The Tattered Hat

Less Clutter. Less Noise.: Beyond Bulletins, Brochures and Bake Sales

A couple of weeks back I finished reading Less Clutter. Less Noise. Beyond Bulletins, Brochures And Bake Sales by Kem Meyer.  One the the reason I picked up this book is that I make a bulletin insert pretty much every week and I make handouts all the time.  It was a good read with some good insights.  Not everything in the book applied to me but it helped me reflect on how I communicate on the web, in print and verbal.  I have implemented several of the ideas already.  It is 270 pages long but is served up in bit size chunks and is easy to read.

What are your thoughts on this?

Just finished reading it: How Churches And Leaders Can Get it And Keep it by Craig Groeschel.  I enjoyed reading this book.  It was a good reminder that the leadership needs to focus on what really matters, their relationship with Jesus. This book brought balance to all the things I've been reading lately.  It reminded me about how God is the one who changes lives and not copying the church down the street or implementing the "new" ministry strategy.

I really enjoy the last two chapters.  Craig talkes about how he had it and lost it and then re-gain it.  A lot of times at church we forget that its about doing everything we can to share the good news of Jesus with a world full of hurt and pain.  Instead we get caught up in being comfortable and not looking at people the way Jesus did.

You may have seen this already.  I've seen it posted on facebook and in tweets.  I first checked it out after reading  this tweet-@DougFields What do you think? Has church become "this" predictable? Interesting to say the least!

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.


Any thoughts?

I've been thinking about leadership lately and I've been in full-time ministry for 7 and half years now.  I came across Dave Kraft's book Leaders Who Last.  I thought well I want to last, so I picked up a copy.

It was a great read with lots of actuate observations and practical advice.  I would encourage anyone who is in a leadership position or planning on being a leader in ministry to check out this book.  I think it will be very helpful and its only 148 pages.  Most of the stuff in this book are things you probably already know but have forgot or just haven't taken the time to think about.  It was very refreshing for me.

I just finished reading Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus by D.A. Carson.  It was a great read especially before Easter.  It was very helpful in  reflecting on the cross and resurrection and what it means for us.  This book was 170 pages long and focused on 5 different passages.

Carson used some vocab that I have never heard before but I guess that is going to happen when you have the vocab of a 1st grader.  I found myself laughing at times because of how Carson calls people out a couple of times.  Good times.



I also finished reading Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Oestreicher.  This was also an interesting read and on the short side, which I love:)  Mark takes a look at the past (1.0), present(2.0), and future(3.0) of youth ministry.  I enjoyed the honest and accurate look at youth ministry.  It was thought provoking and challenging.

I'm not to sure about his thoughts about the future of youth ministry and how it can be done.  It seemed to me that their was contradictions in what Mark was per-posing and how to keep it simple, how it works in any size church, and how it wouldn't be driven.

But at least Mark is not just saying hey their is a problem and good luck with figuring it out!  I enjoyed the book and if you are involved in youth ministry at least it should get you thinking about how we do things and what needs to change to be more effective for Christ.

I just finished reading Simple Student Ministry-A Clear Process For Strategic Youth Discipleship by Eric Geiger// Jeff Borton

Eric also co-wrote Simple Church which I read first.  I loved Simple Church and was interested in what they had to say about the process of discipleship in the student ministry context.  I love Simple Student Ministry.  This book isn't too different from Simple Church but it gives examples of other student ministries and how they are implementing discipleship and using a simple process.

It is a great help and reminder for what student ministry is about.  Discipleship and not being an crazy busy event planner.

Saw this at More Than Dodge ball

Love it