Posts Tagged ‘Books’

Stuck in a bad story? Check out “Rewritten: Exchanging Your Story for God’s Story”

May 23rd, 2012

Just had the pleasure of reading this book! When Jim Gray sent It to me, I was surprised to find out that the story hit closer to home than I expected. It’s about Bruce & Heather Moore of Christ Fellowship in Tampa and the amazing way that God’s Story can because out story. Check out the description:

Many of us have wondered, is this really how my life is supposed to be? Maybe your life’s story is marked by poor decisions or the hurtful actions of others. How can you turn things around? Is God still interested in using you? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”

Rewritten guides you through five life opportunities to exchange your story for God’s story. When you become the person He designed you to be and accomplish the tasks appointed to only you, you will experience the greatest fulfillment you could ever know and bring hope to a broken world.

Bruce & Heather Moore made the most extreme decision of their lives by leaving a large suburb church to rebirth a dying church with one year to live. They have seen the radical transformation of a church and the stories of countless lives rewritten. Bruce serves as Senior Pastor at Christ Fellowship Tampa and they have a very active preschooler.

Here are some quotes that moved me:

  • You might think that this sounds impossible to achieve, but God has already placed a story of hope and potential within you.
  • The space between emptiness and living to your full potential is the very space God works in.
  • God is always inviting people into a greater story than they are currently living. Jesus met a woman whose story was broken.
  • The story of the gospel does not just end with Jesus’ victory over sin and death; it also includes His restorative work in our lives.
  • Because we are created in God’s image, it also means every person who has ever lived and every person yet to be born possesses value simply because he or she lives and draws breath.
  • Compassion for others begins in the heart of God and is woven into the fabric of who we are as His image bearers.
  • God wants to rewrite your life story, not merely so that you can live the life you were created to live but so that a broken world can see something of God in you.
  • Don’t allow the wreckage of unforgiveness to eat up five, ten, or even twenty years of your life. Jesus gives us four steps to move forward in forgiving others: “To you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. ”
  • God often uses difficulties and His Word to prepare us and change us so that we gain a greater understanding of His purpose for us and identify His assignments.
  • Cultivating generos-ity as a lifestyle has less to do with how much money you have and everything to do with how much you trust God.
  • When God enters into the ordinary details of our lives with all His power, might, and glory, something extraordinary happens. The moment becomes holy and life defining.
  • God’s comfort to us is ultimately a gift given with the responsibility to pass it on to others in need. Our lives are meant to be stories that represent God to a broken world.

    • I loved reading most of this book because it became an experience. It’s not just a “how to” or a Christian “inspirational” book. This book is meant to be worked through. Grab a pen and a pad (or iPad in my case) and genuinely, sincerely work through God’s story as He is rewriting it for you!

    Full disclosure, i was a fan of the whole book. The last bit of the book somehow turned into a time management lesson that didn’t really fit for me. I felt like I was reading a chapter from a different book and it was weird because it was the last chapter. It should have made me want to go gung no for my new rewritten life, instead the last thought made me want to delegate something.

    Overall though, check it out. It’s worth it! Here’s a link to Rewritten

    Facebook http://facebook.com/rewrittenbook
    Twitter http://twitter.com/rewrittenbook
    .
    P.S. this way my first all iPad blog post. Hopefully, more will come!

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    Tips for Serving on the Go

    August 28th, 2009

    The other day I posted some ideas for serving on the go. Here are some tips to back those ideas up!

    Tips:
    #1. Be a noticer – Pay attention to your surroundings, eavesdrop, be a people watcher, either way you’ll never know the opportunities to make a difference in someone’s life if you’re not looking.  Jesus was a noticer, I often think about his teaching on “The Widow’s Mite”.  Jesus was at the temple and through people watching he noticed a woman who gave everything she had in one tiny mite.

    #2. Keep outreach/Invite cards handy – This is all about equipping.  An act of kindness without some form of connection is simply a random act of kindness.  Now, while those are great and all, the opportunity to match your act of kindness with an opportunity to connect with Jesus is priceless!

    Here are a couple of examples of what we use at Crosspoint.

    Servant Evangelism Card Front Invite Card Front

    #3. Let them know why you do what you do. - There’s usually an opportunity that pops up when someone says “Why are you doing this?”  That’s when I take the opportunity to say, “I just wanted to show you God’s love in a practical way!” A simple sentence with a BIG impact!

    If you want to find out more about Servant Evangelism and Outreach check out these books below or visit ServantEvangelism.com:

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    “You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader” by Mark Sanborn

    August 18th, 2009

    Last night I read “You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader” by Mark Sanborn.  It’s the second book by Sanborn I’ve read, the first one being “The Fred Factor”.  His books are quickly becoming “must reads” for me, and they are definitely required reading now for anyone and everyone at Crosspoint.  Here are some of the takeaways:

    • Anyone at any level can learn to be a leader and help shape or influence the world around them.
    • A leader leads through their relationships with people, as opposed to their control over people.
    • “The longer the title, the less important the job”
    • When you do your job – any job – with initiative and determination to make a positive difference, you become a leader.
    • Being happy is enviable, but being good is truly admirable.  It requires character, integrity, and perseverance.
    • “While I don’t want to shortchange the importance of “the big show”, I am even more impressed by  the leaders who know what must be done behind the scenes to make the big show happen.”
    • Real leaders bring the same commitment to excellence to whatever they do, whether on the stage or behind it.
    • Genuine leaders make things better not just for themselves but for others.
    • The people who change the world around them…rarely act from a sense of obligation.  Leaders almost always act from a sense of incredible opportunity.
    • Too often, people confuse activity with accomplishment.
    • Integrity after all, is measured by the distance between your lips and your life.
    • Leadership is power with people, not power over people.
    • Everyone makes a difference.  The choice we all have is whether we want to make a positive difference or a negative one.

    I loved every minute of reading this book, if you want to pick it up you can do it by clicking on my Amazon link right here.

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    The Dip by Seth Godin

    August 11th, 2009

    Just wrapped up reading “The Dip” by Seth Godin.  Here are some of the “nuggets” I took away from reading it.

    • “Winners quit all the time.  They just quit the right stuff at the right time.”
    • “Extraordinary benefits acrue to the tiny minority of people who are able to push just a tiny bit longer than most.”
    • “Extraordinary benefits also accrue to the tiny majority with the guts to quit early and refocus their efforts on something new.”
    • “The people who are the best in the world specialize at getting really good at the questions they don’t know.”
    • “The Dip is the long stretch between beginner’s luck and real accompishment.”
    • “It’s not enough to survive your way through this Dip.  You get what you deserve when you embrace the Dip and treat it like the opportunity it really is.”
    • “Quitting is difficult.  Quitting requires you to acknowledge that you’re never going to be #1 in the world. At least not at this.”
    • “Quitting in the Dip though, isn’t worth the journey.”
    • “Your strategy – to be a trusted source in your chosen market – can survive even if your product is canceled.”
    • “Quitting is not the same thing as failing.”
    • “Strategic quitting is a conscious decision you make based on the choices that are available to you.”
    • “If pride is the only thing keeping you from quitting, if there’s no Dip to get through, you’re likely wasting an enormous amount of time and money defending something that will heal pretty quickly.”
    • “It’s almost impossible to overinvest in becoming the market leader.”

    The Dip was a quick but fascinating read.  If you are building a strategy for success take a look at this book… it’s not just about quitting, it’s about leading smart. The Dip

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