Thursday, September 07, 2006
Executive Summary: The Creative Leader
Title: The Creative Leader: Unleashing The Power Of Your Creative Potential
Author: Ed Young
Publisher: Broadman and Holman
Ideal reader: Though Ed Young suggests the book could help anyone interested in creative leadership in any sphere (business, educational and so on), it is first and foremost a book written by a senior pastor for other senior pastors.
Rate the book from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) on these criteria: Practicality (5); Insight (4); Theological depth (3); Readability (5)
Core message: The bad news: If creativity is not the controlling value of your ministry, then it's doomed to failure. The good news: God has hardwired everyone with creative potential. It only needs to be unleashed.
If you accept the challenge to make creativity the defining virtue of your ministry, you are in for a great adventure. To succeed you must constantly trust in God's creative power, surround yourself with creative partners, and refuse to settle for a once-for-all formula that works. The 15-year history of Ed Young's church (from 150 to 20,000) is a story that shows how creativity can impact the world.
Summary: Young wastes no time in getting to what he sees as the quintessential element of leadership: creativity. He starts with an apologetic for creativity: creativity is downright Trinitarian- God invented it, Jesus modeled it, and the Holy Spirit empowers it. The benefits that flow from a creative leadership team are countless, so leaders must be gutsy from the start and not let "vision vandals" get in the way. Young challenges leaders to create an environment that is "consistently inconsistent" regardless of the critics' who fight against it.
After establishing this foundation of creativity, Ed Young could have subtitled the remaining three quarters of the book, "What I Did at Fellowship Church and Why It Worked." That's not a criticism; it really is a fascinating story. Young does better when defending his innovations from culture rather than Scripture.
The reader will likely nod in agreement when he says a sermon should not be longer than thirty minutes, but he'll probably raise an eyebrow when Young suggests that Paul was too long winded when sleepy Eutychus nods off and falls to his death in Acts 20. After a series of great stories about creative worship, preaching, and advertising, he persuasively sells his premise "It's The Weekend, Stupid." Young effectively demonstrates that without a first-rate weekend service for seekers and believers, there is little use fretting over other church initiatives.
One of the most provocative sections is his "staff-led" church model, a structure where only staff members lead the church. I'd love to see the letters he gets on this! Ed Young's tone is easy-going conversational, and the "Q & A" sections in the book are some of the most interesting. Young's passion for reaching people through creativity stirs the heart from cover to cover.
Quote: "Something that helps keep me balanced in the way I plan and deliver messages is remembering to speak to the chairs. I envision a table with four chairs. I am sitting in the head chair and in the three other chairs are a hell-bound seeker, a baby Christian and a mature believer. ... I have become convinced that any growing, vibrant local church is going to comprise one-third hell-bound seekers, one-third baby Christians and one-third mature Christians."
Reviewer: Greg Dutcher
Author: Ed Young
Publisher: Broadman and Holman
Ideal reader: Though Ed Young suggests the book could help anyone interested in creative leadership in any sphere (business, educational and so on), it is first and foremost a book written by a senior pastor for other senior pastors.
Rate the book from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) on these criteria: Practicality (5); Insight (4); Theological depth (3); Readability (5)
Core message: The bad news: If creativity is not the controlling value of your ministry, then it's doomed to failure. The good news: God has hardwired everyone with creative potential. It only needs to be unleashed.
If you accept the challenge to make creativity the defining virtue of your ministry, you are in for a great adventure. To succeed you must constantly trust in God's creative power, surround yourself with creative partners, and refuse to settle for a once-for-all formula that works. The 15-year history of Ed Young's church (from 150 to 20,000) is a story that shows how creativity can impact the world.
Summary: Young wastes no time in getting to what he sees as the quintessential element of leadership: creativity. He starts with an apologetic for creativity: creativity is downright Trinitarian- God invented it, Jesus modeled it, and the Holy Spirit empowers it. The benefits that flow from a creative leadership team are countless, so leaders must be gutsy from the start and not let "vision vandals" get in the way. Young challenges leaders to create an environment that is "consistently inconsistent" regardless of the critics' who fight against it.
After establishing this foundation of creativity, Ed Young could have subtitled the remaining three quarters of the book, "What I Did at Fellowship Church and Why It Worked." That's not a criticism; it really is a fascinating story. Young does better when defending his innovations from culture rather than Scripture.
The reader will likely nod in agreement when he says a sermon should not be longer than thirty minutes, but he'll probably raise an eyebrow when Young suggests that Paul was too long winded when sleepy Eutychus nods off and falls to his death in Acts 20. After a series of great stories about creative worship, preaching, and advertising, he persuasively sells his premise "It's The Weekend, Stupid." Young effectively demonstrates that without a first-rate weekend service for seekers and believers, there is little use fretting over other church initiatives.
One of the most provocative sections is his "staff-led" church model, a structure where only staff members lead the church. I'd love to see the letters he gets on this! Ed Young's tone is easy-going conversational, and the "Q & A" sections in the book are some of the most interesting. Young's passion for reaching people through creativity stirs the heart from cover to cover.
Quote: "Something that helps keep me balanced in the way I plan and deliver messages is remembering to speak to the chairs. I envision a table with four chairs. I am sitting in the head chair and in the three other chairs are a hell-bound seeker, a baby Christian and a mature believer. ... I have become convinced that any growing, vibrant local church is going to comprise one-third hell-bound seekers, one-third baby Christians and one-third mature Christians."
Reviewer: Greg Dutcher
Comments:
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Ministers such as Ed Young are partly to blame for the world's pessimistic attitude towards the church of today! Having watched his program as he sat on a stool and talked nonsense for thirty minutes with no mention of the cross, the blood, or hell, or judgement, to me, his sermon was just nonsense! Also, his attire proved that the man had complete contempt for the house of God. He is just one example of the plague which has spread through out the Church. His messages, and his "casual" dress is not only disrespectful, but a direct disobedience to the governing laws. It is a despising of truth and a lack of fear and respect for the sacred. His admonition to the readers of his book to be "consistently inconsistent", is just plain gibberish! God demands respect and honor from his people as in Malachi 1:6, "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? And if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name." Every true minister should realize that, of all places, the pulpit is a holy place and the man who has no fear to approach it is a complete and utter fool. It is little wonder the condition of the Church today, with men like this standing behind the pulpit. If the Church is despised by the preacher, it will be despised by the people. All too often today, the preachers have no fear, no reverence for the house of God, much less for the God of the house. "Ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts." Malachi 2:8. It's a sign of the times when men no longer regard the Word of God as the rule by which to govern God's house, but they rather have gone altogether out of the way. "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2:13. Many souls are being led astray by men of such antics, and make no mistake about it, God is keeping a record of such heresy!
Dear Brother RDC:
In good Christian love ... GET A GRIP!
Ed Young is called of God to preach the Gospel to this generation ... and they are hearing! By the thousands!
When you decide to come from behind your hidden "cloak" (internet anonymity) and address this generation with love, mercy, and truth ... then, maybe ... you will have earned the right to be heard.
Also, brother ... (if you are my brother in Christ?!) ... the incessant "soap-box" TV preacher-bashing is really annoying.
Until you are making the difference in the lives of MILLIONS of potential believers, like the Ed Young's of our day ... no one really wants to hear you whine and complain.
Get over your religious jealousy ... get a grip on truth ... and, for God's sake ... take a mercy pill!
In good Christian love ... GET A GRIP!
Ed Young is called of God to preach the Gospel to this generation ... and they are hearing! By the thousands!
When you decide to come from behind your hidden "cloak" (internet anonymity) and address this generation with love, mercy, and truth ... then, maybe ... you will have earned the right to be heard.
Also, brother ... (if you are my brother in Christ?!) ... the incessant "soap-box" TV preacher-bashing is really annoying.
Until you are making the difference in the lives of MILLIONS of potential believers, like the Ed Young's of our day ... no one really wants to hear you whine and complain.
Get over your religious jealousy ... get a grip on truth ... and, for God's sake ... take a mercy pill!
Brother RDC, you have illustrated doctoral level work at the art of misapplication of scripture. You have judged motive and the heart in a most out-of-line way. Finally, you have obviously not listened to very much of Ed Young if you think that he does not talk of the cross, the blood, hell, or the other tenants of which you speak. Granted, there are some tv-preachers today who abandon those elements. Shame on them!!! However, by your blasting of Ed that sounds like a mad-kjv-only-stuck-in-the-60's-hissie-fit, you have made a severe error in your haste to judgement of Ed Young. Ed Young's preaching makes more sense than what you will hear out of most of today's pulpiteers. You can't clean fish if you can't catch them. And my guess is that you are simply frustrated because his net is busting. May God Bless Ed Young and continue to use him mightily.
I must first, apologize for any misunderstandings which seems to have arisen from my first posted message here. My critique was of the book, and the like-mannered teachings that are being promoted in religious circles today, and not of the author's character! I am sure that Pastor Ed Young,Jr. is a sincere, hardworking pastor, who is pastoring to the best of his ability, and that he knew when he wrote the book, that his views would be challenged! He is a public figure, and therefore, open to critism by the public, whether it be good, or bad!
I have been in the ministry over forty years, as a pastor, an evangelist, and a foreign missions minister in Eastern Europe, and I can tell you that his job is not an easy one, and I certainly don't envy him or his task at all! What I do take issue with is the belief, that the church and/or her performers - ministers, can entertain people to Christ, and can entertain them all the way to Heaven without interfering with their other entertainment, sports, TV, etc. That is, the "we'll get you out in time for the football game," and "services designed with you in mind" mentality, and the belief that ministers can move the people from earth to heaven with a "repeat after me, sinner's prayer" approach. It is Biblically impossible to translate people from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, by the preaching of true Bible Salvation, without offending anyone.
If the Word of God were nothing more than information to be mentally processed, expressed, and humanly understood, the nature of the vessel through which it is given would not be so important. But, because the Word is alive and full of power, the channel through which it comes is of extreme importance. The nature of the minister is crucial to the ministry of the Word. The ministry of the Word is something apart from the minister of the Word. For real ministry to take place, the life of God - the Holy Spirit - must abide in the minister and quicken the Word to the people's hearts. The resurrected Word must be shared by resurrected ministers.
In today's Churches, the worship is beautiful and formal, but spiritually cold and dead! They are void of true Holy Ghost Worship. In many churches, Services are nothing more than hyped-up emotionalism, and enthusiasm portrayed as a move of God. Culture and education have taken the place of the Spirit-given Word, and faith has been superseded by science, so that man is a victim of materialism. For the most part, minister's aren't preaching in the demonstration and power of the Holy Ghost! Carnally minded people cannot understand the things of the spirit, and therefore, much of the church world is walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit! I don't expect to get much of an agreement from the majority, which only goes to prove what I am saying about carnally minded people! Jesus said, "True worshippers must worship God in Spirit and in Truth, for God seeketh such to worship Him!" And, "If the blind lead the blind, they shall all fall into the ditch." And that is what is happening all too often in this current generation. Someone said, "You can't mix Ice Cream and Dung! The Ice Cream won't hurt the Dung, but the Dung will ruin the Ice Cream!" You just absolutely cannot mix the Spirit and the flesh, and we need minister's that know the difference! Now, please don't shoot the messenger, ok! If you have an argument, take it up with the Lord, after all, it is His Word that I am quoting!
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I have been in the ministry over forty years, as a pastor, an evangelist, and a foreign missions minister in Eastern Europe, and I can tell you that his job is not an easy one, and I certainly don't envy him or his task at all! What I do take issue with is the belief, that the church and/or her performers - ministers, can entertain people to Christ, and can entertain them all the way to Heaven without interfering with their other entertainment, sports, TV, etc. That is, the "we'll get you out in time for the football game," and "services designed with you in mind" mentality, and the belief that ministers can move the people from earth to heaven with a "repeat after me, sinner's prayer" approach. It is Biblically impossible to translate people from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, by the preaching of true Bible Salvation, without offending anyone.
If the Word of God were nothing more than information to be mentally processed, expressed, and humanly understood, the nature of the vessel through which it is given would not be so important. But, because the Word is alive and full of power, the channel through which it comes is of extreme importance. The nature of the minister is crucial to the ministry of the Word. The ministry of the Word is something apart from the minister of the Word. For real ministry to take place, the life of God - the Holy Spirit - must abide in the minister and quicken the Word to the people's hearts. The resurrected Word must be shared by resurrected ministers.
In today's Churches, the worship is beautiful and formal, but spiritually cold and dead! They are void of true Holy Ghost Worship. In many churches, Services are nothing more than hyped-up emotionalism, and enthusiasm portrayed as a move of God. Culture and education have taken the place of the Spirit-given Word, and faith has been superseded by science, so that man is a victim of materialism. For the most part, minister's aren't preaching in the demonstration and power of the Holy Ghost! Carnally minded people cannot understand the things of the spirit, and therefore, much of the church world is walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit! I don't expect to get much of an agreement from the majority, which only goes to prove what I am saying about carnally minded people! Jesus said, "True worshippers must worship God in Spirit and in Truth, for God seeketh such to worship Him!" And, "If the blind lead the blind, they shall all fall into the ditch." And that is what is happening all too often in this current generation. Someone said, "You can't mix Ice Cream and Dung! The Ice Cream won't hurt the Dung, but the Dung will ruin the Ice Cream!" You just absolutely cannot mix the Spirit and the flesh, and we need minister's that know the difference! Now, please don't shoot the messenger, ok! If you have an argument, take it up with the Lord, after all, it is His Word that I am quoting!
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