What happened with the Enlightenment is the denarrativization of the Bible. And then with postmodernity, people have tried to pay attention to the narrative with paying attention to the fact that it’s a true story. It’s the story of the Creator God with his world. The great biblical story is fundamentally not like a parable of Jesus, which is true whether or not there was a farmer who had two sons. The overarching story of who Jesus was, the story of God and Israel and the coming of Jesus, has to have a historical purchase on reality. Otherwise, it is colluding with the very Gnosticism it is opposing. This particular story is about the Creator and the real world; it’s not about a God who is only interested in our interior reflections or our spiritual progress, the Gnostic worldview.
N. T. Wright, Interview in Christianity Today, January 2007, 40.
Books I have written
Tod Bolsinger: It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives
Selected for an Award of Merit by the Christianity Today Book Awards in the Church/Pastoral Leadership category.Tod Bolsinger: Show Time: Living Down Hypocrisy By Living Out The Faith
This books is from start to finish a book for “everyday believers” living out their faith in the real world.John Mark Reynolds, Roger Overton, eds.: The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ
I contributed a chapter to this discussion of how New Media helps--and hinders--communicating the old, good news.
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- A Cure for Denominational Depression
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Leadership Bookshelf
Kevin G. Ford: Transforming Church: Bringing Out the Good to Get to Great
This is the best overall book on church leadership that I have read.Danny Meyer: Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
Danny Meyer makes money selling what the church is supposed to be giving away for free.Jim Herrington: The Leader's Journey: Accepting the Call to Personal and Congregational Transformation
Pastor: Stop. Read this. now.Ori Brafman: The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
This may be the best organizing principle for the church.Laurence Gonzales: Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
How your brain works under stress and how to learn to survive and thrive. Much of what is here is refreshingly counter-intuitive.James P. Osterhaus: Thriving through Ministry Conflict: By Understanding Your Red and Blue Zones
This little book is a must-read for every pastor or church leader who wants to learn how to make good decisions in the complex church system.Peter Block: Community: The Structure of Belonging
"Leadership is convening." Great insights in community and change by a provocative thinker.Edwin H. Friedman: A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix
Douglas Stone: Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
Jeffrey Miller: The Anxious Organization, 2nd Edition: Why Smart Companies Do Dumb Things
Henri Nouwen: The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society
A classic.Mark Lau Branson: Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change
A helpful process for equipping communities to build on their strengths for future challenges.Jack Uldrich: Into the Unknown: Leadership Lessons from Lewis & Clark's Daring Westward Expedition
Jim Collins: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
This is the book that started me on the transformational leadership journey. I re-read it all the time and have most of the big concepts committed to memory.Jim Collins: Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
Applies the insights of Good to Great to non-profit organizations. Every senior leader should buy a copy for every board and staff member.
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