But I admit that sometimes my man-brain has a hard time understanding the way that girls think. And as a dad, it’s especially challenging as I work to raise young godly women in a culture that, in so many ways, is geared against us.

In Greg Wright’s book, Daddy Dates: Four Daughters, One Clueless Dad, and His Quest to Win Their Hearts: The Road Map for Any Dad to Raise a Strong and Confident Daughter, I got a clear glimpse into the ways he has successfully navigated some of the turbulent waters ahead of me. This Austin native has four daughters and he’s passing on his wisdom to the rest of clueless dads. He says that our most important job as a husband and dad is to pursue the women in our family as long as we’re breathing.

It’s too easy to try to parent on auto-pilot. But Greg stresses the importance of winning our daughter’s hearts by being intentional through a strategy of having regular daddy-daughter dates, not just for the purpose of hanging out together, but to gain greater understanding into their hearts and to speak into their lives as they grow.

He offers some relational equations that are helpful:

1. Rules – Relationship = Rebellion
2. Relationship – Rules = Destruction
3. Relationship + Rules = Connection

And this one sums it up: Talk + Action + Time = Trust

While freely admitting his mistakes, Greg also seems to have done it right. This book gives me hope and encouragement as a dad. And I’m newly inspired to take being a dad to the next level. He gives insight into having good talks, ideas for great date nights, and guidelines for dealing with some of the particular struggles that our girls will face as they grow to maturity.

If you want to grow and learn how to better understand the girls in your family, I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book, available here.

I read the Kindle version provided to me by BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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I have been very interested in finding out what all the buzz surrounding David Platt’s best-seller “Radical” is all about. After hearing him teach some unconventional ideas at the Catalyst Conference in Dallas this year, I approached his newest offering “Radical Together” with some skepticism.

However, I found many concepts to applaud in the book. After all, it’s not enough to just get personally radical for Christ, we are called to follow Christ with others in the context of the local church. Each chapter is built around an apparent non sequitur or shocking statement in order to illicit a response from the reader. Noting the abundance of churches and resources in the US, he challenges us to give sacrificially to foreign missions. He calls us to think globally beyond our own borders. He asks how often do we settle for the good, instead of choosing God’s best? Platt skillfully describes the tightrope walk of faith and works and adds to our understanding of the meaning of grace. He emphasizes the centrality of prayer and the importance of adoption. He reminds us of the truth that God does not need us to further His kingdom, but He lovingly chooses to use us for His glory.

When Platt sets up a straw man through the stereotypical modern church, he veers off course. It seems Platt inherited all the trappings that go along with pastoring a wealthy mega-church. And it’s within this setting that he feels confident in criticizing the excess that has become a part of those churches. He imagines scores of pastors who’ve decided they would rather not use the Bible as the basis for their teaching. It’s just that those pastors aren’t in the churches I know of.

The extent of the vision that he says today’s leaders are calling us to is to dream about bigger buildings or how many people will attend in the future. Again, I can’t imagine the context that just dreaming of great music and a killer light show would go over in.

He really misses the mark when he tells of a talk with a mega-church pastor friend who is apparently sharp enough to pastor such a church, but is too ignorant to imagine doing things in the more traditional way that Platt espouses. Instead of trying to equip the people of the church for ministry, this pastor thinks the staff should do all the ministry. However, I’ve never heard one serious leader teach or demonstrate that ministry is to be done only by the “pros.” So, in the end, I am in complete agreement with Platt that building a healthy church depends on equipping the people for service. It’s just that it’s not as controversial of an idea as he seems to believe.

Overall, the book is a much-needed call to take big risks to do whatever we can to reach our world for Christ together, but it is marred by his need to set himself against other churches and pastors who he doesn’t think measure up to his radical call. In the interest of full disclosure, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group sent me this book for free for this review.

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Every endeavor, job, project, even relationship, has a dip, that place where moving forward gets difficult. That’s a good thing, because most people give up or go average when facing the dip.  So, you can be the best in whatever you are doing if you are willing to pay the price of the dip, simply because most people don’t.

Right now, I, along with all of us at The Connection Church, are faced with a serious dip, a challenge that separates the place of average from reaching our destiny. As we are getting into the toughest part of the new building, things are going to be harder before they get easier. The finances are tighter because the majority of our resources have already been invested. Many of those who’ve been working long hours on construction are getting tired or in some cases even sick.

But now is not the time to let up. It’s the time to press through, to keep advancing, to keep working, to step up our financial investments in this work. To make it through a dip, you have to ask, “Is it worth what it will take to make it through to the other side?” Without a doubt, 100%!!! Because, on the other side, is the place of incredible impact and life-change that God is calling us to. And, by God’s power, we will succeed, together.

What Dip are you facing right now? Press through to victory!

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Sticky Church

I just finished reading my first full ebook on the Kindle that Pam gave me for my birthday. I was amazed at how fast I was able to fly through this one and I’m not sure if it was due to the format or the content, but suffice it to say that Larry Osborne’s Sticky Church was paradigm shifting for me on many levels.

Larry Osborne pastors North Coast Church in Vista, California and has grown the church from 128 people in the early 80s to now over 7000 people.

He writes that while there are some churches that are very good at getting people to come through the front door, many of them are ineffective at helping people stick around long enough to develop fully devoted followers of Christ. Sticky Church focuses on the importance of closing the back door through an effective small group ministry. I think he’s onto something.

A lot of what we’re already doing was affirmed in this book, but there were so many ideas that I received from this book that I’m excited about putting them into practice this Fall. At The Connection Church, our purpose for Connection Groups has always been to help people connect with each other in authentic relationships. That will not change. But Osborne’s ideas have given me some tools to facilitate this happening on a larger scale.

Sticky Church offers time-tested principles for recruiting and training leaders as well as practical programming ideas for churches to take their groups to the next level. If you’re a small group leader in your church, let me encourage you to get your hands on this book. Good stuff!

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The Principle of the Path

Have you ever found yourself at a place you didn’t want to be and wonder how you got there?

Do you have hopes and dreams for your future, but you’re not sure what steps to take to get there?

Using real life examples and powerful truths from God’s Word, Andy Stanley’s The Principle of the Path is jam-packed with practical advice to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. If you read his similar offering, Best Question Ever, you’ll find this time, he takes it to a Whole ‘Notha Level! At the risk of offering TMI (spoiler warning), here’s the universal principle:

Direction – not intention – determines our destination.

Yes, it’s almost too simple to be true. But at its core, this single, overlooked reality has major implications for every area of our lives, including our career, relationships, finances, health, mental and spiritual life as well.

Using his unique style, Stanley transparently reveals the ways this principle has impacted his life and, in doing so, cuts through the excuses that we offer for the undesirable places we sometimes find ourselves in.

I loved the way Stanley tells the stories of David and Solomon to illustrate this principle. This made the heroes of our faith very identifiable and I found their ancient struggles not that different from my own.

In the end, I was very convicted for some of the priorities that I have been focused on and am motivated to make personal changes so that my path leads me to the destination that God has prepared for me.

The book also includes a helpful study guide that I’m looking forward to working through with my Connection Group.

I highly recommend you read The Principle of the Path and start applying it to your life now, the sooner the better.

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There are lots of things that I’m no good at. Really. In fact, if I were to begin to list them, they would fill the page. And no matter how hard I try, I’ll probably never be great at certain things, even things that I wish I could do. That’s okay. There are a few things that I’m very good at doing.

There are a lot of people wasting a lot of time and energy trying to excel at things they’ll never master. They try to shore up their weaknesses.

Why not instead be great at what you’re already good at? That’s one of the secrets to success. It’s about living the way you were made. You were designed to make a difference!

I am trying to learn to play to my strengths. The book StrengthsFinder 2.0 is a great tool to discover your design. Here’s what I found out about my personal top 5 strengths:

Belief: Believers have certain core values that don’t change. Out of these values comes a defined purpose for their life.

Maximizer: Maximizers focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something excellent.

Woo: Wooers love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over. They get satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with someone else.

Includer: Includers easily accept others. They’re aware of people who feel left out, and make an effort to include them.

Activator: Activators can make things happen by turning thoughts into action.

Do you know what you’re really good at? Then go for it!

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Tim is an influential church strategist, leader, Executive Pastor at Granger, and author. In fact, his Simply Strategic books with Tony were some of my go-to books when TCC was started. I have run into him at a few conferences, exchanged a few emails, and read his thoughts and ideas everyday. He’s given us an open window into the development of his new book Pop Goes the Culture since its inception.

The cool thing is, he’s chosen several leaders to read and review the manuscript and give their input on the book. (He just finished this draft yesterday.) And I now get to read it over the next couple of days. I can’t fill you in on the details until the book is officially released, but as a fan of pop culture and a lover of the church, I’m excited about this book and how it’s going to impact the church.

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