‘Branded: Sharing Jesus With a Consumer Culture’ by Tim Sinclair – Book Review

The Metro Detroit area has a movement entitled EACH – Everyone A Chance to Hear - wherein 550 churches and ministries have joined together to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. So evangelism has been at the forefront of my mind and the minds of many in this region. So I was intrigued by the debut book from Tim Sinclair, ‘Branded: Sharing Jesus With a Consumer Culture.’

Here is the synopsis of this interesting book:

How Do We Market Jesus? We sport “Jesus Saves” bumper stickers on our cars and “WWJD” bracelets on our wrists. We post Bible verses on our Facebook profiles and Tweet profound quotes from Christian thought leaders. But when it comes to sharing our faith verbally, we become tongue-tied.

What would life look like if we stopped mass-producing Jesus and started marketing our faith by sharing relationally, from person to person? Using examples from our consumer culture, Tim Sinclair shows Christians that sharing Jesus has nothing to do with our trinkets or our t-shirts. It has everything to do with being personally branded by Jesus. With being permanently marked by our Savior.

Witty but true, Branded offers motivation and inspiration to put our God above our gadgets and to share our faith in ways that are honest, authentic, and – most importantly – effective.

Here is the biography of this author:

Tim Sinclair is a husband to Heather, and father to Jeremiah and Elijah, and (for the past three years) a co-host to Pam on the duo’s daily radio show. “Mornings with Tim and Pam” is heard by hundreds of thousands of people in Illinois and Indiana on Family Friendly WBGL, and is one of the top Christian morning shows in the country. The two have been nominated for “Air Personalities of the Year” at the ECHO Awards in Orlando, Florida.

Tim is a pastor’s kid who briefly attended the University of Illinois before getting into radio and marketing full-time in 1998. Since then, he has helped write, voice, and produce commercials that have been heard on thousands of radio stations around the world. Some of his past clients include McDonald’s, Word Records, Moody Publishers, and KSBJ/Houston. Tim and his family live in Illinois.

To connect with Tim: follow him on Twitter, on Facebook, or visit his website.

I found an interesting video on YouTube of Tim; here he is auditioning for the Public Address Announcer job for the Chicago Cubs. Great voice!

In the Preface, Tim shares his reason for writing this book:

I’m convinced that when it comes to sharing Jesus to and with the world around us, it’s critical that we recognize our own unique situations, talents, abilities – and then effectively use them to reach people within our individual spheres of influence. Other than the boundaries and guidelines provided by the Bible, nothing else should create a game plan for us because there is no right way for anything. There is no one-size-fits-all methodology.

I’ll set the background, and you take it from there. (p. 10)

In the Introduction, he shares why it’s so important that we share Jesus with those we know rather than to strangers on a street corner:

Your impact (and mine) on our friends, family, and co-workers has nothing to do with the sayings on our bumpers or the symbols around our necks. It has nothing to do with the number of Bible verses we tweet or the biblical names we give our kids. It has nothing to do with how many times we go to church or how often we put our money in the offering plate.

Rather, sharing Jesus with today’s culture has everything to do with being personally branded by Christ. With being permanently marked by our Savior. I can’t promise you the process won’t hurt a little, but I can promise you that it will be well worth it. (p. 12)

Tim shares the reason he thinks we as Christians are failing to reach the lost:

What’s the bottom line? Christians often try to change a person’s culture rather than let God change her heart. We try to force others to act like us, with the hope that they’ll eventually believe live us. That’s entirely backward. Heart changes lead to changes in actions, not the other way around.

In many cases, I think these Christian tendencies are a form of self-preservation. We would rather bring people onto our turf (where we’re comfortable) than step onto someone else’s. We would rather alter their lifestyle, culture, and habits, instead of change our routine. Subconsciously maybe we fear we’ll be eaten alive if we venture outside what we consider safe territory.

Jesus is bigger than the Christian culture-bubble you and I have put Him in. He can reach people anytime, anywhere. Not just Sunday morning at 9:30. Not just when people have started doing or saying the “right” things. Not just once people have turned their back on their culture. (p. 45)

I have to admit that I used to follow that line of reasoning – that we needed to change the culture. It is now clear to me that Tim’s assessment is the accurate one. We need to present Jesus to people, and let Him do the work in their heart.

Clearly, Jesus is not the problem when it comes to sharing Him with others:

When it comes to Jesus, I think it’s safe to say the product isn’t the problem. Jesus offers comfort for the brokenhearted. Rest for the weary. Strength for the weak. Healing for the sick. Peace for the stressed. Hope for the hopeless. I don’t know of a person who couldn’t use these things once in a while.

So the evaluation process must move on to Jesus’ marketing team. Us. You and me. It’s hard to admit sometimes but Christians (as a whole) are ruining the world’s appetite for Jesus. We are often the ones standing in the way of Christ, despite our best efforts to lead people to Him. (p. 50)

Tim makes an important point about another reason why Jesus is rejected:

I firmly believe that at least 90 percent of life’s problems are a result of unmet expectations. We get the most frustrated, the most hurt, the most offended, when our theories don’t live up to our realities. And that’s exactly what happened with Tiger [Woods]. Because of the picture Tiger painted of himself, our society had high expectations for him, and ultimately those expectations were not met. (p. 102)

I admit I was extremely disappointed last week about a particular situation. The reason was that I had unrealistic expectations. We need to be so careful that we don’t paint an unrealistic picture of one’s life as a Christian. We still will have trials; however, Jesus will help us through them.

In the Conclusion, Tim makes this important point about follow-up:

While Branded has relied heavily on traditional marketing principles, it’s critical that we not be so focused on attracting people to Jesus (marketing), that we leave them fending for themselves once they show up (customer support). Christianity already has too many customers and not enough marketers. (p. 120)  

The back of the book includes insightful discussion questions for each chapter. 

I think this is a valuable tool for small groups, as well as individual study. I plan on contacting our small group leader to recommend this book for our fall study.

'Branded' is a fast read, but it also is very insightful. As Tim stated at the beginning of the book, he asked some tough questions. But they are important questions that need to be asked, and I am grateful to Mr. Sinclair for bringing them to us in this book.

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Kregel Publications. I am pleased to be part of the Litfuse Publicity Group’s blog tour with these other bloggers.

‘Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There’ by Leonard Sweet – Book Review

One of the things in life that the Lord keeps bringing to my attention time and time again lately is to listen to His still small voice, and to be a part of what He is doing in the world today. The latest book I have read, ‘Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God’s Who’s Already There’ by Leonard Sweet looks at this from a unique perspective.

Here is the synopsis of this book:

Pay Attention. Brace yourself. This book is set to revolutionize your understanding of evangelism. That revolution stands to affect not just your everyday habits, including encounters you have with other people, but the very roots of your faith, the range of your mission, and the limits of your freedom.

In the tradition of The Gospel According to Starbucks, this groundbreaking book dares to ask: Instead of bringing people to Jesus, how about joining Jesus in what he is already doing?

Author Leonard Sweet challenges you to use all five senses to interact with God and others. Nudge will remind you that for God to do something though us, God must be doing something in us.

Here is the biography of the author:

Leonard Sweet is the E. Stanley Jones professor of evangelism at Drew University, Madison NJ, and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University, Portland, Oregon. Sweet has been Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Theological School at Drew University for five years. and a chief contributor (along with his wife Karen Elizabeth Rennie) to the web-based preaching resource Sermons.com. Sweet is the author of hundreds of articles and numerous books, including The Gospel According to Starbucks, 11, So Beautiful, AquaChurch 2.0 and Soul Tsunami. Sweet has held distinguished lectureships at various colleges, universities, and seminaries and has presented academic papers before major professional societies. The founder of SpiritVentures Ministries, Sweet is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, state conventions, pastors’ schools, and retreats.

Here is an interview with Professor Sweet speaking about his book; I think it gives us a great view of his passion for people and Jesus:

I am really charged up by the perspective Professor Sweet brings to the subject of evangelism!

Here is how Professor Sweet explains his perspective in the Preface:

Evangelism for too long has been disconnected from discipleship. In Nudge, evangelism is discipleship. What yokes evangelism to discipleship, I propose, is the art of attention, attending to life and attending to God.

The art of attention goes something like this: You have an appointment with God. The address of that appointment? The dress of the next person you meet, whatever it is. Their dress is God’s address. Want to find God? Look in the face of the person next to you or the next person you meet.

You will not find in Nudge a gospel of religion; what you will find is a gospel of Christ. What’s the difference? The currency of the gospel of religion is fear and imposition. The currency of the gospel of Christ is love and invitation.

Love engenders a spirit of wonder, where fear spawns anger and distrust. Fear seeks to quash wonder and to impose. Love frees to wonder and invite. (p. 21)

In the Preface, he captures what the Gospel is all about:

In short, the gospel is the good news that Jesus is the way – in a world that has lost its way and when there seems to be no way; Jesus is the Truth – in a culture of lies where deceit is king; and Jesus is the life – in a world full of evangelists of death. Nudge is a call to evangelize life and to face death so that others may live. (p. 23)

Professor Sweet focuses on our five senses that we need to use for God’s glory:

1.   Pause: Use Your Ears – Do you Give Ear to God? – Hearing Jesus

2.   Presence: Taste – Do You Have a Stomach for the Kingdom? – Tasting Jesus

3.   Picture: Use Your Eyes – Do You Have a Vision for the Kingdom? – Seeing Jesus

4.   Ponder: Touch – Do You Have a Touch for the Kingdom? – Touching Jesus

5.   Promise: Use Your Nose – Do You Have L’eau de Jesus? – Breathing Jesus

I have had a tendency in the past (and now to a lesser extent) to separate the secular and the sacred. But I am seeing more and more that that is a man-made, artificial barrier. Here is Dr. Sweet’s take on that:

God meets us everywhere, in a bewildering variety of forms and fashions. Eighteenth-century hymn writer Isaac Watts called John’s book of Revelation “the opera of the apocalypse.” We grow giddy over mystic numbers, signs and seals, heraldic beasts and composite beings, but what about the opera of the everyday? The ordinary and mundane. John Updike believed his only duty as a writer was to “describe reality as it had come…to give the mundane its beautiful due.” Updike was a brilliant semiotician.

Nudge argues for the triangulation of all three: Scripture, Culture, Spirit. But we walk a tonal tightrope: in touch with the world but in tune with the Spirit through highly pitched souls, with heightened sensitivities that connect to the Scriptures and then to the Spirit and then to culture. (p. 43)

Professor Sweet explains what he means by one important term in this book:

Semiotics is the art and science of paying attention. Since evangelism is also the art and science of paying attention, I will argue that evangelism is semiotics. There is another book to be written on the prophetic role of reading the signs of semiotics. Nudge argues that a semiotics evangelism is more pay attention than attract attention. The best evangelists are not the attention getters, but attention givers. Yet the most attentive semiotician is hopeless if the sign is read yet misinterpreted. Our quest is to be so filled with the Spirit of God, and to be wearing interpretive Jesus goggles, that we not only notice, but are able to interpret and respond. (p. 50)

We need to give God this most important gift to Him:

The greatest gift we can give God is our passionate attention, which as we have seen, is but another word for prayer. God pervades the world through the Spirit, but for most of us we live in a world without regard. The writer of Hebrews even goes so far as to suggest that the key to staying faithful and on with track with the Spirit is our attentiveness. “Pay more careful attention…to have we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” “Drift away” is a nautical phrase that beautifully conveys how easy it is for us to stray and go adrift without the focus of attentiveness.

Our inattentiveness to the world contrasts so sharply to Jesus’ attentiveness to all of creation. Jesus was a “dawn collector” who found God’s Spirit in all things, in all aspects of the natural world, both animate (birds, animals, flowers, seeds) and inanimate (pots, coins), yet showed how we can experience God’s Spirit in ways that are beyond and “beneath language.” (p. 54)

 There has to be interest on our part to see the Lord:

You have to want to see Jesus to see him. God is already present everywhere and anywhere. But God doesn’t enter where God isn’t invited. Jesus does not force himself on us. Jesus is everywhere to be found knocking about and knocking. But he must be invited in. We must want the divine touch for God to touch us, and deep listening changes the desires of our hearts. As the poet of the Lord has written, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Jesus spoke in parables so that not everyone would “get it.” He unveiled the mystery only a tad, letting glimpses of truth escape. But only if you wanted to get it was Jesus willing to explain his parables and to reveal the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” and then he was eager to help. But he was not going to throw pearls before swine. (p. 85)

I have to admit that this book took me a long time to read, because it is so packed with content; it is not a book to be skimmed over! Professor Sweet is a deep thinker. This is the first title by him that I have read. He gave me a lot to ponder, and I think I will be pondering and ruminating on this one for a long time to come. If you like reading books that make you think, this one is for you!  

You can order this book here.

This book was published by David C. Cook and provided by The B & B Media Group for review purposes.

‘Eats with Sinners: Reaching Hungry People Like Jesus Did’ by Arron Chambers - Book Review

Jesus gave us this command in Matthew 28:18-19: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Arron Chambers is the senior pastor of Journey Christian Church in Greeley, Colorado.  He lives out this command.  His life goal is: “To go to Heaven and take as many people with me as possible!” 

His latest book, ‘Eat with Sinners: Reaching Hungry People Like Jesus Did’ provides us with a biblical model for evangelism that was exemplified by Jesus.  In His day, sharing a meal with someone meant that were acknowledged as an equal.  It was an act of intimacy, as pointed out by Pastor Chambers.  The Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, regularly were outraged at Jesus for the company He kept.  The Hebrew word for Pharisees is ‘set apart’ – and they lived that out, judging others and placing themselves above – and apart from - the crowd.  Jesus set out to point out the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of these rules followers.  The first rule for Jesus is found in Matthew 28:36-40, in response to a question from a Pharisee: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied:   "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Pastor Chambers points out the fact that “Jesus eagerly ate with sinners on earth because he longed to eat with them in heaven.  Jesus referred to himself as the bridegroom (Luke 5:34,35) putting on a great banquet meal (Luke 12:36; 14:13, 16, 17, 24) that one day he will eat in the kingdom of Heaven with everyone who accepts his invitation” (p. 13).

 ‘Eats with Sinners’ gives us thirteen ingredients (in the form of chapters) that Jesus used in His recipe to reach lost people.  The list is integrity, accessibility, grace, faith, intimacy, tolerance, resolve, urgency, mercy, humility, investment, joy, and vision.     

In the chapter on Urgency, Arron has this to say:

“The sun is shining.  The harvest is ready…. We must – with a sense of urgency – work to bring the harvest in…. The Mennonites have a saying: ‘We are living in the time of God’s patience.’  God is patiently waiting for us to open our eyes, to notice that the harvest is ready, and to help him bring it in before it’s too late.” (p. 131)

‘Eats with Sinners’  is reaching me at a time when the Lord is showing me time and time again in a myriad of ways how much He loves us.  I have the tendency to judge and criticize others, and not extend the compassion and love as the Lord expects.  As Christians, we can also fall into a Christian clique in which we rarely connect with or interact with non-Christians.  Jesus met with sinner on a regular basis.  We need to remember that we are sinners saved by grace, and that we need to not forget from whence we came.   Jesus loved, and we need to remember to do the same.  I appreciate the methods that Arron gives us in order to get to – or back to – the way Jesus lived His life while walking among us.  The book is provocative and heartwarming, while also very entertaining (and funny in spots).  Arron provides some wonderful anecdotes and real-life examples from himself and others.  He also provides some tasty-sounding recipes that you can prepare for your meals with those who do not yet know Him (and those who do!) – including Darkness to Light Cookies, Compassion Chicken Soup, Friendship Chocolate Pie, and What a Catch Fish Packets.    

This is a great book for individual study or small group study.   Each chapter includes a Meal Plan – questions for personal or group study, as well as a Meal Plan, in which you set up a meal with someone with the objective of building a stronger relationship and focusing on each of the ingredients used by Jesus.  This book, if employed, will add to and build up the Kingdom of God – and isn’t that one big reason why we’re here?!  

Other books by Arron are:

‘Running on Empty: Life Lessons to Refuel Your Faith’

‘Scripture to Live By: True Stories Inspired by the Word of God’

‘Remember Who You Are: Unleashing the Power of an Identity- Driven Life’

‘Go! From Studio Audience to Center Stage’

'Eats with Sinners: Reaching Hungry People Like Jesus Did' was provided to me by Standard Publishing for review purposes.  There was no other remuneration, and the opinions and thoughts are mine alone.