Here is my long long overdue book review of “The Gospel According to LOST”, by Chris Seay.  I have seen similar books before that compare POP culture topics to the gospel, but this would be the first time I have ever read through one.

This was a very quick and easy read. It only took me a few sittings to get through the book.  I am a big fan of the show, and the show of course has been a major hit both in viewing ratings and online forums and blogs discussing every aspect of the show.  What does this mean, what does that mean…fans scour the Internet looking for insight into the show.

The book is breaks down into chapters based on each character.  I thought that was interesting, and would be good when speaking with people that would be fans of the show to capture their attention and relate gospel topics into something they know.  It might get them talking more or be more receptive.

I would recommend people to read the book as it would get them thinking how they also could take POP culture topics and explore faith more deeply with them.  This book takes something that most fans of the show would be open to further discussion anyway as that is what fans of the show do.  It would help in building community with fans of the show.

Here is another Thomas Nelson Blogger Book Review

Finished this book about a month ago.  Here is the review of the second book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. To start I never read the first book, so jumping into the second one had me thinking I may not be able to follow some of it. 

Even though I didn’t read the first one, as I started with the chapters, the authors were able to include enough info to help me follow along. It is a really easy and quick read. The book is a result of the success of the first one, and includes details of what has been the outcome since that book was written.

This book has enough challenges in it, that I found myself underlining and make notes in the margin to use as quotes when teaching and speaking.  Throughout the book I found myself thinking, very strong point of view and it we could only apply that to our lives, what a difference it would make.

Here is a sample quote,

If all the Christians – I mean all of ‘em – got outta the pews on Sundays and into the streets, we’d shut the city down.

We’d shut down hunger

We’d shut down loneliness

We’d shut down the notion that there is any such of a thing as a person that don’t deserve a kind word and a second chance. (Pg 56)

I would recommend this book…it will not take long to get through, but you will make many mental notes as you make your way through the pages.

I have finally gotten around to posting the review of the book “Collapse of Distinction” by Scott McKain.  This is part of the Thomas Nelson – Book Review Bloggers program

The title and subtitle grabbed my attention right away, the subtitle is “Stand out and move up while your competition fails”. When I started reading it I went into the book and thought is this only going to be a book for business or will it be able to be applied to church as well.  I think the concepts and principles in the book are valuable in both cases.

McKain does a good job in describing how business’ struggle with sameness. The pitfalls of being the same as everyone else. He also tells you what to do about it. How to stand out, to become distinct.

One of the first things that caught my attention was when McKain wrote that many business’ focus on not losing to the competitor.  He says that we should be focusing on the customer instead. What the customer really wants.  I believe we can give lip service to this and say we are customer driven or focused.  But I think this book gives good insight it making that a reality rather then just a good statement on the company website.

The customer must get the sense or the experience in dealing with your business or church that they have received exceptional value in that experience.  Or a compelling experience.

McKain describes three levels of business or professional differentiation:

1. Sameness
2. Differentiation
3. Distinction

He also goes into detail on 4 cornerstones

1. Clarity
2. Creativity
3. Communication
4. Customer-Experience Focus

I am in the midst of starting a new business venture and I plan on reading through this book again and building in concepts of this book into my business from the get-go. I recommend this book to any business leader, church leader…especially those that are just starting out.