Planned books:
- Purity of Heart (Harper Torchbooks) by Soren Kierkegaard
- Living Love: A Modern Edition of Treatise on the Love of God (Christian Classics (Brewster, Mass.).) by De Sales, Saint Francis
- True Spirituality by Francis A. Schaeffer
- Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith by Henri J. M. Nouwen
- The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O by Thomas Keating
Current books:
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Sacred Companions: The Gift of Spiritual Friendship by David G. Benner
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Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work by Eugene H. Peterson
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Jesus and the Message of the New Testament (Fortress Classics in Biblical Studies) by Joachim Jeremias
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Mentor Like Jesus by Regi Campbell, Richard Chancy
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Seasons of the Soul: Stages of Spiritual Development by Bruce Demarest
Recent books:
- The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community (J-B Leadership Network Series) by Hugh Halter, Matt Smay
- The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis
- The Sacred Meal: The Ancient Practices Series by Nora Gallagher
- Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan
- Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional by Jim Belcher
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Personal Growth is Saying “Yes” to Jesus
September 8th, 2007 | 
Author: I read a recent interview with Mark Batterson of National Community Church on the churchrelevance.com website. While I enjoy reading Batterson’s blog and enjoy listening to the NCC podcast, I so enjoyed the final comment in the Ten Questions interview that I had to post it here. It went like this:
10Q : What is the best advice you have for church leaders?
“You have to be yourself. You have to keep learning. And you have to have fun.”
“And don’t worry about church growth. Focus on personal growth. If you keep growing personally, you won’t have to worry about church growth! “
“You don’t have to worry about church growth…Focus on personal growth” AMEN. I know some might say that comment needs further clarification, but I’ve listened to Mark B quite a bit and can testify that he means personal growth in Jesus and walking closely with the Father. This just continues to stir the fire that is ignited in me! If we focused more on what God wants in our own heart and obediently submitted to His desires, the natural overflow would be church growth (in the kingdom sense) and stronger, deep-root, fruit-bearing Christians. Sound like it’s “pie-in-the-sky?” I say let’s give a try…see what happens, I bet it’d be gooooooooooooood.
Yes and Amen!
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