Monthly Archives: August 2008

An Intro to Barack Obama’s Faith

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I am reading a newly published book by author Stephen Mansfield called “The Faith of Barack Obama” [Thomas Nelson]. In the Introduction, the author makes this assertion:

This book is… written in the belief that if a man’s faith is sincere, it is the most important thing about him, and that it is impossible to understand who he is and how he will lead without first understanding the religious vision that informs his life.

I agree with that statement. What remains to be seen is if Mr. Mansfield can convincingly reveal that Barack Obama’s faith is first “sincere” and then what it is about that faith that would convince me to trust him as the de facto leader of the free world.

I am an independent who most often finds himself voting Republican, so I am skeptical. I’ve already posted the problems I have with his stand on partial-birth abortion and marriage. However, I am interested to see if there is anything in this book that would help me understand how his “faith” can allow him to hold these positions, and other positions that I have problems with.

We shall see.

A New “Senior Pastor”

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Today was quite an exciting day in the life of the church I attend and am a member of. We have been without a “Senior Pastor” for almost three years. Today, we “elected” a new one who will be starting officially in September.

The vote today was the conclusion to a much longer process, starting about 4 months ago. It included interviews, background checking and reference gathering, meetings with search committee members, dinners including spouses, guided tours of our town, email and telephone conversations, meetings with elders, pastors and staff, congregation members, and other open meetings for anyone who cared to come to meet the pastor candidate and his wife.

Because my wife was on the search committee, I was able to meet and get to know the candidate much longer ago than most other church members. I was impressed with him from the very beginning and thought to myself… could this be the one? I confess that I wasn’t always sure given the nature of our church and the process.

However, as the process unfolded, and more and more confirmations and affirmations were experienced, we made it to the final week. This was a grueling final week of open meetings, to meet and get to know the candidate and his wife, as well as to ask questions. In one question and answer session the question was raised… “Why do you want to become our Senior Pastor.”

I was impressed with his answer. He stated categorically that he didn’t feel he wanted the position of “Senior Pastor.” But rather, in light of the gifts that God had given to him to study, teach and preach the Word (the Bible), and for visionary, strategic leadership, that he is most well suited for a role as what most churches call a “senior pastor.” He also specifically stated that he did not view it as a position to be filled, but rather as a role within the body of Christ (the church) he felt called by God to exercise.

In light of my understanding of the lack of a biblical basis for what most evangelical churches think of and call as a “senior pastor”, this answer gave me great comfort [See my blog post on "The Senior Pastor: Is He Biblical?"]. Although there will still be a danger as many within the church will want to put the senior pastor in a special category where he doesn’t belong, or on a pedestal with some kind of celebrity status, at least the man himself is aware of the problem, and understands his role correctly and biblically.

My hope and prayer is that perhaps through the ministry style and leadership our new fellow traveler (senior pastor), our church will grow in our understanding of the priesthood of every believer, that we are all called to the work of the ministry, and that each of us has been gifted by God to play an integral and important part in the edification and healthy functioning of the body of Christ.

My Review of “The Shack”

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The Shack - by William P. Young

The Shack - by William P. Young

I’ve recently finished reading William P. Young’s novel, “The Shack.” We first heard about it through the grapevine… which turns out to be the way the book is being marketed… mostly via grassroots and word-of-mouth methods. I guess it is working because it is now a best-seller and there is talk of a movie. Not bad for an unknown, first-time author who had to self-publish because he couldn’t get any publishers to take the book.

Next, I started seeing reviews and comments about the book in various publications, blogs and websites that I frequent. At first, the reviews looked to be pretty negative (See CT’s Out of UR blog). They seemed to center around charges of misrepresenting the Christian concept of the Trinity, or one or more of the Persons in the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). There were some other criticisms that the book is anti-church, or is part of the “emergent” movement.

I love novels. I have been reading them since I was a kid. I love all kinds of fiction. I think this is because I love a good story, with a plot, good characters and tension, mystery, drama and conflict. My favorite novelists are C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen Lawhead. It doesn’t get any better than these.

So, how does The Shack stack up to these greats? Well, it’s not going to be a classic (Sorry Eugene Petersen). Yet, the story did draw me in, and held my interest. Along the way I felt the elements I like in a novel… tension, conflict, drama, resolution. I met interesting characters and felt like I was getting to know a real person. Overall, I’d have to say it was a pretty good read which I enjoyed reading and would recommend to any lover of fiction.

Notice, I said… fiction. This book is not a theological treatise. It is not an apologetic for a particular brand or movement of Christianity any more than The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, or The Hobbit is. It is simply a modern day parable… not an alegory as some have suggested. I believe it reveals the authors process of healing in the form of a story. Along the way, we are challenged to rethink or reexamine some of our concepts of God and his relationship to us as humans. That’s all it is, and it is good to have our concepts challenged from time to time.

Added on AUG 24, 2008: My father sent me this link to a blog post and review of this book by Diane Eble. It includes an audio interview with the author William “Paul Young,” that I found to be quite revealing and enlightening regarding the context for his writing this book. Thanks, Dad!

Ways of Knowing

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Intuitive Leadership - Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor and Chaos, by Tim Keel

Intuitive Leadership - Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor and Chaos, by Tim Keel

I’m reading a book called “Intuitive Leadership – Embracing a Paradign of Narrative, Metaphor and Chaos” by Tim Keel. In chapter 5, “Being There: grappling with the context of a ‘post’ world” – on page 128, Tim shares this observation:

“As a young Christian, most of what I was taught as “evangelism” was merely apologetics–-a particularly Western way of arguing people into submission by anticipating every possible argument they might come up with and having a rational argument prepared in response… I have found that many Christians, consciously or not, try first to convert postmodern people into a modern, Enlightenment way of thinking before they can share the Good News of Jesus Christ with them. Why? Because we have encoded the gospel in the categories of modernity… [This] … is an incarnational and missional necessity. But the missional context of our world has changed. Postmodern people reject these limited ways of knowing–[because] they leave out too much life and reality. Meanwhile many Christians sit wringing their hands and assume that the God of the cosmos revealed by Jesus Christ is confounded by a postmodern world.”

I found this particular paragraph in the book to resonate strongly with my own experience and outlook on the future. I’m finding the whole book to be like this!