Jonathan D. Blundell

Laurie relaxing
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

Finally some more pics from the wedding… Laurie’s best friend, maid of honor, Jen took this pic just before the wedding. Is that not a picture of calm or what?
Laurie’s just chilling in the library before the big moment.

Well my mate Thomas across the pond tagged me in one of his latest posts. Doh. I guess I better shape up and respond to his tag.
Like Thomas, I’m not the biggest reader in the world. I read a LOT online but not as much in the form of books. I’m still working on my goal of 30 books this year and I’m lagging behind. I may need to bust out some Dr Seuss books to catch back up.
So here are the questions, my answers and you better check to be sure I don’t tag you at the end…

How many books do you own?

More than I have room for in our townhome. I have 3 or 4 boxes in storage right now.

What was the last book you read?

Creating Community by Andy Stanley: My focus has been around community a lot lately and Brian hooked me up with a number of books that he’s read lately. This was the first one and I thought a good read. I was anxious to read it after attending a conference with Stanley as the featured speaker at Dallas Theological Seminary. I enjoyed reading his approach to small groups and community at his Atlanta based church. Gave me some good insight into how other churches are building community. But interestingly enough, I think one thing I’ve learned this week outside of any book is how tragedy and suffering really brings community together.

What book are you presently reading?

The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson: I’ve just started this one but it’s let me in on a number of issues that churches should address when doing small group ministry. One of the questions I’ve posed to our “staff” (a.k.a. The Jedi Knight Council/The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen/The Council of Trent encounter) and I think several have already begun dealing with is, “are we a church of small groups, a church with small groups or the church is small groups.” And that’s just the first chapter. Looks like some good stuff in here about planning out and orchestrating small group ministry.

5 books that mean a lot to me are…

This might actually be hard. I have to think about this one and narrow it down to five. These are in no particular order…

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell: This book really opened my eyes to some of my beliefs and to the basis of my faith. As I said after I read it, I think this really puts my faith (or what I hope it to be) into words. Probably my favorite quote from the book: “The church doesn’t exist for itself; it exists to serve the world.” Oh how I wish we all understood that. I think it’s vital to our own Christian walk as well. We don’t exist for ourselves as Christians, but to serve the world.

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller: This was another eye opener. I kept putting off reading it because everyone told me I should. I tend to rebel against books like that :-). Otherwise I read it all hyped up and probably don’t enjoy it like I should. But after I waited a good while for the hype to drop off I’m on the bandwagon. This is written in such a random manor that sometimes I felt like I was just left hanging between chapter and chapter but Miller ties it all in together and does a great job of expressing his reasoning behind his faith and his viewpoints of God. I love his stories about hanging out with hippies in the woods and how he felt more community there than any church group. Because he was accepted for who he was there – even as a Christian.

Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski: This was a great read about faith and the homeless situation in America, especially with what I was doing at Austin Street at the time (I really need to get back out there again). I hated to read how we as people continue to walk over the drunks and the homeless along the street, snicker at the lost and thank God that we’re saved.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis: Growing up I was a big fan of The Chronicles of Narnia and it wasn’t till later in High School and College that I really started enjoying Lewis’ other works – especially this one. It was actually Bono and U2 that introduced me to this book through his McPhisto character on stage.

This is always a great reference point for me when I’m thinking about our faith, the struggles we have and how we can become apathetic in our faith. It also opened my eyes to the real spiritual war going on around us.

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom: I read this book early on in High School and it shook me. It’s been on the top of my favorites list ever since. It really puts Psalm 32:7 into perspective:
“You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah ”

Well that should be it. Thanks for the tag Thomas. I enjoyed reflecting. Now here are my tags (some of you may have to comment here or get you a blog of your own to comment on :-)) Some of these are just out of pure curiosity.

Tag you’re it:

My dad | My Mom | Kara | Tim | My life | Martha | Dan | Brad | Brian T | Eric | Walker | Brian | Smiley and Shari | Michael | Dauben | Marni | Joe Gallo | Cathy Diffee