Churched by Matthew Paul Turner- A Review

I have been a reader if Matthew Turner’s blog for a while now, but I had never read any of his books so I was excited about the chance to read Churched.

The book is a collection of stories and experiences Turner had growing up in a fundamental Baptist church. He recounts stories ranging from hilariously strange Sunday school lessons to praying that Jesus would delay his second coming so that he would have time to get married and experience the joy of sex. The book is full of funny stories that had me laughing out loud at several points.

The book seems to be arranged loosely in chronological order beginning with the story of the first Sunday the author’s family went to the Baptist church and ending with Turner’s graduation from high school. The stories found in between will make you laugh and sometimes cringe. Okay, you’ll probably cringe a lot. Throughout, Turner writes with wit and humor that keeps things interesting. Churched was a very easy and accessible read. In fact, I read most of the book in a single afternoon because the stories kept me engaged and laughing.

If you grew up in a fundamentalist church you will likely find many things in Churched that you recognize. The stories may remind you of your own upbringing. Anyone who has spent anytime around Christianity will have plenty to laugh about while reading this book. I recommend it if you want a fun, quick read.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

 

My Favorite Albums of 2010

The Best of lists continue. Here are my favorite albums from 2010:

10. Jimmy Eat World Invented. Not as good as the bands best work, but definitely worth a listen.

Favorite Song: “My Best Theory.”

9. Cold War Kids Behave Yourself EP. I absolutely love Cold War Kids and I should have probably put this one higher on the list, but there are only 4 songs on the EP so it only made it to number 9.

Favorite Song: “Audience of One.”

8. Arcade Fire The Suburbs. I wasn’t a big fan of their previous album, Neon Bible, but Amazon had this album on sale for $1.99 and I couldn’t pass it up. I’m glad I didn’t. I have really enjoyed this album. I have only had it for about a month and it is still growing on me.

Favorite Song: “The Suburbs.”

7. The National High Violet. The best word I can use to describe this album is “haunting.” Most of these songs have been stuck in my head at various times since I bought the album.

Favorite Song: “Bloodbuzz Ohio.”

6. Vampire Weekend Contra. I liked the bands first album pretty well, but for some reason I seem to like this one a lot better. This album isn’t terribly different from their first and that definitely isn’t a bad thing.

Favorite Song: “Giving Up the Gun.”

5. Spoon Transference. I heard a few songs from this album on satellite radio when I had to rent a car and drive across west Texas for my job. I immediately went home and downloaded the album.

Favorite Song: “Got Nuffin.”

4. Deas Vail Birds & Cages. I believe this album was physically released in 2009, but it was released for download in 2010 so I am including it here. This is a beautiful album that I keep returning to.

Favorite Song: “Excuses.”

3. Mumford & Sons Sigh No More. I am constantly struck by the themes of faith found in this album. I’m not the biggest fan of folk music, but I really, really enjoy this album.

Favorite Song: “Little Lion Man.”

2. Band of Horses Infinite Arms. Cease to Begin is still one of my all time favorite albums and this album isn’t as good as that one, but it would be hard to match that album. This is still a very good album and fans of indie music will enjoy it.

Favorite Song: “Compliments.”

1. Butch Walker I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart. Anyone who knows me knows that I have been a huge fan of Butch Walker ever since I heard his previous band, Marvelous 3, in high school. Walker has never made a bad album in my opinion and this one did not disappoint. I still do not understand how this guy is not insanely famous. I guess it is just one of the tragedies of the universe.

Favorite Song: “She Likes Hair Bands.”

So there is my list. What albums are on your list?

The Best Books I Read in 2010

2010 is coming to a close, so it is time for the best of lists. In case you were wondering, here are the best books I read this year:

5. Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony- by Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willmon. This book urges Christians to see the church as a colony whose purpose is to live out the gospel instead of seeking to change the world through politics or other means. It was a challenging book that has me wrestling with this idea as I prepare myself for ministry.

4. A People’s History of the United States- by Howard Zinn. My dad sent me this book and suggested that I read it. I have always enjoyed history, and Zinn explores the history of the U.S. from the view of people who were not in power. I had not heard many of the stories relayed in this book. I would suggest this book not only for any history buff, but for any American.

3. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context- by Glen H. Stassen and David P. Gushee. I read this book for a class on Christian ethics taught by Glen Stassen, one of the authors of this book. I had no idea that an ethics book could be so engaging. I read this book in a matter of days and enjoyed it immensely. The authors focus on the Sermon on the Mount and what it shows us about Christian ethics. This is an important book that more Christians need to read.

2. Evolving in Monkeytown: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions- by Rachel Held Evans. As I read through this book I was constantly amazed at how similar my story is to the author’s story. We have had many of the same experiences and thoughts, but she writes about them much better than I ever could. Evans went through a faith crisis and this book is the story of her struggle. The conclusion that she comes to is that Christians need to be free to ask questions and wrestle with them, instead of just being fed answers that they are just expected to believe and not challenge. Any person wrestling with matters of faith and doubt would benefit from reading this book.

1. A Million Miles in a Thousand Days: What I Learned While Editing My Life- by Donald Miller. I already wrote a reflection on the themes of this book here, so go ahead and check it out. This book motivated me to want to live a better story and I am still striving to do just that.

Well, there you have it. Those are the five best books I read this year. What are the best books you read this year?

The Victory of Christmas

When we talk about the birth of Jesus at Christmas time we usually focus on the stories in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2. Revelation 12:1-12 shows us another picture of the birth of Jesus. There are no mangers or wise men here, however. Here we see the Dragon, who is later revealed to be Satan, waiting for the birth of Jesus in order to devour the baby. Immediately after the birth of this baby, a war breaks out in heaven and the Dragon is defeated.

In Revelation, it is the birth of Jesus that signals the defeat of Satan.

Not the crucifixion.

Not the resurrection.

The birth of a baby. A tiny helpless baby.

Revelation shows us Satan waiting to devour the baby Jesus because he must know what the birth of this baby means. The birth of Jesus means that God is coming to earth in the form of a human. Of course this changes everything.

God is finally beginning to make things right in the world and it begins with a baby. That is the power of Christmas: God is changing the world and it happens because of the birth of a baby.

As soon as this baby was born, everything changed. God is no longer distant. God is with us. God knows what it is like to be a human.

Everything is changing because of this baby and we wait for everything to finally be made right.

The victory has been won in the birth of this baby.

Where Did My Daughter Learn That?

My daughter Kate is almost 21 months old. She is normally a well behaved kid. She doesn’t get in trouble all that often. She rarely gets really mad or upset. But when she does get mad, watch out. She can throw a tantrum like she’s getting paid to. Sometimes when she gets really mad and my wife or I try to talk to her something strange happens.

Kate will hit us.

I say that this is strange because, to my knowledge, she has never seen someone hit someone else. We have never spanked her or even slapped her on her wrist. I don’t hit my wife and my wife doesn’t hit me. We don’t watch movies or television shows in front of her. Maybe another child has hit her at church or the park or something, but at the very least this is not a common occurrence.

The question becomes, “Where did my daughter learn this?”

How does a less than two year old child determine that striking someone else is an appropriate response to not getting her way?

Is there something inside us that tells us that the appropriate response to opposition is to lash out?

Maybe it is natural to attempt to control others by way of force. That certainly seems to be the way that most of the world functions. Maybe this is why it seems so strange when we hear Jesus talk about turning the other cheek and loving your enemies. These things do not come naturally to us.

I’m not really sure why my daughter thinks that hitting someone is a good idea. We are working on teaching her that it is wrong to do this. But I have a feeling that this task will become much more difficult as she grows up and the world continues to tell her that violence is a normal response.

This is something that I have been thinking about for the past few days. I would love to hear any thoughts you might have on this subject.

My Journey Toward Fuller Theological Seminary

As I have been making plans and moving across the country to attend seminary I have been asked one question numerous times: “Why Fuller?” I think some of this stems from the fact that Fuller is so far away from where I have lived most of my life. The question also comes up because choosing a graduate school is a big decision and people are curious about how I came to be at Fuller.

I figured I would type up some of my thoughts here so that anyone who might be curious about my decision making process.  Also, maybe someone who is looking into different seminaries will stumble upon this blog some day and perhaps some of this might be helpful to them.

Prestige

Fuller Theological Seminary is a very prestigious school. It is one of the biggest and best known seminaries in the world. It has world class scholars teaching here. I figured why not apply to the best of the best and see what happens. Fortunately, I got accepted.

Multi-denominational

I grew up going to the same church for most of my life. I attended a university affiliated with that denomination. I already know that denominations stance on most of the big questions. I wanted some diversity. I wanted to see things from a  different perspective. I wanted to learn a different viewpoint. I wanted to challenge myself in a place that I might not be as comfortable.

Because the school is not affiliated with a certain denominational there is great diversity here. Students come from all over the world. I look forward to learning more about different cultures and perspectives.

Size

Fuller is one of the largest seminaries in the world. I like that. I like that because I did my undergraduate work at a smaller school. Once again I wanted to experience something different.

Location

I would be lying if I said that location didn’t factor into my decision. Southern California is beautiful. The weather is great and so is the scenery. We are close to the Pacific Ocean and also close to the mountains. I like living in the city. It stinks that it is so far away from our family, but so far I love this place.

Recommendations

Everyone that I talked to that had attended Fuller spoke well of it. One of my mentors during my undergraduate education obtained a Doctorate of Ministry from Fuller and he loved it. He spoke very highly of it. Honestly, I believe that this was probably the biggest factor in my decision. I figured that if it was good enough for him it must be good enough for me.

Alumni

Fuller has graduated some pretty famous students. One of those students was Rob Bell. I have written before about how influential he has been in my journey and once again I figured that if Fuller helped him in his journey that Fuller could probably help me as well. Here is a pretty good list of well known Fuller graduates: link

Campus Visit

Ashley and I came to Fuller in April for the Prospective Students Weekend and that pretty much sealed the deal for us. The campus was beautiful and everyone associated with the school was very friendly and helpful. The other people we met who were thinking of attending Fuller were all great. Seeing the campus and having so many questions answered really helped us in our decision making. I highly recommend an in person visit of any school you might be considering.

Well, there it is. I’m sure there are other things that influenced my decision but those are the big ones. If you are looking into attending Fuller please feel free to ask any questions you might have in the comments and I will be glad to help if I can.

Books that Changed My Life #5

#5. Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw

It was the fall of 2008. All that anyone could talk about was the presidential election. I looked over all of the facts and stances of the candidates but still I was not sure who I should vote for. I wanted to make the right decision.

I heard a lot of my friends talking about Jesus for President. I was intrigued and then it went on sale at a local bookstore so I bought it.

I had just started doing grad school part time on line earlier that month. I was a little behind in the one class I was taking, but I could not help myself. I had to start reading the book.

I was hooked from the very beginning.

I could not stop reading. This isn’t even a joke. I could not sleep because I was so interested in Jesus for President. This may be the only non-fiction book that I have stayed up into the early morning hours reading.

This book represents nothing short of an entire paradigm shift for me.

This book taught me that my first allegiance is to the kingdom of God. Not the United States. No matter what.

This book taught me that politics is much more than just abortion or gay marriage, Republican or Democrat.

This book taught me that a lot of what passes for Christianity in America today is actually a civil religion that has very little connection with Jesus himself.

This book taught me that Christianity is intimately tied up with caring for the poor and oppressed.

This book taught me that pacifism is not just some nice idea that doesn’t work in the real world.

This book taught me that I needed to simplify my life and get rid of some of my possessions because they were keeping me away from Jesus.

I cannot stress how much of an impact reading Jesus for President had on me. I haven’t been the same since. It motivated me to start volunteering with a local homeless shelter.  It motivated me to sell many of my possessions and to cancel my satellite TV. It caused me to think about every single action I took and how it affected other people, especially the poor and disenfranchised. It caused me to evaluate each dollar that I spent. It caused me to begin thinking about pacifism. It made me excited to share the message of Jesus again.

I don’t even want to think about how different my life would be right now if I had never read Jesus for President.

And on to the quotes:

“Jesus was urging his followers to be the unique, peculiar, and set-apart people that began with Abraham. He didn’t pray for the world in order to make the governments more religious; he called Israel to be the light of the world- to abandon the way of the world and cultivate an alternative society in the shell of the old, not merely to be a better version of the kingdom of this world.”- p. 71

“Jesus would make for a bad president. It’s hard to imagine Jesus wearing a ‘God Bless Rome’ T-shirt and promoting his campaign with stickers and buttons and a hundred-million dollar campaign.”- p. 86

“Christianity is at its best when it is peculiar, marginalized, suffering, and at its worst when it is popular, credible, triumphal and powerful.”- p. 165

“The danger is that we can begin to read the Bible through the eyes of America rather than read America through the eyes of the Bible. We just want Jesus to be a good American.”- p. 194

“The way of Jesus shows us that we need not battle violence with power and force, but with humility and revolutionary subordination.”- p. 206

Books that Changed My Life #4

#4. Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

My first experience in full time ministry did not go as planned. I was newly married and had just graduated from college. I was incredibly excited and energized about the task of sharing the good news of Jesus with young people.

But then it all came crashing down.

I was devastated. I had worked for so long to become a good youth minister. I was sure that God had called me into ministry.

So, what happened?

Where was God during this crash and burn?

Why didn’t God help me?

Why did I feel so distant from God?

These were some of the many questions floating around in my head as my wife and I moved back to Lubbock after our failed ministry experiment.

I didn’t have much time to process all of these questions before I jumped into my next job. I worked this job for a little over a year but I had this nagging feeling that I should be doing something different with my life. So I quit that job and I had all sorts of questions.

What am I supposed to be doing with my life?

Why am I struggling with my faith so much?

Where was God during all of this?

Why am I still so bitter about my ministry experience?

Right as we moved back my brother let me borrow a few books. One of those books was Velvet Elvis.

I’m not really sure how to describe this book. It is an exploration of the Christian faith from all sorts of different areas. It explores the need for Christians to continue to ask questions about their faith. It urges Christians to find new ways to live out their faith in the world of today. The traditions and expressions of previous generations simply will not do because our world is not the same as their world was. Rob Bell also urges his readers to reclaim the truths of our faith that we might have forgotten.

Velvet Elvis looks forward and backward. It looks forward by urging its readers to continue to interpret Scripture in relevant ways. It looks backward to remind readers to place Jesus in his original Jewish context which helps us understand what he said and did much better. We have to put all of Scripture in its context so that we can understand what it meant to the original audience so that we can then understand what it might mean for us.

I read this book during a very tough time in my life. I was wrestling with many questions and my faith did not come easily to me during that time. Reading Velvet Elvis helped me remember that it is okay to ask questions and it is normal to struggle with faith. It energized me and reminded me of the grandness of the story that I had been caught up in. Reading this book helped me continue on the path that I had started on years before. It deepened my faith and made me want a better connection with God (This seems to be a trend with all of these books). It helped me think of my faith in new ways and reminded me of things that I had forgotten.

Here are a few quotes from Velvet Elvis:

“A Christian doesn’t avoid the questions; a Christian embraces them. In fact, to truly pursue the living God, we have to see the need for questions.”- p. 28

“That is why the Bible is still so powerful: These ancient stories are our stories. These stories are reflective of how things are.”- p. 59

“For a Christian, Jesus’ teachings aren’t to be followed because they are a nice way to live a moral life. They are to be followed because they are the best possible insight into how the world really works. They teach us how things are.”- p. 83

“Missions then is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of a God who is already there.”- p. 87

“The point of the cross isn’t forgiveness. Forgiveness leads us to something much bigger: restoration. God isn’t just interested in the covering of our sins; God wants to make us into the people we were originally created to be.”- p. 108

Books that Changed My Life- #3

3.The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God by Dallas Willard

I think that this was the first book that I read after I graduated college. I was working as a youth minister at a small church and as I was working with those teenagers I had this uneasy feeling that what I was teaching them was not relevant to their lives. The faith that had been handed down to me told me that eternal life as going to heaven when I died. Eternal life was some sort of evacuation from this world when my life was over. The things I was teaching those teenagers were not relevant because they were focused only on the future.

The Divine Conspiracy helped me understand that these feelings were not misplaced. I felt uneasy about that view of eternal life because it doesn’t really reflect the Scriptural view. Eternal life is not something that we wait around for until we die. Eternal life is something that we start experiencing now and it continues on even after we die.

The Divine Conspiracy, in my opinion, is nothing short of a masterpiece. It may be one of the most important books written in quite some time. If you haven’t read the book, this probably sounds like an overstatement, but if you have read it then I imagine that you would agree with me.

The Divine Conspiracy focuses on eternal life. It teaches on discipleship. It teaches on the nature and purpose of human life. It is a very comprehensive book. It is also a very deep book. As I read it I had to re-read many paragraphs to let them sink in.

This book did indeed change me. It may be the best book I have ever read beside the Bible. I realized the importance of being a disciple of Jesus. I realized that following Jesus is relevant now, not just after I die. This book changed the way I taught Sunday Morning Bible Class to the youth group. It changed the things I would pray for. It changed many of the ways that I thought about and interacted with God.

As am I writing this post all I can think about is the fact that I really need to read this book again.

Here are a few quotes that stood out to me:

“It is good to know that when I die all will be well, but is there any good news for life?”- p. 12

“Can we seriously believe that God would establish a plan for us that essentially bypasses the awesome needs of present human life and leaves human character untouched? Would he leave us even temporarily marooned with no help in our kind of world, with our kinds of problems: psychological, emotional, social, and global? Can we believe that the essence of Christian faith and salvation covers nothing but death and after?”- p. 38

“Life in the kingdom of God is not something we do, like investing in the stock market or learning Spanish, that allows us to reserve dominion over our own life and use the kingdom for our purposes. We have to surrender the inmost reality of the self to God as expressed in Jesus and his kingdom.”- p. 233

“I believe the most adequate description of prayer is simply, “Talking to God about what we are doing together.”- p. 243

“In summary, then, the disciple or apprentice of Jesus, as recognized by the New Testament, is the one who has firmly decided to learn from him how to lead his or her life, whatever that may be, as Jesus himself would do it. And, as best they know how, they are making plans- taking the necessary steps, progressively arranging and re-arranging their affairs- to do this.”- p. 291

Books that Changed My Life- #2

#2. Dangerous Wonder by Mike Yaconelli

I read the second book that changed my life during college. Mike Yaconelli was one of the pioneers of youth ministry and he came to speak at the college I attended. He spoke with passion and excitement about his relationship with Jesus and working with teenagers. I was planning on being a youth minister after college so I knew I had to read his book.

I picked up his book but it sat around for a while before I read it. I was busy with class and everything else that goes along with being in college. But when I finally started reading it I read it quickly. I think I finished it in less than 2 days. I had never experienced someone talking about how much Jesus had changed them before or how connected they were to Jesus. This energized me and motivated me. I realized that I was not as close to Jesus as I had imagined. I noticed that there were parts of my life that Jesus was not a part of. I felt distant and far away from Jesus in many ways. But I wanted to be much closer.

Dangerous Wonder is a book about how following Jesus can really mess up someone’s life. It reminds us that suffering and trouble often go hand in hand with a relationship with Jesus. It reminds us that discipleship is not easy. It reminds us that discipleship is different that just knowing Jesus. It is much more involved than just knowing Jesus, than just showing up to church every so often. Following Jesus is costly.

Dangerous Wonder is also a book about the excitement of following Jesus. Following Jesus is not an easy thing. It has gotten a lot of people killed throughout the years. But following Jesus is worth it because we get to be near Jesus. Yaconelli does a wonderful job of reminding his readers of this fact.

I can say that this book really changed me when I read it. I did not want to be a half hearted follower of Jesus any longer. And I am thankful that I read it at such an important time in my life.

Here are a few quotes from the book:

“We have forgotten what it is like to stand speechless in the presence of Jesus, hearts beating wildly, staggered and stunned by what God is doing in our world.”- p. 29

“Faith is a wrestling match with God, an intense struggle with truth in an attempt to squeeze evry bit of knowledge out of it. Curiosity is the shape of our hunger for God. We question God without apology, we march into the presence of God bringing our armfuls of questions- without fear- because God is not afraid of them. People are afraid. Institutions are afraid. But God is not.”- p. 40

“The Christian life is more than finding Jesus- it is following Jesus. Following, it turns out, is not a one time, spectacular act of faith, but a one-day-at-a-time, ordinary, unspectacular following; a daily act of fearlessness that takes us through the most frightening and rugged terrain into a place of peace, joy, and abandon.”- p. 57