Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture [Paperback]

Max McLean (Author), Warren Bird (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2009

Does the Bible sound dull when you hear it read in church? An auditory tidal wave cascades from our televisions, radios, media players, and the Internet. Today's distracted worshippers often feel spiritually shortchanged when the Scriptures are spoken without passion and power. This lively and encouraging book-and-DVD set, the collaboration of a gifted Bible narrator and an award-winning writer, shows how churches can train their laypeople to unleash the Word of God with enthusiasm, conviction, and passion. Straightforward and culturally relevant, with practical how-to graphics, this resource provides the necessary tools to teach you how to read the Bible aloud, in a way that communicates its life-changing power!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Does the Bible sound dull when you hear it read in church? An auditory tidal wave cascades from our televisions, radios, media players, and the Internet. Today's distracted worshippers often feel spiritually shortchanged when the Scriptures are spoken without passion and power. This lively and encouraging book-and-DVD set, the collaboration of a gifted Bible narrator and an award-winning writer, shows how churches can train their laypeople to unleash the Word of God with enthusiasm, conviction, and passion. Straightforward and culturally relevant, with practical how-to graphics, this resource provides the necessary tools to teach you how to read the Bible aloud, in a way that communicates its life-changing power! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Max McLean has received critical acclaim for his theatrical adaptations of The Screwtape Letters, Mark's Gospel, and Genesis. He is known widely as the narrator of The Listener's Bible (NIV, ESV and KJV) and classic Christian literature including Pilgrim's Progress and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. His daily radio program is heard on 700 radio outlets. Max and his wife, Sharon, live in New York City and are active members of Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

Warren Bird (PhD, Fordham University) serves as a primary researcher and writer for Leadership Network and has more than ten years of church staff and of seminary teaching experience. He has collaboratively written twenty books, all on subjects of church health or church innovation. Warren and his wife live just outside of New York City. SPANISH BIO: Warren Bird, pastor ordenado por mas de veinte anos, obtuvo un doctorado en sociologia de religion en la Universidad Fordham y ademas maestrias de la Facultad Wheaton y el Seminario Teologico Alliance. Sirve como director del departamento de capital de investigacion e intelecto en la Red de Liderazgo y tiene mas de diez anos de experiencia ensenando en seminarios. Ha colaborado como autor en varios libros acerca de la salud e innovacion de la iglesia entre ellos, La iglesia emocionalmente sana. Warren y su esposa, Michelle, residen en las afueras de Nueva York.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; 1 Pap/DVD edition (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310292700
• ISBN-13: 978-0310292708
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #522,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it!, December 3, 2009

By 

Tim Challies (Oakville, Ontario) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture (Paperback)

When was the last time you read a book about reading? Maybe you have read Adler's How to Read a Book or another like it. When was the last time you read a book about reading Scripture? Maybe you have read a book about how to do better personal devotions and have found there some ideas about reading Scripture in a more effective way. But when was the last time you read a book about the public reading of Scripture in the worship service? It's a pretty safe bet that you never have read such a book; only a very few exist. I was excited, then, to see Max McLean's Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture. "I want to help you learn to present the Bible in such a way that your audience can engage the Word with their heart, mind, and soul as they hear it being read aloud," he says in his introduction. "The goal is ultimately transformation--their lives will be touched and changed, just as the original hearers were."

If I had read this book a few years ago, it would have rocked my world, I think. It is only since I began attending Grace Fellowship Church that I've come to see the value of the public reading of Scripture not as a simple means to an end--a way to get us from the music to the sermon--but as an end in itself. In this church I've come to see the reading of Scripture as a core part of the teaching ministry of the church. The Word preaches; the Word is the sermon before the sermon. And if this is true, then we ought to invest effort in reading it well. This can only be the case where the reading of Scripture is given prominence within the worship service and where the person reading is talented and passionate about what he is doing. And this is what I have seen with consistency at my church. So I have seen modeled what McLean is so passionate about and can attest to the great value in treating the reading of Scripture in this way.

McLean teaches what he does under several headings. He first shares a bit of biographical information, telling how he came to know the Lord and, from there, how he came to love to read Scripture. He has, after all, begun a Scripture-reading ministry within his church; he has recorded the whole Bible several times; he has done one-man dramatic presentations of some of the books of the Bible; he continues to do a daily radio show that is nothing but the reading of Scripture. The Bible--the simple reading of the Bible--has been the core of his whole ministry.

Having shared his story, McLean offers very practical guidance on how to begin a Bible-reading ministry within the local church. This is what he wants to see: talented individuals who make it their ministry in the church to participate in the worship service by reading Scripture. His tips range from how stand before a crowd and deliver an effective reading of Scripture to how to prepare a passage to how to breath when nervous to everything in between. He then provides some teaching on how to teach others to participate in this ministry before concluding with some more practical guidance on preparation, delivery and so on. It is in all ways a practical book. I love his vision here and would rejoice to see churches adopting it.

I was not without a couple of concerns when reading the book. The foremost has to do with gender roles within the church. McLean is clear that he considers the reading of Scripture part of the church's core teaching ministry. At the same time, he considers this a task that can be performed equally by men and women. In fact, most of the examples he offers in the book are of women who participate in this ministry. It seems to me, though, that if this is a teaching ministry within the context of the worship service at a local church, then it would be most consistent with Scripture to have men being the ones who teach through reading. Without knowing McLean's views on women in ministry, I do wonder if we can have this both ways. This is an issue individual churches would want to ponder before beginning such a ministry.

So much for concerns. Unleashing the Word is narrowly-focused and that is one of its strengths. The book is almost wholly concerned with reading Scripture in worship services. Yes, McLean does dedicate a bit of attention to other contexts (such as public marathon readings of the Bible) but really, his concern is to have Christians rediscover the public reading of Scripture in the worship service and to see it as a core part of the ministry of the local church. And in this I could not agree with him more. I would love to see Christians reading this book and allowing McLean to help them rediscover a most important practice. Buy this one and read it yourself. Then pass it to your pastor and ask him to read it too.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to Prepare and Present the Bible Out Loud, November 26, 2009

By 

Chad Estes (Boise, Idaho, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture (Paperback)

Sometimes the scripture reading portion of a church service can be the most lifeless. Max McLean and Warren Bird suggest that this has very little to do with the content and mostly to do with the presentation and lack of preparation of the reader. Together they have written a new book that serves as a tool to help make the public reading of scripture a life-giving force.

McLean has made a profession out of dramatically presenting passages of the Bible both on stage and on his radio program. Bird, inspired by both McLean's presentation and incorporating his own years of church staff and seminary teaching has lent his writing skills to craft, `Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture."

The first section of the book gives the background of McClean's Bible reading experience and presentation, including his success at raising the level of thematic presentations in the church he attends in New York City. McLean seems to be more inspired to train other passionate readers in churches instead of just filling in the gap himself.

The second section presents the mechanics of good reading. Many of the tips and suggestions are not limited to just the reading of scripture on Sundays, but could be used in any speaking presentation.

The third section focuses on issues outside of the reader themselves, including pastors who may not realize that their monotone deliveries aren't really helping lead into the sermon he has prepared. Bird and McLean have several suggestions on how to nicely implement some winning strategies to this problem. This section also briefly describes the use of scripture reading outside of Sunday mornings, such as weddings, hospitals, Bible reading marathons and home devotions.

One of the strengths of the books is the resources it provides. Packaged with the book is a DVD so you can hear and see examples of what is presented in the pages. This is also accompanied by several chapters in the appendix which are designed for application.

A few times as I was reading the book I felt there was too much emphasis being placed on the performance of the scripture reader. It was obvious that McLean believes there are some people who have the skill set to read publically, and some who don't. I think the book could have benefited by having more inclusive language as well as providing more resources for those who may not make the stage with their reading, but still could benefit from reading the Bible aloud. That being said, I loved the passion that both of the authors demonstrated for the scripture, seeing it as important enough to bring creativity, craft, and spiritual discipline to. They don't see the reading of scripture as a lead in to something better, but instead should be treated as if it is the main point. If both readers and listeners were actively participating with the scripture this way, letting it speak for itself, those seeds of the Word may indeed find more fertile souls.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but..., May 22, 2010

By 

D. Waite "Ph.D." - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture (Paperback)

This book describes how to begin a public Bible reading program at a church. However it does not go far into the technical aspect of how to read well, such as voice quality.

Essentially the book says that the text must become internalized. To do this the reader must block the text out into individual units of meaning and read it until it makes sense. The reader is to then have a "dynamic" dialog with the audience. The closest thing to voice quality is recommendation for two different books and the "pre-hum" technique to make sure the voice resonates properly.

Very useful for STARTING a program with little on doing the voice acting that McLean is very good at...