Tag: book

  • GIVEAWAY: The Anxious Christian by Rhett Smith

    What it is…

    It’s a book! Here’s the official description:

    In our journey of faith there are moments that produce a certain amount of anxiety. Often anxiety or worry is seen as an evil or un-Christian feeling to have, but The Anxious Christian conveys the message that anxiety can actually be helpful in our spiritual formation. In fact, God can use anxiety to move people forward in their life of faith.  Anxiety’s gift is that it allows us to face our fears, understand where those fears come from, and then make intentional choices about important issues—such as career, marriage, money, our spiritual lives and much more—rather than getting stuck

    Let’s re-think our shame about anxiety by realizing that anxiety can be a catalyst for growth that moves us closer to who God created us to be.

    Who is Rhett?

    I met Rhett Smith in February 2010 in the Miami Airport. Rhett and I went to Haiti together shortly after the earthquakes in 2010. Rhett has the theology and smile Joel Olsteen only wishes he had. Through the years Rhett has done a lot of youth ministry but is now focusing mostly on his marriage & family therapy practice in Plano, TX.

    He’s a great dude and if you aren’t familiar with his work you should check out his blog and follow him on Twitter.

    In fact, I think Rhett’s work is so important that we’ve asked him to come present a talk at The Summit called, “The Anxiety of Teenagers.” Super excited about that!

    Why I like it…

    1. Christians, especially those in church leadership, are an anxious bunch. There’s not enough stuff out there from a Christian perspective. (That isn’t weird, flowery, or bad advice veiled in Bible verses.)
    2. It’s approachable. This isn’t a text book. It’s written for you and me as a help and source of hope.

    How you can get it…

    BUY IT. Head over to Amazon and pick it up in print or Kindle.

    WIN IT. Leave a comment on this post by midnight PST on 5/15/2012 and you’ll be entered to win a free copy of Rhett’s book.

    WINNER: Schnerples – Send me your address and I’ll get you that book. (Either email to mclanea@gmail.com or use my contact form!)

    Full disclosure: Rhett’s publisher sent me a copy of this book. And if you click either of the Amazon links above and buy his book, I’ll make about 45 cents. But I was not otherwise paid for this post.

  • How do we minister to the poor with integrity & grace?

    It’s taken me nearly a year to work through the book, “When Helping Hurts.” The content and concepts weigh heavy on my heart.

    In my neighborhood the poor are easy to find. While not in the open, once you have eyes for it, you see poverty everywhere.

    We have people who squat in abandoned houses nearby. Another man lives in old RV in someone’s driveway. There are several people who live in their cars at the park. And the truly down-and-out sleep in bushes next to a fence of an abandoned shopping center. And that’s just the homeless.

    Poverty is big and real and within 100 yards of my house. And I wrestle with even the first step of a response to the point of paralysis.

    Here’s my current wrestling points:

    • I can’t serve the poor as an excuse to share the Gospel. I don’t have the stomach for it. When I’ve done that it’s felt self-serving. As if the point of serving was so that I could feel good about myself for having shared the Gospel?
    • Putting myself in the shoes of the poor, would I want to be preached at or guilt tripped in exchange for a handout? What if they are more faithfully living out a life with Jesus than I am? Who am I to think that someone else is more needy of a benevolent God than I am?
    • Do handouts really help people at all? Is that the most honorable way we can serve the poor?
    • Maybe serving the poor, taking a posture that I’m OK and they are not, reveals that I worship the gods of comfort and stuff and not the God who died penniless? Is being poor the enemy?

    Here are my starting points:

    • It doesn’t have to be big. I’ve started by simply being kind. As I ride my bike to the trolley each morning I’ve slowly gotten to know some names and begun exchanging pleasantries. It seems like just acknowledging someone’s humanity is a plausible first step.
    • Presence and consistency are probably more useful than handing something out. It’s easy for me to make a sandwich to hand out each day or maybe keep a couple dollars in my pocket for along the way. But I would have no way of knowing if that’s what they need or would give them dignity if I don’t actually know them.
    • My car doesn’t help me see them. Life wasn’t meant to be lived in the cocoon of a private car traveling at 35 mph. We are social creatures and we are slow creatures. Walking places in my neighborhood or riding my bike here and there has slowed me down to notice things/people/systems I wouldn’t notice in a car.

  • Youth Worker Book of Hope

    Youth Worker Book of HopeBack in January 2008 I was asked to participate in something out of character. Tim Baker, a well-established youth ministry author, emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in submitting a chapter to a book he was working on. My first few reactions were simple…

    – I don’t want to write a book. (Kind of weird for a guy who works for a publisher, eh? Just not my dream.)

    – I don’t have anything important to say.

    – I don’t have time. (Besides running YMX and a ministry in Romeo, I had just dropped out of grad school because I was too busy.)

    When I talked to Kristen about it she read through the concept of the project and gave me the look and said, “You need to do this.” As I looked at the project once again it became clear to me that I had to participate in this project, I did have something important to say, and I needed to make time. If there is one thing I want my ministry to youth workers to say over and over again it is that youth ministry matters, it changes lives, and no matter how bad it is, there is hope!

    At this point, 16 months later, I am stoked to see this book come out in August. I don’t often get Perry Noble-stoked about stuff… but I am getting close with this one. There is a mega-pile of fresh authors, each sharing their unique story of finding hope when bad things happen. But let me be completely selfish here… I think you need to buy this book simply to read my chapter. My particular chapter is on, “How do I find hope for tommorow when the crap hits the fan?” And how many people in ministry haven’t had a moment when everything hit the fan?

    So, here is the link. You can pre-order it now.