Ministry Inside.32

1. You might want to read Quick Guide to a Balanced Life – the Four Essential Questions by Bob Buford. Good thinking.

2. Good discussion of Stanley Fish’s book How to Write a Sentence. The article, The Art of Good Writing appears in The Financial Times.

3. Margaret Feinberg is a creative writer. Here she lists the Ten Most Beautiful Books I Read During the Last Decade. By the way, have you seen Q blog (Gabe Lyons and others)?

4. On another note. Some church leaders feel terribly frustrated with their congregation, thinking the people really don’t appreciate what they (these church leaders) have to offer (I am speaking about both ministers and elders). Yet for some church leaders, what gets in the way is their own attitude. Nothing is worse than a church leader who promotes himself or seems to have a smug, condescending attitude toward others. There are some leaders whose insecurities seem to drive them, rather than the grace of God. I am not suggesting this is true with most church leaders. However, it seems to be true of far too many.   

5. I’ve been reading The Wall Street Journal (print) again after having been away from it for a number of years. I really enjoy the paper and am amazed at the number of interesting articles each day. Articles are more varied in topic than what I remember from earlier years. Culture. Human interest. Business. I skim through our local paper (Waco Tribune Herald) and another print edition of a newspaper every day. I also skim several online papers including the New York Times, Globe and Mail, Google News, and Yahoo News.

6. These notes are from talks by Tim Keller in Dallas at the recent Anglican 1000 Conference. You might look at notes from this talk and another talk. I read what Keller writes. He makes me think. Whether I agree or disagree, I am helped by reading his thoughts.