Books by my bedside . . .

I am not often asked about what I am reading? I suppose because the presumption is that all I read is the Bible. I let the proverbial cat out of the bag with my prior list of Top 10 Baseball books that I do read something other than the Bible.

Truth is I find inspiration in reading. Even the baseball books I read inspire me in numerous ways. But I also read a lot of theology books. I like to stay current with what is new and what is old. At even given moment, I am most likely reading a dozen books. I have self described - book reading ADD. I just can't sit still with one book at a time! So I read from different books as I am motivated to read. After all, I am willing to admit some of the books I read just put me right to sleep!

So if you want to keep current with me, here is my current list of books in no particular order I am choosing to read from time to time:

Practical Divinity: Theology in the Wesleyan Tradition by Thomas A Langford

Responsible Grace: John Wesley's Practical Theology by Randy Maddox

The New Creation: John Wesley's Theology Today by Theodore Runyon

God is Great, God is Good by Craig and Meister

In the Beginning, God by Marva J Dawn

Deep Church by Jim Belcher

Holy Curiousity By Winn Collier

The Historical Jesus: Five Views edited by Beilby and Eddy

Loving Our Neighbor by Beth Lindsay Templeton

A Renegade's Guide to God by David Foster

In between picking up and putting down theses books, I also just picked up a copy of the baseball book The Code I have only read the preface of that book (written by Jack Morris, Rob Dibble, and Torri Hunter) but it is already destined to join the Top 10 - when I get the chance to read the rest of it.

What are you reading these days?

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

I was recently ask to share with our church staff some ideas about improving our communication process. This caused me to reach back and dig out some maxims that I had forgotten. I thought these maxims might be good to share as they are important to anyone attempting to communicate a message:

Comprehension: Your message needs to clearly have a main point and that main point needs to be able to clearly be communicated back to you by your audience. We often try to cram too much information into our messages and thereby rendering them incomprehensible.

Connection: Connecting your audience to the message goes beyond having them "get it." If you want your audience to respond to your message then you need to connect them emotionally to your message. Think of the times you were moved to respond and you will get the idea.

Credibility: Being credible is not as easy as you would think. This goes beyond the messenger being believable. This means the message and that which you promote must match one another in intensity. Don't tell people that "whatever" is the greatest thing since sliced bread and then deliver them day old stale toast.

Contagious: For your message to be effective it should get people talking to other people. The effectiveness of your message will be mulitplied when the people that hear it cannot wait to share it with someone else. In today's language that would be taking a message and having it go viral.

Consistency: Nothing worse than sending out conflicting messages. Proofread! Proofread! Proofread! And check to make sure the details are consistent and chack that the core message is consitent with the overall mission and purpose of the organization.

There you have it. 5 Cs worthy of keeping at the forefront of your thoughts as you communicate with others. A more detailed discussion of this can be found in The 4Cs of Truth in Communication by Isabelle Albanese.