Imagine: A “Saturday Six-Pack” arriving on… wait for it… Saturday!
After two weeks of lateness and a week of absence, I’ve regained my position on the top of the pile!
Here’s your weekly fodder of faith, ministry, and who-knows-what tossed in!
If you need help starting, begin with my two *Picks of the Week*, and move from there.
For a steady stream of such links, follow me on Twitter ( @JasonBandura ) to the right of this post. Sharp quotes and solid articles are tweeted 3-4 times daily.
Today’s edition:
1) Why Churches Should Euthanize Small Groups
Being part of a leadership team that has significantly increased our emphasis on Small Groups in recent years, this title grabbed me. Author and pastor Brian Jones points out a few of the struggles that many of us have experienced…
2) What Legalists and Atheists Cannot Understand (*PICK OF THE WEEK*)
This little piece from the Gospel Coalition revolves around a late night visit between Christian apologist Larry Alex Taunton, Oxford mathematician John Lennox and the late Christopher Hitchens, author of “God is Not Great”. Throw in some rich references to my favourite portion of Scripture, and I freely recommend this one.
3) Fourteen Indispensable Leadership Quotes from Jim Collins
Jim Collins is recognized across the board as a voice of wisdom on the theme of leadership. Here, Thom Rainer captures a couple touchdowns’ worth of his best bits.
4) Why Women are More Religious than Men
For Psychology Today, Nigel Barber puts forth a theory that I confess to find quite weak. A strand of truth is here, but more than anything, this article served to enlighten me on why people of faith must live out their convictions or else risk observers like Mr. Barber largely missing the whole point.
5) You Are Not a Computer (Try as You May)
Here’s my favourite line from this great piece from the Harvard Business Review is this: “What information consumes is rather obvious. It consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” That opinion was shared in 1970, and it is abundantly on-the-mark today. Some thought-provoking stuff here on how to live well within the “information age”. If I had a third *PICK OF THE WEEK*, I’d put it here.
6) The Science of Productivity (*PICK OF THE WEEK*)
I just discovered Gregory Ciotti’s site: SparringMind. This post features a three-minute video (which I tweeted a link to, earlier today) that breaks down some of the science behind our minds work and how we might better work within that framework to be more efficient in spending our time and energy. Quite fascinating to me!
May your week be full of awareness and enjoyment of the God who already fills it with Himself and every good thing. Blessings on you, my friends.
YOUR TURN: Direct other readers to the best stuff with a comment below, or weigh in on what you read. Your input makes this post better!
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although i havent been involved in a “small group” for a while, i totally agree with the author of your first link. 98% of manufactured, forced small groups are awkward, uncomfortable and so superficial that they accomplish next to nothing. the only times i have been involved in small groups that are beneficial are when they are ‘informal’ and even spontaneous. 3 or 4 or 5 buddies, meeting for breakfast, or having a pint together. anyway. that’s my 2 cents. thanks for sharing Jay
Thanks for the comment, Jeremy.
The article resonated with me on some levels and aggravated me on others. For example, I look at a simple line like this one…
“It just happened, naturally and spontaneously.”
I know the feeling he describes, one of genuine friendship, where connection and chemistry exist alongside willingness and desire to “go deeper” with a few others.
The question for me is then: How do you help this happen as much as possible? While part of me says, “Yeah, natural connections are better than artificial or forced ones, of course,” another part of me responds, “Yeah, well there are a lot of people who appear to have no idea how to naturally pursue the connections they really need to develop and mature.” Sometimes I am even among that number.
This question is highlighted, of course, for those in positions of leadership. I once heard that lawmakers’ task should be to make it easier for good to happen and harder for bad to happen. In the pastor’s role, I think it’s reasonable to aim at increasing the odds that people within my congregation will grow and decreasing the odds that they will stagnate. Not an easy task in some regards.
I say that to say this: I believe intention and planning DO have a place in these efforts. That is why the article we’re discussing resonates with me BUT leaves me wanting at the same time.
I guess today isn’t the one when I get to go to sleep with ALL the answers!
Thanks for sharing, Jer. Grace on you, my friend.
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