Through My Eyes (book review)

August 22, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Tebowmania has spread beyond the University of Florida, and even beyond the NFL, as Tim Tebow has captured the attention of so many around the world. Like me, you’ve probably heard way too many “talking heads” on TV or radio, or read countless reporters and bloggers, explain what makes Tebow tick. Here’s a better way to find out: Read Tim Tebow’s own words in Through My Eyes.

I’m a Tim Tebow fan, so I realize my opinion of his book might be slightly biased. I love this man’s work ethic, competitive fire, leadership abilities, and Christian testimony. But the question is: where did all of this come from?

In reading Through My Eyes you will learn about his tight-knit family who gave Tim a great foundation upon which to grow. You’ll see the inborn competitive spirit become more and more laser-focused on helping Tim accomplish what he believes is God’s plan for his life. You’ll relive the build up to the big games, the behind the scenes struggles and challenges, and how Tim responded to the wins and the losses.

Instead of letting others tell you what they think makes Tebow tick, find out for yourself as you see this outstanding athlete’s world through his eyes.

By the way, my 12-year-old son and I read this book together, and I found it to be a great conversation-starter for many of the issues he will face in his future. I could envision this book being used in a men’s Bible study or small group discussion, or even in a mentoring role.

An excellent memoir that was very well written.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , . 2 Comments »

Could You Be A Missionary?

August 22, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

When I say missionary, what images come to your mind?

  • …a remote wilderness?
  • …a third-world country?
  • …asking churches and friends to support you financially?
  • …packing up to leave your home for years at a time?
  • …learning a new language?

Yes, many of our missionaries do all of these things. But if this is your only concept of missions, you’ve missed something important.

When Jesus told His followers that they would go out as witnesses (missionaries) for Him, He began with—

…you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem… (Acts 1:8)

The first place He sent them was to Jerusalem.

  • This was a missions opportunity right in their neighborhood.
  • They already knew the culture.
  • They already knew the language.
  • They didn’t have to pack up and leave their family behind.

Missions is not always far away. Sometimes it’s in your own neighborhood!

In Cedar Springs, I love the partnerships that the Cedar Springs Ministerial Association has helped foster, and the opportunities for local missions work that have been presented. One of our ongoing projects is providing weekend food for students who may be struggling to have enough over the weekend. It is a program called Hand2Hand. We are always looking for volunteers (missionaries!) who can work, collect food, or donate funds to help.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , . 2 Comments »

Organizational Health

August 22, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I’m still working through the pages of notes I took during the Willow Creek Leadership Summit a couple of weeks ago. Another speak whom I really appreciated was Patrick Lencioni. I’ve read many of his books, and I think he has such a knack for explaining business principles in a way that seem so easy to process and apply.

Patrick talked about the two needed ingredients for organizational success: things that are smart and things that are healthy. He said that most of the time we cannot do the smart things because we are not healthy enough to do them.

So, how do we make our organization healthy? Here are four disciplines he encouraged us to pursue:

1.  Build and maintain a cohesive team at the top. [This is behavioral alignment.]

2.  Create clarity by asking these questions:

  • Why do we exist? [core purpose]
  • How do we behave? [core values]

These need to be core values, not our aspirational values.

There should only be one or two endemic values.

Core values are those that we will stick to even if we don’t get rewarded for it.

  • What do we actually do?
  • How will we succeed? [strategy]

These are the myriad of intentional decisions we make that help us be successful.

As an example, consider the three strategic anchors for Southwest Airlines: (1) make the customer happy; (2) keep the plane on time; (3) keep fares low.

  • What is most important in our organization right now?
  • Who must do what?

3.  Over-communicate the answer to the above six questions. I love this: Patrick said, “If your people cannot do a good impression of you, you’re not communicating enough.”

4.  Reinforce the system through creative ideas.

The bottom line: “Organizational health provides significant advantages for organizational success.”

I’m working on the application of these thoughts for the organizations I help lead, and I’m really excited to encourage some conversations around these great thoughts from Patrick Lencioni.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

9 Quotes From “Praying Circles Around Your Children”

August 21, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Attention parents and grandparents: You need to read Praying Circles Around Your Children! To help whet your appetite, here are nine quotes from this outstanding book by Mark Batterson (you can read my full review here) that caught my heart:

“Make sure your heavenly Father hears about your kids daily!”

“You’ll never be a perfect parent, but you can be a praying parent. Prayer is your highest privilege as a parent. …Prayer turns ordinary parents into prophets who shape the destinies of their children, grandchildren, and every generation that follows. …Your prayers for your children are the greatest legacy you can leave.” 

“We instinctively attach an ASAP to every prayer and ask God to answer as soon as possible. We need a paradigm shift. We need to start praying ALAT prayers—as long as it takes.”

“Please listen to me, parents: you are prophets to your children. Jewish philosophers did not believe the prophetic gift was reserved for a few select individuals. They believed that becoming a prophetic was the crowning point of mental and spiritual development. It was the natural by-product of spiritual development. It was the natural by-product of spiritual development. The more one grows in grace, the more prophetic one becomes. This doesn’t mean you will start predicting the future. It means you’ll start creating it. How? Through your prayers! Prayer is the way we write the future. It’s the difference between letting things happen and making things happen.” 

“One of your chief responsibilities as a parent is to be a student of your child.”

“Pray about what to pray about. …The purpose of prayer is not to outline our agenda for God; the purpose is to get into the presence of God and get God’s agenda for us.”

“One of our primary responsibilities as parents is helping our children identify their life themes. We need to help them find the sweet spot where their God-given gifts and God-ordained passions overlap.”

“Great parenting doesn’t just mean teaching your kids; it also means learning from them. Think of it as reverse mentoring.” 

“Your prayers will shape the destiny of your family for generations to come.”

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , . 2 Comments »

Counterculture

August 21, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

[koun-ter-kuhl-cher] noun the lifestyle of those people who reject or oppose the dominant values and behavior of society.

In Ephesians 4:17 Paul tells his audience “you must no longer live as the Gentiles do.” Okay, but his audience was made up of, um, Gentiles! Paul was not telling them to change their heredity, but to change their mindset.

He was asking them to live counterculture. 

If the Apostle Paul was writing to us in America today, no doubt he would tell us: you must no longer live as the Americans do.

Here is the Christian Counterculture:

  • Speak only what’s true
  • Deal with your anger quickly and productively
  • Have a strong work ethic
  • Only speak wholesome words
  • Please the Holy Spirit in all you do
  • Get rid of unbecoming behaviors
  • Be kind to everyone
  • Be compassionate toward everyone
  • Be forgiving of everyone
  • Imitate Christ
  • Remain sexually pure
  • Don’t be greedy
  • Don’t use obscenities
  • Be perpetually thankful

(You can find all of these in Ephesians 4:24-5:4.)

That’s a lot to work on! But as a Christian I want to exhibit a lifestyle that rejects the dominant values and behavior of American society.

With God’s help, I want to live counterculture.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , . 2 Comments »

Praying Circles Around Your Children (book review)

August 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Launching off his excellent book on prayer—The Circle Maker—Mark Batterson shares with parents and grandparents the incredible blessing of taking the initiative to pray for our children in Praying Circle Around Your Children.

Mark opens the book with these words:

“Make sure the heavenly Father hears about your kids daily! … You’ll never be a perfect parent, but you can be a praying parent. Prayer is your highest privilege as a parent.”

Just as The Circle Maker opened my eyes to new insights on prayer (you can read my review by clicking here), Praying Circles Around Your Children challenged me to step up into my privilege of being a prayerful Dad.

I loved the simple straightforward message in this book: Keep on praying for your kids.

  • Do you feel like you don’t know what to pray? Use the Scripture to help you find biblical promises to pray over your kids.
  • Do you feel like your prayers for your kids have been unanswered? Recommit to pray for them as long as it takes.
  • Do you feel like your prayers lack power? Find ways to pray with your kids where you keep them close, even laying your hands on them.
  • Do you feel like it’s too late to pray for your grown children or grandchildren? It’s never too late to talk to God about your (grand)kids.

This is a short book that you can easily read in one sitting, but the concepts you learn can be applied for the rest of your life.

I loved this book so much that I’m going to buy a copy for every family in my church. If you are a parent or grandparent, I cannot urge you strongly enough to pick up a copy of Praying Circles Around Your Children.

I am a Zondervan book reviewer.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , . 1 Comment »

Why Do You Read The Bible?

August 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Do you exercise? Why? What’s the purpose of all of your exercises? To get stronger? To last longer? To get or stay healthy? Yes! But to what end? Why do you want to be stronger, have greater endurance, or better health?

I could ask the same question regarding the spiritual realm: Why would you want to do a spiritual workout? To quote more Bible verses? To have more endurance in prayer? But why do you want to know more of the Bible, or pray better or longer?

Our goal should be simply this: To know God more intimately.

We have to be careful about being so focused on the workout that we miss the purpose (or should I say the Person). Andrew Murray wrote this:

“Christian! there is a terrible danger to which you stand exposed in your inner chamber. You are in danger of substituting Prayer and Bible Study for living fellowship with God, the living interchange of giving Him your love, your heart, and your life, and receiving from Him His love, His life, and His spirit. Your needs and their expression, your desire to pray humbly and earnestly and believingly, may so occupy you, that the light of His countenance and the joy of His love cannot enter you. Your Bible Study may so interest you, and so waken pleasing religious sentiment, that—yes—the very Word of God may become a substitute for God Himself, the greatest hindrance to fellowship because it keeps the soul occupied instead of leading it to God Himself.”

Our spiritual workouts should help us integrate God’s presence into our souls. He is not just someone that we know about; He is the One we know. The One we have let into our hearts. The One who is at the very center of our being. He is the CORE of who we are.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him. Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7 AMP)

Don’t lose sight of WHY you read the Bible, and respond in prayer; of why you glorify God and enjoy Him forever; of why you go through your spiritual workouts. You do all of this because Christ is in you, and you are in Christ, and you want to strengthen this core relationship, and let everything else that you do flow out from this core!

If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments »

Saint Augustine And My Prezi

August 19, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Several people have asked for some of the materials I shared this morning in our final installment of the P119 Spiritual Workout series.

Two quotes from Augustine—

“You stir us up to take delight in Your praise.”

“O Lord, my God, tell me what You are to me. Say to my soul, I am your salvation. Say it so that I can hear it. My heart is listening, Lord; open the ears of my heart and say to my soul, You are my salvation. Let me run toward this Voice and seize hold of You.”

And the link to the Prezi we used this morning can be found by clicking here.

I absolutely loved diving into Psalm 119 with my church! It’s a fascinating chapter, that I hope everyone will continue to use as their spiritual workout.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

Insights From Oswald Chambers On Sermon Preparation

August 17, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

When Oswald Chambers taught at the Bible Training College in London, he frequently presented his lectures in a short, bullet-point format to give his students something to ponder.

Here are some of the “bullet points” he shared for sermon preparation:

“The greatest thing is not to hunt for texts, but to live in the big comprehensive truth of the Bible and the texts will hunt you.”

“To talk about ‘getting a message,’ is a mistake. It is preparation of myself that is required more than of my message.”

“To develop your expression in public you must do a vast amount of writing in private. Write out your problems before God. Go directly to Him about everything.”

“The work we do in preparation is meant to get our minds into such order that they are the service of God for His inspiration.”

“Conscious inspiration is mercifully rare or we would make inspiration our god.”

“Spiritual insight is in accordance with the development of heart-purity.”

“Spiritual sloth must be the greatest grief to the Holy Ghost.”

“In order to expound a passage, live in it well beforehand. Keep yourself full with reading. Reading gives you a vocabulary. Don’t read to remember; read to realize.”

“Get moved by your message, and it will move others in a corresponding way.”

I found these very thought-provoking. What did you learn?

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

12 Quotes From “Greater”

August 16, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This is an excellent book! Here are a dozen quotes that especially caught my attention…

“Jesus isn’t calling us to be greater than He is. He’s calling us to be greater with Him through His Spirit within us.”

“Most believers aren’t in imminent danger of ruining their lives. They’re facing a danger that’s far greater: wasting them.” 

“I talked about how many believers are stuck in mediocrity because they settle for good enough. But I think, just as often, we miss out on what God wants to do through us because we listen to the voice of the enemy telling us, You’ll never be good enough. And God could never use someone with your weaknesses, hang-ups, secret struggles, and dysfunctions.”

“God doesn’t see you through eyes of disapproval or disappointment. His presence is not a sign of condemnation. It’s actually an invitation. God is present with you, through His Holy Spirit, because He intends to uproot you from the tyranny of the familiar, shatter the monotonous life you’ve had, and take you on an adventure.”

“You can’t expect God to entrust you with a big dream if He can’t trust you to make a small start. You can’t have the Apostle Paul’s walk with God overnight. Big dream. But you can pray ten minutes a day beginning tomorrow. Small start.”

“It’s not what we do for God. It’s what we say to God—yes or no.”

“I can’t tell you where the greater life will ultimately lead you, but I can tell you where it starts. It starts where you are. You have everything you need to do all that God is calling you to do right now.”

“We often excuse ourselves from God’s greater vision because we believe we don’t have enough for God to work with. …All God needs to take your life to a higher level is all you have.” 

“Instead of always praying, ‘God bless me with more,’ dare to pray, ‘God, use what I have. Take what little I have and make it overflow.’”

“I’m learning that I don’t have to put my unfulfilled dreams and unanswered prayers in the column labeled Wasted. I don’t have to write them off as losses at the end of each year. I can trust in the Lord with all my heart and not lean on my own understanding, because He’s my Trustee (see Proverbs 3:5). …If you don’t see the results you’re praying for and you’re praying in faith, then, according to God’s will, He must be putting your prayers in a trust fund. …Everyone experiences what seem to be unanswered prayers. But in God’s economy, no one’s faith is ever wasted. God is working on our behalf even when our prayers don’t seem to be working at all. Maybe one day we’ll see that the greatest setbacks in our lives were actually the greatest setups to seeing God’s glory in places we didn’t even know to look.”

“Greater isn’t an automatic, permanent position; it’s an intentional daily decision.”

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , . 6 Comments »
« Older posts
Newer posts »