Danielle Strickland Tackles the Gender Controversies

Danielle Strickland has a new book and 6-session DVD study releasing in February with Thomas Nelson. We profiled Danielle in May of 2018. She’s spoken at Willow Creek and NorthPoint Community Church and at various conferences. This Canadian author has already written for Monarch, NavPress and IVP.

The book, Better Together: How Women and Men Can Heal the Divide and Work Together to Transform the Future releases in paperback on February 11th. The publisher marketing describes the book as follows:

We are currently at a strategic cultural intersection with relationships between women and men eroding. And it seems no one knows what to do. While it is good for women to expose their pain, what often happens is that they immediately blame the person at the other end of it, which sets up a never-ending cycle of accusations, denial, avoidance, and ultimately devastation for everyone involved.

This moment of discovery should not signal the end but instead become an opportunity to create a different world where men and women are better together.

Better Together is a beacon of hope in a challenging storm. It’s where thoughts can be re-channeled and hope rekindled as author Danielle Strickland offers steps toward a real and workable solution. Her premise is that two things are needed for change:

1) imagine a better world, and
2) understand oppression.

Understanding how oppression works is an important part of undoing it.

Danielle says, “I refuse to believe that all men are bad. I also refuse to believe that all women are victims. I don’t want to be just hopeful, I want to be strategically hopeful. I want to work toward a better world with a shared view of the future that looks like equality, freedom, and flourishing.

The video curriculum releases two weeks later on February 25th. Again, the publisher description:

This six-week video study takes on the most difficult issue our culture and the Church is facing today: gender division. Known activist and speaker, Danielle Strickland shows that we are stronger, freer, louder, and livelier in alignment with one another.

In a time when societal disruptions are rampant—have you wanted to cut and run?

Have you considered your own gender versus the opposite in a defensive way?

If we are honest, we all have. And that truth is where we begin to be set free. We are only as strong as our understanding of our differences—and they are many and varied and begin with each our fingerprint. But we were not created alone, or separately. We were in fact created of and from and in the image of the same God. Until God created man AND woman, he called everything he created ‘good.’ When he saw us together, he declared, “It is VERY good” Gen 1:1-31.

So how then, in a current state of division at every intersection of life, do we return to the flourishing of men and women together as originally intended?

In this six-session study, author, activist, and headlining international speaker Danielle Strickland will guide us through our differences and mutuality with a biblical lens and foundation. She will teach and inspire us to face the core challenge that drives all division—FEAR—and to change the story of our culture. We will transform and become examples of equality and equity as in the Garden of Eden where we were made better, together.

The video trailer for the study series, posted above, released just a few days ago.

 

 used by permission of Christian Book Shop Talk Blog

When Relevance is the Last Thing Your Church Needs

In the modern church, maintaining a connection to the mainstream culture is considered important. We don’t want to appear to be an island; to be isolated; to be disconnected from what is going on in the broader world. We don’t want to present ourselves as so heavenly minded we are no earthly good.

I’m not sure why that is. It seems to me that one the more dominant themes in the Old Testament was that Israel was supposed to be set apart and have a distinct identity.

In contrast, our pastors are increasingly sporting the latest fashion trends while making pop culture references every sermon minute. The message is, ‘Hey, we’re neighbors. We shop in the same stores. Our kids play in the same park.’ In other words, ‘We’re normal.’

Still, I was surprised to see this offered as a new curriculum for adult-elective Sunday School or small groups:

I understand that in times of political turmoil and uncertainty, the church needs to be there to guide people through the confusion.

But aren’t there enough of these types of conversation already happening in the church lobby and the church parking lot? On social media? At the office water cooler? In the newspaper? On the talk shows? Isn’t the rack near the exit at church already filled with Christian Voter Guides and similar advisories?

Why can’t our Sunday morning (or midweek group) be an opportunity to take a deep breath and escape the never-ending national preoccupation? Are not some weary of this rhetoric?

When one considers the large volume of adult study material available — on books of the Bible, doctrinal subjects, key Bible characters, etc. — do we really want to spend even more time discussing “political engagement?” Or should we be focusing on the other half of what means to be citizens of two worlds?

Yes, we live in the intersection of two vastly different structures. But we can’t let too much attention be given to the one at the expense of nurturing the other.

Returning to the earlier question, are we normal? Or are we part of the upside-down kingdom Jesus introduced?

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I have deliberately chosen not to name the publisher of the item covered today.

Book Review: The Grave Robber

“Everyone wants a miracle. But here’s the catch: no one wants to be in a situation that necessitates one! Of course, you can’t have one without the other.” (The Grave Robber by Mark Batterson, p. 14)

He just keeps getting better.

I honestly can’t wait until Mark Batterson’s next book; I think he’s now firmly in my Top Five Authors circle, but for different reasons than the other four. He doesn’t go deep deep, but he does manage to get me thinking. If someone had simply never read a Christian book, then this is would be a good introduction, and hey, December 25th is approaching.

The Grave Robber: How Jesus Can Make Your Impossible Possible is Mark Batterson’s tenth book as well has his first for Baker Publishing Group. It’s an exposition of the seven miracles recorded in John’s gospel; plus an eighth for those who are paying attention. Each miraculous event is given three chapters wherein Mark shares some context, lots of application, and some faith-building stories from his own life emerging from the discussion of each miracle. There are also some details in Grave Robber‘s retelling of these familiar stories that I had not heard or considered in a lifetime of going to church.

There’s a DVD Curriculum available as well, but a competent small group leader would have no problem generating seven weeks (or more) of discussion just by having people read the book. You could also read the book for study on John’s gospel, or devotionally.

Again, the book is very transparent; very personal. Mark is very realistic in his approach to increasing your faith. As an asthmatic who has longed for a healing, he knows what is like to pray and be prayed for and still not see the answer, yet this does not diminish his belief in God’s supernatural power in the least. This is therefore an excellent choice for someone who finds themselves in the middle of a season where perhaps hope seems lost, or God seems distant.

Jesus is pictured in the book’s pages as the Wine-Maker, Rule-Breaker, Water-Walker and Grave-Robber. You cannot escape encountering him as you read.

Coming this Spring: Regular Batterson readers are familiar with his son Parker, who is collaborating on a student edition of the book, releasing in March, 2015.

• Read an excerpt from Grave Robber we ran last week at C201
• Read a review of All In, the previous title by Mark Batterson, which released in October, 2013

Wednesday Link List

from Church is Stranger Than Fiction by Mary Chambers an IVP book from 1990

If it’s Wednesday, it’s time for another list of things you may have missed from the Christian corner of the web.  Clicking anything below will take you to PARSE where the list officially resides. Then click the story you wish to read.

• Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove comments on the botched execution in Oklahoma two weeks ago.
• The same word-for-word approach The Visual Bible took is now being applied to a graphic novel with the Word for Word Bible Comic. The project is currently seeking funding, and BibleGateway interviewed the creator.
• After some technical hiccups, the videos from the Q-Conference are available for viewing.  For more conservative conference stalking, there are always videos of the featured talks from Together for the Gospel.
• The results of the Kentucky Derby clearly indicate that the world has been taken over by the anti-Christ.
• If you’re reading this before noon today, God and the Gay Christian author Matthew Vines and popular bloggers Rachel Held Evans, Tony Jones and Jay Bakker have a one hour live chat on Patheos.
• For one writer, a funeral was the high point in his church’s week.
• As you read this, it’s midway through the first of several regional editions of the National Worship Leaders’ Conference.  One worship writer explains why we need new songs.
• Just when you thought you were on top of all the faith-based movies on the big screen, you need to know about Calvary.
• A small church pastor is surprised at what he learns from the pastor of one of Canada’s largest churches.
• One of the most dangerous men in the UK tells of life transformation through taking the Alpha Course in prison.
• How “legal” is your church when it comes to honoring copyrights? Here are some reasons why you should.
• What to do when the congregation is simply standing there, not singing.
• Has your church covered some of the R-rated sections of the Bible? Many churches avoid those passages, one pastor sees value in including them intentionally.
• With a Reformed perspective, this list of 20 tips for using commentaries gave rise to this collection of links to lists of the best ones. (With typos as no extra charge.) For a more Arminian perspective, I’m reminded of this list.
• With a movie that released in time for Mother’s Day, CNN hails a new genre, Christian comedy…
• …And heading off a Mother’s Day tempest at the pass, Perry Noble discusses his choice of Lysa TerKeurst as guest speaker.
• The Atheist Church is holding its first general assembly. Can district superintendents be next?
• Under what circumstances might you ask a member of the worship team to step down?
• Charismatic Corner: Lee Grady offers six really strange Charismatic doctrines that should be scrapped.
• Demographics Department: Some interesting consequences for the church in the wake of mass Baby Boomer retirement.
• Meditation Moment: A look at classic writer Andrew Murray’s favorite hymn.
• It doesn’t happen until January, but the three amigos from the Reformed, Pyromaniacs blog are going into the conference business.
• Got your WJRtMW bracelet yet? It stands for Would Jesus Raise the Minimum Wage? (And no, there’s no actual bracelet that I’m aware of.)
• You know a Christian bookstore is valued in a city if the Mayor steps in to keep it from closing.
• At long last, a writer has noted the Christian fascination with board games.
• Using the excuse that it was overdone the previous year, students are told they can’t thank God at the grad ceremony.
• As I promised last week, we finished the AHA curriculum with Kyle Idleman, and the church kit offers various possibilities for use.
• If you missed it, HGTV axed a real estate reality show before it ever aired because of the hosts’ faith convictions. As CT points out, another HGTV show with Evangelical hosts is still scheduled.
• This was fun: Imagine being a young woman writing a novel for young adults with scenes set in a high school when you, yourself were home-schooled.
• Are you a parent? In Kidmin? This rather sobering article is worth a read: Five signs your child is not saved.
• Music Video of the Week: The title song from Michael W. Smith’s Sovereign.
• When I think of people walking a prayer labyrinth, I tend to think of Anglicans, but some Baptists are now utilizing them.
• Now that the whole series is available for purchase, watch one of the four video studies based on the epic-length biography, Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas.
• Introducing ServePoint, for coordinating volunteers with scheduled events.
• Moving from the city to a Christian farm community helped this writer’s children learn about the reality of death.
• Love or hate the Noah movie, it’s ideal for cinema.
• In a busy world, when is the last time you phoned someone (a real voice call) just to say thanks, with no catch?
• Crooner Michael Buble, complete with ukulele, guitar, piano and brushes on a snare drum, proved that a Jamie Grace song could easily be converted into a big-band hit.
• Female pastors who wear clerical garb will want to track this new line of vestments.
• The Passion 2014 conference album tied its own previous record for highest debut of a Christian album on Billboard.
• This fall a British reality show will see couples tie the knot after a single meeting: Marriage At First Sight.
• Finally, a personal note: If anyone has playable tapes of the demos of classic Jesus Music radio shows like The Rock That Never Rolls with Brother Dale or The Scott Ross Show please contact me.  (Or a good recipe for Peach Crumble.)

From CBD, for women who don’t have the joy of the Lord:

 

Curriculum Review: AHA by Kyle Idleman

After veering off into a more documentary style with the small group curriculum for Kyle Idleman‘s Gods at War, City on a Hill Productions returns to the cinematic type of production it does best: an integrating of multiple dramatic story lines with direct teaching. AHA: Awakening.Honesty.Action takes a modern look at the story of The Prodigal Son in Luke’s gospel and has the courage to suggest that not every wayward son who has a moment of clarity while feeding the pigs actually makes it back home.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching all six episodes. The video clips run about a half hour each. The acting is superb to the point where I wondered, with all the Christian movies releasing lately, if City on a Hill ought to be reaching for an even wider audience.

There are various applications to this curriculum. So far, Idleman, the teaching pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky has released three books and three videos, plus the H20 video series (see the review linked below) which landed him on our radar. So that leaves you with several choices, and these are just my suggestions:

• If I were working with new Christians or even seekers for whom the story of The Lost Son in Luke is foreign, I would probably use the video.
• If I were working with people who have been Christians for awhile, I might do the book study.
• If I were working with people who have been in small groups for a fair amount of time, and like to think and like to discuss, I would do the video.

The video really provoked some thought when we watched it as a family in ways that the book didn’t. And like the parable, not everybody lives happily ever after. But the book is excellent by itself as I stated earlier this year.  And the curriculum possibilities get even more complex:

• The church kit comes with a leader’s guide and a journal. You could simply watch the videos, have a weekly discussion, and a small homework assignment for the following week.
• You can also get a journal for each group member, for which a sample is included. It provides a day-by-day writing assignment between group meetings, so the teaching content remains fresh when the group reconvenes and there is opportunity for personal transformation.

If you’ve been around the church for any length of time, you might argue there’s nothing new here. In many respects, Idleman’s Gods at War covered material also found in Tim Keller’s Counterfeit Gods or Pete Wilson’s Empty Promises and AHA is reminiscent of Keller’s Prodigal God which Idleman quotes at one stage in both the book and the video.

But Jesus’ parable in Luke offers limitless applications; it’s the story that keeps on giving.

[Note: This is a review of the Small Group Kit; AHA is also available for a teaching series in your local church in a Pastor’s Kit, which is an entirely different product containing only short video clips at a much lower price.]

At the end of the last episode, we watched a couple of the features which clearly reveal the hearts of the director and cast. They are truly committed to excellence. Honestly, I can’t wait to see where City on a Hill Productions goes next. I leave you with their corporate tagline:

Story is the language of our Hearts
Media is the language of our times
We use both to share Jesus with the world

• Review: H20 Curriculum (January, 2009)
• Review: Not a Fan Curriculum (June, 2011)
• Review: Gods at War Curriculum (June 2013)

Kyle Idleman – Gods at War: The Video

The Gods at War video curriculum is a six-week, interactive, DVD-driven Bible study for small groups that can be offered in a 90-minute weekly format, or if the group is time-constrained, in a 60-minute weekly format. The video clips themselves run 22 – 30 minutes. The curriculum is based on Idleman’s sophomore book with Zondervan by the same title, though the curriculum offers its own Follower’s Journal which retails for $9.99 US; therefor it isn’t necessary that group members read the book, although some will want to.

The Gods at War video teaching series is one of five major DVD-based church resources released from City on a Hill Productions to feature Kyle Idleman, teaching pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky; however unlike the Not a Fan and H₂0 group studies This one abandons the cinematic style that had him teaching on location and doesn’t have any scripted dramatic vignettes or story line. Instead, the teaching is interspersed with documentary style interviews with five individuals who have wrestled with various ‘gods’ in their past: Pleasure, love, money, power and self.

One of those interviews is with the late Chuck Colson, and that, as the saying goes was worth the price of admission. It’s a story about the lust for power that everyone needs to hear, not just Americans. But two of the interviews are with individuals, a woman and man respectively, who wrestled with same sex attraction and sexual addition and infidelity. For that reason, I suspect the DVD series may be a little to edgy for more conservative churches and/or certain teen groups. The intention is that for discussion purposes, small groups would split up into male and female subgroups, and in that context these portrayals are real, and honest, and probably a best fit for generating conversation.

The curriculum package retails for $59.99 US and contains a sample of the 208-page Gods at War Combat Journal — also available separately — which was written by Southeast’s Ross Brodfuehrer and offers two phases of processing the video material; as well as a 44 page leaders guide with discussion questions. The DVD also offers a 15-minute message from Kyle to group leaders with tips on managing discussion in a small group format, which should be required viewing for people using any DVD curriculum to lead a Bible study.  

The curriculum kit should not be confused with the Pastor’s Kit which retails for $29.99, not reviewed here, which is for pastors who want to teach through a six-week series on Sunday mornings and contains much shorter video clips.

With the Not a Fan book and video series still riding high on national sales charts, many churches looking for something else may want to move on to Gods at War. The book covers similar themes to Pete Wilson’s Empty Promises and Timothy Keller’s Counterfeit Gods, but the video series is more distinct. While I missed the full movie treatment used in previous City on a Hill series — I referred to H₂0 as Alpha Course meets Nooma — I think this series has the potential to promote life change even among those of us who would never think that idolatry is a factor in our lives, even if its expression in our lives is more subtle than those in the featured interviews. 

Watch the series 2-minute trailer here.

Review: Awakening of Hope – The Video

Several months ago I reviewed the book Awakening of Hope by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, which looks at several of the elements of what is sometimes called the new monasticism.  While there’s no mention of vows of poverty or silence, and nobody is wearing matching robes (or even hoodies), the book is an excellent study of everyday people who either choose to live in community, or find themselves living communally due to circumstances. The link in this paragraph leads you to a list of the six topics actually under study, which include the concept of a shared meal and the importance of pacifism.

I was quite taken by the book. The text is rich, and JW-H has a wealth of travel and experience to draw from in his writing. But all this time I was dying to know what the accompanying video would be like. Finally, I got my wish.

If your perception of Zondervan curriculum involves packages hosted by Philip Yancey or Andy Stanley, you’d be a little out of your depth with this one. Owing more to NOOMA than anything else, the six 15-minute sessions involve some very raw footage — with varying sound levels — that may or may not be in focus. In the very first minute Shane Claiborne is interrupted by a child at the door of the house where he’s filming, Chris Haw is distracted by backyard chickens and the people whose dining room Shane is using come home to find a film crew in their house.

More to the point, the segments are more of an extension to the printed book. When you’ve read the chapter and people have gone around the circle and discussed the various take-outs, you then start the DVD and are immersed in the topic on a whole different — and probably unexpected — level. The interviews — including one with L’Arche founder Jean Vanier — complement rather than continue what the book was discussing. (The book also contains the DVD study questions, there is no additional resource needed.)

I asked Gary O’Dwyer, a local pastor friend who is working with both the book and the DVD to confirm this and he agreed,

“The video is not tied directly to the book. The main portion of the video does offer some very interesting/inspiring individual examples of Hope as well as living Christ’s message.”

The six segments are somewhat equally hosted by Shane and Jonathan, and the DVD also contains nine short bonus clips, including Shane’s story of how The Simple Way got started.  Running time is about 90 minutes total with a U.S. retail of $26.99. Click the image above to watch a three minute preview. If you can only choose one item to purchase, I would suggest getting the book.

Wednesday Link List

Well they don’t build megachurches like this anymore… This is the First Church of Christ, Scientist (i.e. Christian Science) in Boston in a 1907 photo at Shorpy.com.

To begin this link list, you need a blank piece of paper.

• Let’s start out with something completely different. Without clicking through… One of the best selling Christian books of the past 20 years has been The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Name the five languages without peeking.
• How about another top five list? Again, without clicking, what’s your guess as to the top five churches in the United States by attendance. It’s about 3/4 of the way down the page.
• Finally, before you click that link, what do you think are the top five Bible verses searched for at BibleGateway.com? Oh, and the one you think is number one, actually isn’t.  [More on that subject with our People’s Bible page sample.]

The regular links

• If you lead a small group, here’s a YouTube channel you should know about while it lasts, because when it comes to small group discussion-starter videos, Zondervan is giving away the store.
• Is the window on religious freedom in Russia about to close? Some people feel Christians could be adversely affected by a new law.
• Borrowing material from the “public domain” Bible simply makes good economic sense for Hollywood.
  
• He was an Independent Fundamentalist Pastor and now he’s an atheist and humanist.The blog Galatians Four looks at what can happen when your church is filled with abuses.
• Russell D. Moore knows that the 2012 election has got more people talking to and about Mormonism. So he offers a few suggestions on confronting LDS theology.
• Stephen Colbert gets serious at a Catholic university to profess his love for his Roman Catholic faith.
• Being the worship leader in a church isn’t easy. That’s what Jonathan Sigmon’s pastor said one recent Sunday. But there are also some blessings that come with the job.
  
• Not everyone will agree with one of the points on corporal punishment, but the rest of these seven tips for Christian parents should meet with approval.
• For those of you who like to go deep, here’s an article about Augustine and the literal interpretation of Genesis 1.
  
• You know it’s a slow news day at Christianity Today when the Facebook page, Awkward Couples of Liberty gets its own article. (My wife points out that in this instance, the university is not aptly named…)
  
• Listen online to three sample songs from Matt Maher’s new album, The Love In Between.
• This will cause a few people to say ‘I told you so.’  Brian McLaren led a same-sex commitment service in Maryland; one of the grooms being his son Trevor. The story has attracted over 120 comments so far at the CT Live blog.
• Here are a dozen things that, thankfully, your pastor probably won’t hear in heaven.
  
• The Big Picture pics of North Korea are obviously propaganda, but it’s the unanimous response of reader comments that seal the deal. 
• Happy Birthday to the Compact Disc, which turns 30 this week.
  
• Meanwhile, over at the daily comic strip Retail by Norm Feuti, the “Christmas” versus “holiday” semantics debate has already begun:
  

Living the Red Letters

Before beginning a review of the actual content of this six-session, small group DVD by Tony Campolo, I need to take a paragraph or two to wave the flag, for this is a homegrown production.

In the Canadian Christian bookstore environment, about 90% of everything of everything on offer is U.S. produced. True, Canada is the point of origin for a number of Christian music artists; and a number of top Christian authors have a Canadian birth certificate; but many of these products turn up on the label or imprint of U.S. record labels and publishers. Material produced for domestic consumption is rather rare, though The Word Guild is always reminding me that we do have quite a few talented people who haven’t made the leap to the American market. Yet.

But a DVD curriculum? There have been a few, but nothing that takes on the production and packaging ambitions of The Red Letters featuring “progressive” Christian Democrat and social activist Tony Campolo, with Colin McCartney of UrbanPromise Toronto playing the role of interviewer.  That Tony’s blog is called Red Letter Christians and Colin’s book is titled Red Letter Revolution makes these two a natural pairing.

The six sessions deal with: What it means to be a red-letter Christian; consumerism and materialism; compassion, especially as it applies to three hot button issues — homosexuality, poverty and the environment; religion and politics; personal spiritual discipline and prayer; and the Christian life as a joy-filled life.

The DVD clips run between 8 and 17 minutes. Our normal family Bible study doesn’t use prescribed questions, and so this was somewhat foreign, but we used the small group guide and went through the five sets of questions for each episode. At first I tended to approach each set as a single question, but soon realized you could take hours to properly consider each discussion subject.

The DVD was a multi-camera production filmed at Toronto’s Church of the Redeemer whose auditorium and chancel actually serve as background. Knowing this was produced primarily for the Canadian market — though available in the U.S. on A-zon — I was significantly impressed with the camera cuts and editing.

Colin McCartney is extremely relaxed as an interviewer and Tony is… well… he is, as always, uniquely Tony Campolo. If he can’t get your small group going on some of these subjects, then nobody can. There is no denying his personal conviction that to claim to be a Christian is to make living out the red letters part of daily life.

The Red Letters DVD curriculum was produced by World Vision Canada and Colin’s organization UrbanPromise Toronto. A review copy was provided to Thinking Out Loud by Graf-Martin, a Canadian based agency providing enhanced marketing support to Christian authors and publishers,who are also rolling up their sleeves on this one to facilitate distribution to Christian bookstores in Canada.

This is a product I can recommend with confidence, and on a personal note, if you live nearby, I’d be more than happy to walk your small group through all six weeks of this excellent series. If it’s a weeknight meeting, I prefer decaf. Here’s a short preview: