Books

Publisher
St. Martin’s

Author
Mike Kersjes & Joe Layden

Publisher
Tyndale House

Author
Dr. Kevin Leman

Publisher
Workman

Author
Joseph Piscatella

Publisher
Gotham

Author
Greg Baer, M.D.

Publisher
Harper Collins

Author
Ron Hansen

Publisher
Moody

Author
John Walsh

Central Theme
Storytelling has become more important than ever, all of us are storytellers, but there are some very simple ways to improve your storytelling effectiveness.

Overview
The postmodern era has spawned a generation of ‘story thinkers’ who rely on story more than linear thinking. This books is written by a man who has stuttered all his life, was considered educationally challenged, and has become one of the most effective storytellers anywhere. The lessons he has learned and gleaned from others are explained in this book, with a goal of helping all of us become more effective in our storytelling.

Beliefs num
–There are fourteen steps towards developing an unforgettable story: finding, pushing through, envisioning the scene with present-day feelings and concerns, telling the story from the point of view of someone at the scene, establishing the story’s one central truth, finding a memory Hook, telling a story within a story, knowing when to ramble, planning your first words, knowing how it ends, researching the facts, eliminating needless details, adding descriptions that will bring life, audience participation and practicing.
–There are seven tools for presenting the story: imagination, facial expression, body movements, your voice, the pause, nervousness and confidence.

Questions Worth Discussing num
–Who is the best storyteller you know and what makes their stories so effective?
–What are the elements of a great story?
–What makes Garrison Keillor such a great storyteller?

Provocative Quotes byline
–Enhancing your storytelling skills will increase your ability to affect people you have not been able to reach before.
==JW.
–Those who present an unforgettable story have taken time to prepare an unforgettable story.
==JW
–Memorize your first lines and tour last lines and ramble in between.
==JW.
–Saying words must remain secondary to your first priority, which is to communicate your life and the life of the story.
==JW.

Author
Steve Beard

Publisher
Relevant Books

How faith has influenced Twelve music Icons (Johnny Cash, P.Diddy, Lauryn Hill, Moby, Al Green, Wyclef Jean, Scott Stapp, Destiny’s Child, Bob Dylan, Lenny Kravitz, T-Bone Burnett, Bono.

Publisher
Gospel Light

Author
Don Richardson

Publisher
Harper SanFrancisco

Author
Thomas Oden

Central Theme
New life in Christianity is rooted in the rebirth of orthodoxy.

Overview
Society is gasping for breath in a spiritual crisis precipitated by modernity with its failing ideologies. The collapse of enlightenment ideologies is creating a hunger for roots in seekers longing for something substantial and real. Oden posits that the past can teach the future and argues persuasively from Vincent of Lerins whose standard for embracing an orthodoxy consisting of those things which have been believed “everywhere, always and by everyone.” In this new orthodoxy, rooted in our deep past, are the kernels of a new ecumenism embraced by evangelicals, Orthodox and Roman Catholics, and a similar phenomena is taking place among many Jews. Orthodoxy persists because it is flexible and There are multiple witnesses to the rebirth of orthodoxy. Oden here tells of his own personal metamorphosis.

Many will find in Oden a useful corrective to so much evangelical emerging church practice which is rooted in style more than substance. Here are roots that extend from our biblically authoritative texts through their earliest interpreters and into a modern world in need of roots that are authentic, proven and deep.

Beliefs num
–Enlightenment ideologies rooted in Nietzsche, Marx, Freud, and Bultmann are dead.
–We’ve paid a high price for embracing their ideas.
–A generation of ¢â‚¬Ëœyoung fogies’ has arisen, hungering for roots and studying the texts of ancient Christian traditions.
–In this new orthodoxy are the seeds of a new ecumenism.

Questions Worth Discussing num
–Have you noticed a return to orthodox texts and roots among the younger generation?
–How do you explain this phenomena?
–Why do Reformed thinkers today refer to Calvin and Luther, when Calvin and Luther referred to the early church fathers?
–Do you think the Bible alone, without the church fathers, is adequate for understanding the faith ‘then’ in order to apply it now?

Provocative Quotes byline
–By orthodoxy I mean integrated biblical teaching as interpreted in its most consensual classic period.
==TO.
–All that is meant by tradition, then, is the faithful handing down from generation to generation of scripture interpretation consensually received worldwide and cross-culturally through two millennia.
==TO.
–The most salient feature of orthodoxy is not it’s rigidity but it’s flexibility.
==TO.
–The truth risks becoming embodied, because truth embodied is greater than truth merely conceived.
==TO.
–The threefold test of classic Christianity: that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all.
==TO citing Vincent of Lerins.
–Serious Jews and serious Christians are now being energized by this dawning realization that the past can teach the future.
==TO.
–Neither Jews nor Christians can really afford to be isolationist. In this pagan world of ours, we together are the minority people of God.
==Jakob Petuchowski.

Publisher
Simon & Schuster

Author
Mel Levine

Central Theme
There are no lazy children, just children with neurologically based output failure.

Overview
Dr. Levine is a developmentally-behavioral pediatrician specializing in those bright kids who are often labeled learning-disabled in an educational system ill-equipped to understand & facilitate individual children with their unique neurological peculiarities. Since all of us want to show off our accomplishments, Levine concludes children who are struggling in school don’t lack desire to produce, but are hindered by neurological factors that inhibit their effective output. Identifying and developing a strategy for helping the child within the system is doable and results in dramatic improvements in productivity.

Beliefs num
–Every child wants to succeed and be productive.
–Productivity problems begin to emerge when the outcomes desired by the system collide with the child’s neurological ability to produce those results.
–As children we are required to be broad generalists, whereas adults are allowed to specialize, meaning, kids are faced with a challenge that won’t have nearly the impact as they grow into adulthood.
–Writing is the biggest orchestra for a child because it requires a wide span of abilities like creating, remembering, organizing, the physical act of writing, concentration and more.
–The neurological peculiarities of a child can be identified and problems solved, but you must approach it like a detective trying to solve a mystery.
–Among the symptoms and kinds of neurologically based problems children can have are the following: low motor turnout, forgetting how to remember, repeated energy crisis, controls out of control, words that can’t describe, deflation ideation, falling prey to disarray.

Questions Worth Discussing num
–Do you agree there are no lazy kids?
–What challenges did you face as a child in trying to produce results in the educational system?
–Can the educational system facilitate the child with neurologically based output challenges?

Provocative Quotes byline
–Laziness is not an innate trait. We all are born with a drive to produce.
==ML.
–Some individuals somehow, somewhere, lose momentum; in the pursuit of accomplishment they fail to produce; they stall out¢â‚¬¦they are not lazy; they have output failure.
==ML.
–8low output occurs when one or more neurodevelopment dysfunctions interfere with productivity.
==ML.
–Writing is the largest orchestra a kid’s mind has to conduct.
ML.