Last year I set a goal of reading 52 books I ended up reading 44. I found my self reading more because I was trying to beat myself. I’m hoping to hit 52 this year here are a few of the books I’m looking forward to reading this year.
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I set a goal for myself this year to read 52 books I ended up reading 42, even though I didn’t reach my goal I read more books than I typically did because I had an agressive goal. Here were the 10 best books I read all year.
This was by far the best book I have ever read on marriage. Practical, insightful and challenging. This book is a must read for every married couple as well as every sigle adult. Kellers chapter on singleness was the best chapter I have ever read on singleness. So powerful and so challenging.
Loved this book. Was so inspired by the faith, trust and passion for the Gospel. The scariest thing for me was reading this book and seeing the startling similarities between the US and Germany. It was so encouraging and challenging reading Bonhoeffer’s life. I pray that I have the same clarity of thought and conviction of faith he had.
Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars
One of the biggest challenges most churches face is ministry silos. It’s awful but most churches are made up of ministries that are far more loyal to each other than the overall vision. If a church staff is going to accomplish what God has called them to accomplish takes hearts that beat together and eyes that see the same thing.
Death by meeting was a fantastic read. In ministry much of your life is spent in meetings learning how to hold a good, productive meeting is essential no matter who you lead.
Loved the reason for God. I am not a big apologetics fan. However I Really liked how Keller clearly articulated the main objections people have to the gospel. There is much of it I plan on re-reading.
This was the first of many Bonhoeffer books I plan on reading. What a fantastic gem this is on community. There are many books out there that talk about small group and community. They have lots of value but if you work with small groups or in forming the community aspect of your church do yourself a favor and read this brilliant dissection of true Christian community.
Gospel Powered Parenting is easily one of two best books on parenting I have ever read. Loved how he explains parenting in light of the gospel. He explains that the grace of God can only be truly understood in light of the wrath of God. I think I underlined something on each page of this book. Such a good book.
The War of Art was fantastic. It has a bit of language in it, but if you are a creative you need to read this book. Pressfield does a masterful job of explaining the primary reason we don’t write, create and innovate. He explains how to push through it and create what you have always wanted to create. It was very challenging There isn’t a day I don’t face resistance and there isn’t a day I don’t think about what Pressfield said to do to overcome that resistance.
This is one of my top 10 books of all time. I try and reread this book every year. If you are a young leader its a great reminder of how to respond to the authority God has put in your life. If you are an older leader is a great reminder how to lead in a way that insures you do not create an environment that is conducive to rebellion in the hearts of the young leaders you lead. Really such a great book. Short, quick, powerful read.
This is a question that is only going to intensify over the next few months and possibly next few years. I have had a few conversations over the past couple of weeks with people who identified themselves as evangelical christians. Each person told me they believe that Mormons are Christians. I think it’s important to be informed. This isn’t about Mitt Romney it’s about something much deeper.
Let me start by saying I have no ill will towards mormons personally. I have met and known quite a few and all of them have been very kind very nice people. That being said I think it’s important that we address a few of the distinct theological differences Christians and Mormons have.
Mormons hold other writings outside of the scriptures as authoritative. Recognizes the LDS Four Standard Works as authoritative. These include the Bible “as far as it is translated correctly” (Articles of Faith 1:8).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accepts four books as scripture: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. These books are called the standard works of the Church. The inspired words of our living prophets are also accepted as scripture. (Gospel Principles, Chapter 10)
Mormons believe in a moral gospel - By following His teachings, we can inherit a place in the celestial kingdom. He did His part to help us return to our heavenly home. It is now up to each of us to do our part and become worthy of exaltation. (Gospel Principles Chapter 3)
Mormons do not believe in a Triune God but three separate Gods-These are incomprehensible ideas to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did; and I will show it from the Bible (Teaching of Joseph Smith, Section Six 1843-44, p.345)
So many Christians are willing to accept Mormon doctrine as the same as their own because their faith is based largely on what hear from others and they feel. This is very dangerous. The clarity of our faith, doctrine and gospel is imperative for us to reach a world drowning in moralism.
I love what Keller says about the gospel is that it humbles us, because we recognize on a daily basis our need for Jesus. I my hope is that through this new dialog about Mormonism we will be able to preach the gospel to Mormons in a clearer fashion than ever before. Mormons need that saving grace of a triune God through the person of Jesus Christ as communicated to us in the solely inspired Word of God just as much as I do.
If you work with kids or are a parent of kids one of the things that should keep you up at night is “How can I get my kids to love the bible.” The more media rich our environment around us become the more passé reading becomes. More than being aware of that fact it should bother us. To think that one of the first books printed and the book behind the print revolution was the Bible.
Technology is moving forward and we need to move along with it. I received a free copy of Genesis and Exodus from the folks at The Almighty Bible. Before I get into a review of them let me start by saying I went to their website before I read the books and was very impressed because they “get” the whole technology thing. If the bible is going to reach the next Generation and live beyond us we have to innovate never changing the message but always the method of delivery. The people over at the Almighty Bible get that loud and clear. They created this bible with the app in mind it’s media rich and compelling. I love picture bibles and graphic novel translations of the bible because I believe they serve as a powerful connecting bible that helps kids transition from a kids bible to a more traditional bible.
Check out this quote from their site:
“The Almighty Bible presents a compelling narrative for a younger generation. The visuals are intriguing and enhance the written story. I look forward to the next ones, especially on my iPad.”
- Ralph Winter, producer of the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Star Trek series
I recently bought my son The Action Bible he loves it. He has told me on more than one occasion “Dad, I love my bible”. My kids also love The Almighty Bible, even though the text in The Almighty Bible is at a much higher level than my 3 and 5 year old can understand they were drawn in by the rich graphics and asked questions about words and concepts they didn’t understand. They really were pulled into the seamlessness of the story it was telling. I think that the Almighty Bible does a great job engaging kids in God’s word. To maintain the graphic novel feel they summarize quite a bit and leave out quite a bit so I am sure some people won’t like that, I didn’t mind because I realize that The Almighty Bible is a part of a larger journey my kids are on. I love that there is an interactive version for the iphone and iPad. You can tell that lots and time and energy has gone into this product and I pray the end result is more kids loving their bibles.
I loved the Almighty Bible as a parent and a pastor to kids and families, I will encourage every parent I know to add the The Almighty Bible to the list of bibles they buy for their kids.
The first day of camp started with a torrential downpour. We have been blessed to have 14 consecutive years of sun. It rained and rained. We had our first dinner some kids were nervous other kids where excited and so between the two not much food was consumed which is a huge camp no-no because what you don’t eat today will haunt you tomorrow.
The service was fantastic you could really sense God there from prayer although through the message.
After the service was over we split the camp into teams and the kids got into their teams came up with a name, motto and for the first year ever we did team dance competition. It was hilarious.
So day one in the books and all in all a good day.
