Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers: Ministry Anytime, Anywhere by Anyone

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Summary: Refreshing and Challenging
Review: Bill Easum has a truly refreshing perspective on 21st century church life. His challenge to systematically undo any structure of the church that doesn't serve a functional purpose is revolutionary, but much needed. I've bought this book for the entire administrative board at our church and have asked them to read it and share their feelings in the coming month. If you're a pastor of church leader of a church that is stuck in the "way we've always done it," get this book for your entire leadership team and try doing it a different way!

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Summary: Discover Your Spiritual Gifts and Get Fired Up!
Review: If you feel called to Lay Ministry, you need this book. If you are frustrated with the slow, do-nothing bureaucracy of your church, you need this book. If you or your Pastor spend all of your time "running the church" instead of doing God's Work, you need this book. It will get your wheels turning in the right direction. Easum does a great job of showing how many churches have lost the joy of a spiritual relationship with God and exchanged it for the tedium of overcomplex committee structures. He advocates a new model of ministry by enlightened lay members being nurtured by their clergy, solving problems, setting goals and developing their own strategies to do the work that Christ has led them to do, without the stifling, controlling structures that can hold them back. The idea that it is better to err on the side of being too permissive seems dangerous, because it is. It endangers the inbred fear of change that chokes the spiritual life out of a congregation. Many well established clergy and older church members will be afraid of the ideas that this book offers, they need to be understood, too. Those over fifty will have a hard time understanding how anything can work without a rigid structure. Structure was and is an integral part of their world and served them well, but the spiritual needs of God's people cannot be met by structure. Those needs can only be met by inspired ministry which is free to respond instantly to the pain and suffering that modern society still cannot cure. The only thing that kept me from giving this book 5 stars is that Easum needed a better editor. There are a few inconsistancies and unfinished ideas that should have been cleaned up and some scientific terminology that would have benefitted from more careful review. They are occasionally distracting but can in no way dampen the enthusiasm I have for the great ideas that Easum puts before us. He has given me words to express my frustration with the current state of many "main-line" churches, including my own. We can work out our own solutions if we can find and use our Spiritual Gifts as God intends for us to.

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Summary: Thought provoking book
Review: In this book, Dr. Easum brings to light all the baggage that many Christians carry with them from or may be placed on them by "structured religion and its practices". He tells why Christians are reticent to be apostolic to the world. He shows the existing structures in the Church that keep the members from spreading the message of salvation, and tells how to break out of the old molds and norms to reach people's hearts in our modern world. I always thought it was better to do in Christ's name first and ask for forgiveness later if I was wrong than to seek permission from a church committee or Pastor. This book gives insight into how to be an active Christian in your community as well as in Church.