Books I've Been Reading
I have been praying about how I could read more. I have had it on a prayer card for a little while now that I would find reading time and for what I read. I often feel like I am such a slow reader (and in comparison to many, it’s true, I am a slow reader). But something the Lord (through Angela mostly) has been encouraging me on… don’t compare myself to others but do what the Lord has for me. I would say that after holding on to this thinking of mine for years and years it is not automatic to just think differently. But I am finding that He is answering and blessing me to enjoy reading more. It’s a little God story of how He is answering a prayer of mine. And I am happy to commend some books I have read so far this year. If you aren’t sure, pray about it. :)
I would like to commend a couple of the books to you for your encouragement and help in walking in the Spirit in your life (I’ve included the description below each title). There are a limited number of copies of these books in the Book Nook, too!
1. Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity (By: Alisa Childers)
A Movement Seeks to Redefine Christianity. Some Think that It Is a Much-Needed Progressive Reformation. Others Believe that It Is an Attack on Historic Christianity.
Alisa Childers never thought she would question her Christian faith. She was raised in a Christian home, where she had seen her mom and dad feed the hungry, clothe the homeless, and love the outcast. She had witnessed God at work and then had dedicated her own life to leading worship, as part of the popular Christian band ZOEgirl. All that was deeply challenged when she met a progressive pastor, who called himself a hopeful agnostic.
Another Gospel? describes the intellectual journey Alisa took over several years as she wrestled with a series of questions that struck at the core of the Christian faith. After everything she had ever believed about God, Jesus, and the Bible had been picked apart, she found herself at the brink of despair . . . until God rescued her, helping her to rebuild her faith, one solid brick at a time.
In a culture of endless questions, you need solid answers. If you or someone you love has encountered the ideas of progressive Christianity and aren’t sure how to respond, Alisa’s journey will show you how to determine—and rest in—what’s unmistakably true.
[I would say this has been so enjoyable and informative! And, please, get it on audible as you read it – she is a great writer and delightful to listen to her stories and humor!]
2. Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age (By: Samuel James)
How the Habitat of Internet Technology Undermines Christian Wisdom.
With advancements in internet technology, people can get instant answers to just about any of their questions, connect long distance with family and friends, and stay informed with events around the world in real time.
This accessible book exposes 5 “digital liturgies” that prohibit people from contemplating big truths, accepting the uncomfortable, and acknowledging God as their Creator. It then calls readers to live faithfully before Christ, finding wisdom through Scripture and rest in God’s perfect design.
3. Are We Living in the Last Days?: Four Views of the Hope We Share about Revelation and Christ's Return (By: Bryan Chapel)
Will Jesus's return be preceded by a single world government? Will every person have a government-issued ID or mark? Does Christ return once or twice? Will believers go through a Great Tribulation? Will there be a literal battle of Armageddon? Does it even matter what we believe about future events?
Biblical prophecies about the end times have confused, confounded, and even divided God's people for centuries. But the reason Scripture gives us hints about the future is to provide the encouragement we need to endure the present, confident that God keeps his promises.
In this balanced look at four major views of the end times, bestselling author Bryan Chapell explains the primary ways Christians have interpreted biblical prophecy about the last days, not so that we might pick a hill to die on but so that we can cling to what unites us in Christ. No matter what end times view we find most compelling, in God's plans we can find strength for today and hope for tomorrow.
4. Transformative Friendships: 7 Questions to Deepen Any Relationship (By: Brad Hambrick)
Transformative Friendships shares seven simple questions that will help you be intentional with your relationships and offers a springboard to deepening and strengthening friendships that will enrich your life.
Building meaningful friendships is not as easy as we wish it was. A culture that is lonelier and more disconnected than ever proves how hard it can be. In Transformative Friendships, counselor Brad Hambrick encourages readers to develop new rhythms, habits, and lifestyles that will shape and grow their relationships, both with casual acquaintances and closer friends.
The goal is not to develop perfect friendships, but rather learn to how to cultivate deep connections that grow steadily over time through conversations based on simple questions and common interactions. Hambrick’s biblical vision for friendship calls Christians to engage with one another in the transformational way God intended.
5. A Painful Past: Healing and Moving Forward (31-Day Devotionals for Life) (By: Lauren Whitman)
“Your past doesn’t define you.” That statement might comfort some people, but maybe it doesn’t feel true for you. Maybe you regret past choices, lost opportunities, or sinful decisions. Maybe you have suffered terrible tragedy or were hurt badly by someone else. It’s hard not to feel damaged, wounded, trapped. When your inner monologue is full of hurt or despair, God inclines his ear to listen to you. He invites you to pour out your heart to him and to find comfort in his Word. In this 31-day devotional, biblical counselor Lauren Whitman shows how the gospel transforms your understanding of the past, your life in the present, and your hope for the future. Daily Scripture and devotional readings, reflection questions, and practical action steps help you to confront the pain of your past, find healing, and embrace the new life offered by Christ.
6. The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? (By: Jim Davis)
We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history.
It is greater than the First and Second Great Awakening and every revival in our country combined...but in the opposite direction. Yet precious little rigorous study has been done on the broad phenomenon of dechurching in America. Jim Davis and Michael Graham have commissioned the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America by renowned sociologists Dr. Ryan Burge and Dr. Paul Djupe.
The Great Dechurching takes the insights gleaned from this study to drill down on how exactly people are dechurching with respect to beliefs, behavior, and belonging.
This book gives the church in America its first ever deep dive into the dechurched phenomenon. You'll learn about the dechurched through a detailed sketch of demographics, size, core concerns, church off-ramps, historical roots, and the gravity of what is at stake. Then you'll explore what can be done to slow the bleed, engage the pertinent issues winsomely and wisely, and hopefully re-church some of the dechurched.
7. The Deconstruction of Christianity: What It Is, Why It’s Destructive, and How to Respond (By: Alisa Childers)
A groundbreaking book on the true nature of faith deconstruction
A movement called ‘deconstruction’ is sweeping through our churches and it is affecting our loved ones. It has disrupted, dismantled, and destroyed the faith of so many, and this book can help you not only understand what’s happening but also stand your ground and respond with clarity and confidence.
Maybe you have a loved one who is deconstructing their faith, and you are struggling to know how to respond;
Maybe you are trying to understand the radical spiritual makeover your friend or family member is going through;
Maybe your relationship with a loved one has been strained or even cut off because of your “toxic” Christian beliefs and you don’t know what to do;
Maybe you’re experiencing doubt yourself and facing hard questions about truth, God, the Bible, theology and the gospel.
Some who leave the faith feel wounded by the church. Others feel repressed by some of the moral imperatives found in Scripture. For some, it leads to a custom-made spirituality. For others, deconstructing their faith leads them away from the truth into agnosticism, atheism, the occult, or humanism.
8. When Home Hurts: A Guide for Responding Wisely to Domestic Abuse in Your Church (By: Jeremy Pierre and Greg Wilson)
This book is intended to equip pastors, church leaders and church members to respond with the heart of God to situations of domestic abuse that occur in their local church. Prioritizing the safety of the victim at all times, Jeremy Pierre and Greg Wilson seek to help you be the kind of church leader, church member, friend, parent, sibling, or neighbor who responds wisely. We want the church to be a new normal for those grown accustomed to abuse. A home that doesn’t hurt those inside, but instead welcomes them into the tender care of the Lord.
9. Ministry in the New Realm: A Theology of 2 Corinthians (By: Dane Ortlund)
An Introduction to the Theology and Themes of 2 Corinthians
Best known for its interpersonal, emotionally raw, and pastorally distressed tone, 2 Corinthians is one of Paul’s most distinctive epistles. In this letter to his complicated church in Corinth, Paul aims to expand on the deeply paradoxical nature of the Christian life. The importance of understanding this key doctrine makes 2 Corinthians an ideal study for believers today.
In this volume of the New Testament Theology series, bestselling author Dane Ortlund explores 2 Corinthians to reveal the core arguments presented by Paul. Through clear and engaging theological examinations, Ortlund expounds two predominant themes—inaugurated eschatology and strength through weakness—and connects various other motifs traced throughout this epistle. Readers will learn how Christ’s resurrection ushered in the new realm—one where life and ministry are flipped upside down, and God’s power is intertwined with human weakness.
10. Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age (By: Rosaria Butterfield) Our culture changes at a constant and rapid pace, swaying in its beliefs on sexuality and spirituality. Author Rosaria Butterfield argues that the word of God is the answer to such swaying opinions and uses Scripture to illuminate 5 lies that our prevailing culture often promotes, including how being a spiritual person is kinder than being a biblical Christian, that feminism is good for the world and the church, and that transgenderism is normal and healthy.
Written in the style of a memoir, Rosaria shares personal stories interwoven with cultural studies, literary criticism, and theology. This culturally relevant book will help readers gain a clearer understanding of how the word of God is applicable to these critical cultural issues facing the church today.
I hope this is a helpful list of resources for you to read and/or to listen to. These have been ones that helped me along my journey with Christ.
Happy reading.
Held By His Abundant Grace,
Pastor John
I would like to commend a couple of the books to you for your encouragement and help in walking in the Spirit in your life (I’ve included the description below each title). There are a limited number of copies of these books in the Book Nook, too!
1. Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity (By: Alisa Childers)A Movement Seeks to Redefine Christianity. Some Think that It Is a Much-Needed Progressive Reformation. Others Believe that It Is an Attack on Historic Christianity.
Alisa Childers never thought she would question her Christian faith. She was raised in a Christian home, where she had seen her mom and dad feed the hungry, clothe the homeless, and love the outcast. She had witnessed God at work and then had dedicated her own life to leading worship, as part of the popular Christian band ZOEgirl. All that was deeply challenged when she met a progressive pastor, who called himself a hopeful agnostic.
Another Gospel? describes the intellectual journey Alisa took over several years as she wrestled with a series of questions that struck at the core of the Christian faith. After everything she had ever believed about God, Jesus, and the Bible had been picked apart, she found herself at the brink of despair . . . until God rescued her, helping her to rebuild her faith, one solid brick at a time.
In a culture of endless questions, you need solid answers. If you or someone you love has encountered the ideas of progressive Christianity and aren’t sure how to respond, Alisa’s journey will show you how to determine—and rest in—what’s unmistakably true.
[I would say this has been so enjoyable and informative! And, please, get it on audible as you read it – she is a great writer and delightful to listen to her stories and humor!]
2. Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age (By: Samuel James)How the Habitat of Internet Technology Undermines Christian Wisdom.
With advancements in internet technology, people can get instant answers to just about any of their questions, connect long distance with family and friends, and stay informed with events around the world in real time.
This accessible book exposes 5 “digital liturgies” that prohibit people from contemplating big truths, accepting the uncomfortable, and acknowledging God as their Creator. It then calls readers to live faithfully before Christ, finding wisdom through Scripture and rest in God’s perfect design.
- A Biblical View of the Internet and Technology: Readers explore the connection between human desire, the internet, and wisdom through a Christian lens
- Great for College Students, Parents, and Pastors: This book encourages readers to live faithfully for Christ
- Offers a Tech-Realist Perspective: Samuel D. James highlights the inherent dangers of digital technologies, offering wisdom for navigating our internet-saturated world
3. Are We Living in the Last Days?: Four Views of the Hope We Share about Revelation and Christ's Return (By: Bryan Chapel)Will Jesus's return be preceded by a single world government? Will every person have a government-issued ID or mark? Does Christ return once or twice? Will believers go through a Great Tribulation? Will there be a literal battle of Armageddon? Does it even matter what we believe about future events?
Biblical prophecies about the end times have confused, confounded, and even divided God's people for centuries. But the reason Scripture gives us hints about the future is to provide the encouragement we need to endure the present, confident that God keeps his promises.
In this balanced look at four major views of the end times, bestselling author Bryan Chapell explains the primary ways Christians have interpreted biblical prophecy about the last days, not so that we might pick a hill to die on but so that we can cling to what unites us in Christ. No matter what end times view we find most compelling, in God's plans we can find strength for today and hope for tomorrow.
4. Transformative Friendships: 7 Questions to Deepen Any Relationship (By: Brad Hambrick)Transformative Friendships shares seven simple questions that will help you be intentional with your relationships and offers a springboard to deepening and strengthening friendships that will enrich your life.
Building meaningful friendships is not as easy as we wish it was. A culture that is lonelier and more disconnected than ever proves how hard it can be. In Transformative Friendships, counselor Brad Hambrick encourages readers to develop new rhythms, habits, and lifestyles that will shape and grow their relationships, both with casual acquaintances and closer friends.
The goal is not to develop perfect friendships, but rather learn to how to cultivate deep connections that grow steadily over time through conversations based on simple questions and common interactions. Hambrick’s biblical vision for friendship calls Christians to engage with one another in the transformational way God intended.
5. A Painful Past: Healing and Moving Forward (31-Day Devotionals for Life) (By: Lauren Whitman)“Your past doesn’t define you.” That statement might comfort some people, but maybe it doesn’t feel true for you. Maybe you regret past choices, lost opportunities, or sinful decisions. Maybe you have suffered terrible tragedy or were hurt badly by someone else. It’s hard not to feel damaged, wounded, trapped. When your inner monologue is full of hurt or despair, God inclines his ear to listen to you. He invites you to pour out your heart to him and to find comfort in his Word. In this 31-day devotional, biblical counselor Lauren Whitman shows how the gospel transforms your understanding of the past, your life in the present, and your hope for the future. Daily Scripture and devotional readings, reflection questions, and practical action steps help you to confront the pain of your past, find healing, and embrace the new life offered by Christ.
6. The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? (By: Jim Davis)We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history.
It is greater than the First and Second Great Awakening and every revival in our country combined...but in the opposite direction. Yet precious little rigorous study has been done on the broad phenomenon of dechurching in America. Jim Davis and Michael Graham have commissioned the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching in America by renowned sociologists Dr. Ryan Burge and Dr. Paul Djupe.
The Great Dechurching takes the insights gleaned from this study to drill down on how exactly people are dechurching with respect to beliefs, behavior, and belonging.
This book gives the church in America its first ever deep dive into the dechurched phenomenon. You'll learn about the dechurched through a detailed sketch of demographics, size, core concerns, church off-ramps, historical roots, and the gravity of what is at stake. Then you'll explore what can be done to slow the bleed, engage the pertinent issues winsomely and wisely, and hopefully re-church some of the dechurched.
7. The Deconstruction of Christianity: What It Is, Why It’s Destructive, and How to Respond (By: Alisa Childers)A groundbreaking book on the true nature of faith deconstruction
A movement called ‘deconstruction’ is sweeping through our churches and it is affecting our loved ones. It has disrupted, dismantled, and destroyed the faith of so many, and this book can help you not only understand what’s happening but also stand your ground and respond with clarity and confidence.
Maybe you have a loved one who is deconstructing their faith, and you are struggling to know how to respond;
Maybe you are trying to understand the radical spiritual makeover your friend or family member is going through;
Maybe your relationship with a loved one has been strained or even cut off because of your “toxic” Christian beliefs and you don’t know what to do;
Maybe you’re experiencing doubt yourself and facing hard questions about truth, God, the Bible, theology and the gospel.
Some who leave the faith feel wounded by the church. Others feel repressed by some of the moral imperatives found in Scripture. For some, it leads to a custom-made spirituality. For others, deconstructing their faith leads them away from the truth into agnosticism, atheism, the occult, or humanism.
8. When Home Hurts: A Guide for Responding Wisely to Domestic Abuse in Your Church (By: Jeremy Pierre and Greg Wilson)This book is intended to equip pastors, church leaders and church members to respond with the heart of God to situations of domestic abuse that occur in their local church. Prioritizing the safety of the victim at all times, Jeremy Pierre and Greg Wilson seek to help you be the kind of church leader, church member, friend, parent, sibling, or neighbor who responds wisely. We want the church to be a new normal for those grown accustomed to abuse. A home that doesn’t hurt those inside, but instead welcomes them into the tender care of the Lord.
9. Ministry in the New Realm: A Theology of 2 Corinthians (By: Dane Ortlund)An Introduction to the Theology and Themes of 2 Corinthians
Best known for its interpersonal, emotionally raw, and pastorally distressed tone, 2 Corinthians is one of Paul’s most distinctive epistles. In this letter to his complicated church in Corinth, Paul aims to expand on the deeply paradoxical nature of the Christian life. The importance of understanding this key doctrine makes 2 Corinthians an ideal study for believers today.
In this volume of the New Testament Theology series, bestselling author Dane Ortlund explores 2 Corinthians to reveal the core arguments presented by Paul. Through clear and engaging theological examinations, Ortlund expounds two predominant themes—inaugurated eschatology and strength through weakness—and connects various other motifs traced throughout this epistle. Readers will learn how Christ’s resurrection ushered in the new realm—one where life and ministry are flipped upside down, and God’s power is intertwined with human weakness.
10. Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age (By: Rosaria Butterfield) Our culture changes at a constant and rapid pace, swaying in its beliefs on sexuality and spirituality. Author Rosaria Butterfield argues that the word of God is the answer to such swaying opinions and uses Scripture to illuminate 5 lies that our prevailing culture often promotes, including how being a spiritual person is kinder than being a biblical Christian, that feminism is good for the world and the church, and that transgenderism is normal and healthy.Written in the style of a memoir, Rosaria shares personal stories interwoven with cultural studies, literary criticism, and theology. This culturally relevant book will help readers gain a clearer understanding of how the word of God is applicable to these critical cultural issues facing the church today.
I hope this is a helpful list of resources for you to read and/or to listen to. These have been ones that helped me along my journey with Christ.
Happy reading.
Held By His Abundant Grace,
Pastor John
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