Books, Books, Books!

On our recent trip to the Superintendent's Conference I took advantage of flight time and time in the sun and finished three books. Here's a brief review:
Making Vision Stick by Andy Stanley. Short book (really short). It has some great ideas about presenting vision. Repeat the Vision Regularly. Celebrate the Vision Systematically. Embrace the Vision Personally. Stanley also talks about "vision slippage indicators." We'll have to talk about that at another time.
Launch by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas is a book about church planting. It's a must-read for planter and multi-siters. The authors have a great time and use humor throughout the book. It's chock full of great insights. (Hey, they planted successfully in NYC. They must know something).
A Leader's Legacy by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner is a good book on the human side of leadership. It seeks to answer the question, "Are you on this planet to do something, or are you here just for something to do?" While not written from an overt Christian perspective, these guys understand leadership and have a great deal to say. (They are also the authors of "The Leadership Challenge," which has been acknowledged as one of the great leadership books of our time.
Check out these books. Remember, Leaders are Readers!

Christmas Tradition

OK. I admit it. I love Christmas traditions. I stopped at Starbucks last week and picked up the Charlie Brown Christmas CD. The Vince Gauraldi Trio immediately took me back to childhood days, watching ACharlie Brown Christmas on TV and realizing that the Christmas season was in full swing. I especially loved the portion of the program where Linus stands center stage and recites the Christmas story.

You know, I'm not really necessarily a "tradition" kind of person. I love change and growth. But there's something special about Christmas traditions.

For years while we were serving as pastors, I would try to come up with something new for Christmas. Then one year I realized that the most meaningful thing we did during the season was our Christmas Eve service. We sang traditional Christmas songs. We had solos, duets, etc. We asked the band to provide instrumental Christmas songs. We lit candles and sang "Joy To The World." We read the Christmas story. We even read children's Christmas stories and projected the pictures of the pages so that the adults could follow along. It was my favorite service of the year. Almost magical. And the place was packed for both services.

We would always include an opportunity during the communion time, for people to respond to the gospel message. We discovered that Christmas traditions provided a wonderful opportunity to help people connect with Jesus. I guess that's really the purpose of God sending His Son, isn't it?

So, Pastor, if you're a little overwhelmed with trying to find a new perspective on the Christmas story, perhaps you should try going back to the traditional. (Don't expect me to say that very often!) I'm praying that your Christmas services will be blessed and that lives will be changed through everything that you do!