11 posts tagged “books”
It's been a while since I did one of these.
I'm here on my day off trying to get over a nasty cold and Bunny and Sean have headed out to Destin to pick up a few things. I've had three phone calls from members, read some of my seminary text, and watched a little TV. (Why do we even have TV - there's nothing there)
For some reason I glanced up and saw the books I have here on my desk. Now I have a couple thousand in my office at church, but these here at home are in sort of a rotation. I'm either using them for background information on what I'm currently doing, reading them for what I might be doing, or rereading them because something in them is causing me to think.
I like to think.
So here's the list.
They Like Jesus, But Not the Church - Dan Kimball
unChristian - Kinnaman & Lyons
The Cross and the Prodigal - Ken Bailey
Searching for God Knows What - Donald Miller
Breaking the Missional Code - Ed Stetzer
Matthew - the Holman NIV Commentary - Anders
Matthew - the Communicators Commentary - Augsburger
The Jesus Creed - Scot McKnight
An Unstoppable Force - Erwin Mcmanus
The Jesus Way - Eugene Peterson
Communicating for A Change - Andy Stanley
The Present Future - Reggie McNeal
Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places - Eugene Peterson
Living the Questions In Matthew - the Navigators
Crossing Cultures - Lane
To Follow Him - Mark Bailey
A History of Christianity - Paul Johnson
The Moody Handbook of Theology
Man, I need to go find some good fiction. LOL
One of the great things about being a pastor is I get to indulge in one of my great loves - reading books. I have always loved to read. Lately though, because of seminary work, church Christmas activities and just the pace of life, I have fallen behind.
This latest project "Going All the Way", is his attempt to help people have great marriages by planning to go the distance with God.
Hopefully I'll be able to start commenting on it early next week.
Stay tuned.
This book showed up today.
Friends who have read it give it pretty good reviews.
I'll let you know.
Well, I finished my second trip through the book last night, and I'll wait a week and do it again.
It is that good.
One of the things that concerns me about the Story of Jesus is that our culture is shifting so fast that the ancient Story seems to have less of a foothold.
I'll never forget being at Mercer University over a decade ago and having professor Michael Cass bemoaning how incoming students at a Baptist University arrived without even a cursory knowledge of the Bible.
"How can I teach them Literature?", he asked me. I didn't have an answer then, and I don't know - although if you had told me that Beowulf would be on the big screen in 3-D I'd have laughed.
Donald Miller pulls it off.
He takes the culture and turns it inside out and returns bearing the Message. The last chapter is wrapped up in his explanation of how Shakespeare used Romeo and Juliet as a cultural metaphor, and then Miller shows how it is also a metaphor for Christ and His church.
It is an amazing book.
Compassion is not some alternate gospel. Compassion is an overflow of the gospel—the Good News of Christ's sacrifice. Compassion says we have embraced the relationship with God through Christ. It's not that we have to earn our salvation by doing good things, but compassion and service flow out of us because we are filled with God's love. If we don't take care of orphans and widows, if we don't care for the poor and hurting, how can we say we belong to Jesus?
—Zach Hunter, Be the Change
Bunny and Sean went up to our hometown of Macon, GA yesterday and came back this afternoon. It was a quick trip and those always leave those who make it pretty wiped out. So before Bunny crashes and we head off to bed, I wanted to let the world know what I'll be reading this week.
Here's the blurb from Amazon:
"Eugene Peterson is convinced that the way we read the Bible is as important as that we read it. Do we read the Bible for information about God and salvation, for principles and "truths" that we can use to live better? Or do we read it in order to listen to God and respond in prayer and obedience?
The second part of Peterson’s momentous five-volume work on spiritual theology, Eat This Book challenges us to read the Scriptures on their own terms, as God’s revelation, and to live them as we read them. With warmth and wisdom Peterson offers greatly needed, down-to-earth counsel on spiritual reading. In these pages he draws readers into a fascinating conversation on the nature of language, the ancient practice of lectio divina, and the role of Scripture translations; included here is the "inside story" behind Peterson’s own popular Bible translation, The Message.
Countering the widespread practice of using the Bible for self-serving purposes, Peterson here serves readers with a nourishing entrée into the formative, life-changing art of spiritual reading."
The other book I received for Christmas is also from Peterson. More about it later.Bob Benson has passed from this life to the next now, but his writing and his heart lives on in the numerous books he wrote. "He Speaks Softly" is a jewel of a book that expresses so much of what Bob Benson was and cared about. In it, Benson weaves his devotion to and relationship with Jesus all through his experiences.
The idea in doing that for us is to expose us to the concept that "God Has Something To Say To You."
But He speaks softly.
So listening cannot be passive. I highly recommend this book.
I hope to be getting some books for Christmas, but here's what I have up next.
One of the things I want most for the people at New Hope is a rediscovery of the great feeling you get when you serve someone in Christ's name who doesn't know Jesus. For far too long we've served each other and stopped there. We have to, have to, have to get outside and see that as our mission.
So Bill, lay it on me.
From first glance, it looks like a valuable resource. I'll let you know later.
This week will be light duty as we don't have a Wednesday night service. So most of my time will be spent this week in rest and renewal. Hopefully I'll get a chance to cross a few of the books I've been sharing with you off my list and let you know hoew helpful they might be to you.
Other books he has written tell the stories of Lincoln's assassination, Christ's crucifixion, and other events.
While I appreciated the style in which he wrote, I couldn't really recommend the book wholeheartedly. It just wasn't that good. Maybe it's just me. I've been so immersed in Advent and in particular the birth of Christ for a month now that I'm probably over saturated with details already. I'm that person who sits in the congregation and listens to a sermon thinking in their mind as they listen "yeah, yeah, yeah, I already know that - what else you got?" So perhaps you could give it a chance.
Our local Christian bookstore has a 75% off sale going on. As my fighter pilot friends would say "that's a target rich environment." Yes it is. I'm trying to read everything I can get my hands on that deals with discipleship and evangelism, because as we move forward, those two areas will be coming together.
One of the things I realize is just how "found" I am. I've forgotten what it means to be lost. So if this book can help me learn more about how a person who hasn't yet come to know Christ, then I'm willing to spend 75% off.
Bill Bright is one of the people who give it thumps up on the book jacket, and I recall him knowing a little bit about evangelism and having a lot of love for lost people. So we'll see what I can learn.
Dallas Willard likes it enough to lend his support on the book jacket, so I'm hoping that it helps me appreciate Wangerin and apprehend more of the benefits of prayer.
I've never read any of this author's work. But one of my goals in the years to come is to become better at being a "bridge" person - someone who introduces people to Jesus using their life as an example of His love.
Dreisbach is the founder of the "New Life" movement which has successfully planted several churches in the NE US. If you can reach people there, I would think you could reach them here, so it's definitely worth a read.
My wife, my biggest fan and promoter of my writing ambition saw this and said "You could have written that book."
Craig is the founder of Lifechurch.tv, which was a pioneer in the multi-site model. One thing I really appreciate about Craig, is that his church makes many of their resources available over the internet FREE. That's right (did you hear that Rick Warren?) FREE.
Many of us in the typical size churches, cannot even afford Photoshop from Adobe, even if we knew how to use it. So LifeChurch.tv has given us an opportunity to take advantage of what God has blessed them with.
I'm really looking forward to reading this.
I've had this book for a while now and it must have gotten shuffled under a pile of others. Brennan Manning is not one of my favorite writers though, so I cannot guarantee that it won't get shuffled again.
Another book I have been meaning to read is this one. I've always loved stories and sometimes use them in sermons. I received an email this week from Linda Taylor, our missionary friend from Nigeria and she mentioned that they used chronological storytelling there to tell the Message of Jesus.
Our culture is experience based now much more than propositional. So if I can draw people into the "story" of Jesus, perhaps I'll be able to see them connect with Christ more readily.
