Social Theology

Breakout Churches- Discover How To Make The Leap

1 stars (An unfortunate addition to Rainer's fine history of work) - I am sorry to report that this is one of the worst books I have ever read. It's hard to believe it was authored by Thom S. Rainer. The fundamental problem with research stems from the selection criteria for "breakout churches". The criteria was so abysmally biased by Rainer's desire not to promote growth that stemmed from the involvement of a new pastor that they only produced 13 churches out of 400,000. Rather than taking another pass at identifying churches that would energize us in our calling, they instead decided to write a book lauding these 13 churches as the "good to great" of our time. Before you put this in your shopping cart consider the criteria led them to the selection of churches who: -Have pastors with an average tenure of 21.6 years with this one church (pg. 57) -Current pastor must have participated in both the declining years, as well as the break-out growth (pg. 16) -None of the 13 churches seek to discover a vision (pg. 111) -"Are careful, even plodding in making changes" (pg. 150) If you're looking for a book that will make you feel better about your church which has been declining for years, without giving you much in the way of actionable strategies, you've come to the right place. I hope Jim Collins received a quarter every time his name, his book title, or a page number in Good to Great was referenced! The only thing this book inspired me to do was re-read my copy of Good to Great! 5 stars (Character Counts) - I must start by saying that I am not an advocate of what is typically known as the "Church Growth Movement." However, I believe "Breakout Churches" breaks all the molds of this genre of books. What the remarkable research of this book has demonstrated is simple and yet profound in our day: Church growth is directly related to the godly passion of its leadership and not to the promotion of pragmatic strategies. Several things struck me about the results of...
Zondervan :: Religion & Christian Life :: CHURCH AND MINISTRY CHURCH LIFE CHURCH GROWTH :: Social Theology :: Religion - Church Life & Growth :: Religion :: Parish And Churc :: Breakout Churches- Discover How To Make The Leap

The Aclu Vs America- Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values

1 stars (Right Wing Trash Propaganda ) - Blaming the ACLU for all the ills of American society, this book is just another in a long series of shallow attacks in the right-wing's war against anything that threatens to undermine its greed and power in America today. For instance, this book blames the ACLU for why pornography thrives in our culture, yet it was the Supreme Court and staunch conservatives that voted for First Amendment Rights related to pornography's distribution on the Internet. It was primarily the right-wing idealogues on the Supreme Court bench, who gave full power to pornographic material's dissemination on the Internet. Always hurling blame at liberals, one would think that there are no right-wing idealogues who watch porn in America. Of course not, all of these conservative men obviously would never stoop to such immoral behavior! My point is that these authors are so full of it. They are just part of the huge political war machine attempting to maintain its political ground by lying to people about what its about and what it stands for. Unjustified war from greed, while deliberately neglecting relief for disaster victims -- that is what these liars are about! Greed, power and conquests of the weak and vulnerable. These right-wing idealogue men do not have the upper hand on morality. They are the lowest scum sucking trash on planet earth who would let people die in a hurricane and lie about their neglect in the rescue efforts they were forwarned would be needed. They lie and hide behind an illusory political game that enables them to rape and rob the American people in the process. These men are sick! You don't hear them criticizing why we went to war for no justified reason, do you? They are using the old deflection from scrutiny by attacking institutions that expose their hyporisy. These people are desperate and they are losers groping for anything they can to maintain this false illusion that they represent America's values. If ...
Broadman - Holman Publishers :: Social Theology :: Religion :: Politics & State :: Religion - Contemporary Issues :: Religion - Christian Living :: Religion :: Political Ideologies - Conservatis :: The Aclu Vs America- Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values