Rating: 
Summary: i wonder if 10 years from now, we'll look back on this book
Review: ...and sigh with regret. Sure, there is a lot of good stuff in this book and I admire where Dan has gone and is going with his church. But this book turns into everything it preaches against: a formula for growth or culture mixing or savvy evangelism techniques. Any way you look at it, the book falls a bit flat and tries way too hard to be 'in.' From the annoying and very unpostmodern (is that even a word?) layout and brand, to the information overload plaguing nearly every page, "the emerging church" is a dumbed down version of what seemed to be a passionate beginning for dan. It's too bad he felt the need to please so many readers and church leaders. Had he merely written a book telling his own story specifically, i'm guessing we would have all benefited a great deal more.
Rating: 
Summary: The Down-Grade Of the 21st Century
Review: Dan Kimball, Doug Fields, Rick Warren, Bill Hybells, Robert Shuller. They all are the new professional leaders of the "emerging church." Dan Kimball is more like an adult youth pastor than a defined prayer warrior. His book is full of the methods he has used over the years to produce numeric results (which fits into Warren's pragmatic theology quite well). This book is the down-grade of Christianity within the American culture. In the desire to reach a new generation, new writers like Kimball have sent the Church on a downward spiral that is quickly abandoning sound theology (Titus 2:1) and true worship (John 4:23-24; 1 Cor. 11:17-34) for feel good messages, seeker services, and everything else but expository preaching (1 Cor. 1:18-25).
For more information on the down-grade of Christianity see Iain Murray's book THE FORGOTTEN SPURGEON.
Rating: 
Summary: Important for all ages
Review: Dan's book may be thought of as something for the younger crowd since it speaks to the so-called post seeker generations. Not really the case. His ideas and observations appeal across the spectrum of chronological age. I'm 65 and just as excited about the book and its content as are the "twenty-somethings" I've talked to. Hey, we all live in the culture as long as we're breathing, right? Let's understand it better and honor the Lord through our understanding. Dan's book helps.
Rating:
Summary: A must read! Refreshing and challenging words of wisdom!
Review: I finished the book in 3 days. I couldn't put it down. This is required reading for every Christian who is serious about sharing the love of Jesus Christ with our world. The book is well thought through, balanced, biblical and filled with the heart of Jesus Christ for His people and for the world. It challenges the status quo of Christian ministry and urges Christians everywhere to rethink, refine and reform their definitions, approaches, and presuppositions. Parts of this book brought me to tears, others to my knees. You won't regret buying this book. It is one that I will be referencing for years to come! I predict that you will soon find this book on the shelves of pastors and leaders nationwide.
Rating:
Summary: Mind Blower
Review: I have just finished reading this book and it really has blown my mind. I rated it this high because it has stretched my way of looking at "Church".
Even if a ministry will not change to this format of church it is valuable to get an insight of what is brewing and happening. At the minimum it will cause discussions and debates (some heated) on what and why we are doing in our ministries.
Rick Warren's material makes great sense to me so that was my grid of understanding. I understood that Rick's material is usable but simply would have to be repackaged and retooled for this "people group" to accept it.
My 2 favorite chapters were 18 Evangelism: Beyond the Prayer to Get into Heaven and 20 Leadership for the Emerging Church.
Chapter 18 states how pastors and leaders should lead a church of missionaries. Also how the focus on the Gospel message is shifting between Modern and Emerging Churches.
Modern View: Jesus died for your sins so that you can go to heaven when you die.
Emerging View: Jesus died for your sins so that you can be His redeemed coworker now in what he is doing in this world and can spend eternity with the One you are giving your life to in heaven when you die.
I found that both are true but the Modern view is 6 string guitar while the Emerging view is a 12 string guitar.
Chapter 20 discusses leaders and leadership styles. The difference between CEO (Captain Kirk) and Relational (Captain Picard) approaches to leadership. (If you did not catch the comparison between Kirk and Picard you MUST read this book!)
Another section addresses the CEO pastor versus spiritual guide and journeyer. How a pastor is a shepherd and not a CEO.
I also walked away understanding that not every church is to be of this style. This style of church is to better reach the Emerging / Post Modern Generation. So read the book to either help you with your transition or to help you understand and appreciate what is going on around you.
I have bought copies for every pastor that I supervise for their edification.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books on ministry to the emerging culture
Review: I have read 10 or 15 books on post-modern ministry - everything from theory to preaching style to leading in that context. i would be willing to say that Dan Kimball's book is one of the best (if not the best) book on the market for people looking to understand and do post-modern ministry. it is incredibly comprehensive, practical, and easy to understand. and the best part is that Dan isn't just theorizing (like so many people writing about this kind of ministry), but he is writing from experience in a successful ministry. Buy this book and "An Unstoppable Force" by Erwin McManus, and you'll have a basic comprehensive understanding of how to do ministry in this emerging culture. Thanks for the great book Dan!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I have read through this book, but I weekly go to it and review for new ideas. It has become an essential resource for my ministry
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I have read through this book, but I weekly go to it and review for new ideas. It has become an essential resource for my ministry
Rating:
Summary: Important content, but graphic layout for teenagers
Review: I loved the content of this book, and have recommended it to the missional thinkers in my network. I gave a disclaimer though, because the graphic layout is embarrassingly teenager oriented. Read this book! But expect the layout to look like a YouthSpecialties youth ministry book written to teenage college students.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Companion Book to McLaren and Webber; Very Pragmatic
Review: I was nodding my head vigorously (in the affirmative) while reading this book. I agreed with so much of Kimball's insights into the emerging church, and what churches may look like in the future. However, the pragmatic tone of the book left me a little confused. I felt that the most helpful contribution of Kimball's book to the conversation on the postmodern church was in drawing the clear distinction, as Webber does in The Younger Evangelicals, between seeker-sensitive megachurches and post-seeker-sensitive postmodern churches. The temptation that the conversationalists are all trying to avoid is that of creating a postmodern "method", which is a contradiction in terms. And while Kimball takes pains to include provisos against interpreting his more logistical suggestions as a new church growth method, and while including reviewer notes in the sidebars encourages the spirit of dialectic, I think McLaren in Church on the Other Side does a better job of making sure his suggestions are interpreted as discussion points - suggestions to jar our thinking and get us to think in new ways - and not as a new church method. For example, I can't decide if it was a good idea or not for Dan Kimball to put a diagram of a postmodern worship service layout in a book on postmodern church. I was so tempted, as many would be who think about these things all the time, to go right to the diagram and then read the book through that lense. And the flashy cover with numerous callouts within the text is unnecessary, I think, for Kimball's intended audience. Postmodern Christians are ready to be challenged, and not be spoonfed. As Webber relates, "The point is not to do postmodern church; the point is to meet the needs that postmoderns have."
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