Tag Archives: Brian Bloye
Big eBook sale on Ministry and Leadership books!
Merry Christmas! There’s a big eBook sale going on from now through January 7th. All of the ministry and leadership ebooks listed below are on sale. There are also fiction, kids, and Christian living titles on sale too. You can see the whole list of titles here.
This eBook sale is good across all eBook formats – Nook, Kindle, iPad – everything. So if you’re looking for some good reading to do over Christmas break, or if you’re anticipating having a new eBook reader after Christmas, don’t forget about this sale.
-Andrew
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Deep & Wide by Andy Stanley was $12.99, now $5.99
Barefoot Church by Brandon Hatmaker was $8.99, now $3.99
It’s Personal by Brian & Amy Bloye was $6.99, now $3.99
Adventures in Churchland by Dan Kimball was $6.99, now $3.99
Humilitas by John Dickson was $10.99, now $3.99
King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight was $10.99, now $3.99
Gospel Coach by Scott Thomas & Tom Wood was $6.99, now $3.99
Sifted by Wayne Cordeiro, Francis Chan & Larry Osborne was $8.99, now $3.99
Links worth Clicking: Tim Keller, Saddleback’s small groups, and What it’s like to serve the homeless
Here are a few interesting links to start your week…
Small Groups: Mark Howell blogs on “The Unexpected Twist in Saddleback’s Exponential Growth Formula.” It was interesting for me to read about how far they’ve come in terms of small group participation.
Easter, Prison Tattoos, Men in Pantyhose: This post from Brandon Hatmaker shares some of the stories of what it’s like to do ministry for the homeless in Austin, TX. Honestly, stories like this stop me in my tracks. What if every church had systems in place to serve the homeless in their community? This quote from the post is the one that really got me:
Need is everywhere. If we can’t possibly find it, we are either looking in the wrong places, or we’re not really looking. And the goal can never be just the EVENT of serving the poor. The goal is the people we meet along the way. In that place we will find Jesus. He was clear that he’d be there among those on the margins.
Unofficial study guide for Keller’s marriage book: A professor and theologian local to Grand Rapids, David Murray, has prepared an unofficial study guide for Tim Keller’s book The Meaning of Marriage. If you’ve not heard of David before I highly recommend checking out the videos he’s developed at Head, Heart, Hand.
Book Review: Are you on the book review website, Goodreads.com? I am and last week I found this great review of It’s Personal by Brian and Amy Bloye. Here are a few lines from the review that I absolutely love:
To me, the most compelling element of this book is the fact that it is completely absent of strategy, process, and formula. Of course, there is advice on how to handle certain situations, but this book is more about the heart of the church planter and the church than it is about how to start a church that will explode. This makes the book timeless, because methods change almost daily, while principles are unchanging.
In a culture that is obsessed with quick fixes, sexy sermon series, and all-star bloggers, Brian and Amy bring us back to the refreshing and humbling reality of what Christ really intended when He established His church, and how we must go about our lives and our vocations if we are to truly be a part of that vision.
Video Interviews on Church Planting with Brian and Amy Bloye
Leadership Network recently posted some new video interviews with Brian and Amy Bloye, the authors of It’s Personal: Surviving and Thriving on the Journey of Church Planting. I’ve posted some of Brian’s advice before, and also an excerpt from the book, but if you’re still unfamiliar with what It’s Personal is all about these videos will give you a clear idea.
More videos from this interview with Brian and Amy can be found on the “It’s Personal” video playlist.
_______________________________
How long has your ministry been established? Is it only five years old, or less?
Best! – AR
A Church Planting Smorgasbord
Following is a collection of links from various folks who attended the Exponential Conference last week. I gathered these links for a couple of reasons:
- The conference is still on my mind.
- I thought that church planters who weren’t able to attend might glean something that will bless their ministry from those who did.
- I was looking for an excuse to use the word “smorgasbord” in a blog post title.
Here’s the list. Happy reading!
- Tony Morgan shares the notes from his workshops. I wasn’t able to attend them while I was there (I was too busy in our booth) but I would’ve like to have heard him speak on “Keys to Building Healthy Leadership Teams.”
- Nick from “Everything Pastor” did a great job of taking notes from various workshops and speakers. If you read only one post on this list, read this one. He has notes from Brian and Amy Bloye’s session on moral failure. This was a powerful talk in the main auditorium. I got to hear most of it and was so thankful that their are people like Brian and Amy who were up on stage talking to thousands of ministry leaders about keeping their lives pure and their marriages first.
- Real Life Project – this blogger shares some notes from a workshop with Jim Putman, who will be speaking at the conference next year on the topic of discipleship. Could there also be a Zondervan book in the works with Jim on the same topic? We’ll have to wait and see….
- Jack Magruder has posted some of the notes from his workshops with Rob Wegner called “Mega –> Missional: Centralized Shift.” Rob and Jack are authors of the forthcoming book Missional Moves, and two of the nicest, humblest authors I’ve had the pleasure of working with.
- Daniel Floyd appears to have posted the notes from his workshop at Exponential, “How To Launch a Healthy Church.” Here he lays out four critical components.
- Ryan from The Adventures in Church Planting blog has posted his thoughts on Hugh Halter and Matt Smay’s session. Hugh and Matt are the authors of And: The Gathered and Scattered Church in the Exponential Series.
- Greg Nettle posted some quick, encouraging thoughts about the conference.
- The blogger at College Church Planter posted some nuggets of wisdom gleaned from the conference.
- David Gurr from Ocean’s Edge School of Worship reflects on what it was like to have his team volunteer at the Exponential Conference. I had a good time chatting with a few volunteers from this school about music and worship. Seems like they’ve got a great program going on there, and having the volunteers at the conference was essential to its success. Kudos, volunteers!
- Jeff from Church Planting Today has more nuggets of wisdom from the conference.
- Dave at the Faith & Church blog has a nice summary posted of Wayne Cordeiro’s talk on his book, Sifted.
- The Christian Post wrote an article on Bill Hybels session about what it was like to plant Willow Creek Community Church. His whole family joined him on stage and shared their experiences.
Thoughts after Exponential 2012 (or, Why I love the smell of new books)
The 2012 Exponential Conference ended last week Thursday. After catching a flight home that evening I was glad to spend Friday through Sunday hanging out with my family, doing things around the house, and relaxing.
For those of you who weren’t able to attend I thought I’d share a few pics and some thoughts about this year’s conference.
Zondervan booth at 2012 Exponential Conference
This picture of our booth was taken on Sunday night after we set it up. While we were unpacking the books I realized that I love the smell of new books – fresh out of the box. With each bit of packaging tape that I split, and each cardboard flap I folded back, I was continually met with the aroma of a freshly printed book. Untouched by human hands, and waiting for just the right customer to come by and pick it up.
That may sound like a weirdly romantic way of looking at setting up a conference booth, but think about it this way: Most people that work for publishers are book nerds. If we weren’t, why would we have gotten into this business anyway? We care so much about books we go way beyond nerd-dom. We love the books. (Well, most of them.) They’re what we do. All the emails, meetings, edits, re-edits, deadlines, and contracts are endured so that we can produce great books!
I’ve set up numerous conference table booths in the past, but this time it struck me that the crack-and-sniff joy of opening a new case of books as I set them up in big piles on a table is not something very many book nerds get to experience. Unless you’re a retailer or a publisher you are unlikely to have an opportunity like that. So, I relished every minute.
Avoid the Rock Star Trap by Brian and Amy Bloye @BrianBloye @amybloye
“Avoid the Rock Star Trap” is an excerpt from It’s Personal: Surviving and Thriving on the Journey of Church Planting by Brian and Amy Bloye. Brian and Amy planted West Ridge Church in Dallas, GA, where Brian serves as pastor. Here they write specifically to church planters and those thinking of starting a new ministry.
A special danger for the church planter is the tempattion of pride. We live in an age of branding, where people are encouraged to think of themselves as products to be marketed. There are some excellent advantages in intelligently promoting a church or a ministry, but we can’t get personally caught up in it on an ego level.
I see planters becoming engrossed in social media, for example. This is fine, up to a point. I use Twitter; our church uses Facebook. These services are neither good nor evil, just modern media for specialized communication. But what happens when those of us in ministry begin to find our significance in how many people are following us through Twitter or retweeting attention-getting compliments? I’m seeing this happen. Planters are engrossed in the ideas of creating Internet identities. After a while, they’re so engaged in vast Twitter conversations over this or that, that they don’t realize they’re doing a lot less flesh-and-blood ministry.
Having followers on Twitter or getting your like button clicked on Facebook becomes one more path of validation. It’s the rock star syndrome, the seduction of image polishing. At the same time, denominations and planting networks are spotlighting people who have experienced some success, and this just makes the ego trap that much more dangerous. It’s just another hook that can be used to separate us from the real purpose of what we’re called to do: make disciples.
It’s Personal is part of the Exponential Series. Now through April 30 every eBook in the Exponential Series is only $2.99 wherever eBooks are sold!
Thursday Giveaway: “It’s Personal” by Brian and Amy Bloye
Today we’ll be giving away two copies of It’s Personal: Surviving and Thriving on the Journey of Church Planting by Brian and Amy Bloye. You might have read my blog about it on Tuesday. In order to win one of the free copies please leave a comment below that answers these questions:
- Have you ever been a part of a new church plant?
- If you have, what was the central vision for the plant? (Sum it up in one or two sentences.)
If you have not, would you consider being a part of one? Why or why not?
Winners will be announced on Friday. The more you comment and/or tweet, the more likely you are to win!
Brian Bloye – Advice for church planters & a new book, “It’s Personal”
The Exponential Conference is less than two weeks away. At this year’s conference Pastor Brian and Amy Bloye’s new book for church planters, It’s Personal: Surviving and Thriving on the Journey of Church Planting, will release. I read this book last fall when it was still going through the editing process. It’s really great. It’s the type of book that anyone who is seriously considering planting a church should read – before they plant the church. Brian and Amy unpack all the things you need to think about when going through the process of church planting. I wouldn’t be surprised if this book ends up saving marriages. Seriously.
So, all that said, I’m excited to see the reception by the Exponential crowd (a group of people absolutely devoted to planting new churches), and I’m looking forward to meeting Brian and Amy in person between sessions. They’ll be speaking in various workshops and from the main stage.
At Exponential 2009 Brian was interviewed on video. He was asked to give advice to church planters. This short clip now serves as a nice teaser for It’s Personal because much of what he says here is covered in more detail in the book. Enjoy:
Last year Brian was also interviewed by Mac Lake about the Launch Network, an organization focused on inspiring and equipping next generation church planters to lead strong. Here too Brian discusses similar ideas to what is found in It’s Personal. Specifically, church planters need to take intentional steps to care for their family as they start their ministries. Here’s the clip:
Here’s what Mac Lake has to say about It’s Personal:
“Brian and Amy give church planters a real and raw look at what it takes to plant a church. This book is filled with encouraging, challenging, and practical stories that will give every church-planting couple the wisdom they need to navigate their own journey. The book had such a powerful impact on Cindy and me that we are making it required reading for every church planter that goes through the Launch Network training.” – Mac Lake
You can read a sample here.
