This book is for the person in your life who sees everything as black and white. It’s for the person who struggles with the tension of living and being in the middle. This book is an incredibly insightful treatise on today’s biblical and cultural tensions.

2. The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus’ Path of Power in a Church that Has Abandoned It by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel

If you know a pastor or a leader who has been troubled by the recent implosion of other pastors and leaders, this book is for them. It’s simultaneously insightful, timely, and a good wake up call for anyone in leadership

3. Future Church: Seven Laws of Real Church Growth by Will Mancini and Cory Hartman

This is for all of your pastor friends. Post-quarantine and post-pandemic, this book will give the pastors in your life insight into the future of the church.

4. BLESS: 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World by Dave and Jon Ferguson

If you are wondering how to love your neighbours and easily share the love of Jesus with them, look no further. There is no simpler way to normalize the Great Commission and sharing the gospel than B.L.E.S.S..

5. You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love by Daniel Im

I know this might seem like a selfish plug, but I really do believe that my newest book has an incredibly timely message for today. This book is for the mom who’s rediscovering herself as her children are growing older. For the dad who’s wrestling through the tension of being present for his children, while also trying to make ends meet and provide for his family. For the student who is not convinced that a traditional nine-to-five job is right for them. For the individual who wants clarity around their purpose and identity, since there’s such cultural confusion about who we are and where our worth comes from. And for anyone and everyone who is tired of the hustle, grind and go of life and wants to experience something different.

What book would you add to the list?

Kings, Kingdoms, and the Election

October 29, 2020 By Daniel Im

This week before the U.S. election, I wonder what would happen if every follower of Jesus began praying, “May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Because doesn’t it seem like there’s a kingdom conversation going on? Where as humans, we’re asking, hoping, expecting, and trusting an earthly king (or president) to do what only a heavenly king can do for us?

When the children of God rejected God as their king and instead demanded for a human king, God clearly warned them what would happen. See here in 1 Samuel 8:4-22 CSB,

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.” When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand wrong, so he prayed to the LORD. But the LORD told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king. They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. Listen to them, but solemnly warn them and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.” Samuel told all the LORD’s words to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These are the rights of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots. He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties, to plow his ground and reap his harvest, or to make his weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots. He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He can take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants. He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best cattle, and your donkeys and use them for his work. He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants. When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you’ve chosen for yourselves, but the LORD won’t answer you on that day.” The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.” Samuel listened to all the people’s words and then repeated them to the LORD. “Listen to them,” the LORD told Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Each of you, go back to your city.”

Did you notice the pattern?

God clearly warned the Israelites that human kings will take, take, take, and then take some more.

In asking for a human king, the Israelites were basically saying that they wanted to go back to the kind of life that God rescued them from back in Egypt.

They were rejecting a King who gave them manna to eat in the desert, who gave them water to drink out of rocks, who gave them their daily bread, and who gave them deliverance from a life of slavery under the nations around them. And instead, they wanted to replace that King with another king who would take their food, take their water, take the fruit of their work, and take their sons and daughters for his own use.

What a stark difference.

[Read more…]

Pivoting and Planning in a New Day of Mission

June 18, 2020 By Daniel Im

When we moved back to Canada last year, one of the first things that I did with my wife was sign up for a gym membership. When Christina and I were figuring out which gym to join, one of the sales associates decided to go with the “personalized” approach to try to “tailor” what his gym offered to our needs.

Anyway, he started with Christina and asked her what her goals were and why she wanted to join the gym. She said things like, “I’m thinking about doing a marathon,” “I want to stay healthy,” and other reasons along those lines. With quite the approving head nod, he wrote down her answers, made a few encouraging comments, and then turned to me. How about you Daniel?

I still remember his reaction to this day. When he heard my answer, it was utter shock. In fact, he stumbled over his words—not quite as long as Prime Minister Trudeau did when he was asked about President Trump’s response regarding the protests—but it was something like that.

“Chips. I love eating chips. I also love smoking meat on my BBQ. I just love eating. That’s pretty much the only reason I’m working out.”

Alright, so what’s the point?

We ended up joining the gym that day, and for several months, I made the commitment to not go into work until I first went to the gym—even if it was for only 30 minutes.

While I didn’t hit that goal 100% of the time, I actually did quite well.

For the first time in my life, I was working out more than once a week! My body, my health, and how I physically, mentally, and emotionally felt was the best it had ever been. And then COVID-19 hit. And then the gyms closed. And then grocery shopping got a little more complicated. (But, fear not, I still had my chips!)

In that moment, instead of hunkering down and just waiting for things to go back to normal, Christina and I decided to pivot and figure out a new rhythm and routine for exercise.

Pivot. Doesn’t it seem like the word of the year?

Although it seems like everyone and their mom are using this word, it really does encapsulate what we’ve had to do over these past few months. It’s either pivot or die.

Pivot or Die.

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There’s no going back to pre-COVID days. Yes, COVID-19 will eventually fade away, but it’s so deeply changed the fabric of our society and the way “church” looks, that even when we’re gathered together again it will be different.

It’s kind of like how Jesus interacted and ministered with his disciples pre-resurrection versus post-resurrection.

Let’s think about that for a moment.

[Read more…]

How Our Brains React in Crisis

April 30, 2020 By Daniel Im

Yesterday on a podcast, I heard Dr. Henry Cloud share a profound insight on the way our brain reacts during crisis—like the global pandemic that we’re all living through at the moment. Here’s my attempt at a summary and paraphrase.

Generally speaking, our brains make maps about how to do life.

For example, when we are hungry and want to eat a sandwich, our brains have a map that will show us how to get out of our chairs and walk to the fridge. But let’s say, someone rearranged the furniture in your living room over night, and the next time you were hungry, a couch was blocking your way. In this instance, your brain will actually register this as an ERROR according to neuroscientists.

Generally speaking, our brains make maps about how to do life.

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When this happens, your whole system amps up. And for a moment—when your system is really amped up—you lose emotional, spiritual, psychological, and physical functioning and you are thrown off. However, once you recognize that it’s just a couch and that you can walk around it, your body begins to go back to normal.

Right now, we are living in an ERROR.

Because of this global pandemic, our entire lives are registering on our brains—with red lights twirling around and sirens blasting—ERROR ERROR ERROR.

[Read more…]

A New (or Ancient) Way of Addressing the Lies of our Culture

March 3, 2020 By Daniel Im

The gig economy affects everyone and everything. It’s the new normal and it matters.

But as I’ve been sharing over the past few weeks, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. The seven lies of the gig economy all hold a critical role in the way that you see yourself, but they are not the way to see yourself because they all come up short.

They’re incomplete precisely because they’re half-truths. As a result, there are unintended consequences behind each and every one of them.

This is why you can’t let any of these lies become the primary lens through which you view yourself, and also why we’re so particularly vulnerable to these lies.

Living according to the lies of the gig economy is like living in chains.

It’s tiring.

It’s a grind and a hustle just to try and keep up. And it’s actually a fool’s game because you will never feel caught up.

Living according to the lies of the gig economy is like living in chains.

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[Read more…]

leadership

This Christmas, what would it look like if you gave the gift of reading?

This week before the U.S. election, I wonder what would happen if every follower of Jesus began praying, “May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Did you notice the pattern?

Alright, so what’s the point?

Pivot. Doesn’t it seem like the word of the year?

It’s kind of like how Jesus interacted and ministered with his disciples pre-resurrection versus post-resurrection.

Generally speaking, our brains make maps about how to do life.

Right now, we are living in an ERROR.

The gig economy affects everyone and everything. It’s the new normal and it matters.

Living according to the lies of the gig economy is like living in chains.

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