Pete Bishop

Mini Book Reviews

Here are some of the books I just finished up.

Presentation Zen: this is the the best book I have ever read in terms of Design for presentations and how to present. I wish every speaking Pastor would read this book and put it into practice. Great stuff. A good combo book to read with Made To Stick.
Pagan Christianity:  Barna's new book on how current Christian traditions developed. Pretty fascinating. I'm doing some more study on this. If you want your head bent on why we do what we do as Christians its worth the read.
No More Christian Nice Guy: My wife bought this book . Good book. I have a lot of stuff to work on.Surely the most butt kicking one of the bunch.
Currently I am reading the year of living biblically by AJ Jacobs. Its very good.

Book Review: Starving Jesus

Great book. Takes a look at actually taking action for the cause of Christ and the disciplines of praying, fasting and giving. The authors went on a 40 day fast while touring the country. Visiting different churches and encouraging them to go out into their communities and serve.

Collide

I read a LOT O' magazines. Actually I skim more than I read these days. There is so much info out there that I try to maintain the noise level in my life these days.. anyway.. got a trial issue of Collide magazine on Saturday. Blown away! read the whole thing cover to cover. ( I never do that anymore).  If you work in media or visuals (especially in the context of a community of Christ followers) you should at least check out the free trial issue. I will be subscribing.

ps...The article with Zach Lind from Jimmy Eat World is just killer!

Body Piercing Saved My Life

Written by Andrew Beaujon Body Piercing Saved My Life is a pretty fascinating look at the Christian music scene by someone who is not a Christian. Beujon at the time was an editor for Spin.. not sure if he still is or not.  It was a great read and offered some surprising insights into some of the "peculiarities" that we as followers of Christ exude to those who are not. Pick it up... You'll learn some stuff.

What the heck is a Quince?

This is one of my favorite books. We use it kick off a lot of creative meetings. It's a wealth of idea starters. and here's one for you today from page 91 of the book.

Your task is to comment and list three things that meet the criteria described.

1. A  musical group, movie title and drink that all have a color in the name.
or
2. An actor or actress, an animal and a city name that all have a number in their title.

hmmm...

This makes this even more intriguing.

In A Pit With A Lion

On A Snowy Day. I Read it today. Killer book. You should read it. Now. Really go get it. It's that good. Chase that lion!

Book Fest

I tend to read a lot and the last few weeks I've had opportunity to partake in some rather good visual input. Here is some of what I have been taking in.
Adventures In Missing The Point ( Brian Mclaren, Tony Compolo)_ Cool book. The Authors wrestle with common theological issues in the church today. Each Author wrights a chapter and then the other gives a rebuttal. Very interesting.
Jewish Spirituality : A Brief Introduction for Christians  this is a really good primer for Christians as to how the Jewish Culture looks at God and Life and us. Since Jesus was a Jew it makes for an interesting and easy read. Rob Bell fans will dig this book.
The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church This is a great book! Asks a lot of tough questions. It was cool because some them Crossroads is doing well. Others are not even on our radar, which give me great thoughts to think and things to wade through.
To Know You More: Cultivating the Heart of the Worship Leader This was given to me by Laura. Good Book, Im not all the way done with it, its one of those you have to put down and ponder. Park's church experience is largely in the Vineyard. His writing reflects this experience (naturally), but is also relevant to those of us who are not part of Vineyard (or Vineyard-like) churches. transcends his particular denomination.
Black, Book I:  The Birth of Evil (Trilogy) I read this Ted Dekker trilogy (including RED,
WHITE) in three days. Really good read, some great mind pictures of what it must have been like to walk with God before the fall and some interesting parallels to how God can walk around outside of time. Also read HOUSE by Dekker and Perriti. Liked it but not as much.
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL® THE SPARK: Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All
I told buddy Tim that I was getting into Cirque based on this book and he looked at me with suspect. As I would have prior to reading it. Ill admit I think what they do is cool, but would have never have searched it out. After reading the book, I get the hype. If you have any sort of job that includes creativity ( hint_ that means everyone) you should read this book. It is really worth it, challenging and inspiring.

The Big Moo

Im Reading the Big Moo. You should too! You'll be glad when your through. Seriously the Church could learn a lot by taking some of it to heart.

My ADD reading list

I Love to Read , but due to my somewhat ADD tendencies I spend more time reading magazines than anything.  Outside of the Bible I'm usually involved in at least two books a month but I'm way more into mags. Here is my typical mag list for a month.

MIX
EQ
KEYBOARD
GUITAR PLAYER
SOUND ON SOUND
GUITAR PLAYER
GUITAR WORLD
FUTURE MUSIC
HOW
ID
PRINT
PHOTOSHOP USER
WIRED
RELEVANT
VIDEOGRAPHEY
DV
PRO SOUND
CHURCH PRODUCTION
WORSHIP FACILITIES
SONGWRITER
ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN
MAC ADDICT
REV
WORSHIP LEADER
MINISTRIES TODAY
REMIX
MILLIMETER
LIVE SOUND

What are you reading!