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Suggested Readings
Check out some books and articles that our staff feel you would benefit from reading.
Pastor John's Suggested Readings
In His Image
by Dr. Paul Brand
1984 Zondervan Publishing
Excerpt: "What piece of work is a man!"
John's Comment: I first read this while taking a human anatomy and physiology class in college. Dr. Brand relates his experiences working amongst lepers in India, the design of the human body, and spiritual truths revealed about God, the Father in this fascinating classic.
The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Investigation of the Evidence of Jesus
by Lee Strobel
1998 Zondervan Publishing
Excerpt: "Tell me this", I said with an edge of challenge in my voice, "is it really possible to be an intelligent, critically thinking person and still believe..."
John's Comment: I enjoyed Strobel's fresh approach to testing the believability of historical Christianity by his use of modern day journalistic techniques.
The Life You Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People
By John Ortberg
2002 Zondervan Publishing
Excerpt: "When morphing happens, I don't just do the things Jesus would have done; I find myself wanting to do them. They appeal to me. They make sense. I don't just go around trying to do right things; I become the right sort of person."
John's Comment: I mess up all the time. Ortberg writes in a practical yet challenging encouragement to me to grow as a person.
John Adams
by David McCullough
2001 Simon & Shuster Publishing
Excerpt: "The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know... Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough..."
John's Comment: Having spend most of my life in Massachusetts, I never knew the real significance John Adam had in the governmental, social, and moral foundation of this country until I read this biography.
Ten Things Parents Must Teach Their Children (and Learn for Themselves)
By Edith Schaeffer
1994 Baker Book House Publishing
Excerpt: "This is crystal clear: Children are not to be told to run along and don't ask question."
John's Comment: Schaeffer has stretched me to consider how we are to raise our children - in the daily flow of life within our homes and communities.
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader
by The Bathroom Readers' Institute
1988 St Martin Press
Excerpt: "There are two kinds of readers in the world - people who read in the bathroom and people who don't"
John's Comment: 'Nuff said :)
More Suggested Readings
Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
by Rob Bell
We know there's something more. We sense it, we feel it, and we want it. But how do we find it---a spirituality that stands up to the questions of an honest, searching mind? "This book is for those who need a fresh take on Jesus and what it means for us to live the kind of life he teaches us to live," writes Rob Bell. "This pursuit of Jesus is leading us backward as much as forward ... I am learning that what seems brand new is often just the discovery of something that has been there all along---it just got lost somewhere and it needs to be picked up, dusted off, and reclaimed." Velvet Elvis offers original and refreshingly personal perspectives on what Christianity is really about.
Fear and Trembling
By: Soren Kierkegaard
Description: Abraham's unreserved submission to God's will provides the focus for this religious and ethical polemic. Writing under the pseudonym of Johannes de silention, Kierkegaard uses the form of the dialectical lyric to present his conception of faith. Abraham is portrayed as a great man, who chose to sacrifice his son, Isaac, in the face of conflicting expectations and in defiance of any conceivable ethical standard. The infamous and controversial 'teleological suspension of the ethical' challenged the contemporary views of Hegel's universal moral system, and the suffering individual must alone make a choice 'on the strength of the absurd.' Kierkegaard's writings have inspired both modern Protestant theology and existentialism, and this edition of Fear and Trembling contains a full introduction and notes which complement a key work in the psychology of religious belief.
Waiting for God (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)
by Simone Weil
About the Author: Simone Weil was born in Paris, France, in 1909 and died in Ashford, England, in 1943. A religious philosopher, essayist, dramatist, and poet. Weil is fond of the great thinkers of the twentieth century. Her other works include Gravity and Grace and The Need for Roots.
Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive
By: John Eldredge
Description: In Waking the Dead John Eldredge cuts straight to the heart. With characteristic insight and wit, Eldredge explains how the renewed heart is at the center of the Christian faith. Eldredge also explores how Christian practices such as discipleship revitalize our hearts by empowering us to love God more passionately and live for the hearts of others. Waking the Dead will inspire and encourage you as you learn to live from the heart.
The Confessions of St. Augustine
By: Saint Augustine
Description: This book is one of the most moving diaries ever recorded of a man's journey to the fountain of God's grace. Writing as a sinner, not a saint, Augustine shares his innermost thoughts and conversion experiences and wrestles with the spiritual questions that have stirred the hearts of the thoughtful since time began. Starting with his childhood in Numidia, through his youth and early adulthood in Carthage, Rome, and Milan, readers will see Augustine as a human being, a fellow traveler on the road to salvation. Though staggering around potholes and roadblocks, all Christians will find strength in Augustine's message: When the road get rough, look to God! Previously released in 1977, this book invites readers to join Augustine in his quest that led him to be one of the most influential Christian thinkers in the history of the church.
What's So Amazing About Grace?
By: Philip Yancey
Description: When it comes to difficult issues, Yancey isn't afraid to ask hard questions and he doesn't give easy answers. Join him on a soul-searching pilgrimage into the meaning of grace. Combining poignant stories, personal examples, and biblical insight, he'll challenge your mind and heart with a liberating look at the driving force of our faith. 304 pages, softcover from Zondervan.
Jesus I Never Knew
By: Philip Yancey
Description: You've known him for years . . . or have you? In this fresh look at Jesus' family, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection, Yancey helps you put aside preconceptions and discover a Master who is far more than you had ever imagined---more disturbing, more comforting, and infinitely more satisfying.
Reaching for the Invisible God: What Can We Expect to Find?
By: Philip Yancey
Description: You probably have questions about the Christian faith that you are afraid to ask, such as: How does a "relationship" with God really work? How can I communicate with a God who is invisible? Why don't I feel the presence of God that others seem to experience? Fortunately, best-selling author Philip Yancey has dared to ask these questions and, as a result, is able to teach us truths that even our Pastors never told us about the Christian faith. In this powerful volume Yancey will explain how your doubts and questions about the Christian life can be a means of Reaching for the Invisible God. This book is a wonderful guide for those who love God and are looking for more than pat answers to life's imponderables.
Confessions of a Pastor
By: Craig Groeschel
Description: Why do we fake it so much? Why do we spend so much time trying to please everyone else and make so little effort trying to please God? When Craig Groeschel asked himself those questions, he couldn't come up with a good answer. So one day he decided to drop the act and start getting real. With that one choice, his life began to change in a big way. And yours can, too. Craigs passionate, funny, warts-and-all confessions and the lessons he learned from them will help you find your own path to authentic living and a deeper relationship with God (you know He is on to you anyway!).
Blue Like Jazz
By: Donald Miller
Description: Can you love a God who doesn't make sense? Like Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies, Miller's memoir-like collection of essays wrestles with the paradoxes of the Christian faith, describing his journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely gracious Savior. A mind-changing perspective for those who believe that organized religion doesn't meet their spiritual needs.
Searching for God Knows What
By: Donald Miller
Description: Brokenness. We deny it, but our innumerable doubts and fears reveal its constant presence. We try and hide from it, but it's lurking behind every concealed corner. In Searching for God Knows What Donald Miller explores the countless ways that we try to fix our brokenness, which work about as well as the attempts of the king's men to put Humpty back together again, and clearly guides us to the fix we've been frantically looking for: redemption. Through clear biblical teaching and witty, engaging stories, Don Miller will help us to confess our brokenness and find the fix we've been searching for.
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