Sift Sheet
What Am I Learning?
Scroll to the bottom of the page to see my
philosophy, motivation and goals for sifting.
2004-05 Sift Sheet
|
Title |
Author(s)/ Speaker(s) |
What is it? |
My take: |
Quotable |
Concepts |
Future Use |
Rank |
|
Now Reading: The Jesus Creed |
Scot McKnight |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
Now Reading: Red Moon Rising |
Pete Greig & Dave
Roberts |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
Now Reading: The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience |
Ron Sider |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
Now Reading: (2nd time) A Clash of Kings |
George R. R. Martin |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
May 2005 (2nd time) A Game of Thrones |
George R. R. Martin |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
April 2005 The Gospel in a Pluralist Society |
Lesslie Newbigin |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
Spring 2005 Alexander Hamilton |
Ron Chernow |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
January 2005 His Excellency |
Joe Ellis |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
Spring 2005 Emerging Worship |
Dan Kimball |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
2004 Reimagining Spiritual Formation |
Doug Pagitt |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
Spring 2005 A Generous Orthodoxy |
Brian MacLaren |
. |
. |
|
|
|
|
|
The Novel Completed: 2004 |
James A. Michener 1907-1997 (Historical Novelist) |
A four-sided tale based in
the Pennsylvania Dutch country which includes the take of a writer, editor,
critic & reader. |
Michener tried out a new
path for this fun novel about novels!
The four perspectives are so radically different that it’s hard to
believe one person wrote them all. |
|
§ That the process of
writing a novel is not as glamorous as it sounds. § That finishing a good
novel takes different stuff than thinking up and starting a great one. § That editors impact the
writing process more than we think. § That critics have their
own hidden motivations we don’t know of often times. § That new forms and old
practical hard work are both needed. |
This book was far more
readable and accessible than the three other Michener books I’ve read, but
perhaps less profound. The first three
characters are extremely well drawn. |
6 Contemporary Novel 9 Writing 8 Applicability |
|
The Source Completed:
2004 |
James A. Michener 1907-1997 (Historical Novelist) |
A historical novel
exploring people and events from pre-history to the 1960s uncovered by the
archeological dig at the Galilean tell called “Makor” |
This long but vivid
novel is one of a kind. Michener applies
his back history rubric in the crafty and interwoven way he was famous
for. I absolutely loved this book. |
|
§ That Judaism is even
more resilient and ever-present in history than we presume § That Islam and Judaism have
a more healthy relationship historically than Christianity and Judaism § That the foundation of § That an understanding of
the middle-east is key in understanding the three great monotheistic
religions |
Anyone involved in
biblical research or who is involved in leadership with any of the three
monotheistic religions which sprung from |
10 Historical Novel 9 Writing 5 Applicability |
|
The Emergent Mystique Completed:
2004 |
Andy Crouch (Christianity Today Article) |
An article on the future
of |
A very will written
article makes some light fun of the movement and asks serious questions about
its future. |
§ “Weak is the new strong”
– Rob Bell § “He puts the hip in
discipleship” – of Rob Bell § “Right now Emergent is a
conversation, not a movement. We don’t
have a program. We don’t have a
model. I think we must begin as a
conversation, then grow and a friendship, and see if a movement comes of it.”
– Brian MacLaren § “Election is not about
who get to go to heaven; election is about who God chooses to be a part of
his crisis-response team to bring healing to the world.” – MacLaren on
Newbigin |
§ MacLaren’s three circles
model: the world, the church & the self – “It’s not about the church
meeting your needs; it’s about you joining the mission of God’s people to
meet the world’s needs.” § “Before modern
evangelicalism nobody accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, or
walked down an aisle, or said the sinner’s prayer.” - MacLaren |
A great “challenge”
article for those flirting with Emergent ideas. A great “primer” on MacLaren & the
current emergent trend |
8 Ministry Article 9 Writing 6 Applicability |
|
The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership Completed:
2004 |
Steven Sample (President of USC) |
A book that looks at
leadership from a fresh and contrary perspective. |
It’s a surprisingly good
read with a ton of valuable principles.
I loved it and think most any leader of an organization should read
it. |
§ “Leadership is highly
situational and contingent; the leader who succeeds in one context at one
point in time won’t necessarily succeed in a different context at the same
time or in the same context at a different time.” (1) § “Every profession is a conspiracy
against the laity.” – George Bernard Shaw (37) § “Read only the best
books first; lest there not be time enough to read them all.” - Henry David Thoreau (67) § “One of the tests of a
leader’s importance is whether anyone is really affected by, or cares about,
the decisions he makes.” (71) § “The difference between
the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning
and lightning bug.” (150) § “An institution cannot
copy it’s way to excellence.” (176) |
§ Best Chapter: Thinking Gray, and Free (7-19) § Come to judgments slowly
(7) § Flipside: First rate
minds hold 2 opposing views but can still function (8) § Our 3 delusions (21) § Never make a decision
you can delegate or procrastinate (71) § Artful procrastination
(81) § Occasionally count the widgets
yourself (87) § The counter-intuitive
hook (165) |
Suggest for people
looking for something off the beaten path Use some principles when
teaching leaders. Assimilate many of
the principles into the way I lead. |
8 Leadership book 7 Writing 9 Applicability |
|
Experiential Storytelling: Rediscovering Narrative to
Communicate God’s Message Completed:
2004 |
Mark Miller (Exec pastor of |
A challenge to make
narrative storytelling the centerpiece of emergent church communication |
A fairly convincing take
on why stories are the key to effective communication |
§ Incredible Jewish
Teaching Story about truth & parables (29) § “While facts are viewed
from the lens of a microscope, stores are viewed from the lens of the soul.”
(33) § “Stories are ‘more true’
than facts because stories are multi-dimensional. Truth with a capital ‘T’ has many
layers. Truths like justice or integrity
are too complex to be expressed in a law, statistic, or a fact. Facts needs the context of when, who, and
where to become Truths.” – Annette Simmons (36) |
§ Jesus as the ultimate
example of narrative teaching (40-41) § The 4 stages of communication
(83-84): 1.
Oral 2.
Printing 3.
Radio & television 4.
Interactive digital |
Limited use, but
interesting concepts for preaching students.
I already am in agreement with his premise – so my mind doesn’t need
changing on it. |
6 Preaching book 4 Writing 7 Applicability |
|
Blue Like Jazz: Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian
Spirituality Completed:
2004 |
Donald Miller ( |
Read my prior review by
clicking here |
|
§ |
§ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
§ |
§ |
|
|
Sift Philosophy
Every once
in a while I have to ask myself the question: “What am I learning?” It’s an important one. It’s different than “what am I reading” or
“what tapes did I listen to” or “what conference did I attend.” What I’m learning has to do with what I’m
actually taking away from a book or conference or even a half-day retreat. I find that like most people—I have more
input in my life than output. I read
more than I remember. I hear more than I
internalize. I see more than I realize. I need a way to boil it down to what
counts. That’s the philosophy of this
process for me.
When you
have an learning opportunity where it is hard to “take it all in” it is
important to have a time of sifting out the jewels of wisdom and refined ideas
after you are done. For me, S.I.F.T.
stands for: Scheduled, Intentional, Focused, Time. I use this time to look over my scattered
pages of notes, lists in margins of books or printed materials in binders or
folders after a conference. Once I got
the hang of this I learned to schedule
these times (from 1-3 hours) after a major conference, camp, seminar or retreat
since I can see those coming. I then
also spend a half hour right when I finish a book doing it – since that’s when
I’m still geeked about the ideas in the book and haven’t “loaned” it out to
someone. In this scheduled time I intentionally pull out the key
principles, quotes, lists and ideas from my “pile” of
Where do I get the motivation to Sift?
You might
look at this sheet and tell yourself, “That seems like it takes a lot of
time.” Agreed—there is some time
involved (although the time is in doing it for myself – it only
takes me 30 seconds to upload it to my web-site).
HOWEVER – I think that overall, the time I take to really sift a book, conference, idea or
retreat is more than worth it. Even if I
take a full hour to sift a book’s contents, that’s perhaps only 5-10% of the
time it took to read it. And when I’m done
sifting it I really know what I got out of it.
It makes the other 95% of the time worth it. And where do I get that hour of time? Easily, I just read less or leave the
conference an hour early or schedule an extra half-hour in the next day. Sometimes I’ll even skip a few of the lousy
chapters of a book or walk out of a conference session that I can tell is going
to be lame to sift the rest of the book or conference that is really good. And when it comes to books, It’s not about
reading more, it’s about reading the best stuff first. Remember what Thoreau said:
“Read only the best books first; lest there not
be time enough to read them all.” - Henry
David Thoreau
Sift Sheet Goals
q
To
sift the most significant learning opportunities in my life (books, tape
series, conferences, classes, retreats and studies) all on one document per
year for future reference and review.
q
To
place this shift sheet out there for others to also learn from, and perhaps
encourage them to do if for themselves.