Books

The NEW Planting Missional Churches: Changes in the 2nd Edition

April 19, 2016 By Daniel Im

When I began working with Ed Stetzer, one of the first things that I did was approach him about revising Planting Missional Churches. It has been such a helpful book to tens of thousands of people around the world, but much of the stories and content needed to be refreshed. Furthermore, there were new questions and issues that planters and multipliers were facing, like multisite, residencies, multi-ethnic churches, theological education, and the difference between denominations and networks.

So we decided to revisit the book, and in doing so, we ended up changing over 50% of the content. The stories, content, and models are different in each chapter. We also wrote five new chapters, completely reorganized the book, and integrated the research we conducted in the new State of Church Planting study, a research partnership of over a dozen denominations on church planting in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

In addition to rewriting the content in the existing chapters, we wrote five new ones from scratch:

Chapter 8: Multiethnic or Monoethnic Churches
Chapter 9: Multisite Planting
Chapter 27: Residencies and the Future of Theological Education
Chapter 28: Denominations and Networks
Chapter 30: Spiritual Leadership

Book Review and Best Quotes: BiVO by Hugh Halter

April 4, 2016 By Daniel Im

Hugh Halter, in his book BiVO: A Modern Day Guide For Bi-Vocational Saints paints a picture of bivocational ministry for Western church planters, pastors, and missionaries. Not only does he share examples from his real-life experience of doing this, but he also give us an inside picture of his church and how they operate as a ministry served and led by bivocational leaders.

For example, in one chapter, he actually outlines the bivocational lives of each of his leadership team members. Here are three out of the nine that he shares:

Hugh & Cheryl: As I did my first church plant in Portland, about one third of my income came from personal missionary support, while the other two-thirds came from house painting. Because of our son’s epilepsy, my wife Cheryl has never been able to work until about five years ago. Now, about nine years into the church life, I receive one third of my income from Adullam, one third from speaking and training other church leaders, and one third from Cheryl’s real-estate career. Over the nine years Adullam has been a church, I have averaged about twenty-five hours a week for the actual church leadership roles. The rest of my time has been spent on the road, training leaders or painting as it was in the early days.

Matt & Maren: Matt was my original partner with both the church and with our national ministry platform called Missio. Matt worked with FedEx one third of the time, worked at a golf course for five dollars an hour, and had another one third of his income come from missionary support. As the church grew, Matt replaced his FedEx job with a one-third time stipend from the church and pieced the rest of his income together between church, training, and coaching. Two years ago, Matt gave up his church stipend and set out to start a small but successful publishing company. He remains one of our “elders” and continues to give Adullam about fifteen hours a week as a volunteer. His wife Maren has decided to stay home and be a mom.

Greg & Becky: These two are book agents and writers but emerged as key lay leaders, pastoring almost one third of our congregation with marriage issues. They serve on our leadership council and continue to give about twenty hours a week to the pastoral needs of the congregation without any pay.

Halter’s main premise is to help church leaders understand that their two callings are to work to provide for themselves and their family, AND to see their “entire lives leveraged and in use for God’s kingdom purposes, to live intentionally as a missionary saint.” Living out these dual callings is what he terms as BiVO. After all, “if none of us got paid, God would still expect us to lead and serve the world.”

Book Review: Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders

February 23, 2016 By Daniel Im

Spiritual Leadership , with an emphasis on the word spiritual, is definitely an accurate description for J. Oswald Sanders’ book. He covers popular leadership principles, such as, time management and the importance of developing our talents, but the majority of his points and illustrations are all in reference to spiritual leadership.

Sanders introduces each chapter with a scriptural reference, by which he uses to ground his ideas within the chapter, but much of his explanation is rooted in his wealth of experience and/or the experience of other notable figures, such as Charles Spurgeon, A.B. Simpson, A.W. Tozer, and J. Hudson Taylor. Sanders believes that all Christians are leaders and that we should all develop our leadership potential.

Central to this book is the belief that God is the one who calls forth leaders in the church and then subsequently anoints them.

Spiritual leadership is a matter of being chosen, rather than choosing. Spiritual leadership is all about being last, rather than first. A spiritual leader is one that imitates Christ Jesus–the greatest spiritual leader of all. As important as it is for a leader to listen, lead, articulate, and inspire well, what takes precedence over any method or skill is one’s connection to the vine–Jesus Christ.

Why You Should Read Multiple Books at the Same Time

January 23, 2016 By Daniel Im

Flickr - missusdoubleyou — Flickr – missusdoubleyou

I’ve discovered that if I’m not reading, I’m not learning. And if I’m not learning, I’m not growing. And if I’m not growing, I have no right to be leading.

Reading and learning are the gasoline to my car. I’ve discovered that, the more I’m reading and learning, the further I can go in life and the better that I can come up with ideas and strategies to implement and execute them.

I love the following quotes about reading:

Some books are to be tested, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested – Francis Bacon

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body – Richard Steele

A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read – Mark Twain

He that loves reading has everything within his reach – William Godwin

The one technique to reading that I’ve discovered is to never read just one book at a time.

The greatest innovations in history have often resulted when two seemingly disparate ideas, from different disciplines, are brought together. That’s why I’m always challenging myself to read from different disciplines, all at the same time.

The one technique to reading that I’ve discovered is to never read just one book at a time.

Click To Tweet

With my current responsibilities in directing LifeWay’s initiative to resource church planters, multisite churches, and multipliers at NewChurches.com, in addition to consulting denominations and networks, writing books, preaching regularly, and leading a software development initiative to transform the way churches and denominations assess, train, and coach, I have a lot on my plate. That’s why I need to keep my mind sharp by reading, learning, and growing.

Here’s what I’m currently working on:

How To Choose A Children’s Bible

July 28, 2015 By Daniel Im

Children's Bible

Being a father of three children and a pastor, I take my children’s spiritual life seriously. After all, Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” As important as it is to be a part of a church that has a good children’s program, I cannot fully rely on the church to cultivate my children’s spiritual life. It’s first and foremost my responsibility.

In fact, when you look at Joshua 1:8 and Deut 6:4-9, you discover the critical connection between Bible reading and a child’s spiritual life.

Joshua 1:8 – This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do

Deut 6:4-9 – Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

So my hope, through this post, is to help you navigate through the plethora of children’s Bibles out there. Now obviously, this isn’t all there is, but I do believe that this is a good sampling.

When you look at the image above, I’ve plotted the Bibles according to their difficulty/maturity level and the level of engagement that my children displayed when I read it to them. As a father and a pastor, a good children’s Bible does not only have to be theologically accurate, but it also must convey the Scriptures in an engaging manner at the right maturity level.

So here are my reviews:

Books

I’ve discovered that if I’m not reading, I’m not learning. And if I’m not learning, I’m not growing. And if I’m not growing, I have no right to be leading.

The one technique to reading that I’ve discovered is to never read just one book at a time.

Footer

LET’S CONNECT