- livingthedash.tv

In his latest book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity, Mark Batterson explores the Great Commandment….

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Mark 12:30 (NIV)

Mark describes his latest work as……

a reimagination of the four primal elements detailed by Jesus in the Great Commandment:

The heart of Christianity is primal compassion.

The soul of Christianity is primal wonder.

The mind of Christianity is primal curiosity.

And the strength of Christianity is primal energy.

He challenges us to be great at the Great Commandment by using a mix of……

• fresh looks at Bible stories
• interesting tidbits of history
• personal stories from Mark’s life and the life of National Community Church
• terminology and concepts from the world of science

And just like his other books, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase, and his blog, evotional.com, Mark fills the pages with simple yet powerful and memorable one-liners and short paragraphs. Here are a few that I highlighted:

If you are a follower of Christ, then you have been drafted into an army of compassion that knows no enemy but those things that break the heart of God.

Faith equals God-ordained risks in the face of fear. Obedience equals God-honoring decisions in the face of temptation. And compassion equals Spirit-prompted generosity in the face of greed.

The blessings of God are always a means to an end. And the end is blessing others. We are blessed to bless..

One of the great mistakes we’ve made in modern Christianity is approaching God deductively as an object of knowledge instead of approaching Him inductively as the cause of wonder.

The Bible is the place where God bares His soul….The quest for the lost soul of Christianity always leads us back to the Bible.

Loving God with all your mind means making the most of your mind by learning as much as you can about as much as you can.

…the god who conveniently fits within the confines of your mind will never fill the soul with wonder.

There should be no disconnect between spiritual and intellectual pursuits. The mind and soul are not enemies. They are allies.

Christianity was never intended to be a noun. And when we turn it into a noun, it becomes a turnoff. Christianity was always intended to be a verb. We’ve got to act on God ideas.

Vision is the cure for sin. A God-given vision keeps us from decay and disorder. It energizes everything we do. And turning that vision into reality is one way we love God with all our strength.

If you are looking to “reignite a primal faith’” and “rediscover the compassion, wonder, curiosity, and energy that turned the world upside down two thousand years ago”, then this book is for you.

Order a copy here.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

I recently finished reading an early copy of Tony Morgan’s new book, Killing Cockroaches.

Here are 10 reasons you should read this book…….

1) The book contains lots of Top 10 lists

A few of my favorites…..10 Stupidest Leadership Mistakes I’ve Made, 10 Signs Your Not Ready For Change, & 10 Easy Ways to Make Church Services More Boring

2) Andy Stanley wouldn’t write the foreward for a bad book

3) The foreword is sandwiched between ‘Enter at Your Own Risk’ and ‘Prepare for an Adventure’

4) The book actually contains 4 easy steps for killing cockroaches

5) Tony is not your ordinary pastor

Tony rejects the status quo and takes an innovative, creative, and cutting-edge approach to ministry.  Naturally, that makes some in the church world a little uncomfortable.  Seth Godin might even call him a “heretic”.  Fortunately, in today’s world “heretics” have popular blogs and get their books published.

6) Tony’s church is not your ordinary church

Newspring Church, led by Senior Pastor Perry Noble, exists for one simple mission:  To make Jesus famous, one life at a time.  Perry and Tony have a passionate and strategic laser-focus on that mission and, as a result, Newspring Church is making a big impact in Anderson, SC and beyond.

7) All of the 100+ blog post-like chapters are in alphabetical order

How did he do that?  Also, many of the chapters are creatively titled.  The titles make you want to read more.  A few of my favorite titles…….Actions Speak Louder Than Advertising, Christians Sound Different, Giant Inflatable Blue Monkeys, How Would Apple Do Church?, and I’m Just Not That Interested In God

8) Tony has a great blog.  This book reads like a series of blog posts.  That makes for a great book.

9) This book has lots of great interviews

A few of my favorites……..Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Penelope Trunk, Mark Batterson, Steven Furtick, and Craig Groeschel

10) This book is not just for church leaders

Tony is in the church world, but he keeps a close eye on the strategies, marketing, branding, communications, and innovation of America’s businesses.  I’m in the business world, but I keep a close eye on what is happening in the church.  I believe the business world and the church world still have lots to learn from each other.  The “scattered musings on leadership” contained in this book are for leaders of all types.

Get your copy of Killing Cockroaches here.  Also available on the Kindle here.

I love to read.  If I’m not reading, I feel as if I’m not learning.  If I’m not learning, I feel as if I’m not growing.

Here is a quick recap of some books I read in 2008.

The Best of ‘08

Tribes // Seth Godin

Axiom // Bill Hybels

Crazy Love // Francis Chan

Revolution of Character // Dallas Willard & Don Simpson

Wild Goose Chase // Mark Batterson

The Screwtape Letters // C.S. Lewis

Great Books of ‘08

One Month to Live // Kerry & Chris Shook

Walking With God // John Eldredge

ID: The True You // Mark Batterson

Mavericks at Work // William C. Taylor & Polly Labarre

Talent Is Never Enough // John Maxwell

Simplicity // Bill Jensen

Also Learned From in ‘08

200 Pomegranates & An Audience of One // Shawn Wood

The Truth About You // Marcus Buckingham

Integrity // Dr. Henry Cloud

Churched //  Matthew Paul Turner

The Faith of Barack Obama // Stephen Mansfield

Lead Like Jesus // Ken Blanchard & Phil Hodges

Which books did you learn & grow from in 2008?

Earlier this week, Mark Batterson, put a new movie called, The Tale of Despereaux, on my radar with this blog post.

The movie just opened, so yesterday afternoon, the boys and I headed to the theater to check it out.

It was outstanding.  A beautifully animated tale filled with themes of courage, loyalty, honor, justice, goodness, hope, redemption, and forgiveness.

The main character is a brave mouse name Despereaux Tilling.  The movie’s website describes him as a tiny mouse “born too big for his little world“.  I like Despereaux.  He is a gentlemen living a life of adventure and learning.  He doesn’t cower like all the other mice and he isn’t afraid to break a few rules.

I highly recommend this movie.  Check out the trailer below.

Some stuff that showed up in my Google Reader Shared Items recently……..

- Brad Lomenick offers up some Heisman analysis.  He gets it right. Even if a Sooner did come out on top.

- Zac Smith talks about risky business and what it’s like to work in an environment where risk taking is encouraged and failure is an option.

- Steven Furtick says to leaders: Never stop “Doing the details.” Just change the way you do them.

- Mark Batterson tells us about a Christmas Catalog.  Not your ordinary christmas catalog.

- Tony Morgan stirs things up with 10 reasons he doesn’t like most Christians.

- Will Johnston presents an interesting case study on Pete Wilson’s withoutwax.tv blog community.

That’s what I’m sharing.  Do you use Shared Items in Google Reader?  What are you sharing?