On this day, Jay Martin, Or jaymart as I know him wrote a great post about the book. He included a clip from the famous movie, “Spartacus.” I have to admit, I’ve never seen this movie, but he includes the clip of the famous part of the movie where multiple people stand and say, “I am Spartacus.” Jay described that when he read the book, he immediately identified with Eric Newman and after hearing so many other people declare “I am Eric Newman,” it made him think of this clip. Jay is giving away a couple of copies, so be sure to comment on his blog soon.

Amy O, a new kid on the Kidmin blog requested a copy of the Eric Trap and wrote her review here. I’m biased, but I liked her brief summation. “THE ERIC TRAP IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS ON KIDMIN THAT I HAVE READ!” The All Caps was her idea… so she must have really like it. Honestly, I think you’re going to like it. All these other people have… if weven’t not yet convinced you that this book is a great resource, I’m not sure what else to say.

Matt Norman who actively blogs over at Kidmin1124.com wrote a great post. Matt simply posted a brief summary of each chapter which is helpful as by just reading his summary’s you’ll see how this book is just right for you. I did love his opening line thought:

“the week caught up with Eric as he buried his face in his hands and wept.” With this one sentence I knew that his book was for me.

I think many people can relate to that experience.

Neil Hancock did his blog review over on his blog, Fight 4 the Heart. Neil said that he read the book because there wasn’t an Eric Trap movie in the works. Ha! I’m glad he pushed through anyway. I actually haven’t thought about movie deals, maybe we’ll work on that next year… would have to be pretty low budget though. Neil continues the sentiment you’re hearing most other people, you’ll likely identify with Eric’s plight.

Vanessa Small also wrote her review at her blog, LetThemCome1014. She is currently a volunteer who has high hopes to be in full time ministry in the near future. She found the book insightful as something to keep in mind so that she might not fall into the same traps.

Lastly, Joy Bowen wrote a blog review on her site, ImpulsiveJoy. She broke the book down into four things she was challenged by: Answer the Question, Talk to Your Leaders and Volunteers, Seek Out Your Senior Pastor and Have a Heart to Heart. Joy also made a quick video with her review. Enjoy the video below.

The first stop is over at the Compel Blog, which is the kidmin encouragement/resource blog for the Church of God of Prophecy denomination. Jason Vernon, the blog’s author is the senior pastor at RTP Community Church (which I wrote about a few weeks ago). He’s a great guy and I’m so glad to get the perspective of a senior pastor for this book. What spoke to him most was the chapter on delegation. Craig Gyergyo who wrote that chapter did an incredible job approaching delegation in a very unique way. Many of us do a great job delegating tasks, but we don’t delegate authority, which is huge. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book. Read Jason’s review here.

Stop two was an unexpected surprise. It really is great getting reviews from a variety of perspectives, including senior leaders, volunteers and others. However, I wasn’t expecting a review from a physician with a background in psychiatry. Let me tell you, Steve Grcevich from the Church4EveryChild blog had a completely different perspective. He reviewed this book from an “underneath the surface” view of the underlying reasons why Eric struggles the way he did. Steve, thank you for your perspective, it was so informative and refreshing. Please, check out this review as I think you’ll learn a lot from what he had to say.

Stop three included a review from my long-time blog/twitter friend Wendy Douglas. It was great to get her perspective, as she is a volunteer. When you talk to her, you wouldn’t know it. How much do I love volunteers like Wendy. In her review, she identifies with Eric’s struggle and she made a very important point. This book wasn’t written to point out how some children’s pastors/leaders fall short and need to get better at being a leader, but it reveal common flaws that ALL of us share. I’ll blog more about this later. Check out the review, it’s a great one!

The last stop of the Eric Trap (for the day) was over at Mike Rubin’s Providence Blog. Mike suggested renaming the book, “The Mike Trap.” Hmmm, it just doesn’t have the same ring to it… but I’ll be happy to cross out “Eric” on the cover and write your name in for you. I appreciate that Mike did point out something I’ve forgotten to reference in these posts. One of the best parts of each chapter is the “My Eric Trap” section at the end of every chapter. This section gives you a chance to ask yourself (or your team) a set of probing questions. It’s one thing to read the book, but another thing to start putting the principles in action and that’s what these sections are about. Check out Mike’s blog here.

We’ll that’s Day 8. Thanks everyone for participating, Day 9 looks to be just as exciting!

Tom Roepke, who says he is not Eric Newman, does indeed work for New Hope Community Church, the same church where Eric Newman works… except Tom is in Ohio I think and Eric’s New Hope is in Houston. Pretty funny though. Tom Created a video review to go with his post where he showed the infamous hallway with his altercation with Jim Swanson. Don’t know what I’m talking about… well, you need to read the book.

Tom reinforced what so many others have said. This book is not just for Children’s Pastors. There are nuggets of truth for staff and volunteers alike in multiple positions within the church. Enjoy the video below and be sure to read Tom’s review here. Tom, thanks for your kind words!

Regardless, I came across this song and music video by Jaime Grace. I bet that’s not her real name… it sounds to perfect. Ha! As soon as I heard it I thought… the kids would love this song… even if it’s just fun music for when kids are hanging out. Toby Mac is in the song (small parts) which is fun as well. Looks like you can download the video… but its worth looking in other songs and videos by Jamie Grace. 

Jamie Grace – Hold Me featuring tobyMac (Official Music Video) [www.keepvid.com] from iShine Live on Vimeo.

Actually last night, Rob Livingston wrote a great post starting off day two. Rob is a bi-vocational kid’s pastor… a school teacher in Sweet Home Alabama. He and I broke bread (or tacos) at Chuy’s here in Austin 8 months ago and I think I made a friend forever by sending him on to eat the best BBQ brisket he’d ever tasted. The funny thing is that Rob didn’t have a blog 10 days ago when he requested a copy of the book… perhaps the Eric Trap prompted a new habit? I hope so! I liked Rob’s review a lot. He described how at one point he got really excited about a decision Eric made thinking, “finally, he got something right!” only to find out that this too was a bad decisions. This illustrates a story we wanted to tell. Often times we in Kidmin (or other areas of church leadership) do what we feel is right and natural, but sometimes what seems right and natural may not be what is best.

Jonathan Cliff wrote another great review (he also wrote on the back cover of the book) that was fun to read. He talked about how he felt Sam and I were putting all his junk out on the table. Honestly, Sam and I do know Jonathan pretty well and it wasn’t too hard to get the phone numbers of a few of his staff and volunteers…. just kidding. No, the truth is that many are going to read this book and say, “Hey, that’s me!” It’s the reality that the traps Eric falls into is common to us all. I think Jonathan is giving away some books on his site as well.

Lastly, my good friend Jenn Day wrote another great review over on her brand-spanking-new blog. You must check it out. She posed a handful of questions to determine if this book is worth your time. There may be a few who say, “Nah, I’m good.” But I think that most will say, “Yeah, I kinda suck in that aspect of ministry/leadership. Jenn, thanks for your perspective and different approach to the book review. Lastly, if you’re looking to get your hands on a free book, go read her review and comment. It’s as easy as that.

However, as you read this book, I know that some of you may ask, “Who is Eric Newman really?” Is he a real person? Did you and Sam have someone in mind as you told his story? Hmmmm, maybe. If we did, we’ll never tell.

But what we will tell you is that you’re asking the right question but looking for the wrong answer. I know that as Sam and I wrote the story of Eric Newman, we wrote painful parts of our own stories and let Eric live them out on the pages of this book. There were times when I was writing that I was recalling the past more than creating something new. So much of Eric’s story is my story and I’m sure Sam will say the same thing. You know what’s interesting though? More than a handful of reviews that have already come back have expressed the same sentiment. Who is the real Eric Newman? Well… I am. So are you! We all have some of Eric in our lives.

If you didn’t catch Jenny’s stellar post on The Eric Trap yesterday, hop over there now. You still might be able to grab a free book. Stay tuned for a list of posts that went live today as well.

To start things off today, Jenny Funderburke posted her review of The Eric Trap. We picked her to start this tour because she’s been intimately involved in the project. She came to the Infuse Retreat to help Brother Jim as a coach. At this retreat, the fable portions of the book had already been written and the other chapters were still mostly outlines. Jenny provided a great deal of feedback as well as a second set of eyes during the editing process. Actually, Jenny’s probably read the book 3-4 times already.

I’ve always been really happy with her feedback. While writing this book, we really felt we had something here that was going to help a lot of people and Jenny always confirmed those thoughts. Click over here to read her review and be sure to leave a comment, she’s got a couple of book to give away!

So, get ready. The Eric Trap goes on sale in 3 weeks and you’ll get some sneak peaks in the coming weeks about this new book. Stay tuned, I’ll post more on Monday as the blog tour starts up. I can’t wait!

My wife just sent me a link telling me that Francis Chan is giving away three of his most popular books away for free on the Kindle on April 6 and 7th only. You just have to shoot over to Amazon and download them today. I’ve heard Francis at the Orange Conference a few times and his messages were very challenging. However, I haven’t read any of his books yet (although they are on my list). Seeing this new, I quickly jumped over to Amazon and downloaded them, so hopefully I’ll get to read them this year.

I’ll make it easy for you. Click here to download the free books (the deal states that the books could go back to their regular price at any time).

• Crazy Love
• Forgotten God
• Erasing Heaven