Some Great Resources to Kick Off March

It's hard to believe it's March already! It's as if February were a short month?! There are a couple of excellent resources I want to point out in celebration of the arrival of March...

Free Audiobook

"The Holiness of God" by RC Sproul is the free audiobook-of-the-month for March at ChristianAudio.com.

Some comments on this book...

“It may be a bit early to call R.C. Sproul’s The Holiness of God one of the classical theological works of our time. But if it does not have that status yet, it is well on the way to achieving it.”
-James Montgomery Boice, senior minister, Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia

What is the holiness of God? Are you intrigued by it, or are you terrified? R.C. Sproul clearly identifies this attribute of God and all the associations one may make with it. This absolutely will inform and radically cause a re-thinking of one’s view of God.

Free Online Conference on Facing the Crossroads of Change

Tomorrow! March 2nd, will be a powerful (yet free) online conference featuring a number of speakers who have faced their share of turning points and prevailed. It's called "Turning Points" and you can register free for the event. This is a 4-hr event sponsored by Leadership Network, from 11am-3pm EST.

"Turning Points. We're betting you've had one. You know, those moments when you're at a crossroads, hit in the face with an unexpected change and there's a point of decision. We've all faced them. In fact, we've gathered 32 of the most brilliant women leaders across the country to talk about theirs. The moments they faced catastrophic change in their personal life, big crossroads in their careers and organizations and times when they faced their fears head on."

I've heard several of these speakers, and have been very impressed. If you get a chance, check it out!

June 2010 Roundup

Here are several excellent posts by other bloggers in May 2010 that I thought were especially good...

If you want to make God mad... by Steven Furtick
If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Well, apparently, if you want to make God mad, tell Him your limitations.

Thinkholes: 6 Common Hazards that Inhibit Thoughtful Leadership by Will Mancini.
The ways we neglect uniqueness and miss what God is doing.

One Statement and One Question that Impacted My Life by Ron Edmondson
At our age, we can't afford to waste a moment of our time...

What is the Purpose for Small Groups, by David Rudd.
The importance of a shared mission and dedication to growing as disciples.

The Power of Encouragement by Mac Lake
What exactly does encouragement do for those we lead? 7 ideas...

Bad call, great apology - Matt at 37signals
Umpire completely misses a call that cost a pitcher a perfect game, but the story doesn't end there.

My own posts I enjoyed writing the most were Life Doesn't Get Easier and What is Mentoring.

May Roundup

Here are several excellent posts by other bloggers in May 2010 that I thought were especially good...

Emotional Whiplash by Pete Wilson, author of the excellent new book, Plan B

Poisoned by Perfectionism by Hannah at The Gypsy Road

Strategy, Systems, People, Buildings or Vision by Tony Morgan

Train the Called - Do Not Call the Trained by Mark Driscoll at The Resurgence

Pastors and Time by Thom Rainer

The Power of Informality in Leadership Development by Mac Lake

Every Conversation Matters by Tim Stevens at LeadingSmart

Google Wave Now Open to Everyone reported by LifeHacker

And I'm biased on this one... my post over at Going To Seminary -- Maximize Your Learning Experience :)

Also, today is the last day to download the free audiobooks "The Hole in Our Gospel" and "E.M. Bounds: Man of Prayer" at ChristianAudio.com

Happy Memorial Day!

Remembrance, August '08 Round-up and Book Giveaway

It's been a busy month - again I read more good posts than I had time to blog about, so today includes some links to outstanding blog entries from August 2008. Also, I can't look at the date and not pause to reflect on the memory of Sept 11th.

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Two posts by Perry Noble that were home runs were about dealing with tension in the room, and looking at weight issues.

Chris Forbes at Ministry Marketing Coach helped me better understand communicating with the millenial generation.

Jason Curlee highlighted a video clip that demonstrates some extreme determination.

Carlos' "Ragamuffin Soul" blog is always raw and fresh - this short post cracked me up.

Sharon Hodde's post on listening vs judging others had me catching myself in a few phrases I use when listening (or not listening) to people. (Her RSS feed for She Worships has changed, I thought for a while that Sharon had gotten quiet.)

Digital @ Leadership Network had a pair of really beneficial posts on church website strategy. Tony Steward asks the question who is your web site for? And Dean Peters specifically cautioned against having a web site that tries to serve too many targets at once.

Kem Meyer of GCC has this great snapshot of failing to communicate by overcommunicating. She also gave some excellent tips on how to provide alternatives to the e-Newsletter for getting the word out about your ministry.

At Ministry Best Practices Bill Reichart gave a short but powerful tip on creating a small groups culture, as well as a thought-provoking discussion of relevance for a church. Then, in an impressive show of diversity, he gave us a nice Facebook primer.

Some great ideas from Greg Gilbert on helping to foster change when you're not in charge (ie. some useful tips for the rest of us).

Nelson Searcy had some interesting comments about "Where There is Slack there is Lack" with respect to the Volunteer Ministry System, as well as some ideas on increasing the number of small groups in your church from his book "Activate."

Mark Howell of Small Group Resources had a great discussion on whether the grow-and-birth is a model appropriate for healthy groups.

Phew, that's a lot! (Maybe I should just blog about these more often?)  I'll finish with some very interesting YouTube video links about the Large Hadron Collider, a huge particle acceleator that is just coming online. You can either go for the Large Hadron Rap (I'm not kidding) or a more technical yet accessible look at the science and rationale behind this amazing scientific device.

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Finally a reminder that I'm looking to give away a free copy of Matt Batterson's book "Wild Goose Chase".  Yesterday I reviewed this excellent book - so leave a comment in the review post or here and I'll pick someone randomly for this.

Online Bible Study Resources

In the course of doing some research this week on the biblical concept of 'calling', I came across a host of outstanding resources. Here are some that I've found very useful or that seem quite interesting...

Bible Gateway is one of the quickest and easiest ways to look up a verse in the bible version of your choice. I really like their online audio bible which has Max McLean reading chapters of the bible from the NIV, or choose one of five other English versions (and one spanish).

Blueletter Bible (making reference to blue hyperlinks) is one of my first go-to sites for understanding the meaning of a verse or passage better. Many versions, links to commentaries, dictionaries, concordances, and it makes great use of Greek and Strong's tools to dig deeper.

Study Light is newer to me - I found it while looking for the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. The site has a number of basic tools, a dozen commentaries, plus some heavy hitters like Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament. (Did you know the word 'workmanship' in Eph 2:10 is poema, from where we get the word poem?!)

YouVersion is an interesting new online bible specifically designed to foster community and collaboration around the study of God's word. Nice interface... Commentaries meet Web 2.0

There's also a ton of study-bible resources that are available for download. Some are free, or if you want copyrighted versions like the NIV, many are available at modest prices. Good ones to look at include e-Sword, Word Search, Bible Explorer, Quickverse, Logos Bible Software (that's not an exhaustive list, or even the best, but these ones are good ones.) Related custom applications include Verseminder, for memorizing and devotions, or the Daily Bible Verse Facebook app. (Calvary has a facebook profile and more folks have been becoming friends there lately).

For more devotional reading, there is a ton of stuff out there, including Crosswalk, Our Daily Bread, and The Listener's Bible. On iTunes you can search for podcasts like 'The Bible in a Year', 'Daily Bible Verses', '1 Year Daily Audio Bible', or Dr.Carlson's Science Theater (oh wait, that's not a devotional, still, it's a fun site). No time to list all the great blogs and web resources for e-Ministry, but I'll mention one I just found today - Digital Leadership Network, focused on using technology to multiply the church's impact.

If anyone has other suggestions for resources, they've found useful, leave a comment and let me know!