Sherry's Latest Reading List

In preparation for an upcoming Vital Church Initiative clergy meeting, I am reading Winning on Purpose: How to Organize Congregations to Succeed in Their Mission by John Edmund Kaiser. Kaiser, a long-time pastor and consultant believes that we should take on the mission of the church like we would approach a game.

To play the game three things are needed: an object of the game, the rules of the game and how to keep score. Kaiser says that the object of the game for all believers is clear. We are to create fertile ground for people to believe in Jesus Christ and to become faithful disciples. The rules of the game are the boundaries that guide us. They include: ethics, theological considerations, finances, etc. The score is the process by which a church stays accountable to its goals.

Kaiser offers interesting challenges for the church, including giving energy to setting up specific boundaries instead of having to review every decision of the church's leaders. He said a referee just keeps the game within boundaries. The plays are determined by the team that is out doing the work on the field.

I've also done a quick read (40 pages!) of a supplemental book to Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: How to Develop Your Personal Mission Statement by Stephen Covey and others. The book is an elaboration on the idea of forming a personal purpose statement. I began refining my statement in 2015. One thing that this read reminded me is that when we determine our personal mission, it needs to be outwardly focused. If our mission is simply to acquire or achieve for ourselves, we are bound for disappointment. That is true even if we are able to meet those goals.

And Finally, I have found wisdom in Brennan Manning's Posers, Fakes and Wannabe's: Unmasking the Real You. Manning has reminded me that God's love reaches in past the self that I present to the world. God loves me for who I really am and what I am created to be. And that when I am not open to letting God, through Jesus Christ, know all about me, I miss out on a deeper relationship with God.