Worship Leader September 2011 : Page 90
heartfelt, and honest, these stories are re-latable and will unveil the false “wells” in your own life, urging you to trust Jesus as the source for both your basic and most in-tricate needs. –Katie Finley action-based group practices and then out-lines the main categories of Jesus’ teachings with samples of specific experiments. –Jeff Friend RENOVATION OF THE CHURCH Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken InterVarsity Press As co-pastors of a booming seeker church, Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken of Oak Hills Church in Folsom, California, obviously knew how to build and lead a successful ministry. Or did they? After years of high-ly-produced, entertaining weekend seek-er services, the church leaders reached a point where they realized they were ca-tering to religious consumerism and try-ing to meet people’s wants and not their needs. They began a decade-long process of shifting from a focus of outward suc-cess to an emphasis of transforming be-lievers into the character of Jesus. With total transparency and humility, they de-scribe their challenges and struggles with personal ambition, confused and unhappy members, and all the heartaches, mistakes and victories of following God’s leading to reshape their church. Carlson and Lueken share their experiences, good and bad, as a testimony to all church leaders that pleasing God far surpasses trying to please man. That is true success. –Jeff Friend PREACHINg AS WORSHIP Michael J. Quicke Baker Books While there are minis-try books that address the topic of worship leading or the topic of preaching, there are very few that delve into the depth and richness of preaching as an integral part of the worship service and the worship lifestyle. The author tackles the problems that result from a compartmentalized worship where the sermon becomes un-consciously disjointed from the rest of the worship gathering. Quicke diligently de-fines a deeper theology of worship, pres-ents the readers with a bigger picture that shows how preaching fits into the essen-tial flow of a worship service, and points to sermon preparation beginning with the preacher being a worshiper. When the various parts of a worship gathering are dynamically working together, people can more holistically realize the work of God in their midst and in their own lives. –DJ Chuang PRACTICINg THE WAY OF JESUS Mark Scandrette InterVarsity Press Many sermons have been preached and songs sung about the joy of following Jesus. But too often, these are simply inspiring words that call for little real commitment or personal sacrifice. Mark Scandrette sounds a new challenge to believers truly seek-ing spiritual formation and following the way of Jesus—engaging in experiments in a community environment to fully experi-ence what Jesus taught His disciples. The ex-periments may take many forms, such as a one-day encounter, a weekend retreat, or a large scale project, but always with the in-tent of embracing a more radical expression and understanding of Jesus’ teachings. Scan-drette explains that experiments often birth ideas for new experiments, which open up even more insights and opportunities to dig deeper. He spends the first half of the book explaining the need and process of starting 90 WORSHIP LEADER
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