Issue No. 424 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting asks, “In the next decade, what’s your plan for growing and enriching your walk with God?” Here are some daily, weekly, and monthly spiritual growth resources. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and check out this website for recent book reviews. Plus, coming this week—watch for my 2019 Book-of-the-Year pick.
2020 PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH
In the introduction to The Message: Solo—An Uncommon Devotional, the editors describe the classic devotional method of lectio divina (reading, thinking, praying, and living Scripture) as “more Bible basking than Bible study.”
“But it’s not easy,” they add. “Lectio divina takes practice, and lots of it. You will have to learn to be quiet, to silence the voices of responsibility, self, family, and even religion in order to hear what God has to say to you.” (Yikes! “Responsibility” is one of my top-5 Gallup strengths!)
“Try not to view the elements of lectio divina as steps to be checked off your to-do list,” the editors add. But what if…”…no lightning strikes or brilliant revelations” come? “Sometimes devotion means just sitting in the presence of God.”
In Issue No. 423, I recommended several leadership growth books for 2020. Now in this issue, I’m suggesting some options for personal and spiritual growth books for 2020.
Over the decades, I’ve discovered that one size doesn’t fit all—and one spiritual growth practice doesn’t fit all. About every five years, I move on to another approach—in order to keep my walk with God fresh. Lifelong learning, after all, is about authentic living—not just learning. (See John Ortberg’s thoughts below on this.)
52 WEEKS
Silencio: Reflective Practices for Nurturing Your Soul, Stephen A. Macchia, Editor (Order from Amazon)
• This hot-off-the-press and slow-you-down 52-week resource is from the Leadership Transformations Ministry Team, led by Stephen A. Macchia, who practices what he preaches.
• It follows the lectio divina method (read, think, pray, live) and each week includes commentary, a hymn, reflection questions, and spiritual practices.
• John French, the writer for Chapter 1, tells about a friend: “He had read the Bible all his life; sometimes the text was full of life and challenge. Recently, however, his devotional life was more mechanical, simply going through the motions. Here was a serious Christian going through a dry spell. Deciding to read through the Bible in a year, at breakneck speed, he completed his assignment … but he sensed very little of the voice of God in his life.”
• If the above might be your story, you’ll appreciate Silencio.
365 DAYS
Trust for Today: 365 Days of Encouragement – A Year With the Trueface Team (Order from Amazon)
• You’ll chuckle when you read the short, one-page devotional thought for February 24, “Do angels laugh when we say something funny?” and “In heaven, will we be able to make God laugh?”
• Spoiler Alert! I’d buy the book just for the one-page story (May 29) about Dr. Rosscup’s response to a harried seminarian’s request for a one-day extension on a final paper. (The prof finished the paper for his student! On time!)
• I’ve reviewed numerous books by the Trueface Team (their best: The Cure). Maybe start 2020 by re-reading The Cure.
13 MONTHS OR 13 WEEKS
Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry (Expanded Edition, 2018), by Ruth Haley Barton (Order from Amazon) – Click here for the 10-hour audio version from Libro.fm
• This expanded edition includes a foreword by Gary Haugen, Founder and CEO of International Justice Mission. He writes:
“…imagine with me for a moment, a staff of high-performing lawyers, criminal investigators, social workers and professionals in Washington, D.C., and offices across the developing world, rushing into the office to begin their day, faced with the task of fighting slavery, human trafficking, police abuse, and other forms of violent oppression. As these staff arrive at their desks, their first order of business is to stop. All phones are off. Laptops closed. No email. No meetings. Just silence. Solitude. Stillness. For thirty minutes.”
• In 2004, Haugen gave every staff member two gifts: a blank leather journal with the words “8:30 Stillness” embossed on the cover and a book by Ruth Haley Barton.
• In the Afterword of the book, Leighton Ford, author and pillar confesses, “I read here things that both sting and sing…”
• I named this my 2009 book-of-the-year and in 2020 I will re-read this convicting travelogue on the life of Moses. I’m taking 13 months for the 13 chapters. The chapters are way too meaty to digest in a week. In 2009, Don Parrott, then president of The Finishers Project, encouraged me to read this book—yet with a warning. “After you read it, you’ll need to get away for some solitude to deal with it.” I agree.
• And I double dare you! Answer the 17 assessment questions for leaders, “How Is It With Your Soul?” on pages 241-244.
30 DAYS OR 30 STAFF MEETINGS
Leadership Prayers, by Richard Kriegbaum (Order from Amazon)
• Richard Kriegbaum served and survived as a university president and thus gives us 30 powerful prayers on leadership (Identity, Values, Action, Delegation, Loss, Weariness, Planning, Courage, Marketing, Failure, Budget, Anger, Board, Intuition and 16 more). In his praying, the “board” prayer follows the “anger” prayer. Hmmm.
• Each prayer is two pages, followed by a one-page “reflection.” When is the last time you talked to your Heavenly Father about the Delegation Bucket? His key insight: “The highest form of delegating is to lay the leadership mantle on key people for particular goals and then follow their lead.”
• When I read it, I asked myself: What are five to 10 leadership topics, issues or concerns that, maybe, I’ve never, ever prayed about? (Read my review.)
• But beware! “By their nature, these prayers live only when they are internalized; they have power only when they are applied to real-life challenges. Skimming over them to get the main ideas will mean little because this is not a nifty new management technique.”
31 MORNINGS & 31 EVENINGS
A Diary of Private Prayer: A Devotional Classic, by John Baillie (Order from Amazon)
• Where do I start? I received this deeply encouraging devotional book in 1988 and rarely missed reading the 31 morning prayers, one per day, for 12 years until it was stolen, along with my laptop. (Maybe the thief is still reading it?)
• On the blank facing page to each prayer, I had recorded my travels by date and location, U.S. and worldwide. Combined with the poignant prayers by this Scottish Presbyterian professor, my road warrior diary was both nostalgic and meaningful.
• I bought my replacement prayer book in 2000—a hardback this time—and used it infrequently for a decade (so it wouldn’t become stale), but now I read it online often (click here for free access).
• I’ve gifted this special book to dozens of appreciative friends—and it’s one of 10 books on my “ideal bookshelf” (click here for my list).
DIG DEEP & GO SLOW: 3 More Resources
#1. Steward Leader Meditations: Fifty Devotions for the Leadership Journey, by R. Scott Rodin (Order from Amazon)
• For your next 50 staff meetings! Read my review.
#2. Knowing God, by J.I. Packer (Order from Amazon)
• 22 chapters/22 months! Read my review.
• 10-hour audio version (Order from Libro.fm)
#3. THE ONE YEAR BIBLE OPTIONS (15 minutes per day):
• The One Year Bible NLT (Order from Amazon)
• The Daily Message: Through the Bible in One Year, by Eugene H. Peterson (Order from Amazon)
• 73-hour audio version of The Holy Bible (HCSB) - (Order from Libro.fm)
• Reminder from Silencio: “Deciding to read through the Bible in a year, at breakneck speed, he completed his assignment … but he sensed very little of the voice of God in his life.”
2020 SELF-GUIDED GROWTH
Amazon Gift Card (Order from Amazon)
• Some team members (or family members) may favor picking their own books—based on their season of life. If so…an Amazon gift card is perfect!
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John Ortberg on Training vs. Trying
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
One of the big ideas in the Systems Bucket, Chapter 18, in Mastering the Management Buckets is “Ready! Fire! Aim! Resist the urge to tinker endlessly to perfect the flawless system. Perfection is not the goal.” This big idea also applies to personal and spiritual development.
In the footsteps of Richard Foster (Celebration of Discipline) and Dallas Willard (The Spirit of the Disciplines), John Ortberg wrote The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People more than 20 years ago. His humor and his plain-spoken practical theology shine through and it remains one of my favorite books. (He joked about calling the book, “Dallas for Dummies.”)
Read the third chapter for his core message, “There is an immense difference between training to do something and trying to do something.” He adds, “Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely.” Example: A New Year’s resolution to pray more every day may accomplish little if it doesn’t lead to being a more God-honoring person.
He warns do-gooders that God is not impressed with the activity of training. “Spiritual disciplines are to life what calisthenics are to a game. Once the game starts, basketball players get no bonus points based on how many free throws they shot in practice. The only reason to practice them is to be able to make them in a game.”
As you inspire your team in 2020, focus on results not activity. As you pray and practice spiritual disciplines this year, remember that those activities are not ways to get extra credit from God. If you and I are not becoming more loving and more caring, our “practice time” is worth little.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you leveraging the extraordinary power of visual media to inspire your members, clients, or customers? Check out the innovative work from Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video), including the new book by Jason Pearson and Doug Fields, This. Customizable Journal: 52 Ways to Share Your World With Those You Love. (Read John’s review here.)
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