Book Review: Confessions Of A Bible Thumper

(Note: Leaders Are Readers. I am not sure who is credited with that statement, but it is absolutely true! In order to lead effectively, leaders must be informed and stay in tune with the topics that effect them. I will typically read 2-3 books at a time (you can follow me on Goodreads). I will periodically offer a book review when I feel it warrants a post. Other times I will post a review because I have received a free book and required to post a review. However, I am not required to give a favorable review. I will typically read what interests me, but I also enjoy being stretched to think about other opinions, perspectives, and lifestyles.)

Title: Confessions of a Bible Thumper

Author: Michael Camp

Description from the Book: A former evangelical's journey: What happens when a devout religious conservative examines his own evangelical tradition using the Socratic principle and follows where the evidence leads? Michael Camp's examination sent him on an illuminating spiritual adventure, a tenacious quest for a vibrant but reasoned faith in God. 

My Review: This is one of those books in which I knew that my views differed from the authors'. However, rather than allowing that knowledge to deter me from reading it, I was anxious to hear what this author had to say. As I began, it occurred to me rather quickly that our opinions and perception of Church, Christianity, and God have much to do with the context in which we grew up. He does a good job of setting up where he came from and how his journey has brought him to this point. I appreciate the openness of the author as he is blunt with his thoughts, feelings, and opinions towards the evangelical movement.

Admittingly, I was taken aback by the statements he would make about the evangelical movement, but over the course of the book I began to become more intrigued by his position and the claims he was making. I am not endorsing these claims, but this book has caused me to become more intentional with my own faith and to identify what I believe. Over the years, I have heard evangelical pastors and theologians make claims as if they are straight out of the gospel, but left me scratching my head because I didn't see the connection. 

Moreover, I began reading "Are You Sure You're Right" by Jerry A. Hickson as I was reading "Confessions..." Hickson's book shares the differences between the Church of God (Anderson, IN) movement, of which I belong, and the evangelical movement. Together these books have given me "permission" to seek what is truth and to bring into question the claims, theological position, and doctrine of what has been known as the evangelical movement.  In conclusion, while Camp's book can read like a personal journal, I recommend reading it if you are open to hearing a different perspective on the evangelical movement.

Overvalued or Underappreciated?

I am always intrigued in the offseason when free agency begins in professional sports. During free agency we hear about the value a player will bring to their new team or potential team. Or, we are told how terrible of a fit a player was to his former team. Take Steve Nash for example, in his move from Phoenix to Los Angeles, Phoenix felt that Nash, 38, is past his prime and not worth the money to resign him. However, for the Lakers, he is the perfect point guard to complement Koby Bryant, run their offense, and potentially bring the Lakers their 17th NBA Title. In light of winning the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, Indianapolis believed that Payton Manning, after sitting out an entire year due to multiple neck surgeries, was too much of a risk to resign. However, the Denver Broncos immediately snatched him up and believe that he is their golden ticket to the Super Bowl. 

How does this happen? How is one person a valuable commodity to an organization, but a liability to another? There is actually more than one answer to that question, but I want to focus on what I call the Law of Knowing Someone to Well, otherwise known as "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." Just as we do in our relationships, sports teams, as well as businesses and organizations, cannot help but to compare their players, employees, bosses, and co-workers with others. When we spend hours on end with someone we can tend to focus on their weaknesses, lack of skills, and deficiencies. When we focus too much attention on the negative, we begin to compare them with others who we don't spend the time, or can't spend the time, to identify those same characteristics. We only pick up on their strengths and see the characteristics we prefer. 

As leaders, it is important that we have a proper perspective on the skills, personality, and a right "fit" with our employees, co-workers, and family members. There is absolutely no one who can meet our full expectations. Just ask my wife! There will always be something that frustrates or bugs us about that person. If we are bringing a new employee on board, it is important to take the time and determine that they are the proper fit to the organization's culture. There are multiple tests that can help to determine personalities, strengths and weaknesses, communication skills, and more. Use them to learn as much as possible about a prospective employee.

We must also know and understand that the more time we spend with someone the more susceptible we are to take them for granted. We then begin to under appreciate them and the value they bring to the organization. We need to encourage often, specifically by communicating the value they bring. Contrary to popular belief, many employees are motivated more by knowing they are a valuable asset to the organization verses money. Take time to coach your employees at least quarterly if not more frequently. Help them to identify their goals and purpose within their job. Take the time to identify the positive character traits of your spouse and children and share with them how they can use them.  Spur them on to use their strengths. Don't take them for granted. Ultimately, keep it balanced between overvaluing and under appreciating those you work and live with. 

Articulate Your Vision

This past weekend I participated in our second annual Father/Son Trip. The twelve of us packed up the vehicles and headed north. We drove ATV's, hiked through the woods, fished in deep waters, ate fantastic food, and had great conversations. There were so many good things that came out of this trip that it is next to impossible to capture them all in one posting, so I will share with you the main idea of this group. 

The genesis of this group came about 2.5 years ago when I brought together a group of boys who were the same age as my son. These boys were going to be making some critical decisions as they navigated through high school and college. I wanted these guys to know and own the characteristics of manhood. I wanted these guys to have close friends and older men who to lean on through the years. I also knew that we had to bring them together beforehand to build trust and credibility. We began when the boys were 14 years of age and in the 8th grade. Now they are about to receive their drivers license and enter into a new world of responsibility. 


Along with having fun, my goal for this trip was to challenge the young men, along with their dads, to be intentional about their future. Each night, either before or after supper, we met for 1-2 hours to talk about vision, purpose, character traits, and life verses from the Bible. I didn't want to overwhelm them to the point of losing interest, so I made the exercises as simple as possible. Here is how it went down:

• The first night I challenged them with improving one character trait over the next year. Too often we attempt to improve ourselves in a variety of areas. However, it is usually in the area of productivity, diet, exercise, etc. How much better would we all be if we strived to improve our character! Likewise, we try to fix everything at once. Slow down... we have a lifetime to improve ourselves. Imagine the impact we could have if we improved just one area each year!

• The second night we started talking about vision and specifically keeping the "end in mind." For those familiar with Stephen Covey's book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." He challenges his readers to "begin with the end in mind." The boys came up with a time frame and context. Most of the boys wanted to cast a vision for the next 3-5 years as they graduated from high school and moved into college. I posed the question, "how do you want people to remember you when you graduate from high school?" 

• The third night we continued to talk about vision. As each person shared, I challenged them to think about another aspect.  Along with "begin with the end in mind", another component of a vision is to identify something broken that we are compelled or convicted to fix. Quite often we set out to do something that we thought was a good idea, but it never compelled or convicted us. If those pieces are missing then our vision will fail! I also challenged the guys to identify a Biblical passage that goes along with their vision that they would then memorize.

• The fourth and last night we identified action steps that would help them accomplish their vision. I gave the example of a football team. as the main vision, or purpose, is to score a touchdown or a field goal. They accomplish this by moving the ball down the field by gaining a few yards at a time combined with one or two big plays. It was important for the guys to come up with tangible, practical action steps that will help them move the ball down the field, a few yards at a time, and score!

By the end of our time together we all had a rough sketch of our vision and with potential action steps to complete it. Over the course of the next year we will continue to fine tune them during our monthly breakfast meetings. We will use these times to cheer one another on!

So you think you're an expert?

Without question, the radio station I listen to the most is our local ESPN Radio affiliate, 1380 AM. A few months ago our local FM radio station (106.7) announced that it's parent company was going to be a mirrored broadcast of the ESPN 1380 station. While it meant that our community would lose out on having a great local station, personally I was excited since the 1380 station would not always have a clear signal. The move to an FM station meant that I could listen to my sports station without any interruptions or static. However, the end result has been less than disappointing and borders on out right frustration! It has been more than a month since the transition and what has resulted is not what was advertised. Rather than broadcast the ESPN schedule they have introduced several new talk shows lead by local hosts. I have tried to give it some time thinking I will eventually enjoy it, but I don't think that will ever happen. 

Something happened last week that put me over the edge. While a local host was on vacation the voice of the fill-in host was familiar. After listening for a few more minutes it occurred to me that this was a disc jockey from  a classic rock station that was also owned by the same parent company. What in the world did this guy know about sports?!?!?! I also identified why this transition frustrated me and why I will probably never get over it. These people think they are experts in the world of sports simply because they have a radio platform. 

ESPN has the means to provide excellent and educated journalist, current and former professional players, owners, commissioners, and others who can provide expert opinion, information, and analysis. The most a classic rock disc jockey can provide is an opinion as a fan - not as an expert! How can someone host a sports radio show when they have never played a professional sport and have no education or background in sport's journalism? Have we come to the place where we will give anyone a platform just because they have an interest or an opinion on a subject? 

I oversee the local outreach and global missions ministries at County Line Church. I could read all the books, talk to every missionary, and do some research on the internet and none of that would give me a license to  become a missionary. I cannot speak as an expert on the subject until I have actually experienced living cross-culturally and have gone through the emotional, relational, and physical turmoil. 

As leaders, it is critical that we stay within our realm of expertise. We need to acknowledge the various areas in which we are not experts. More importantly, we need to network with and befriend those who are experts in those areas. This is one of the reasons why I visit our missionaries and learn about their ministry context. It would be irresponsible of me to speak into their life and ministry without knowing what they go through on a daily basis. 

Write Down Everything!

For many years, I was proud of the fact that I could remember what needed to be done and the order in which I had to do it. I could easily recall who I needed to call and who I was waiting on to return my call. I knew who I was meeting for the week and where. I knew what deadlines were coming up and what projects were due. I was able to keep all of this organized in my head. However, when I joined the staff at County Line Church the number of projects, meetings, and people I corresponded with increased at a level I could not keep up with using my current system, or lack there of. On my quest for a better system I was introduced to David Allen's book, "Getting Things Done." The concepts of the book is referred to as GTD (Getting Things Done). It changed how I approached my projects and drastically increased my level of productivity. While I don't want to summarize the entire book I do want to highlight a few important principles that can help you move in the right direction. 

The number one principle of GTD is to write everything done. Everything. At first I didn't understand the power of getting that thought, reminder, phone call, or project idea out of my head and on to a piece of paper. It will take some discipline and a few tools to get you moving in the right direction. However, when you finally get this principle down you will find yourself worrying less and having more confidence as you own your projects rather than allowing them to own you. Most importantly, you can then work on creating and producing rather than stressing and fretting over what you were supposed to do or who you were supposed to call. There is a lot of freedom when you write down EVERYTHING!

The next step is to put what you need to do in its proper context. As an example, I have 7 contexts in which I place my to do items. They are "Contacts", "Computer", "Office", "Waiting", "Agenda", "Errands", and "Appointments." The idea is that when you group your to-do's in the same context it will help you to stay focused on your list. This also helps to shrink your to do's down into a manageable workload. Rather than staring at everything I need to do, I can pull up my contact list and begin working in only that contexts. This will also help you to plan ahead and "schedule" yourself to complete your "office" or "computer" work. 

This is not a system for everyone and it really depends on your line of work. However, the beauty of GTD is that it gives you a framework that you can adapt to your own context. As I mentioned earlier, I have many projects going on at once and will have a minimum of 4-6 meetings in a week. I am constantly thinking of new projects that will enhance the mission of our church or for ways to improve what we are already doing. It is imperative that I can keep all of this organized in a way that everything continues to move down the field. If any of this peeks your interest in the least bit then I strongly encourage you to read it!