Mind Altering Books of 2010

[Martin Schmaltz]

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. ~James Bryce

 

The following is a list of the books that significantly impacted me in 2010. To reach this list, these books changed, clarified or reinforced my (new way of) thinking. Obviously, I do not agree with every word, but enough to recommend them.

 

Total Church – Chester & Timmis
What impacted me most regarding this book was their grasp on the holistic application of the Gospel. It is much greater than the salvation experience, but is something that should daily confront the weakness and frailty of our lives.

 

The Tangible Kingdom – Halter & Smay
What I loved about this book is its realness. The authors are very real in discussing where they were with “doing church” and how they were able to transition to a place of making the Gospel real in everyday life.

 

Unchristian – Kinnaman & Lyons
This book was an eye opener. It can be a shocker to hear how the average unchurch/professing non-christian views christians, church and religion.

 

Untamed – Hirsch & Hirsch
Untamed will unleash your passion for genuine, in the trenches, everyday living discipleship. Just the way Jesus did it.

 

The Forgotten Ways Handbook - Hirsh
This is definitely for the leader. It covers the principles of creating a missional structure for an assembly. Not a shallow read, but well worth it.

 

The Missional Leader – Roxburgh & Romanuk
This is for the established pastor who desires to transition a segment of the assembly to a more missional focus. What was a real eye opener was the discussion on the three zones of organizational culture that assemblies or denominations move thru. It might be scary to find where you are in this. Another heavy read, but well worth it for the inner core of leadership if you want to transition a church.

 

Honorable Mention
Organic Leadership - Cole
Church 3.0 - Cole

I would be interested to hear any comments you may have regarding them.

[Martin Schmaltz]

Donnie, Cole is one of bigger names in the missional church idea. Although his concept is labeled organic. All about a "grass roots" type of being the church and discipleship. Specifically, I had seen and heard others mention Church 3.0. For the last 3-4 yrs I have been seeing church different, so the idea of the book caught my eye. What I like about this book is the way he contrasts the modern and postmodern ways of thinking. How the traditional church does not fit the thought process of the postmodern. And what I believe is very practical, he discusses different group sizes and their dynamics. Helps you determine how to lead them.

 

From there, I purchased the organic leadership. It is good, kinda heady, technical. Good nuggets.

 

If someone were to ask me which of these books I most recommended: Tangible Kingdom and The Total Church.

Hope helps

 

[Donnie Gillum]

Bro. Martin, No doubt all of these books are a worthwhile read.  Though I've never read any of them, I did an Amazon.com search on Organic Leadership and Church 3.0.  It seems the reviews on these two books connect with me.  What I am wondering now is:

• How did you happen to come into contact with these two books? 
• What "caught" you're interest, or "moved" you to read them?

-Donnie