Reflective Musings

Logos Bible Software has been a staple part of my study diet for years now. Being multi-vocational, I have an appreciation for the efficiency of research that I can achieve with this power software, and given that it is now cross-platform, with full desktop features on Mac and Windows, and great basic access on mobile and web, I can truly study and prepare anywhere, anytime.

As the company has grown, they’ve begun to branch out. Whilst previously they were focused on digitizing and indexing existing publications, and providing tools to aid in study and research, the creation of the Lexham division offered a hint of the new direction. With Lexham, a literal translation of the Bible, assorted original language tools and a growing series of “High Definition” texts and commentaries have been released.

Next came the “Faithlife Study Bible” and its associated resources (photos, videos, the Lexham Bible Dictionary etc.) which provides a dynamic and growing study bible that works alongside your preferred translation of the Bible, links to other resources, and grows in content over time as scholars and pastors add more material to the commentary and dictionaries.

But Logos is not finished in its quest to assist the church in better and more study of the Bible. Having tackled academic and study Bible materials, they are now pursuing a new line of teaching and small group resources. These study sets will each follow one person of the Bible, and through their own narrative, provide a framework to know God better, to apply the Bible to our lives, and to do this in community.

I was given the opportunity to review the first of these releases, Abraham: Following God’s Promise. The full curriculum kit adds three resources to your Logos library, and can be accessed through Logos or Faithlife. There is the Personal Study Guide, the Leader’s Guide and the video collection.

The Personal Study Guide is available separately and provides a chapter for each module, with associated graphics and study questions. Through the course of eight weeks, the student encounters matters of faith, promise and God’s faithfulness. Each chapter spends time introducing the topic and narrative of Abraham’s life, dives into the Bible for further instruction on the theme, and then goes “Beyond the Bible” to bring insights from extra-Biblical historical sources. Each week ends with application and Further Reading suggestions. It’s a solid pattern of exposition and hermeneutic that not only serves to walk us through the life of a patriarch and draw out principles that are instructive and illuminating for us today, but also trains us to apply this same study method to our other readings of the Scriptures.

But wait, there’s more…

In line with the heart to support pastors, scholars, teachers and students, Logos has developed teaching material that is packaged in the Leader’s Guide which splits the material into two formats – Small Group Resources and Sermon Resources.

As the names suggest, the first provides a framework for the 8 chapters that is designed for teaching and discussion groups. There are high-quality slides, and introductory videos for each chapter. Teaching points, discussion sections and media resources offer a great base from which leaders can operate to contextualize the content. The guides are not designed to be read aloud with your head buried in the book, but instead do the legwork and leave you, the leader, to prayerfully consider the way to engage your own people with the content.

Personally, I prefer the Small Group Resource format and would be unlikely to use the Sermon Resource structure (which takes the same 8 chapters and offers ways to teach the material in a sermon setting instead). It’s not that the material isn’t good, or useful, but I prefer the work of preparing a sermon from a text myself. But for those who find their life situation doesn’t provide them the opportunity this week to adequately prepare, or if a last-minute substitute is needed, this could be a helpful resource.

Overall, the quality is high, the options for usage are varied and things are looking good as Logos moves forward innovating in the field of Bible study and technology.

Authority is a brand new release from Jamie Munson. Having rebranded Money, first released on Re:Lit during his time pastoring at Mars Hill Church, Seattle, Authority is the second in the series of three books coming out. Releasing exclusively as an ebook, Munson has packed a lot of thought and life into the short book. 33 pages might sound like a mere chapter to many people, but Munson wrote the book for people like himself (those who don’t like long books) and hasn’t wasted his words.

This results in dense ideas crafted with accessibility to provide the most punch and greatest value. Gold doesn’t need to be in vast quantities to be valuable and to shine.

The subject matter is pertinent for today’s society, where the individual rules, the societal structures are always questioned, and the word ‘submission’ is equivalent to a cuss word. Beginning with the theological grounds, Munson shows how authority and submission are built into the relational nature of the trinity, what this means for us made in his image, how we should and shouldn’t wield authority, and the ways we submit to authority. He also does a great job of showing the inherent goodness of authority/submission when practiced correctly.

“Authority equals responsibility. Those of us who are leaders have responsibility, which means we have the opportunity to respond faithfully and steward what we are given for God’s glory. We are entrusted with the blessing of authority in order to be a blessing to our people.”

Get that? Authority is means of blessing for the people we lead in serving.

Since almost everyone is both in authority and under authority, this book isn’t just for people who lead churches or organizations. There is a lot of work done in understanding the various types of authority and how we should relate to people in authority.

“Understanding the authority framework someone is operating from allows you to speak their language and know where they are coming from.”

I think Authority is a great resource for individuals and teams to work through, finding both correction and encouragement within its pages.

I received a copy of the Authority ebook in pdf for review. No effort was made to coerce a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper are both founding pastors of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky. They just released Faithmapping through Crossway as “a gospel atlas for your spiritual journey.” Now, I think many people are becoming a touch skeptical of the amount of “gospel” books hitting the market, and a “gospel atlas” might sound too hipster for many people. But passing over this book could be a huge loss for you, the community you live and work in, and the church you lead (if you’re a pastor). The book exists because of the felt need of the pastors who wrote it – there are too many niche “gospel” books that try to present one facet of the Christian faith as being the important one we must focus on, when the reality is a much deeper and wider existence. Faithmapping is a book of old ways rediscovered, and the stories of how these areas work out in the life of a fast-growing church and church network.

The book is broken into three main sections (Whole Gospel, Whole Church, Whole World) and works from theological foundation, through ecclesiological community, and out into mission and world presence. The book crackles with lively prose, cultural awareness, and a faithfulness to Scripture, Jesus and his church. Each chapter is a contained idea, much like the cities on a map exist in their own right, but also have relation to the surrounding areas. So each section can be read as a guide depending on your current need or interest (the gospel of the cross, or our identity as worshipers, or the reality that we are servants), or it can be read cover to cover to provide a full banquet of foundation, implementation and practice. The chapters all end with a “map it” section to help you review the material covered and begin processing it within your local context.

Finally, since this is like a big overview road map of the various parts of our journey as the church and as Christians, the authors have supplemented the already solid footnotes and references with a recommended reading section. Each chapter has between three and five other books that focus on the particular area, offering more opportunities to consider the riches of Christ, his work, his bride and her mission.

I highly recommend this book. It’s a remarkably well written work, useful and encouraging, and will serve leaders and teams very well as they either survey their current “map” or get their bearings if they have found themselves turned around and upside down.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher at no charge for participation in their blog review program. No effort was made to coerce a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.

As my feet scrambled over icy roads this morning, I deviated from my Podcast plan and listened to one of my favorite albums of 2011. Manchester Orchestra released Simple Math in May, 2011 and whilst some long-term fans were not so won over, I was blown away by the music, lyrics and honesty of the recording. This morning, I sank back into the tones, transparency and tension and as I listened to the progression of thought in the title track, I rested in the last line.

Simple math, the truth cannot be fractioned

I imply I’ve got to get it back then

I’m still not clear on what Andy Hull, the songwriter, was driving at personally, but it sent my brain down a trail thinking about the primacy of God, the gospel, truth and other interrelated things. And there I settled on the understanding that you cannot part and parcel the person of God. You cannot pick and choose, fractioning the ways and nature of God as revealed in the Bible. Either he is or he isn’t, but he’s not a portion. If truth must be fractioned to be true, then it’s not real. And that got me thinking about prime numbers.

Prime numbers are only divisible by themselves or one. They cannot be divided into other fractions. The number one – the Lord our God is one. The number three – the holy trinity, three in one. I was delighted by this simple math, this primacy of God, and the understanding that you have to take him all. If you’ve lost a part, do not settle to limp on by, because without that fraction you do not have truth. Get it back.

My schedule has been switched up a little this week, but I’ve been able to get out and run, despite the snow. It is apparent to me that running in snow slows you down. Still, that gave me time to finish listening to another Andy Stanley podcast. I love it when I find a new voice who helps me think and see things differently, either because they’re so much further on than me, or coming from a different perspective entirely. Even if you disagree with them in some areas, listening to strong leaders outside your own expertise, discipline or culture will challenge you to think deeper and more broadly. The habit also leaves lots of room for unexpected challenge and conviction.

But most significantly, this new habit is causing me to grow in areas separate than the ones addressed specifically by the podcasts. Just like my running has increased my lung capacity, stamina and overall health, resulting in better rest, more energy and less fatigue when I lead on Sunday, or wrestle with my kids, or take several trips up and down stairs, the result of engaging content and reflecting on it pays off with better capacity in other particulars.

Consider someone who has a horrible time reading technical literature. They complain that their brain fades out, they take far too long reading, confusion sets in between paragraphs three and four, and amid general disheartening, they stop trying to read at that level. Is the answer to determine you’re not a reader? Or is there a better way? I’d suggest start reading non-technical stuff. Read fiction. Read lengthy articles, whether on sports, hobbies, politics, cooking; the particular is not important at this point. You’re working on capacity instead. If you commit to being a better reader at the level you can sustain, then you’ll find your capacity has increased to make the particular of technical reading feasible (and even enjoyable!).

Having spent more time thinking through issues raised in podcasts, even when those issues don’t directly correlate to my own situation, my capacity for critical thinking and communication has increased in my own particulars.

Where do you need to increase capacity, and what’s your plan to do so?

What particulars are frustrating you right now, and can you identify the core skills you need to improve to get better results?