Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review, Discipleship, Leadership, Ministry, Resources

The Emotionally Helthy Church Begins With… (Pt 2)

The Emotionally Helthy Church Begins With… Me.

More from The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero:

Our churches are in trouble, says Scazzero. They are filled with people who are

  • unsure how to biblically integrate anger, sadness, and other emotions
  • defensive, incapable of revealing their weaknesses
  • threatened by or intolerant of different viewpoints
  • zealous about ministering at church but blind to their spouses’ loneliness at home
  • so involved in “serving” that they fail to take care of themselves
  • prone to withdraw from conflict rather than resolve it

In Chapter 4 Scazzero provides the reader with a spiritual/emotional maturity inventory questionaire. The inventory is broken into 2 parts. Part A includes questions that help the reader work through general formation and discipleship issues. Part B looks at the emotional componants of discipleship and is broken into sub-sections (For section titles see chapter breakdown below).

While I scored fairly well on each componant, I was able to see gaping holes where a higher maturity level will help me become a better disciple of Christ and a more healthy leader in the church. I do not want to become just another statistic of a burnt out minister who takes those around me down as I flame out. I don’t want my peers to experience this either. We are the body of Christ. Let’s change the statistics.

The rest of the book is brokendown into chapters that corespond with the 6 emotional componants of discipleship from Part B of the Spiritual/Emotional Maturity Inventory:

  • Look Beneath the Surface
  • Break the Power of the Past
  • Live in Brokenness and Vulnerability
  • Accept the Gift of Limits
  • Embrace Grieving and Loss
  • Make Incarnation Your Model for Loving Well
Book Review, Discipleship, Leadership, Ministry

The Emotionally Health Church Pt 1

Something is desperately wrong with most churches today. Many sincere followers of Christ who are passionate for God and his work are unaware of the crucial link between emotional health and spiritual maturity. They present themselves as spiritually mature but are stuck at a level of immaturity that current models of discipleship have not addressed. Discipleship that really transforms a church must integrate emotional health with spiritual maturity. The Emotionally Healthy Church, winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award, offers a strategy for discipleship that accomplishes healthy living and actually changes lives.

Scazzero argues that it is impossible for someone to be emotionally immature and be spiritually mature. One must become competent in both the interior world (what goes on inside of us) and the exterior world (people and experiences that go on around us).

To do this we mustn’t place the spiritual dimensions of our lives over and above the other aspects of our lives that are just as critical to our being. Throughout history we have separated our spiritual lives from our physical, social, intellectual, and emotional lives. Scazzero argues that this view come more from Plato than from Christ Jesus.

We have separated the spiritual for so long that we in the church are perfectly okay with:

  • Someone who is a dynamic, gifted speaker in the pulpit and an unloving spouse and father at home
  • A church leader or elder and be “unteachable, insecure, and defensive”
  • Competent in scripture and still be full of anger or lost in depression
  • A minister who says yes to any and everyone but no to your family
  • Cooperative on the surface and Passive-aggressive on your delivery

Sadly we find these things acceptable in church. As Scazzero puts it, when someone is dealing with something this serious we often just “pray and hope for the best.”

“To truly love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength requires that we know not only god but also our interior- the nature of our own heart, soul, and mind. Understanding that world of feelings, thoughts, desire, and hopes with all its richness and complexity is hard work. It also takes time- lots of it.” (55)

Book Review, Ethos, Leadership, Ministry

In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day: Book Review

I’ve be experiencing a sense of synergy as of late. It seems that everything that I’ve been reading or talking about has all centered around the idea of taking the risk.

That’s why it came as no surprise to me that Mark Batterson‘s newest book, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day, continued pushing me to reflect upon the nature of uncertainty and the desire within me to put it all on the line.

In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day is all about taking risks. The title comes from what seems like one of the most insignificant passages in all of scripture. 2 Samuel 23:20-1 tells us all we need to know about a man named Benaiah:

There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two of Moab’s mightiest warriors. Another time he chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. Another time, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.

In Texas we would call Benaiah a hoss! I had to read the story over and over in every translation of the Bible I have available to me to believe that this story was in there. I had never heard it before and now I can’t stop thinking about it. What an incredible dude!!! But according to Batterson, we can all be lion chasers like Benaiah, every single one of us.

Batterson believes that God uses “past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities” but warns “those God-given opportunities often come disguised as man-eating lions. And how we react when we encounter those lions will determine our destiny.”

See, Benaiah could have walked away from the Moabites because he was out numbered, he could have avoided the fight with the Egyptian, and he could of certainly steered clear of the lion but would he still have been hired as a bodyguard for David which eventually led to him taking over as commander of God’s army. I’m not sure. According to Batterson, “God is in the business of resume making.”

The book is a great read. Batterson’s style is engaging, funny, and at times, incredibly challenging. Using stories from his own experience in the risk-taking world of church planting Batterson grounds the book firmly in reality.

The book is presented well and it can be read very quickly. Each chapter has a summary and questions for further thought or to be used within a small group setting.

Batterson is the pastor at National Community Church in the nation’s capital. I have been reading his blog, Evotional, for quite some time and I have benefited greatly from his thoughts and his heart for ministry. (Evotional has the best banner pic hands down)

I am highly recommending this incredible book to everyone that I know. It isn’t your typical book where you highlight your favorite passages and then place it on the shelf to be forgotten. Batterson dares you to move asking “What lion is God calling you to chase?”

After reading In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day I made some pretty difficult decisions about taking on some big, hairy lions in my life. Opportunities have presented themselves and I pursuing them. I don’t want to miss out on what God has planned just because I was too afraid to move.

So right now, I’m out chasing lions with my Dad. Take the risk. Come and join us!!!

ChasetheLion.com