Review - God at Work

In "God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life", author Gene Veith has done a nice job at addressing an important and challenging issue concisely and fairly clearly. He shares about the doctrine of vocation from a distinct viewpoint - that of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. The 'priesthood' of believers was an important outcome from the reformation, and Veith takes the view that this message translates as: "The priesthood of believers did not make everyone into church workers; rather it turned every kind of work into a sacred calling." This view was in strong opposition to the previous view of vocation as something reserved for a chosen few - priests and missionaries. The thrust of God at Work is that every area of our lives is a chance to respond to the call to God. "Our vocation is not one single occupation... we all have callings in different realms - the workplace, yes, but also the family, the society, and the church."

The only minor issue with this approach is that it might be bit too much of a swing in the opposite direction. If everything is a calling, then nothing is. If the term vocation refers to all we do, is it a useful term? (The reader interested in this subject may also want to read The Call by Os Guinness.) The teaching of the book will be of great benefit to many who fail to see how important their work is to God, and how much they can honor Him by fulfilling their purpose in the workplace. Hopefully they won't at the same time see a busy job in the workplace as a reason to ignore the great commission as somebody else's job. Overall, a good read.

Living a Focused Life

This week I started my last class at Rockbridge Seminary, "Practicing the Focused Life." It's the capstone course which encourages students to reflect on where they've been and think about where they're going. The key concept of the course is that of a 'Focused Life.' Dr. Robert Clinton in "Strategic Concepts that Clarify a Focused Life" defines this as follows...

A focused life is
• a life dedicated to exclusively carrying out God's effective purposes through it,
• by identifying the focal issues, that is, the life purpose, effective methodology, major role, or ultimate contribution which allows
• an increasing prioritization of life's activities around the focal issues, and
• results in a satisfying life of being and doing.

Would you describe your life or ministry as focused? That would certainly be a stretch for me. But I sure like Clinton's description of what a focused life is all about. By God's grace, things have been coming more into focus, and my prayer is that over the next few months that God adds more clarity to how I can best serve Him according to the way He has designed me.

Are you developing, practicing, or longing for the focused life? Add a comment to let me know!

Review - Soulprint

Soulprint is all about you... and not about you at all. You were uniquely created to worship God in a way nobody else can. "Soulprint: Discovering your Divine Destiny" is the latest book by Mark Batterson and Multnomah Publishers, written to help you discover your God-given identity, in a way that isn't about you, but about your creator. Mark's other books include "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day," "Wild Goose Chase," and "Primal." I recently shared a quote from Soulprint as I was just getting into the book.

Soulprint is written in five scenes which walk us through the unique and fascinating life of David. Each looks at a defining moment in David's life: facing down Goliath, standing over the defeated giant, sparing Saul's life in the cave, his coronation celebration and the wake of his affair. Along the way Batterson talks about compensatory skills, connecting the dots, control issues, altar making, integrity. One interesting theme in the book is that everything we face, everything we are, including our worst failures and deepest points of pain, help define who we are, building and revealing character. The end of the book contains a helpful set of discussion questions, as well as an excerpt from Primal.

I thought Soulprint was a very interesting read. It gave some great insights into the life of David, but also helps us as readers gain insights into our self, and the great God we serve. Like Batterson's other books, this one aims to inspire and does not fail to deliver.

Soulprint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny is available for sale at Multnomah, at Amazon, or other retailers. You can download a sample chapter, or watch a video trailer about the book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as part of their Blogging For Books Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising".

Review - Chazown

Cha-what?!

Chazown is the Hebrew word for vision or dream found in Proverbs 29:18 - "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (KJV) It's also the basis for a recent book by Craig Groeschel called "Chazown: Define Your Vision. Pursue Your Passion. Live Your Life on Purpose," published by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

I enjoy books that inspire the reader to dream bigger, to consider the fulfillment and fruit of their calling, and about the importance of a clear vision. Invariably when I finish such books I'm left with no further clarity for my own dream, vision, or purpose. The Chazown Experience was distinctly different!

Chazown is definitely not just a ray-rah call to dreaming bigger. It does call us to that, and covers the critical need for vision quite well. But the goal of the book is to help the reader discover what their purpose (or Chazown) might be. The book has five sections:

Part 1: Seeing Clear to the End (the desperate need for vision)
Part 2: Circling the Truth (the circles that help us find Chazown: core values, spiritual gifts, and past experiences)
Part 3: A Dream in Deed (discerning your Chazown and moving from vision to action)
Part 4: The Five Spokes of Chazown (relationship with God and with people, finances, health, work)
Part 5: From Here to Eternity (Chazown in community)
In addition there are several helpful appendices including how to create a personal time line, discerning core values, assessing spiritual gifts.

Basically, because God is a master designer who cares about you deeply, you are wired such that your purpose/Chazown is at the intersection of your values and passions, your spiritual gifts, and the life experiences that have led you to where you are today. The book has many chapters, but each is very short and filled with graphics and call-out boxes for key points. From that format you might think it's meant for easy dipping for a casual reading experience. That's not going to work very well for you! This is one of those books where you will get out what you put into it. There are a number of very thought-provoking and introspective exercises. Without doing these the chance is remote that you'll get the most out of this book.

For those who are serious about discerning their calling / purpose / Chazown, Groeschel has provided an absolutely amazing free resource to complement the book. It's called "The Chazown Experience" and it provides video teaching from Craig and extremely helpful online tools for doing the most important exercises. These include an interactive personal timeline, tools for discerning core values and spiritual gifts, and tools to convert vision to action in the five spoke areas. Anyone interested in Chazown should check out Chazown.com. The book covers a lot more, but you'll do better with the exercises by using the website.

Waterbrook Multnomah has provided several resources for those interested.
You can download the first chapter of Chazown and read it for yourself.
There's also a short video by Craig Groeschel on this thing called Chazown...



Chazown is available at Amazon and other book retailers.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as part of their Blogging For Books Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising".

Review - Get a Life

Get a Life! Sometimes it's an insult, sometimes it's great advice. In this case, it's a book by Reggie McNeal - "Get a Life! It IS all about you." McNeal is an excellent writer, author of other powerful books such as The Present Future and Missional Renaissance. The goal of this book is to help you take a close look at yourself, to move beyond wishful thinking about your life into living a life of greater focus and meaning.

Clearly from the title of the book there is a strong self-help aspect to the book, and yet it is also a book about finding a much deeper relationship with God as you search for clues about how He designed you and what purposes He had in mind in crafting who you are. The book really centers around the following five questions that frame reflection on our lives:

1. Why am I here?
2. What is really important to me?
3. What is my scorecard?
4. What am I good at?
5. What do I need to learn?

Each question is the topic of a chapter, which talks about why the question is important and how you can arrive at solid answers. In addition there are a number of supporting questions raised in each chapter which would be very useful in a small group, or to write out the answers yourself. For example in the chapter 'What am I good at?' one series of questions include:

What do I do that causes me great pleasure?
When do I feel the smile of God?
What do I do that, when I do it, I say, "This is what I was born to do!"?
What talent(s) am I using in this activity?
What am I willing to order my life around so that I can do more of it?

McNeal really does a good job at asking these important questions without the book simply promoting self-actualization or narcissism. Reggie concludes with "You are a unique creation, a one-of-a-kind, a limited edition of one. God made you to show something about Himself to the world. To the extent you become fully you the world is made more complete."

Review - Why Work? Called to Make a Difference

You have to like a book whose title is "Why Work?"  More specifically, Why Work? Called to Make a Difference is an outstanding book which meets the authors' goal to help the reader `better understand and fulfill your calling from God to make a difference in the marketplace through your work. It will heighten your awareness of why you work - a reason far greater than merely supplying your financial needs.' Nancy and Harold Olsen do a great job at tearing down the artificial wall between "sacred" and "secular", between ministry that goes on within church walls and ministry that occurs in all areas of the marketplace.

The book covers three topics particularly well: validating the call that most Christians have towards ministry and building the Kingdom outside of the church; helping pastors and ministers within the church to equip and empower these workplace ministers; and helping individual Christians develop a vision and practical plan for ministry in (and transformation of) the workplace.

Why Work clarifies that each of us has several "callings" in the world (in families, in society, in our church, and in our work). It's important to recognize that God has uniquely made us and gifted us for service. A few of my favorite quotes: `Instead of focusing on finding the "perfect" job, focus on identifying the passions God has given you', `God uses the workplace to transform your character', and the definition of a workplace ministers as `leaders who are called and anointed by God to serve in their workplace with the purpose of transforming people and their environment for the Kingdom.'

I particularly liked the chapters which sought to make practical the biblical principles of workplace ministry - how workplace and church ministers can work together, how to equip and support workplace ministers, and a lucid approach for developing a vision and action plan for carrying out your own ministry in the workplace. The writing is very clear, and the formatting of the book makes the key points jump out for the reader. I highly recommend "Why Work? Called to Make a Difference" to Christians passionate about serving God in their workplace, and to pastors and church leaders with a desire to see a far greater impact for the Kingdom of God within their city.