altering phenomenon of social networking sites and what it reveals about friendship, God, and our own hearts.

With hundreds of millions of users, social networks are changing how we form relationships, perceive others, and shape our identity. Yet at its core, this movement reflects our need for community. Our longing for intimacy, connection, and a place to belong has never been a secret, but social networking offers us a new perspective on the way we engage our community. How do these networks impact our relationships? In what ways are they shaping the way we think of ourselves? And how might this phenomenon subtly reflect a God who longs to connect with each one of us?

The Church of Facebook explores these ideas and much more, offering a revealing look at the wildly popular world of online social networking.

Get 21% OFF

Click here for more information about The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community

Read More...

A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A New Kind of Christian: Thoughts on Brian McClaren's Book
Brian McClaren has written a new and fascinating book entitled A New Kind of Christian. I have a deep affinity with what Brian has both attempted and accomplished here. Brian has stood upon the ramparts, seen the battle around him and is pointing to a new way of being Christian in the 21st century. He is motivated by nothing but love for Christ and his kingdom. He understands that the old wineskins have burst, and that the long-suffering Spirit of God is now pointing out a new way forward. Yet, for all of that - Brian's work is not all of one piece. It is both a thoughtful investigation of evangelicalism's failure to recognize the transition from Modernism to Post-modernism, and also an unsatisfying solution to the problems posed by that shift.
From the very beginning of the book, Brian's observations are unassailable. Post-modernism is a new era - one that has dawned with force in Western culture. Christians aboard the cultural ship of state today watch wide-eyed as the moral machinery of their worldview is getting heaved overboard - piece by piece. They find themselves on a cruise they never imagined. Brian argues effectively that the comprehensiveness of this change is frightening. And yet, like any new era, although the transition is filled with painful changes, it is also filled with unimagined opportunities.
To best make his point, Brian casts his views in the form of a fictional narrative (the lingua franca of Post-modernism!). The protagonist of the narrative is a wizened person of color, appropriately named Neo. Neo is a "new kind of Christian", stuffed full of fresh insights in how to navigate the waters of Post-modernism. In the seminal central chapters of the book, Brian has Neo lay out his central argument to a hypothetical campus Christian audience. It is an argument from history. The sum of the argument is this: just as the transition from medieval Catholicism to the Reformation created a new kind of Christian, so now in the shift from Modernism to Post Modernism we need A New Kind of Christian.
So far so good.
But if we tease apart the analogy, how far can it go? It is the aptness of Brian's analogy that is at issue here. The very real question we must ask ourselves is whether Brian is flushing out the doctrinal baby with the cultural bathwater.
Underlying Brian's argument is an unspoken assumption, namely, that every new major epoch in history is not merely evolutionary - it is revolutionary. Each new era creates by necessity a new paradigm, and that paradigm sweeps away the preceding era. Hence, he argues that just as the Reformation and scientific Modernism swept away medievalism in the 1500's , now Post-modernism is sweeping away Modernism - along with its quaint tools of analysis and logic.

After all, nothing is quite as dated as yesterday's insights. Right?
But wait a second.
Is it really true that ALL the constructs that Modernism affirms must be superceded? When Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life", we can be confident that his statement was both timeless and transcultural. It was not intended to be shelved when the next intellectual purge rolled through history. Jesus' truth claims, both relational and logical, made it past the shift from Pre-modernism to Modernism, at least among orthodox Modernists in the church. Likewise, when Jesus said, "I tell you that not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." - He meant it. The truth of this statement is not diminished because once upon a time Christian Modernists believed it. For Brian, then, there seems to be a curious inconsistency of indebtedness to the prior era. If the content of a former era speaks to spiritual formation, it seems, Brian adopts it. If it uses analysis and logic, he drops it. Even an Hegelian view of history grants to any new era (the synthesis) more indebtedness to its prior era (thesis) than Brian does.
We are left with an unsatisfied feeling after closing the book. We want to celebrate Brian's brilliant observations and teach them to a sleeping Modernist church - but we feel we cannot - at least not in their original form.
Why?
In sum, two problems dog Brian's view of history. First, there is a naïve optimism apparent here. Historical progression, does not necessarily lead to progress. A synthesis (even an Hegelian one!) may lead downward rather than upward. Consequently, we can't agree with Brian's inference that Postmodernism is necessarily better than Modernism because it has superceded it. Postmodernism, we would argue, is doubtless a better way to live - but just as certainly - it is a poorer way to think.
Second, liberal theologies throughout history have spent their energies dichotomizing truth. That is, they separate spiritual truth from the world of verification and analysis. The well-intentioned thinking behind this, is that this kind of surgery is necessary. It saves both the text and faith itself from methods neither was designed to withstand. The end result is that two realms of truth are created. Spiritual truth dwells in the realm of the unverifiable, while physical truth lies in the realm of verification. For those that adopt this dichotomy, matters of faith live and breathe only in the heart - and there they stay. Years ago, Francis Schaeffer called this "upper story" versus "lower story" thinking. And this, unwittingly is where we are lead by Brian's treatment of history. After reading A New Kind of Christian, we are left with the impression that the spiritual truths of Scripture and the factual/logical statements of Scripture are not woven seamlessly into a single cloth.
Let's look at two examples. We waste our time, according to Brian, if we argue against evolution. Second, we worry too much, Brian says, about using the (apparently anachronistic) tools of logic and analysis. Yet, is this split between the "Modernist" tools of logic and analysis (which, incidentally, predate Modernism) and the "spiritual" truths of Scripture really necessary? The Jesus of Scripture is both the one who wept over Jerusalem and outgunned the Pharisees in brilliant logical argumentation. The One who called all men to come to Him, is also the One who made logically exclusive truth statements 25 times in the gospel of John alone. He is the One who is both above all things (transcendent) and yet by Him all things hold together (immanent). The Jesus of Scripture, then is multifaceted. He is both perfectly and completely relational and also the Lord of all rational truth, including logic and analysis. For this reason, He can speak to both the relational Post-Modern and the analytical Modern.
Our challenge is to learn to do the same.


Click Here to see more reviews about: A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey

Click here for more information about A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey

Read More...

Spirit Driven Success Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As I seek Truth & Freedom, I was led to read this profound book. Dani Johnson came from being a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas living in her car with $2.03 to her name to a multi-millionaire by the Grace of God. She was the Keynote Speaker last year at Young Living Essential Oils (YLEO) 2007 Annual Grand Convention here at the DC Convention Center. Since that time she has been at a Morris Cerrullo Conference, on Benny Hinn's This Is Your Day TV program, Trinity Broadcast Network's (TBN) Behind the Scenes program and probably other international venues of which I am not aware. I wondered why many YLEO business owners who were attending her seminars were coming back from them having accepted Christ or either with a deeper relationship with Christ and were catapulting up their organization's leadership line becoming debt free and other notable benefits. After reading only a few pages of this book, I understood. God is using her to reveal some deep things for such a time as this. I highly recommend this book if you have ever worried about how you would pay your bills or how to improve your personal relationships or why your business ministry gift was not being utilized in traditional church settings or why your life is not going the way you believe it should. There really is something for everyone. Your life will change for the better!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Spirit Driven Success

Get 27% OFF

Click here for more information about Spirit Driven Success

Read More...

The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church's Spectators into Active Participants (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)In a typical church 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work, but that does not mean that all of your focus should be on the 20 percent, according to Scott Thuma and Warren Bird in this book. In business you can often maximize profits by concentrating your energies on the top 20 percent of your clients, but the biblical standard for kingdom ventures if different.
The authors' research reveals that the general trend to lack of participation in the life of a church is attributable to a number of causes:
*Individualism and consumerism have infected the sheep and made them less willing to follow.
*Some Christians have experienced disappointment with the church as they know it, and now want a life of faith apart from the church.
*Church leaders are partly to blame for setting expectations to low and exercising leadership poorly.
*The problem is partly an organizational one, requiring rethinking of the activities of volunteering and committee work.
*The problem is also a spiritual problem, arising from a lack of understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
The book goes on to describe the characteristics of the committed 20 percent and the characteristics of the less-committed 80 percent. Because the causes of non-involvement are complex and differ from church to church, the authors advocate creating a listening team to listen to the 80 percent and a learning team to learn from them. They then suggest a range of ways, starting with prayer, in which you can seek to address the problems and reach towards spiritual maturity for 100 percent of your congregation.
I found the book very helpful, and highly recommend it to all church leaders.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church's Spectators into Active Participants (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series)

A research-based approach to developing more active and involved congregations
In this practical resource, well-known and respected researcher Scott Thumma and professional co-writer Warren Bird draw upon new and heretofore unpublished research across a broad range of Protestant churches of all sizes and show how to create more active members. Offers solid information of what church leaders need to know about the factors and practices that create church members who are more actively and passionately involved in their congregations.
Offers a first of its kind resource for developing engaged congregations
Lead author Scott Thumma is a noted researcher and writer on congregational studies
Warren Bird is coauthor of Culture Shift and Viral Churches

This book offers advice for moving church members from being spectators to living a life of discipleship and faith.

Get 34% OFF

Click here for more information about The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church's Spectators into Active Participants (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series)

Read More...