Book Review: Mad Church Disease

Book title: Mad Church Disease
Author: Anne Jackson
Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2009
Number of pages: 190

Love Hurts, yeah, yeah (love hurts) says the J. Giles Band, and according to Anne Jackson, so does ministry. Having been in vocational ministry for fifteen plus years, I'd have to agree with both J. Giles (whoever he is) and Anne Jackson.

Jackson's book deals with burnout in ministry, particularly in full-time church work. Ideally, working on a church staff should be the safest place in the world to work. But one soon discovers that there are super-sized egos, personal agendas, micro-mis-managers, political maneuverings and mis-matched expectations at every turn. It shouldn't be this way, but it is. Every ministry has all or at least some of these to some extent sparking fires.

Jackson concludes that ministry burnout is a disease. Like swine flu ravaging passengers on an airplane, Mad Church Disease is an epidemic running unchecked in churches all across the country. Sadly, victims of burnout look for comfort and relief in sin rather than God or his people.

Studies and statistics abound in Jackson's book, as does wise advice from experienced ministers and ministry leaders. Grace also abounds for burnouts. And Jackson puts together some great exercises and discussion starters for those who are serious about overcoming the seemingly insurmountable challenges of ministry for the purpose of productively serving and loving God's people and equipping them for the work of the ministry.

Jackson presents her argument well. In fact, she's inspires the serious reader to take a personal inventory and responsibility for the way he or she works for the Lord and serves in church.

Jackson does a phenomenal job of recruiting well known pastors to punctuate each chapter's main point. In this book the reader hears from heavy hitters like Bill Hybels, Perry Noble, and Wayne Cordiero just to name a few.

If you work on a church staff, worked on a church staff, or want to work on a church staff, pick up this book. It helps put things in perspective. It will cause you to take off the rose-colored glasses. And it will help you to have a healthy and balanced approach to ministry.

Ten Miles Barefoot

As promised, I said I'd finish up the product review from an earlier post this week. I wrote about my new Vibram Five Fingers shoes.

I ran 10.3 miles in them this morning. The Five Fingers are comparable to moccasins only they're made of high tech rubber rather than low tech deer skin. But they're not foam rubber like running shoes. They're a layer of nylon and rubber that fit your feet like a glove.

My run this morning had it's positives and negatives. On the positive side, I ran at an average pace of 9:18/mile. That's my best time this marathon training season for this length of run. I give some credit to cooler weather. But it was still around 72 degrees this morning and very windy.

On the negative side, I run in pre-dawn darkness for my long runs. Since you can feel every bump and pebble in the Five Fingers, avoiding them is difficult in the dark. My feet are more tender this morning than any run I've done in them to date. So I don't know if I'll use them for any more long runs in the dark. Other than that, my legs feel fine.

Bottom line is I love running in these things. But I won't do all of my training in them and I probably won't run any more runs exceeding eight miles without my New Balances. But next year, I may run an entire marathon shod with the Five Fingers.

A Case of Man Bites Dog

I hope People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) doesn't get their hands on this video.

Allie initiates this poor pup into the Mondok household by trying to pierce his ear. Sounds cruel, I know, but they clip the ears of dobermans and boxers and pitbulls all the time.

So what's the problem?

From Shaun Groves

Shaun Groves sent this email out to Compassion Bloggers and those interested in Compassion's projects.

It's that time again. I'm heading out with another group of bloggers to see the ministry of Compassion and tell the interwebs about it (El Salvador, NEXT WEEK! Nov. 9-13th). Hundreds of kids will get sponsored! I'm sure of it.  But we need your help.
Could you please...
1. Pray.
-To see the names and faces of the bloggers going with us visit http://www.compassionbloggers.com/elsalvador
-Pray for their families they'll leave behind, their spiritual and physical health, their ability to take in a lot of information and experience a lot of emotions and find the words to write about it.
2. Twitter.
-Please send your followers to our trip's page using this link: http://bit.ly/CBElSalvador
-Please tweet any specific posts you'd like to pass along using the hashtag #cbes
- If you ask your followers to sponsor a child, please use this link: http://bit.ly/Give1Life
3. Facebook.
I've created a widget for Facebook pages (works on Myspace and blogs too). It displays pictures, videos and posts from our trip as they become available.
No need to know what the heck a widget is. Just go to http://bit.ly/4euihb and click "Facebook" to add this widget to your Facebook wall.
Thank you for praying us through this trip and spreading the word.
-Shaun
Blogger Manager
CompassionBloggers.com
Compassion.com
1-888-435-3336

Product Review: Vibram Five Fingers

Today I ran five miles in my new Vibram Five Fingers. Essentially, I'm running barefoot.

Barefoot running is a new trend in the world of running. Studies have shown that working some barefoot runs into your regular routine will strengthen your feet and legs as well as improve form. Vibram Five Fingers shoes accommodate a natural barefoot experience while protecting feet from the hazards commonly found on urban footways. As I head up and over the Blue Heron bridge, little rocks, broken beer bottles, and rusty fish hooks litter the side walk. Naturally, I sidestep these hazards, but if my eye misses a small piece of glass, the Vibram soles protect my flesh.

These modern day moccasins are fun to wear. They weigh a fraction of my New Balances. I'm reminded of summer time as a kid when I went three months solid without shoes on my feet. My run times drop and my form changes while I wear these. Why? Simple. Without pieces of foam rubber strapped to my feet, my feet cause my body to self-adjust my form and posture. That's how God designed our feet. The arch is the strongest shape in architecture. But man didn't invent it. God did. Man simply co-opted God's design into man-made structures.

Studies show that expensive running shoes with claims of reducing foot injuries actually increase the chance for injuries (Robbins and Gouw, 1991). Sounds logical if the sensitivity of a self-adjusting foot is insulated with rubber.

These Vibram Five Fingers take some getting used to. For close to a month I've been wearing them for three runs a week ranging from three miles to five miles. I've enjoyed measurable improvement. This weekend I'm going to run in excess of ten miles in them. I'll let you know how it goes.

Give This a Listen

I'll be loading the Free Audiobook of the Month – “Desiring God” into my bryPod. You should, too.

Desiring God by John Piper is the free download for November; one of the best-selling and most popular titles ever published by christianaudio!

Click here to download this month’s free audiobook! Be sure to use coupon code NOV2009 to receive the download for free!

Book Review: The Expanded Bible

This was a difficult translation for me to read. It's a word for word translation on steroids. The translation itself is actually quite readable. It's just the addition of synonyms and bible verses added linearly in the sentence that breaks up the flow of verse and rhythm and narrative that's such a huge stumbling block for me. I stumble and trip and stub my toes on those brackets.

Here's what I mean:

Now some may find it easy to selectively harvest nuggets of truth and brilliance from sentences this way, but for me, this is exactly what it means to miss the forest for the trees. I could never get the story because I'd be too tuned into the individual words. Is the lesson in the individual words or the complete text?

That said, I'll keep this translation on my shelf as a quick reference for a quick word study. But I don't think it will ever take the place of a Strong's Concordance, Bible dictionary, or Greek interlinear.

Church Planting Lesson Four

This is the fourth installment of Biblical Church Planting by Pastor Jeff Jackson. Many have found this resource to be incredibly helpful and interesting. Enjoy.

duration: 57:18

Download here

Subscribe to the entire podcast here on iTunes.

Miller: A Million Miles in a Thsnd Years | The Good News

My review of Donald Miller's new book was posted this week on the Good News' website. It will run in print in the November  edition.

Miller: A Million Miles in a Thsnd Years | The Good News

First Long Ride

If you've been following Allie's story at all, you know that a long ride in the car usually leads to some kind of a melt down for her. That's the reason we haven't taken any rides longer than a half hour in duration since we moved back to Florida. Until today.

Last week we took a ride to down Hollywood, about an hour and a half from here in morning traffic. And Allie was amazing. She sat by herself in her car seat and just listened to her songs and played with her little toys. On the ride home she watched Veggie Tales and was happy all the way to our door step.

We were down in Broward visiting a pediatric neurologist. Allie has been having seizures, but we didn't know it. We thought they were just some kind of spasm until she had a couple at school and they told us they were definitely seizures. Her teacher encouraged us to get a video of her having one so we did and showed her new doctor today. He said that she is definitely having epileptic seizures.

This is disappointing news. But we love this new doctor. For the first time we have a neurologist for Allie that seems like a normal person. Her previous neurologist were difficult to talk to and extremely negative and unimaginative. But this new doctor is great.

Allie has had a pretty long stretch without any more seizures, thankfully. The new doc prescribed some medication that seems to really be working. Allie is schedule for a number of examinations, and MRI and an EEG. Hopefully some of her other medications will be reduced.

Several times a week we get emails and Facebook messages from people praying for Allie. I can't even begin to express my gratitude for this. I try to reciprocate by praying for every prayer request that hits my inbox, but I know I'm praying for less people than are praying for us. I don't know where we'd be without your intercession and prayerful petitions.

Church Planting Lesson Three

This is the third installment of Biblical Church Planting by Pastor Jeff Jackson. This is a dynamite series. Pastor Jeff Jackson, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, is one of the best kept secrets in the missions and church planting movements.

Enjoy.