The Blessed Church, by Robert Morris

If you live in the Fort Worth/Dallas area and have any awareness of churches, you probably know of Gateway Church in Southlake.  And if your church is anywhere near Gateway, some of your former members probably now attend Gateway.  This church, founded a mere 12 years ago, has grown into one of the largest churches in the nation.  Tens of thousands attend services every weekend at their shiny new multi-million dollar main campus, as well as several satellite campuses.   

In The Blessed Church: The Simple Secret to Growing the Church You Love, Gateway's pastor Robert Morris tells the story of Gateway, and gives insight into the principles that have shaped their church and fueled its tremendous growth.  There is much here that can benefit pastors and lay leaders of all kinds of churches.  I have visited Gateway a couple of times, and have friends who are active attenders (including several who used to go to my church!).  Based on my experiences and the reports of my friends, Gateway does accomplish one of their goals: excellence.  The teaching, worship, and childcare are top-notch.  From the start, Morris wanted Gateway to do these three things as skillfully as possible, and few would argue that the teaching is consistently solid, the worship and music are world-class, and the childcare is attentive, creative, and intentional.

While not a manual, The Blessed Church lays out some of the core values the have helped Gateway grow.  Morris is clearly a gifted communicator and leader.  His vision of leadership is feeding, and the focus of his work is his teaching role.  He strives to craft messages that will speak to new and mature Christians alike.  In terms of governance, he describes the church as pastor-lead with support and accountability from a group of elders.  He provides very practical examples for church leaders who seek to emulate the structure and culture of Gateway.

In spite of Morris's title, I didn't pick up any "simple secrets" here, and I kept thinking about factors in Gateway's growth that went unmentioned.  First of all, it helped that when seeking a place to start a church, he chose a part of the D/FW metroplex that has had a lot of population growth, and located the church in Southlake, which has one of the highest per capita incomes of any city in Texas.  He started with a core of wealthy, charismatic lay people.  No matter how great your vision or how passionate your leadership, it sure helps to have people with deep pockets to bankroll your work.  Morris talks about Gateway's culture of giving.  When that kind of culture is cultivated in a high-income community, you can do things like drop $86 million on 206,000 square feet of building.

Second, Morris himself is a uniquely gifted communicator.  His experience at Gateway and the message of the book support the growing trend of pastor-centered megachurches, which center on the pastor's teaching, to the extent of broadcasting his message electronically to satellite locations.  Run-of-the-mill preachers need not apply.  Third, the worship, as I said, is world-class.  The worship team has produced a number of CDs and gets radio airplay.  Listening to Gateway's talented musicians sure has a way of making the worship leaders at your smaller church sound second rate.

My take on the message of The Blessed Church is that if you follow the principles Morris describes, your church can grow, too.  I totally agree, especially if you have those other factors: a wealthy, highly educated congregation, a superbly gifted teacher, and fabulously talented musicians.  Unfortunately, Morris doesn't spend as much time on these other factors, and leaves the reader with the impression that if you're not growing, there's something seriously wrong with you and your church.  He repeatedly says, "not to boast" when talking about how great Gateway is, and constantly gives credit to God, but it's easy for the pastor of a smaller church with less growth (90-99% of churches) to feel rather inadequate.

My final thought: Morris writes that healthy things grow, so church growth is a sign of church health (thus a church that isn't growing must be unhealthy).  But what in nature continues to grow?  Healthy things grow to a certain extent, and then they multiply.  I don't know what constitutes a church that is too big, but it seems like a truly healthy church would be multiplying, not growing and growing.  Oh, and by the way, lest you accuse Gateway of stealing sheep, since it is full of people who used to faithfully attend other area churches, Morris has an answer: "I am not a sheep stealer.  But I do plant delicious grass."




Thanks to Waterbrook/Multnomah for the complimentary review copy!

Under the Dome, by Stephen King

It's been a good 20 years or more since I've read anything by Stephen King.  His 2009 book Under the Dome reminded me why he's one of the best-selling authors around.  Some might look at Under the Dome's 1000+ pages and scoff that no novel should be that long, or be put off by the length.  It is long, but I don't think there's a wasted page.  There's a huge cast of characters; King skillfully weaves their stories together into a cohesive, compelling story of a town trapped under a mysterious dome.

One of King's trademark themes is exposing the evil that people are capable of given the right conditions.  When the small town of Chesters Mill, Maine, suddenly comes to be enclosed by a force field of some kind, physically isolating the town from the rest of the world, the character of the townspeople is tested.  Selectman Jim Rennie had always viewed the town as his little fiefdom.  Being trapped inside the dome opened up the opportunity for him to become a vicious tyrant, willing to kill in order to gain and maintain control.  As he builds his personal army and orchestrates events to deepen his powerful hold on the people of Chesters Mill, we are reminded again and again that it could always be worse.

Another of King's trademarks is gore.  Under the Dome is not thematically a gore-fest; there are no mad dogs, possessed cars, or deranged hotel caretakers on a killing spree.  But when someone does die, King makes sure we get a detailed, colorful picture in our minds of brains splattered on the wall, blood spilled on the floor, eyeballs hanging out, people frying like they're on a barbecue.

I enjoyed Under the Dome thoroughly.  I could hardly put it down.  But I do have a beef with King's treatment of Christians.  I don't remember his animosity toward Christians showing up in other books (but like I said, it's been a couple of decades).  Big Jim, the town tyrant, is a Bible toting, scripture quoting guy.  He does not use bad language and insists on "getting knee-bound" to seek God's guidance.  Yet he has no qualms about killing people who get in his way, including his pastor.  He manipulates people, frames people for his own crimes, rules the town with an iron fist, and runs an illegal drug operation out of the Christian radio station.  The other major Christian figure is the female pastor of the Congregational church, who, by the way, doesn't believe in God.  I know it's only fiction, but what is King's problem with Christians?

King is a great story teller, with great insights into the stark divide between good and evil.  Spend some time under the dome getting to know the people of Chesters Mill.  You'll be glad you did.

Andrew's Gift and the Untold Miracles in Bethlehem, by D. Marietta Williams

Just in time for Christmas, here's a novelization of the Christmas story that will warm your heart, make you smile, and may get you to believe that Ms. Williams had a front-row seat to the events of the first Christmas!  Andrew's Gift and the Untold Miracles in Bethlehem, told primarily from the perspective of  the son of a certain Bethlehem innkeeper, beautifully fleshes out the gospel accounts.

I don't know about you, but for me it's easy to picture Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men, as wooden figures, only there to play their part in the incarnation.  Williams knows that each of those players has a backstory, a personality, and a life of his or her own, and she's determined to bring them to life.  In Andrew's Gift, we meet each of them for the first time.  We see in Mary's loving personality why God might have chosen her to bear and raise our savior.  We see in Joseph's patient, protective nature why he would be a suitable earthly father for Jesus.  We learn what a radical departure from tradition led the wise men to Bethlehem, and what risks they faced to go there.  We learn the origin of the first carved wooden manger scene.  We even meet the family of one of Jesus' first disciples!

Williams certainly uses creative license--lots of it, to be frank--but she does so with reverence.  Her love and appreciation of the biblical account of Jesus' birth, while highly speculative at times, never wanders close to blasphemy or disrespect.  She brings alive the people and setting around the birth of Jesus in a memorable, creative way.  Pick it up and get ready for Christmas!



Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

  

Chicken with Plums, by Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi gained attention with her autobiographical graphic novels, Persepolis and Persepolis 2.  These stories, based on her childhood in Tehran in the 1970s and 1980s, gained critical acclaim and led to an award-winning film adaptation.  In Chicken with Plums, she turns from autobiography to biography, telling the story of her great uncle, Nasser Ali Khan. 

Nasser was a renowned Iranian tar (a Persian stringed instrument, like a lute) player whose music was his life.  In a heated argument, his jealous wife destroys his tar.  When he can't find a suitable replacement, he despairs unto death.  As the days pass, Nasser loses more and more of his will to live, while reflecting on some good memories from his life.

Satrapi tells the story with sensitivity and humor, but it did not move me like perhaps it should have.  Ultimately I was not moved, and not terribly impressed with the stark, minimalist black and white presentation.  I was left with the feeling that Chicken with Plums was an admirable labor of love by Satrapi, who wanted to honor the memory of her great uncle.  Chicken with Plums is worth a look for Satrapi fans, and for fans of graphic novels, but the general audience, me included, can probably take it or leave it.

A sample page:

Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent, by Fred Burton

Jack Bauer, step aside.  Mitch Rapp, sit down.  Make way for Fred Burton; he's the real deal.  Books, TV shows, and movies about the fight against terrorism fill the shelves and airwaves, but none can hold a candle to the Fred Burton's experiences.  As he tells the story in Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent, Burton joined the counterterrorism division of the Diplomatic Security Service in the mid-1980s.  This small office of 3 men, stuck in a basement, served as the clearing house for the fight against terrorism.

Attention terrorists: don't mess with this guy.

Burton puts the reader in a front-row seat, as he gives his account of such events as the Beruit hostage crisis, the Iran-Contra scandal, the hunt for the first World Trade Center bombers, and the plane bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.  (Interesting side note for Vince Flynn readers: you will recall that Mitch Rapp was inspired to make a career of fighting terror as a result of the Lockerbie bombing.  His girlfriend was on the flight with a group of Syracuse University students.  I didn't realize that there actually was a Syracuse group on the flight.  Burton describes the pain of interacting with the families of the victims, and may share some of Rapp's desire for revenge.)  Burton's accounts are pretty low-key compared to fictional accounts, but his matter-of-fact style adds to the intensity.  I found myself stopping and recalling what I could of the news coverage of those events, and reflecting on how little the public knew about what all was going on, and how intense these crises are for someone like Burton, whether he's on the front lines or behind the scenes.

Burton left me with the unnerving impression that the world is far more dangerous than it seems.  He's now an analyst for Stratfor, a private intelligence firm.  Ghost shows the growth of the role of counterterrorism intelligence, from the 1980s to 9/11, presenting a convincing case that the world needs people like Fred Burton, Jack Bauer, and Mitch Rapp.  Burton did not wear a military uniform, but his efforts, and the efforts of his colleagues, do as much to preserve the safety and security of Americans as anyone in the armed forces.  A very interesting read.

Notes from the Underground, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

With this review, I'll probably reveal myself to be an unthinking boob, but I have to be honest.  I didn't particularly enjoy Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground.  The writing is sometimes brilliant, the language (in translation, of course) is compelling at times, and the depth of the main character is occasionally intriguing.  But the story, well, there really is no story.  I am such a simple-minded reader of fiction that I like to see some semblance of a plot thread.  I enjoy seeing the transformation of a character or the resolution of the problem.  But I didn't see that here.

The novel, if we can call it that, is a rambling, first-person, account of an embittered, self-loathing civil servant.  His self-loathing leads him to, seemingly intentionally, attempt to make the lives of others miserable.  The first portion of the book, about a third, is his own reflection on misery.  It's not until almost halfway through that anything actually happens, when he becomes obsessed with an officer who refuses to give way when they pass on the street.  He then imposes himself uninvited on a social gathering of acquaintances, who clearly despise him (and whose antipathy the narrator seems to relish). He leaves them for a brothel, where he convinces the prostitute to leave her life there and come to him.  But when she does, he turns her away, continuing to spread his misery around.

I'm no Dostoyevsky scholar (obviously), but I know some of his other works are much better than this. It's almost as if he decided to try something new and experimental, which, arguably, he did.  Notes was first published in 1864, and can be seen as a precursor to the existentialism which gained wider readership in the works of Camus and Sartre (but those two writers actually told stories).

In the last paragraph, the narrator writes, "Why, to tell long stories, showing how I have spoiled my life through morally rotting in my corner, through lack of fitting environment, through divorce from real life, and rankling spite in my underground world, would certainly not be interesting. . . ."  Amen to that.  Not interesting, indeed.  Call me ignorant, call me stupid, call me obtuse, just don't call me to read this boring, depressing book again.

The Last Man, by Vince Flynn

Readers of The Reading Glutton have heard me gush about Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp novels.  Mitch Rapp is a hard-core agent, the kind of agent Jack Bauer tries to be, and the kind of man you definitely want to have on your side.  As we read in Flynn's newest Rapp novel, The Last Man, Mitch Rapp is the last man you want to come after you if he's not on your side!

Flynn's two prior novels, American Assassin and Kill Shot, took readers back to the Rapp's roots, setting up the background for Rapp's career and solidifying the reputation he comes into in the first novel (third chronologically), Transfer of Power.  The Last Man takes place at the end of the series, following Pursuit of Honor.  Not only does it bring us up to date with Rapp, it brings us right up to date with today's headlines.

Rapp is called in to assist with the investigation of the disappearance of a deep-cover operative in Afghanistan.  His disappearance gets the attention of the CIA due to their fear that, if the secrets in this one agent's head were revealed, many agents in the field would be compromised.  The whole thing seems fishy to Rapp from the start, and as he continues his investigation, he is targeted by an assassin and gets in the middle of an intragovernmental mess.  But true to what we know of Rapp, he overcomes injuries and setbacks and doggedly pursues truth and justice.

Flynn doesn't disappoint with his detailed fighting action, believable political intrigue, and plot twists to keep the reader guessing.  I can relate to Rapp's intolerance for terrorist coddling, and his frustration with bureaucratic garbage.  Sure, he makes rash decisions, but he's always right in the end.

Fans of Mitch Rapp will be delighted by The Last Man.  Readers who have never read Flynn's books will love it and will want to go back to the beginning to read them all.  All will wish and hope that the USA has someone like Rapp to call on when we need him.



Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!