City Signals – Brad Smith

© 2008 New Hope Publishers, Birmingham

Brad Smith is an old hat in—some might include him as a pioneer in and leader of—the area of urban ministry. He serves as president of Bakke Graduate University, and his heart for ministry in the urban setting is readily evident.

His book is a study in spiritual formation. Stating up front that the material is designed for those who are struggling with all the ins and outs, ups and downs, starts and stops, of urban ministry, Smith offers some helpful hints that may or may not be readily available to all readers. With nine chapters addressing spiritual formation principles like pain encountered and presence in relationship, and a tenth chapter throne in as a re-cap, the book shows good organization, and even includes group leader helps and formation aids as appendices. Each chapter concludes with personalization questions and challenges useful for individual or group study.

From there the book gets lost from its conceptualization. Certainly some of the principles about building relationship and understanding the different styles of growth experienced by a variety of leaders are helpful, but Smith couches his message in a way that will be ultimately narrowing of his audience. While one would assume unintentional, Smith sends the message that ministry outside any urban setting is not really ministry at all, and this would lose to him some of those he would like to welcome as partners in urban ministry (namely those who live and serve outside major population areas). In Chapter 10 he seems to cast a Bandaid® towards this unfortunate conclusion, but it comes as too little, too late.

The other, more screaming drawback to the book is the disjointed approach to the author’s definition of spiritual formation. While there is not a problem in approaching spiritual formation from a nontraditional angle, the fleshing out of ideas reaches a disconnect in which the reader must scratch his head asking where the writer is going and where he’s come from? Some who are actively engaged in urban ministry will find this book a helpful study, others will have to dig deep between the pages to find principles that do truly cross ministry boundaries—principles about relationship and calling, and still others will do well by avoiding this book at all.

City Signals gets only 2 reading glasses from this reviewer.

—Benjamin Potter, November 4, 2009

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Lost and Found – Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, & Jason Hayes

©2009 B&H, Nashville

As much as I hate reading statistics and as hard as it is for me to search through research, I have been looking forward to this report/book for several months. Ed Stetzer and the guys over at LifeWay Research have been working on this compilation for a few years. The result is more examination of how to reach the younger generations. Lost and Found walks pretty much hand in hand with books like Simple Church (B&H, 2006), Essential Church (B&H, 2008), and UnChristian (Baker, 2007).

Divided into three parts, the authors use their research to introduce us to (1)what the younger generation looks like [younger generation is defined as the twenty-something crowd of which many have been identified as unchurched or even de-churched], (2)the mainstays (four pillars) of what it takes to reach this generation, and finally (3)a survey of the commonalities among the churches that are in fact reaching this generation.

Part I is filled with charts and graphs and tables and statistician-speak that is always difficult to muddle through for readers like me. However, this is the necessary groundwork from which the observations and suggestions throughout the book are drawn.

Part II is more interpretive and is built on the part of the research where all the responses to questionnaires are piled up in stacks of post-it note madness, reducing said responses to categories represented by a few key images (the graphics for these post-it mountains/key image categorizations is cool). The four areas discovered during the interview process that are important to younger adults (both within and outside of the church) as identified by the research team were Community, Depth (and content), Responsibility, and (Cross-Generational) Connection.

An interesting inclusion in the book is the on-going story of four representative twenty-somethings. The reader will find the fictional representation of how this research is lived out every day at the end of each chapter in parts I and II. I liked this part of the book because the fictional representatives of five different kinds of young adults helped to put some flesh on what goes on in the minds of those who participated in the research. The only glimpse of the characters outside of the first two parts of the book is the challenging conclusion that is in the (what else) conclusion.

Part III focuses on the churches that are getting it right as far as the younger adult generation is concerned. Mountains of interviews and reading are reflected in this section that identifies nine common traits found in those churches that are actually reaching this younger set of adults (creating deeper community, making a difference through service, experiencing worship, conversing the content, leveraging technology, building cross-generational relationships, moving toward authenticity, leading by transparency, and leading by team).

There are several bits of useful information in the book and some helpful hints as to how to build (or re-organize) your ministry to reach a generation that is quickly turning away from the church. One of the better moments is found about halfway through the book as the authors talk about the importance of building community. They suggest that churches should move from a behave/believe/belong model (which currently characterizes a majority of churches in America) to a belong/believe/become model. The former expects unchurched people to behave in the right manner before we even allow them in the doors of our space, then we teach them how to believe and finally we are free to invite them to belong to our number. The latter model suggests that we welcome people in (as they are) to then learn what we believe and then become with us as we learn to be more like Christ. (see pages 83 & 84).

I would recommend this book to anyone who is still trying to get a handle on the new generation. Those who are already getting it won’t benefit too much from this book except to validate what they are already doing.

I give Lost and Found 4 out of 5 reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter, March 12, 2009

New Reviews Site Going

I've just had my first review posted over on Pastor Bookshelf. Their Review Program is a way for pastors and pastors in training to find worthwhile books (by reading helpful reviews) and even build their libraries for ministry. I've reviewed on a less academic level Simple Church before at my general blog site.

Getting the Lead Out of Leadership – Paul W. Powell

Preachers are constantly telling their parishioners to find a mentor—someone that they can go to for advice, encouragement, as well as to tell them (in a loving way) where they need to make a course correction. Over the years Paul Powell has become that for many a minister. He’s done it by putting his thoughts down to be collected in book form. During his tenure as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annuity Board, he was faithful in presenting a helpful book once a year, to ministers at various conventions he attended in his job. One of those books is Getting the Lead Out of Leadership.

This is a short, helpful look at what it takes to be a church leader. Using examples from his own ministry that spanned both decades and a variety of churches from the small to the large, Powell reminds church leaders of simple practices and rules of thumb that work. His challenges bring the pastor to terms with the fact that he must lead by example. He deals with topics such as goal-setting, planning, motivation, and decision-making, among others.

With his down-to-earth writing style, one can see why he has been a much sought-after speaker, and understand how his leadership has been one worth modeling. This small book is a valuable tool for any minister’s library. For that matter, there are principles that would find great value in the arsenal of any leader. So, “get the lead out” and read this book.

—Benjamin Potter, March 2007