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As an entrepreneur at heart and a person passionate about what is next, I resonate with Dave Gibbons. His innovative spirit has connected with a vision for what's next and resulted in The Monkey and the Fish, a book that looks at the world and the church in a revolutionary way. -- Bob Buford, Founder, Leadership Network
Dave has not given us another formula for Christian community and Christian leadership. Instead, he has given us a renewed vision of our calling. What the world needs most is the same thing that the church needs most--third-culture Christians. Anyone who wonders about the relevance of church--in their own lives or in the global community--should read The Monkey and the Fish. -- Bill Clark, Vice President of Development, International Justice Mission
Did Jesus really call his followers to change the world? ...we must ask the painful question of why we haven't changed the world more profoundly. The church is surely big enough, but it would seem that bigness is not the answer. Jesus often thought small. The Monkey and the Fish takes away our measuring sticks and helps us see where the power of churches to transform culture really lies. --Richard Stearns, President, World Vision US
David Gibbons is one of those rare directional thinkers who sees things the rest of us don't. Fortunately, he then speaks of these things in ways the rest of us can hear. We all know something new is appearing on the horizon. This book will help you perceive it more clearly for yourself. It will stretch your thinking, and then it will stretch your faith. -- Gary Walter, President, The Evangelical Covenant Church
It is thoroughly refreshing to read a book that seriously considers the impact of global shifts like the third-culture milieu upon the life and mission of the church. Dave Gibbons provides several innovative insights with concrete examples that will most definitely initiate meaningful conversations and movements among those who desire to become tangible (or "liquid") expressions of the gospel to an ever-changing culture.... -- Charles Lee, Lead Cultural Catalyst, New Hope
This is ...an important book. Its words come straight from the "gut" of the author, who strives to embrace third culture in every facet of his life. It will challenge you to be more daring for Christ. --Daniel S. Kim, Pastor, Sa Rang Community Church
Dave Gibbons masterfully demonstrates the need for the church to be the relevant, practical, bridge-building organism that God intended. I commend this compelling book to every person who has a passion for cultural relevancy and gracious authenticity. I was captivated from page one. -- Dave Anderson, Pastor, Bridgeway Community Church
In days marked by huge cultural shifts, we can't afford to worship our methods and traditions. We have to embrace adaptability. The church must begin to write new stories to reach a new world. In The Monkey and the Fish, Dave Gibbons delivers insight that will challenge your view of our world and the role of the local church. -- Tony Morgan, Author, Killing Cockroaches
... Dave Gibbons asks some challenging, disturbing, yet empowering questions for leaders interested in impacting today's global village with the love of Jesus. The Monkey and the Fish is full of honest and authentic reflections from Dave's journey, which has led him to become a global thinker and an innovator impacting diverse cultures around the world. This is not a book to read if comfort and safety are your ultimate goals! -- Scott Hodge, Pastor, Orchard Valley Community Church
With eyes wide open to the new global village in which we now live, Dave Gibbons calls us to a new way of being the church, a third-culture way that stands in sharp contrast to big, brash, rich, and comfortable American-way churches. Dave is a reliable guide because he walks, courageously, the third-culture way. This is an important book which comes to us in the midst of tumultuous times, filled with stories, wisdom, and a challenge to be the people of God in this new world. -- Richard Peace, Fuller Theological Seminary
The Monkey and the Fish is a much-needed breath of fresh air for the American church. In training future leaders of the church, I often find that there is a dearth of literature or examples of leadership relevant for an increasingly diverse and globalizing world. Dave Gibbons, employing the concept of third culture, reveals an approach to leadership that, if heeded, should revolutionize how we approach ministry in the twenty-first century. -- Soon-Chan Rah, Assistant Professor, North Park Theological Seminary
A powerful and compelling invitation to a ministry that embraces pain, suffering, and the cross. -- Peter T. Cha, Associate Professor, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Dave Gibbons is a revolutionary thinker, a big dreamer, and a thought leader that we should all pay close attention to. I'm positive "Monkey and The Fish" will disrupt your current understanding of culture as it did mine. This is not simply a book but a brilliant field guide to the future. -- Mike Foster, President of Ethur
As a practitioner of reconciliation this book has given me renewed hope for the church! Dave Gibbons honestly shares his story with us and challenges us to go beyond our structural thinking and our old paradigms to rediscover the global vision and purpose of the Church. The strategies and principles in this book are counter-cultural and revolutionary. They show us how to engage the culture and in so doing, rediscover ourselves. This is a must read for anyone who wants to move from talking to dreaming to transformation! -- Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil, Scholar in Residence, North Park University
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Be Liquid, My Friend,
By
This review is from: The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church (Leadership Network Innovation Series) (Paperback)
Dave Gibbons begins the Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church with an eastern parable. A well-meaning monkey sees a fish struggling in the water after a typhoon. Having a kind heart, the monkey with considerable risk to himself reaches down precariously from a limb of a tree to save the fish snatching him up from the water. The monkey lies the fish on dry land. For a few minutes the fish showed excitement but soon it settled into a peaceful sleep.
Translation: it died. Relevance to the 21st Century church: everything. Gibbons is the founding pastor of Newsong, a multi-site international third-culture church. Years ago, Gibbons was building his megachurch and was struck with the thought of building a big box that would not be used most of the week to entertain people who for the most part would not change the world. He was a well-meaning monkey thinking he was saving a fish. God took Dave Gibbons down a journey that has huge implications for us today. What he came to embrace is that the world is changing to a third-culture were we need to be willing to cross lines to reach people where they are. Love your neighbor If we take the parable of the Good Samaritan to heart, we see that our neighbor is someone not like us. It is someone of a different race. Someone who with different beliefs. We are called to love, to act, to serve. To be Christ rather than just talk about Him. Be Liquid When you pour water into a glass, it takes the shape of the glass. Pour it into a teapot and it takes the shape of the teapot. Water can flow. Be water. Be Liquid. Our message remains the same but our forms must change. And our conflicts should not be about forms. it's a waste of energy. Third-culture is about being water to a thirsty world. It's being adaptive. It's being willing to change. It's reading the culture. It's being a Jew to reach Jews. It's being poor to reach the poor. It's being liquid Three questions 1. Where is Nazareth? Who are the people on the margins of life? Who are the outsiders? Who are suffering the most? Instead of looking for the leaders who can offer the most to our churches/movements/organizations/own kingdoms, Gibbons teaches us to look for who are the most in need. It is the model of Christ. It is how God operates. God's power is most perfected in weakness. 2. What is my pain? Instead of always looking for our own spiritual gifts/talents/resources, Gibbons encourages us to identify with our greatest pain. It is through our pain that the world can relate to. It is our pain that shows the power of Christ. 3. What is in my hand? What has God given me? Use that. Stop focusing on what we do not have or comparing ourselves to some myth. Stop trying to become something we are not. I highly recommend this book! it spoke to my soul. It gave me hope and that we can adapt to help change the world.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
fluid and insightful,
By Mark Oestreicher (El Cajon, CA USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church (Leadership Network Innovation Series) (Paperback)
the book is about church leadership in a global culture, on the surface. but, really, it's about living christianly, in any cultural context, and in any time. because, at its core, the monkey and the fish is about the values of jesus, and how we can embody them (specifically as churches, and more broadly as "the church"). it's a quick read, and very accessible. full of great stories from real-life attempts, successes and failures. it's an honest book, revealing some of the author's own failures and short-comings. parts of it are almost a spiritual memoir, as dave shares intimate struggles and personal context.
but what i liked most about the book is that the very form of the flow was reflective of the book's points. in other words: it wasn't linear and full of how-to's. dave refers a few times to bruce lee's suggestion that we become like water; and this book itself is fluid. this will likely frustrate some readers. it actually started to frustrate me, until i realized what was going on -- then i sat back and enjoyed the ride! i had a couple minor gripes with the book: - i think it's a sexy but week title, and the opening illustrations it refers to doesn't play a significant role in the book - i wished dave would give us a clearer explanation of "third culture" from the start (and, while i think i "got it" as i read on, i wasn't sure about the earliest definition) - there were times when i wasn't sure if dave was writing to church leaders (as the subtitle would imply) or a general christian audience. but those were minor, as i said. and overall, i think this is a stellar book, by a brilliant outside-the-box pastor who is doing seriously innovative stuff around the world. i'm stoked about more interactions with him, and about whatever books he'll write in the future.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Needed Discussion for the Church,
By
This review is from: The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church (Leadership Network Innovation Series) (Paperback)
This isn't your average leadership book written for the tired executive. This book is written for the searching Christian leader who desperately wants to know what God is up to and how to help the church be the church today.
You might have noticed that culturally, we tend to be 30 to 50 years behind everybody else. We can't afford to do that. We need to do the unexpected - the God thing - and be third-culture. To be first culture is to embrace one culture. To be second culture is to embrace the other. To be third culture is to not embrace either/or, but to embrace both/and. In former years, our Christian kids had to embrace one culture at home, and then either accept or reject the culture at school - accepting the culture at school meant leading two lives. There is another way. The third culture way. Living a life that is Christlike and culturally significant at the same time. (There is another new book that is also part of this discussion, called The Fine Line by Kary Oberbrunner. These two books together would make an interesting discussion.) Living third culturally means living in the points of transition. William Bridges says that transitions have three parts - the second part is the nebula, the part that feels like a ship at sea, at night, in a fog, without instruments. It is in this nebula that we define who we are. It is in this nebula that God meets people. Nebulae are painful places to be. Only the called and the brave will go there willingly. [...] Kim Martinez kimmartinezstayingfocused.wordpress.com
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