Book Review: The Hole in Our Gospel (A Must Read)

This is another book I probably would have never read if I wasn’t a part of Thomas Nelson’s Books for Bloggers Program. This book is written by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision.  Let me start off by saying that this should be required reading if you’re breathing! This would make a great book for small group curriculum, to go through with friends, and family. It conveniently has a study guide with questions for each chapter in the back of the book.

This book will open your eyes to so many different issues that need addressed around the globe and really challenge you to something about it. Here were some of my highlights:

• Are you willing to be open to God’s will for your life?
• When we say that we want to be His disciple, yet attach a list of conditions, Jesus refuses to accept our terms. His terms involve unconditional surrender.
• It takes transformed people to transform the world.
• If Christ is Lord, then nothing He asked us to do is optional. his teaching become the operating system of our lives.
• It’s not what you believe that counts; it’s what you believe enough to do.

• What does God expect of you? Everything.
• Our compassion for others seems to be directly correlated to whether people are close to us socially, emotionally, culturally, ethnically, economically, or geographically.
• Don’t fail to do something just because you can’t do everything
• We must not, as Christians, stick our heads in the sand and pretend that the world is doing just fine because we are.
• We must never see poverty or justice as “issues” that need solutions; rather we must see the human beings at the heart of those issues as people who need and deserve our love and respect.
• A church that lives within its four walls is no church at all.
• It would take a little over 1% of income of the American Christians to life the poorest one billion people in the world out of extreme poverty.
• God never asks us to give what we do not have . . . But He cannot use what we will not give.
• We, as Christians can look at our broken world, shrug our shoulders and say, “That’s just the way things are.” Or we can instead embrace a vision of what could be – if we’d pitch in.
  

As I said before this is a must read and it will open your eyes and your heart to start to see the world as God does, and hopefully it will launch you into action to change this world.

Final Grade: A+      Buy it here!

1 Year of Blogging (Part 2) – How To’s and Tips on Blogging

A lot of people ask me about blogging – How do you start one, what should I write, etc… Here are some links that have helped me… I hope they’ll do the same for you:

This is the best article I’ve found that will help you start a blog:

• How to Start a Blog by Michael Hyatt

Three Websites that Consistently write on and help me with blogging:

• Michaelhyatt.com
• Churchcrunch.com
• Seth Godin

As far as tips from me… After a year – I’d say this:

Be Personal while Adding Value – Personally, I enjoy when people consistently blog content and occasionally blog about their personal lives. If it’s all content, I don’t feel like I ever get to know you, and if it’s all personal, I know way too much about you and get bored quickly.

Less is More - This is hard for me and I’m still working on it. The truth is, very few of us will read a blog post that takes longer than a minute to read. Be quick and the to point.

Be consistent - I’m not saying blog everyday, but be consistent enough so that I’ll want to come back and visit your blog consistently.

Be Yourself – I enjoy blogging because it teaches me a lot about me. For a while, I tried blogging like everyone else who was a “popular” blogger. Now, I’m just learning to be me!

Know Your Audience – You need to have a way to measure whether or not what you are putting out there is effective. The best tool I’ve found for that is Google Analytics. It tracks everything from what people are reading, to where they’re from, how they got to your site, how much time they spent on it, how they got there, etc.. It helps you learn about you and the people you’re influencing through your blog.

What about you out there in the blogosphere? What do you think some good blogging tips are?

1 Year of Blogging (Part 1): Why I Blog – And Why You Should

“Leadership is influence, Nothing more, Nothing Less.” -John Maxwell

I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for a year either! I want to take a few posts and talk to you about why I blog, what I’ve learned, how to start a blog, what blogs you should be reading,  etc.. I hope it helps you and by the end of it, I hope that you’ll start you’re own blog.

Why I blog:

I Blog for Me - It may sound odd, but blogging has really helped me learn a lot about myself. What I’m passionate about, what’s important and what’s not, etc.. Also, I would love to write several books one day and it’s really helping me write consistently and evaluate my writing. It also helps me gather my thoughts on a subject and get them out on writing, helping me to learn the subject quicker and easier. These are just a few of the benefits!

I Blog for You – I know that the best minute I can spend today is the one I spend investing in people. It’s said that the average person will unintentionally influence 10,000 people in their life. That’s unintentionally! I think a blog is just one way to intentionally influence people. And to be honest, I’ve had people that I haven’t talked to in years say that my blog posts have helped them. If only one person read my blog and was positively influenced by it, I’d do it! I blog because I want to add value to your life.

Answers to Arguments I’ve Heard on Why People Don’t Blog:

Nobody Cares what I have to Say: This bothers me big time! Your life has a ton of value and if you’d believe that and act on it, I think you’d realize you have a lot more influence than you think. Step out and believe God that what you have to say can make a difference in the lives of others.

I Don’t Have Time - People have time for what they want to have time for. If you believe in your blog enough and believe it’s making a difference – you’ll make time for it.

Why You Should Blog

You Should Blog for Others - You’ll be able to influence people that nobody else can influence through your blog. People are waiting desperately for the answers you may provide on your blog. You could change someones life forever! Just think, even if only one person reads your blog and is changed by it, isn’t it worth it?

You Should Blog for You - It’s almost like a journal on steroids – a place to record what you’re learning, what you’d like to teach, your thoughts, your concerns, your journey through life. It’s a wonderful experience.

Articles You Should Read about Why You Should Blog:

• What Michael Hyatt’s Learned from 4 Years of Blogging
• Is Blogging a good use of my time?
• How Can You Get Published if you don’t have a Platform?

Here is a video presentation by Michael Hyatt on why you should blog: