BOOK REVIEW: A great book for Christians generally, a new “must read” for church leaders …

In February of 2012, I posted my review of Leonard Sweet’s book, “I Am A Follower,” and that has remained my top recommendation for church leaders since.

Today, I want to tell you about a book that is every bit as important. A new book that is a great “read” for Christians generally, but what I think is a new “must read” for anyone serving in a leadership position in the church, especially vocational and bi-vocational ministers.

What’s the book? “The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb” by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel (published by Nelson Books).

I rarely ever underline or highlight in a book, especially my Bible. Occasionally, for a really good book, I’ll make a few stars or underline a couple of passages. But in this new work by Goggin and Strobel, the ink is flowing! I havent’ marked up a book like this in years, and I’ve done so because the content is that important and that good.

This writing team — Goggin a pastor and Strobel a professor — have taken on a critically important topic and they’ve done so with biblical accuracy, scholarly research, and personal self-examination, all of which are obvious in their writing.

What’s the critically important topic? Power in the church, and in our lives.

We’ve gotten the topic terribly wrong.

We routinely teach the wrong message.

And we’re drowning in daily social media exhortations to pursue power when Jesus taught differently and the pages of scripture direct us otherwise.

Goggin and Strobel do such a good job at revealing how we have missed the mark on this topic I’m convinced that as Christians — and especially church leaders — wade into this book, one outcome will be a lot of conviction and repentance.

“Over time we have come to see that the way of power commended in Scripture is not the way of power we have seen in evangelicalism …” the authors begin in the introduction of the book.

“Power is the capacity to affect reality. We human beings have the capacity to physically, emotionally, and spiritually influence the world around us. God has given us this capacity for good – to glorify him and bless the world. But as Christians, our primary interest is to bear fruit of the kingdom – the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). We were not created to pursue power as an end in itself, but rather to pursue God, the powerful one, and abide in his power to bless the world,” the authors contend, and further write, “A way of power exists that is good, true, and beautiful; but there is also a way of power that is evil, false, and ugly.”

That “good” way of power is what the authors refer to as “the way from above,” and the evil, false, and ugly power they call “the way from below.” Which do you think so many church leaders have not only embraced personally, but also teach to their congregations and audiences?

The book is divided into two sections – “Discovering the Way,” the section which I think is the strength of this book, but is followed by the insightful and instructive section of “Embracing the Way.”

The insights woven throughout the content doesn’t rely only on the observations, personal experiences, and biblical study of the authors, but Goggin and Strobel significantly expanded their research to include in-person interview conversations with some great “sages” of the Christian world — J.I. Packer, James Houston, Marva Dawn, John Perkins, Jean Vanier, Dallas Willard, and Eugene Peterson — and include their insights as well.

The authors claim, “And so we see that the way from above is power from love and for love,” and “To produce kingdom fruit, both internally and externally, fruit that is from God and for God’s glory, we must abide in Christ by the Holy Spirit.”

Is that how you’re living your life?

Are you sure?

Get this book and read it cover-to-cover. It will inform and inspire you in your walk with Christ, and in your leadership in the church.

Scotty

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”