The God Ask - A Book Review

There can come a point in a missionary or ministry fund raiser's job where raising support becomes burdensome or seen as a necessary evil. I was at that point when I happened to come across this book when I was at some training for my job with a collegiate ministry. The book was actually given to new staff who were at an orientation for the collegiate ministry I work for when I was also there for my training. I happened to see it and picked up the book and looked at the back cover. Since I am no a supervisor of staff with this ministry I thought it would be good to get a copy and read it for myself. It was in reading this book that I came to realize that I was at a point where I saw asking for financial support as a necessary evil. This book change my perspective back to what I was taught three years ago when I first joined the ministry.

The God Ask by Steve Shadrach is a must read for anyone who has to raise their own support, whether as a missionary overseas or working with a ministry not-for-profit. This book would also be a great read for pastors as the biblical teaching on money is top notch.

The graph to the right shows the interconnectedness of the entire God Ask (support raising process). Often the ministry worker only sees the relationship with the potential supporter but fails to see how God is connected to both the ministry worker and the potential supporter. By keeping God in the entire process it helps a ministry worker have the right attitude toward the process of raising support.

The author also attacks some of the ideas and practices that keep a ministry worker from getting to full support quickly. Some of the ideas that many ministry workers think they have to have is the idea of showing scarcity to get funded. The idea here is that if people think that I am poor they will give more. Actually the opposite happens because the potential supporter thinks the ministry worker can not manage money well. This doesn't mean the ministry worker lives extravagantly but the idea of living meagerly for the sake of funding is not a healthy one (there are instances where living meagerly for ministry is appropriate, so what I am talking about here is the attitude that drives us to our funding. Read the book for a better and broader understanding of how this can be a bad idea).

Steve also helps the reader know what a healthy and productive way of raising support looks like with great insight on how to go about raising support initially and then staying supported. He also shares how to increase support when the ministry budget grows.

Overall this is a great book and one of the best support raising books I have read. It is a must read and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Learning How to Manage

A few weeks back I had to attend some training for work. This training was to prepare me for basically becoming a "middle manager." Probably the most beneficial and rewarding part of the week of training was the time spent on leadership, or how to manage people well. The material I was trained on (or in) was called Situational Leadership (by the Ken Blanchard Companies). 

The first thing that I learned was about my leadership preference style, which for me was S3. Now, it needs to be noted that there is no one style that is preferred instead a leader/manager is to use the leadership style that goes with the development level of the person.

Situational Leadership Chart

Much of the time was spent learning how to diagnose well where a person is in their development and then using the situational leadership style that fit. For example if a person is a D4 then the style of leadership to be used is a S4 style.

Learning this has completely change the way that I think about leading in all contexts. To maximize effectiveness of those I lead, whether in my job or other situations, I know this material is going to help me. I am thankful for this material and I now feel like I am learning how to manage.

Book Review of Radical

Radical by David Platt has been on my reading list for sometime and I finally got around to reading it. This was a good book, but not one that I think everyone should read. I give it three out of five stars.

There is nothing new under the sun here with this book. I know that many people have been completely changed by this book but for me there was nothing here that warrants the kind of praise as a MUST READ for every Christian. There are a lot of books that have spoken to the idea of living radical, sold out and a host of other terms that speak to the Christian life as found in the Bible. That is not to say that it is a bad book, but it is one in a chorus of many that are calling followers of Jesus to abandon the world and to take up our crosses.

With that said, I do think that David Platt wrote some very good things that no matter how many times you have read or heard them, you need to continually be reminded of them because the stakes are high. The first thing is that David reminds us that "The price of our nondiscipleship is high for those without Christ."

The next thing that David writes is that "the gospel requires a response." Not just a response to make him Savior but a response to all things that Jesus calls us to. We have accepted this idea that Jesus can be my Savior but I don't have to make him Lord. Scripture is pretty clear that this type of thinking is false. Truly understanding and accepting the gospel will require a radical response. As Platt puts it, "Jesus is no longer one to be accepted or invited in but one who is infinitely worthy of our immediate and total surrender."

The last thing that I truly enjoyed of this book is that David Platt reminds us who the object of our faith is. He writes, "The message of biblical Christianity is not 'God loves me, period,' as if we were the object of our own faith. The message of biblical Christianity is 'God loves me so that I might make him-his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness-known among all nations.' Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel; God is." Not much more to say there.

David writes a good book and it is one that could be very beneficial for some. If you like his writing style then by all means read this one. However, as good as it is, I still don't put it in the Must Read category.

Book Review of Think Christianly

Jonathan Morrow's book, Think Christianly: Looking at the Intersection of Faith and Culture, is a phenomenal book on helping Christians understand how to engage the culture we live in by first understanding the culture and whether or not the shaping influence is for or against our following Christ. This is a book that I highly recommend Christians to read. The reason I believe Christians need to read this book is the same reason Jonathan has for writing the book. He says, "We live in a time in which Christians are more consumer driven than truth driven. We have unknowingly become apprentices to the blind guides of hedonism, naturalism, and pragmatism, and this is eroding our ability and motivation to communicate and embody the Word of God in this generation. I [the author] believe that to become who God calls us to be, we must move in our thinking from isolation to integration....Our great danger is to compartmentalize our Christian lives that one area does not impact, influence, or inform another, resulting in the equally tragic outcomes of fragmented lives and diminished impact for the kingdom of God." (pg. 13, Kindle version)

The book is laid out into three main sections: Section 1 - Understanding Our Intersection, Section 2 - Preparing to Engage and Section 3 - Areas We Must Engage. Section 1 is mainly a background section and helps the reader understand what culture is, why Christians are called to engage culture and why and how to pass on the knowledge of cultural engagement on to each of the next generations. The second section lays the groundwork for how to think Christianly about all of life. This section helps us to understand that being a Christian doesn't mean checking one's brain at the door. Faith requires us to use our mental faculties to discern truth and also how to explain it well. The third and final section touches on current areas that Christians need to be engaging the culture. You can get a full list by clicking on the link above, but some of the topics are sex, injustice, faith and science, and Christians in the public square.

This book is not only informational but gives solid application. This book is about just gaining more knowledge but about gaining knowledge and putting it into practice. Again, this is a MUST READ!