Hello, my name is Mike Lehew and I am a Bookaholic.  I love books.  I love reading.  Not a big fan of audio books or reading electronically--I have to have the book in my hand and I am an avid highlighter.  I guess you would say this is my hobby.  A good book that I can get lost in or learn from .

With all of this, reading books is great!  It gives great insight and I have learned from people a few steps ahead of me, but this can't replace my walk with Jesus.  None of these authors can save me.  They can help me, but they can't save me.

What's your plan to get into His Word this year?

Here is my 2022 Book-A-Holic Year in Review:

1.  Live Dead Joy by Dick Brogden
This will have been my fourth or fifth year to have gone through this devotion.  It's written by a missionary in the Middle East and it has been a great challenge and encouragement to me.  You will either be encouraged or get your toes stepped on.  It challenges you to read the Bible daily and through the Bible in one year.

2.  Replenish by Lance Witt
One of my favorites as it scratches where I itch and one of my greatest struggles: to simply be still and lead from a healthy soul.  I read this in just a few days as it speaks to where I am.  Replenish helps leaders focus on the back stage, the interior life, in order to remain spiritually healthy. It helps leaders prioritize matters of the soul, develop healthy spiritual practices, 
address problems that lead to burnout, create a healthy rhythm in their lives, improve their people skills and the spiritual climate of their team, develop better systems in their churches and discover how to lead an unhurried life. 

3.  Replicate by Robby Gallaty
A book I return to regularly to remind me of the simple way of discipling someone.  It simply shows how to make disciples through the Word. It is a simple read that is easily applicable.

4.  Better Together by Jim Tomberlin
If you are not aware, through God's grace and help, Red Fork Baptist Church joined us in August of this year.   It is an amazing story of two churches on the opposite extremes coming together.   This has been a helpful resource to help guide us through this process.

5.  Adoniram Judson by Vance Christie
My grandson, Judson, was born in April and was named after this missionary to Burma.  Adoniram served for 38 years and went through hell on earth to share the Good News.  The cool thing is there are a few Burmese churches that we partner with here in the Tulsa metro area and if it wasn't for Adoniram being the first to share the Gospel, would they be here?

6.  In His Steps by Charles Sheldon
I read this every so often to remind myself to ask the simple question, "What Would Jesus Do?"  It's more than a slogan.   It's a fictional account, but what would it look like to follow Jesus so closely that our communities are changed?

7.  Calling out the Called by Scott Pace and Shane Pruitt
We are experiencing a shortage of people being called to the ministry.  How do we call out the called?  What a great challenge.  This next year, our theme is Isaiah 6:8 and our desire is to see 3,000 missionaries called out by 2030 to advance the Gospel as pastors, youth pastors, children pastors, missionaries, etc.

8.  LIFE: It's not supposed To be Like This by Emmitt McKenzie
Sarah and I met Emmitt at our first church planting assessment in 2017.  Talk about an evangelist--Emmitt is an evangelist and he has a story of tell.  You want to read it!  How Jesus changed his life from the streets in OKC to now sharing the Gospel wherever he goes is amazing.

9.  Gospel Eldership by Robert Thune
We have been going through this book with our elders in training and it is one of the best books I have ever read on eldership.  It is a needed reflection and direct questions that helps one to see if they are ready for such a responsibility.

10. Spirit Walk by Steve Smith
Though we know the Bible says to walk in the Spirit, the majority of Christians are illiterate (and even nervous) about how to practically live in His power. The result is lives marred by continued brokenness and ministries plagued by fruitlessness. In contrast, believers from Acts understood the ancient path of the Spirit Walk. That extraordinary power was not just for them, but also for us. This has been one of my favorites as I want to walk by His Spirit!  (Note: this does not have a charismatic bent and the title may turn people away but it's biblical!)

11.  Who Stole My Church by Gordon MacDonald
I picked this up randomly from our network office that was giving these away for free.  It is a fictional account of a church and it's older members thinking that their church had been stolen as a younger generation started to lead.  This is an excellent resource for churches like the one I am helping to lead to go through.  It would be good for the older generation to read to get perspective.  It would be good for the younger generation to read to understand how it seems they feel that their church has been stolen.

12.  The Gathered and Scattered Church by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay
I read this about 8 years ago well before we planted our church but if someone were to ask, "What is Church Inside Out all about?", this would be the book I would say is close to what we are trying to accomplish.  It gives a good balance of gathering as a church, but also living on mission.

13.  Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger
I started this book while we were in Colorado.  Tod offers a combination of insights and  tools to help you reimagine what effective leadership looks like in our rapidly changing world. How does one lead with confidence and courage in a church world that for the most part does not exist?  Lewis and Clark being used as the backdrop, it's an interesting read to manage uncharted waters.

14.  Inalienable by Eric Constanzo and Daniel Yang
I love the fact that the author is a friend and pastors a church here in Tulsa and is on the frontlines of advancing the Gospel with refugees. 
In order to return to health, we must decenter ourselves from our American idols and recenter on the undeniable, inalienable core reality of the global, transcultural kingdom of God. Our guides in this process are global Christians and the poor, who offer hope from the margins, and the ancient church, which survived through the ages amid temptations of power and corruption. Their witness points us to refocus on the kingdom of God, the image of God, the Word of God, and the mission of God.

15.  TurnAround by Jason Allen
Jason serves as president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Spurgeon College.  My daughter, Hannah, and her husband, Kendall, graduated from there and two more of my kids, Grace and Elijah, also attend there now.  I love reading the turn around story of Midwestern.  It used to be the seminary that didn't have the best reputation, but now is making a huge difference!

16.  On Guard by Deepak Reju
With the scandals that have hit our churches, we must protect our kids.  Deepak Reju examines why child predators target churches and offers eleven straightforward strategies to protect children from abuse and to help young victims recover if it does happen. On Guard recognizes that the church's response to abuse must be more comprehensive in line with her calling than a simple legal policy or clinical analysis. On Guard moves church staff and leaders beyond fearful awareness to prayerful preparedness with an actionable plan.

17.  ReThink by Brad Brisco
This is one of those books that I read over and over again to remind me to stay out of the box and rethink the why.  This is a great read to help churches get unstuck.  I thoroughly enjoyed going through this as I went through it with a group of pastors.  This was one of the highlights of my semester.  We even had Brad come and share with our group.

It is an e-book that you can download for FREE and it won't take long to read, but it will take a while to digest.

For those that are book-a-holics like me, what books would you recommend?

Happy Reading!

Mike

 Saturday, December 24....A Holy Night

It was four months ago that Red Fork Baptist Church voted to come under our leadership.  In that short amount of time, it is amazing what the Lord has done.

We have seen the baptism waters stirred.
We are raising up elders.
Kids are seen and heard.
Students are being raised up!
We are preparing for this space to be lighthouse to the community.

It is a hard work.  It is a worthwhile work.  Tonight, is just a reminder that God is in control.

May we continue to be in awe of what He has done!

​Church attendance will stunt your spiritual growth.

You were never meant to just attend church. You were meant to be the body of Christ.

If the only thing I do is attend, my spiritual growth will be stunted. It’s when we
-engage with the Word
-obey the Word
-serve Jesus by serving others, -take the time to abide in Christ through spiritual disciplines that we will grow in our faith.

You have heard me say that you are an instrument. Each instrument plays an important role in a symphony. Played alone or sitting in its case, the instrument doesn’t sound good and the music suffers.

You are meant to be a part of the church, the instrument, to create an amazing piece of music (through the church) that glorifies Jesus. When every “instrument” is not played in church, it sounds a lot like my ninth grade marching band: terrible.

The Church Growth Movement idolized numbers and attendance. What we win them with is what we keep them with. We are seeing the fruit of this as we can’t keep doing what we won them with because of Covid.

​Jesus didn’t say, “Go make church attenders of all nations teaching them to come and sit and listen to a sermon and a good worship set.”

He said, ““Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Even Jesus last words in the book of ACTS(notice it is not the book of SIT) is purpose declaring, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in (your neighborhood, your job, your family, your city, your state and the nations) Acts 1:8

Holy Spirit resides—>you will be my witnesses—>the overflow of this is making disciples
(This is not something we can do in our own strength-it’s through His)

There is this power that resides in us, but it sits dormant because we have been enabled to sit, listen and never go beyond the threshold of the church door to proclaim the majesty of Jesus.

(Now, this is no fault of the preacher , unless there is no emphasis on the going, but it is up to each believer to act upon what we hear)
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Your identity has been restored to pre-fall conditions when you come to know Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 5, we are given identity and purpose: we are a new creation and we are created for a purpose as an ambassador of Christ.
(Note: Many of us are better ambassadors for our political candidate than we are for Jesus.)

This power, who is the Holy Spirit, will rise up and give you the ability to proclaim.
We either proclaim Him, silence Him out of fear or silence Him out of unbelief.

Attending church has silenced the church.

• It’s time to Unmuzzle the church to be the church
• It’s time to recognize our identity and purpose to be the church.
• It’s time to move beyond the seat to the frontlines in advancing the kingdom.
• It’s time to abide in Christ so the power of Christ can work through us.
• It’s time to be serious about being a disciple and making disciples.

Don’t just attend church, BE the church! If you are sitting dormant-go to your pastor and ask how you can help BE the church-don’t wait for him to come to you!

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8-10‬
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Let’s go!