Product Review – Word of Promise Next Generation New Testament

I recently signed up for a program through Thomas Nelson Publishing where they will send books and resources to bloggers for free if they commit to review them honestly on their blogs. If you’re interested in reviewing Thomas Nelson products on your own blog follow this link - http://brb.thomasnelson.com/. So this is my first review of the first resource they sent me.

I finished listening to the Word of Promise Next Generation New Testament on MP3. Honestly, this audio version of the New Testament was not my favorite. It is specifically marketed to children and youth, which was one of the reasons I decided to listen to it for review. All of the voices used for the narratives are young people – mostly teens. This sounded like a cool idea but listening to it was honestly a little annoying.

The most disappointing part of the product was the voice of Jesus. The guy that did Jesus’ voice throughout the whole New Testament sounded like a weak, tired and broken little man. Every phrase sounded like he was about to die on the cross. It just made Jesus feel fake and unbelievable – like he wasn’t a real guy with a normal voice.

Other than the voices everything else is pretty good for an audio New Testament. The background music was enjoyable. The format of the MP3’s on the CD was easy enough to navigate on my ipod. I could find different chapters of the New Testament quickly with no trouble. Most of the expressiveness of the characters were fine…it’s just when the most important character in the whole story sounds like a weak and dying teenager it ruins the whole thing for me.

If you’re looking for an audio bible for your teenager, I’d pass on this one. Maybe the adult version has Jesus sounding like the man he was. Give that one a try.

Book Review : The Remnant

I just finished reading a great book by Larry Stockstill called The Remnant.

It's a wonderful book. Pastor Larry gave the book out to all of the pastors that attended this year's international MFI conference in Portland. I believe that this book is a simple prophetic word from an apostolic father to the American church. I would highly recommend this book to any pastor, leader or anyone aspiring to lead in the kingdom of God.

In the first part of the book, Stockstill brings a great perspective on the necessity of the five fold ministry in the church and its reflection in society. We're indesperate need of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. A challenging thought that Pastor Larry brings is that we should, as leaders, strive to function in every one of these roles to some extent. We can function apostolically through encouragement, affirmation and fathering. We can prophetically correct those under our sphere of authority. We can reach and disciple people and bear fruit in the kingdom. We can heal and pastor whether we have a title or not. We can know and teach the word of God from scripture. I need to grow in all 5 areas of leadership.

The last 10 chapters of the book are Larry's "10 Commandments of Ministry". If the spiritual leaders of America would take heed to Larry's commandments, we would have a future that God can bless. Here are the subjects Stockstill touches breifly on in each chapter -

1. Prayer
2. Bible Study
3. Integrity
4. Purity
5. Example
6. Relationships
7. Philosophy
8. Faith
9. Spiritual Warfare
10. Wisdom

Each chapter could be used as a guage for the health of your own personal leadership life. Like a gas gauge on a car or something. If we lived out biblical excellence in each of these areas we would be far ahead in our impact on society. Pastor Larry says that he personally disciples his leaders in each of these areas for a month at a time. I can see how affective that would be. The list is not exhaustive, but it's a wonderful start toward the core values that leaders must embrace in order to affect society and build the kingdom of God.

In a world where ministers are continually finding themselves doing foolish and embarassing things, Larry Stockstill brings a powerful and prophetic challenge. I'm recommending this book to every ministry leader I know.