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Crucial Conversations: Bridging The Awkward Spiritual Gap
If you’ve ever felt that there is a divide that separates you from people who believe differently-you’re not alone. If you feel uncomfortable talking about your faith this book gives you the tools to not only bridge that awkward gap, but also learn how to take the conversation to the next level. The practical steps and icons in this book will give you the confidence you need to bridge the relational divide. Jesus engaged in a series of vibrant crucial conversations with a range of people. You too can to engage in honest open crucial conversations without awkwardness. You can learn the skills that will be used by the Father to transform the relationships in your life. You will find that much like the New Testament believers discovered, that crucial conversations can change the world around you.
- GenresDiscipleship
255 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 27, 2017
18 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 8, 2024
I liked portions of this book. The tools he taught were helpful, but I found his delivery quite annoying. In some parts of the book I felt he was church bashing. I just didn’t like the tone and tenor of the book.
September 29, 2017
I'm glad I read it, but this book was frustrating. I'll start with the good. This author has a passion for people, and for helping people become followers/disciples of Jesus Christ. From his numerous personal illustrations, he obviously practices what he preaches. He also makes a number of good points which I found helpful. Like our unwarranted concern about our own reputation, the importance of listening to others and of letting the Holy Spirit guide the conversation, the importance of conversation itself, the ease with which simple conversations can be started. His illustrations are helpful. There is a certain amount of repetition in the book which I also found helpful.
Now for the frustrating. This book needs an editor, or a far better editor. The Table of Contents lacks parallelism in the section titles, which could have easily been done. There are some spelling errors and numerous grammatical errors throughout. Font size changes on occasion. The page numbering has the odd-numbered pages on the left side and the even-numbered pages on the right. I realize that content matters more than grammar, but there are grammatical and spelling rules for a reason.
Some stylistic features could have been softened as well; it was tiring, almost humorous, how often the author would label an action or concept by saying, "or what I call . . ." Also, in ch. 4 he introduces "seven mistakes we commonly make when we venture into the unfamiliar waters of spiritual conversation" (75). He then labels each mistake as he progresses through the chapter: "MISTAKE #1," MISTAKE #2," all the way through "MISTAKE #9." I thought maybe he was making a clever point when he introduced 7 and then listed 9; but no, a few pages later he refers back: "Most likely your gaff will come from one of the seven common mistakes listed above" (90)!?!
Some of the content was incorrect, which led me to question other assertions made by the author. For instance, he writes that the Greek word apisteuo means apostasy (136). It doesn't; it means unbelief. He writes, "Jesus' baptism and crucifixion are the only two events of Jesus' life mentioned in all four Gospels" (231). But the feeding of the 5000 is also mentioned in all four. He implies that church services are not effective means of evangelism (146). While that's sometimes the case, perhaps often, it's certainly not always the case. Many have come to faith through the preaching of Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones, and others. Speaking of Spurgeon, the author writes of "Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, and John Calvin," that the "primary purpose of those oratorical extravaganzas was to feed the crowds biblical information" (174-5). I think he greatly misreads those men at that point. So when he gives broad interpretations of history, such as the Age of Enlightenment (173ff.), I read him skeptically.
Bottom line: I'm still glad I read it.
Now for the frustrating. This book needs an editor, or a far better editor. The Table of Contents lacks parallelism in the section titles, which could have easily been done. There are some spelling errors and numerous grammatical errors throughout. Font size changes on occasion. The page numbering has the odd-numbered pages on the left side and the even-numbered pages on the right. I realize that content matters more than grammar, but there are grammatical and spelling rules for a reason.
Some stylistic features could have been softened as well; it was tiring, almost humorous, how often the author would label an action or concept by saying, "or what I call . . ." Also, in ch. 4 he introduces "seven mistakes we commonly make when we venture into the unfamiliar waters of spiritual conversation" (75). He then labels each mistake as he progresses through the chapter: "MISTAKE #1," MISTAKE #2," all the way through "MISTAKE #9." I thought maybe he was making a clever point when he introduced 7 and then listed 9; but no, a few pages later he refers back: "Most likely your gaff will come from one of the seven common mistakes listed above" (90)!?!
Some of the content was incorrect, which led me to question other assertions made by the author. For instance, he writes that the Greek word apisteuo means apostasy (136). It doesn't; it means unbelief. He writes, "Jesus' baptism and crucifixion are the only two events of Jesus' life mentioned in all four Gospels" (231). But the feeding of the 5000 is also mentioned in all four. He implies that church services are not effective means of evangelism (146). While that's sometimes the case, perhaps often, it's certainly not always the case. Many have come to faith through the preaching of Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones, and others. Speaking of Spurgeon, the author writes of "Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, and John Calvin," that the "primary purpose of those oratorical extravaganzas was to feed the crowds biblical information" (174-5). I think he greatly misreads those men at that point. So when he gives broad interpretations of history, such as the Age of Enlightenment (173ff.), I read him skeptically.
Bottom line: I'm still glad I read it.
December 3, 2022
I appreciate Dan Grider’s books but if you’ve read the other Starfish Movement books, this one repeats many of the same stories. But once you get past that, there are practical questions and helpful tips in developing productive conversations (with the direction of the Holy Spirit) for the glory of God’s kingdom.
January 7, 2020
See Kent's review. There are some gems. The main concept was good, the way the author decided to execute not so much. And some of the opinions... Also no.
March 22, 2021
Good book that's really focused on giving folkx the tools they need to engage in difficult, yet crucial!, conversations.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews