Kim Gentes

[Free Devotional Download "7 Sacred Steps" from writer Dan Wilt- see at the bottom of the review.]

OK. Confession time. I'm one of those people who prays everyday, and reads most days. For a long time, I would go on the "energy" of a scripture section, allowing the concepts, fused as they are with a perfusion of love and truth, to propel me through an ongoing desire to read and meditate on the Bible. But what I found is that I actually need to be more intentional about my devotional life. Not because God is standing over me, frowning for my lack of enthusiasm, but because at the core of my human condition is a lack. A lack of the real material of heaven that is required to live life on earth.

When I feed regularly on the scriptures, my soul is filled with what Jesus promised - "a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." But often enough, as silly as it sounds, I just forget or let myself become overwhelmed with the cares of daily life that I don't leave enough space in my day for meditations on God's word. When I lose focus, I find it is helpful to reset myself by using a guidebook or plan to help structure/lead my devotional time. The last month, I was privileged to get an early copy of Dan Wilt's "A Well-Worn Path" book. 

It was just the kind of simple structured path I needed to get my daily walk into a regular rhythm again. I've read a number of things Dan has written, and this may be his most piercing work yet. He doesn't mince words or paint pictures for pages. He gets to the heart of an issue in short order. Each scripture. Each day.

In fact, as I read each day through, I felt as though the devotionals were a sort of scriptural, even prophetic, declaration over my life. "Believe, Then See", "Enter Light", "Cease Worry", "Do Good", "Create With God", and on it went. Rather than giving placid generalities, Wilt throws a spear into the heart each day, by taking the most poignant edges of scripture and punctuating it with a simple phrase of instruction. After a further paragraph or two of clarity he offers up a prayer that we can join in immediately.

The devotions are simple, one page, and a pure gasp of clean air from the atmosphere of heaven. Much of Dan Wilt's writings are crafted stories and imagery meant to bring you into the heart of the matter. "A Well-Worn Path" is much more direct and works well as a month-long progression that doesn't tire you out from his style or topics. In fact, the nice thing about using a well-written devotional like this is that the choice of topics makes the journey authentic and prone to learning. I wouldn't have chosen to challenge myself in the same way the author does, and this is good. We are often too easy on ourselves.

Having gone through the devotional, I can honestly and completely recommend it to you. It is powerful, succinct and absolutely worth-while. In my opinion, it is Dan Wilt's best writing yet.

Amazon Book Link:  http://amzn.to/18RRXdx

Review by Kim Gentes

DOWNLOAD! Check it out below!

Be sure to chime in and let us know what you thought (post comments) and you are welcome to share this with friends on Facebook and twitter with your friends. 

Free Devotional Download "7 Sacred Steps" from author Dan Wilt

[Free Devotional Download "5 'Makes' of Great Relationships" from writer Dan Wilt- see at the bottom of the review.]

 I've read a lot of books that deal with Christian topics, but many of them diverge into two camps:
A) theoretical advice that falls far afield from the reality of having to live here on earth, and
B) personal stories of victory and rescue that seem as foreign and contrived as movie fiction with no connection to what might actually help me.

What I love about Dan Wilt's book here is that he is our "everyman" talking about real life stories that meet you and I on the playing field of life, not some super-stardom miraculous happenings that never seem to happen to you and I. Dan talks about moms, dads, children, working, friends, struggles and real life- and shows the absolutely glorious rays of hope that shine into our lives from the source of true hope- God Himself. I won't share details of these stories because they are rich in their reading and well worth the individual time to digest one a day until you've filled up with the kind of life-giving inspiration Dan weaves with words. Dan's gift is story-telling, and judging from the 2 million listeners he speaks to each week, there is little doubt that his message is heard, loud and clear.

I've had plenty of tough times, personally, and the stories Dan tells are part of a diet of encouragement that our world is desperately in need of. And it's not just because they are clever stories. Rather, it is because the center of his hope-telling is the person of Jesus, in whom all Dan's stories source their glistening ray of light.

I love this book because I can read something reasonably sized for my busy day and just let it digest for 24 hours. Some times I feel like a story is good enough for a few days. But I like that the book is set up for busy people like me. The story is powerful but succinct. Each story has a theme, a real life application and a foundational scripture verse he ties things together with.

I can't recommend this book enough. Really, it is a great treasure.

Amazon Book Link:  http://amzn.to/1fYNCut

Review by Kim Gentes

DOWNLOAD! Check it out below!

Be sure to chime in and let us know what you thought (post comments) and you are welcome to share this with friends on Facebook and twitter with your friends. 

Free Devotional Download "5 Makes of Great Relationships" from author Dan Wilt

I've spent the last 15 years evaluating and recommending resources for worship ministries, churches, leaders, musicians, vocalists, audio/video techs and pastors. I've even written a book highlighting the best of those resources that I've found relevant to worship and music. But in that time and search, I've yet to recommend a resource that completely covers the topic of how to lead worship. There are several books and DVDs and resources that drill down on specific details, skills, issues or ideas- all of them good and needed. But what I was looking for was the one book that could serve as the manual or textbook for those with a calling to leading worship.  My search has ended.

In "How To Lead Worship Without Being a Rock Star", Dan Wilt has crafted a values-based approach to the calling, development and practice of worship leading. As the title indicates, Wilt is as concerned with answering the question of why to lead worship as he is to how. Right from the start, the author identifies the 800lb gorilla in church music: the fact that leadership of sacred worship has collided with the "American Idol" pop-culture on the Sunday morning music platforms of churches around the world. Wilt's pithy phrase brings these tensions into crystal clear focus in his introduction:

Excitement and danger - that is the privilege of worship leading.1

From that place, the book takes the reader on an eight chapter course that will engage all the necessary components of development to bring a person through detailed information, study, evaluation and questioning- all as a means to growth into worship leadership. The first chapter drills deep into the subject of why we worship and why leading is a part of local church expression of worship. This flows nicely into the second chapter which continues to carve out the foundations by addressing the core values that we must have undergirding our understanding and practice of worship leading. The final foundation stone of his book comes in chapter three, which is titled "The Character of the Worship Leader", in which the reader is made to face the hard questions of motivation, calling and desires in their hopes of participation in leading worship. These first three chapters are worth the cost of the book on their own, and as someone who has worked for years at developing other worship leaders the importance and value of these foundations can't be overlooked.

Chapters four and five kick into practical guidance on the skills, planning, practices and thinking behind great worship leading. Chapter four focuses on the functions, techniques and skills of the worship leader and chapter five drills down on the leadership of a worship band. Chapter six deals with the pastoral relationship and the role of mentorship as you help others in growing in worship leading. Chapter seven culminates this practical guidebook approach by articulating excellent points to helping you in "Becoming a Great Worship Leader". The final chapter revisits the main points of the book and returns the reader to foundational concepts of values that undergird this book.

Dan Wilt's book is as virtual "course in a book" on worship leading 101. If you are looking for a rock solid manual to help with teaching the foundational values of worship leading along with the essentials of practical worship ministry, you have struck gold with "How To Lead Worship..." by Dan Wilt. I would especially recommend this to those of you who may be training, mentoring or leading other worship leaders (whether Sunday morning or small groups)-- this is the one manual that can help you and those that you are mentoring! Because the book is laid out in eight distinct sessions (including salient points, chapter discussion questions and summaries), you can use it as you "ready-to-use" study that both you and your trainee will learn from. Wilt has used his years as a local church worship leader, pastor, college professor and mentor to worship leaders around the world to inform his very practical approach to creating and developing this manual- and it shines through.

There are certainly more things to learn and technical concepts to be drilled down on as a worship leader develops, but this book should be at the starting point as a foundational course text for churches, worship departments, and Christian colleges everywhere. It is practical, readable, honest, values-centered and encouraging! Get a copy of this physical printed book in your hands now! While it will be life-changing for the beginner, it can also serve as a great structural inspection for the values and operational architecture of those already operating in the call of worship leading.

Book Link: http://bit.ly/1a3U5w9

Review by Kim Gentes

1. Wilt, Dan (203). How To Lead Worship Without Being a Rock Star: an 8 week study.  (Page 4). Wild Pear Creative.

Many of us didn't grow up in a traditional church background. We had heard of Jesus as children, but only remembered his figure on a felt flannel board in our few visits to church. We knew he died, but weren't quite sure how that mattered to us. When we later became followers of Jesus, it took a while to learn the new bespoke lingo. After a few years of being Christians, we felt too embarrassed to admit we still hadn't figured out the seasonal words like lent, passion week and advent. (I was a Christian 10 years before finding out lent had nothing to do with that stuff in my pocket, passion week had nothing to do with earthly desires and advent didn't sound very "adventurous" at all)

If we had dug deeper, we'd have found out that those words were just a capstone to a world of devotion that could transfix the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Christ and the celebrations of the historic church across an entire calendar year. For almost two thousand years, the church has remembered this story of Christ and his followers not just by historical writings, but by participation. This remembering by participation is the crux of Christian liturgy and the Christian calendar.

In "Rise: An Eight Day Easter Devotional", Dan Wilt (author, teacher, speaker, radio host) crafts a planned but luscious menu for the soul of the Christian, feeding them through the Passion week. If this devotional is a menu, each day is a meal- and a full meal it is! Beginning at Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter), Wilt lays out a daily devotional that brings you through to Easter Sunday with clear purpose and rich understanding. Each day's devotional contains an introductory paragraph, a short scripture quotation, a concise devotional teaching, a brief reflective prayer and a summary question. And while the devotional resource has an inspiring aesthetic, the beauty of this booklet is its terse format woven around such a deeply meaningful prose.

The devotional is just twenty pages in length, but begins smartly by opening the reader to an understanding of the language of what Easter is, and even an historical and scriptural sketch of its significance. Having personally walked through the devotional myself, I found each day a significant encounter for my mind and heart to engage with God. As Wilt says in his prose, "Baptism has always been the perfect visual for what happens when the Easter story becomes our own", so it is in this devotional. One becomes engaged not through the accumulation of good teaching (though that is here). Rather it is through the participation in which the believer is guided that this devotional springs to life.

Through this daily journey you will learn to see the triumphal entry, turn the table on idolatry, wait in the right way, make worship lavish, feast on the last supper, enter the cross, live between the times and rise with Christ to life! This resource is concise, and so is my recommendation- engage with this devotional! It is excellent!

 If you have the privilege of reading a printed version already provided through your church (and many thousands of you already do), I encourage you to take it in daily through this week. Even if you haven't begun yet- start now! I am going to be re-using this for regular reflection times throughout the year.

If you don't have access to a printed version of the devotional, you can purchase a digital copy here:

http://bit.ly/15OfpDD

The "Rise: An Eight Day Easter Devotional" is a produced and distributed through Vineyard Resources, but is applicable and useable for any biblical Christian or group.

Risen in Christ,

Kim Gentes

I am reading a lot more lately. And I have found there are a some topic-specific books that really are great! One such book I have just finished reading is called "How To Enjoy Your Christmas (3 Word Lessons)".

The idea of the book is summed up nicely in the sub-title:

"25 Great Ideas To Help Your Family Make The Most Of The Holiday Season" 

 

What I loved about it is the clear, smart and actually usable ideas I got from it. After over 20 years of Christmas's as a parent, I was running out of fresh ways to think about the season, without becoming weary. Author Dan Wilt reflects on how you can not only freshen the experience, but deepen your family and devotional aspects of a worshipful Christmas!

Everything from enjoying the fun, singing the music, devoting your heart, engaging through Advent, surprising those you love- Wilt gives you punch points to do, not just ideas to think about!

I love this little Kindle eBook, and at 99cents, I can't believe anyone else wouldn't either! Really, check this out- you'll love it!

I know you will enjoy "How To Enjoy Your Christmas" - eBook!

Amazon Book Link: http://amzn.to/UfMnGi

Review by Kim Gentes