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Social media is both more important and less important than we often give it credit for as communications medium.

I submit the following observations for your consideration.

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This is a “living post” and will be updated over time. You’ll find a curated list of books here that have proven themselves life-changing and helpful over time.

• How to be filled with the Holy Spirit by A. W. Tozer. A deeply biblical yet accessible work that avoids much of the popular hype surrounding the charismatic gifts, while embracing fully the person and work of the God the Holy Spirit.
• The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. A definitive work on spiritual growth and the spiritual disciplines.
• The Meaning of Marriage  by Tim Keller. Probably the best overall book on marriage from Christian perspective out there. Read my full review.
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Where you want to start if you’re questioning Christianity on any level.
• Worship Old & New by Robert Weber. Academic, but important for understanding the meaning and development of Christian worship over time.
• My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Undoubtedly one of the most profound devotional works of all time.

This 5-day, Bible-based devotional ebook is designed to help you:

•  Learn how to live a life infused with joy
• Enjoy living in authentic community
• Discover St. Paul’s “secret” to contentment
• Experience the presence of God
• Understand your greatest calling in life

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Learn Christian meditation in 15 minutes or less per day for 21 days, and make it a life-giving habit that lasts.

We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship. – C. S. Lewis

Learn to to become silent, to be still, to practice solitude. Learn to become truly self-aware. Learn to listen to God. Experience joy and peace and community that lasts.
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Finish your sermon or Bible study in half the time.

Are you a busy pastor, small-group leader, or Bible-teacher that struggles to get your sermon or Bible studies done in a reasonable amount of time? Do you sit down to study without a clear plan and struggle to find your next step? (more…)

I started reading through the Common English Bible today.

This is a controversial translation, to be sure (well, two or three verses, anyways). Sponsored by mainline Protestants but taking advice from both evangelicals and Roman Catholics, it aims to be a truly ecumenical translation.

This is part of the attraction for me, even though there are SO MANY English translations out there; all of them good. Nevertheless, I dig the ecumenical vibes and I appreciate the boldness of the translation while simultaneously missing the familiar English idioms that carry over from the KJV to ESV.

God willing I’ll read the whole thing this year.

http://www.commonenglishbible.com/explore

I’m very grateful to be part of the launch team for Skye Jethani’s brand new book Immeasurable: Reflections on the Soul of Ministry in the Age of Church, Inc. As part of the launch team, I got this book for free in exchange for a fair review. I signed up on a whim; but I’m really glad I did.

Immeasurable is a book I’d like to give every person just starting out in ministry. (more…)

Buy on Amazon

Trello, the digital Kanban and project management software, is all the rage for personal productivity and collaborative project management. Its simple and intuitive interface combined with clever features and powerful integrations with other services have rightly caused it to ascend to the upper echelon of similar tools. The more I use Trello for church, the more excited I get about the possibilities.

If you’ve never checked out Trello, now’s the time. Before you go on with these tips, you might want to read my brief primer.

Here’s how you can leverage the power the Trello for church:

1) Collaborative task management. I’ve set up a simple shared board  between me (the rector of my church) and my administrative assistant with the following lists:

• Todo
• Doing
• Done
• Resources

All of those are pretty self-explanatory. I add stuff to the Todo list and my assistant moves it to the appropriate list. I clear out the done list after reviewing every week or so.

The Resources list has links to some of the other systems we use and attachments for quick reference.

2) Leadership onboarding. I am in the process of working through exactly what this should look like for us, but you can easily put together a Trello board with essential information for new leaders. Possible lists could be:

• Team/Staff – with a card/photo for each person on staff
• HR Docs
• Policies
• Church docs – constitution, bylaws, etc.

3) Internal calendar planning/brainstorming. Make a board for the year and list for each month. Add events as cards and drag them around as needed during your brainstorming sessions.

4) Worship set planning. Worship leaders can make a Trello board with a list for each Sunday and card for each song. Drag and drop makes it easy move stuff around as needed in the set, and you can also attach chord sheets, etc to the cards for band members or other leaders.

5) Sermon series planning. Create a board for your series with lists for each week/sermon/talk, and add cards for things like:

• Preacher
• Main passage
• Theme
• Title
• Song ideas
• Graphics

You’ll have everything in one place and can easily share and collaborate with your team as needed.

The flexibility and power of using Trello for church means that you’re only limited by your own creativity when it comes to streamlining your church’s processes and communication.

The best part about using Trello for church?

You can do everything I’ve outlined above absolutely free. Upgrading will get you a some extra perks when it comes to backgrounds and integrations, but it’s not at all necessary to get started with this amazing tool for ministry.

Did I mention their mobile apps are free and awesome, too? You’ll have all this stuff at your fingertips when on the go.

I hope this post has been helpful in giving you some ideas on how to use Trello to level up your planning, organization, and collaboration in your own church context.

In Paul’s ending to his letter to the Ephesians, he talks about how to defeat the powers of evil and darkness. We have take up the whole armor of God.

We have to take it up. Surely the armor of God is a gift, and we would have any of it without God, but Paul says we have to take some initiative. We have appropriate it, practice it, put in on. We have to make the choices to accept the gifts of protection that God has given.

And it’s no coincidence that the metaphor here is a full set of armor, each piece designed to work with the others. Each item is crucial, and with out even one, the whole solider would be compromised. That’s why he says take up the whole armor.

So what is the whole armor of God? Let’s survey these briefly in the order they appear: (more…)