Series: Reviews

October 9, 2012

Christian Standard

When Faith Is a Struggle: Find This Book and Read It! (Part 3)

By Randy Gariss   Disappointment with God Philip Yancey Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988 Reaching for the Invisible God Philip Yancey Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000  A Skeptic”s Guide to Faith (previously titled Rumors of Another World) Philip Yancey Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009 Struggling with faith? Keep Philip Yancey”s works close. In my opinion, you can never go wrong by recommending a Philip Yancey book. From the mid-1970s, his writings have made a dramatic mark on the Christian landscape with more than 15 million of his books currently in circulation. His writings are varied, but the genius of his work probably has to

October 8, 2012

Christian Standard

Explicit, Not Assumed: Find This Book and Read It! (Part 2)

By David Faust   The Explicit Gospel Matt Chandler with Jared Wilson Wheaton: Crossway, 2012 In the contemporary church”s effort to be cool and culturally relevant, have we diminished the message of the cross? Matt Chandler, who preaches for The Village Church in Dallas, Texas, suggests that for lots of American churchgoers, the gospel has been merely assumed, not made explicit. And what many assume about Christian faith is not the robust gospel that takes God and sin seriously and sees grace as the God-given solution. Instead, many hold to an anemic “moralistic therapeutic deism”””we try to be good, we

October 8, 2012

Christian Standard

The Power of Uncertainty: Find This Book and Read It! (Part 1)

By Gayla Congdon   In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day Mark Batterson Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006 The book I have read that has impacted me the most in the past few years was In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. The title comes from a story found in 2 Samuel 23:20, 21. On a snowy day during the reign of King David, Benaiah chased a lion down a pit and killed it. The story is timely because we are living in days when fear is consuming us and, I

September 14, 2012

Christian Standard

Shakespeare, Steve, Science, and Scripture

By LeRoy Lawson   Shakespeare: The World as Stage Bill Bryson New York: HarperCollins, 2007 (Audible.com version)  Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011 The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions Karl W. Giberson and Francis S. Collins Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011 It”s been a long time since I had the fun of introducing high school and college students to a lifelong fascination of mine: William Shakespeare, beyond dispute the greatest poet in the English language and among the handful of greatest poets in the world. Well, maybe not beyond dispute. The

August 19, 2012

Christian Standard

Pondering Religion, the Bible, and How to Grow a Church

By LeRoy Lawson   Roadside Religion: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange, and the Substance of Faith Timothy Beal Boston: Beacon Press, 2005 The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book Timothy Beal Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011 God-Size Your Church John Jackson Colorado Springs: Biblica, 2008, 2011 Timothy Beal, professor of religion at Case Western Reserve University, is a new discovery. A good friend recently sent me two of his books without explanation or recommendation, so I read them without expectations. Well, that”s not quite right. When I started Roadside Religion my guard

July 19, 2012

Christian Standard

Preaching, Prevailing, and Seeking

By LeRoy Lawson The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock Fred B. Craddock Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011 When You Come Home: The True Love Story of a Soldier”s Heroism and His Wife”s Sacrifice Nancy Cavin Pitts Kingsport: Christian Devotions Ministry, 2011 The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West . . . AGAIN (10th Anniversary Edition) George C. Hunter III Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010 I”ve known of Fred Craddock almost as long as I”ve been preaching, but I”ve never met him. When I was a guest preacher at the Christian Church in Newport, Tennessee, his ghost filled the church. He wasn”t dead,

July 18, 2012

Christian Standard

Their Questions, Your Answers with These Two New Titles

By Mark A. Taylor Questions are good. We can welcome questions when they come from a person with honest doubt. Most people we”ll meet with questions about our faith are not at peace with their uncertainty. They want answers. They want time to ponder our conclusions and the reasons we believe. But sometimes Christians are threatened when confronted by questions from folks who don”t believe in God, can”t accept the Bible, or consider Jesus as nothing more than a great teacher. Sometimes Christians take the questions as a personal attack. Sometimes we react with anger or derision because we don”t

May 21, 2012

Christian Standard

Pursuing God, the Cure for Narcissism

By LeRoy Lawson The Pastor: A Memoir Eugene H. Peterson New York: HarperCollins E-books The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell New York: Free Press, 2009 13 Things that Don”t Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time Michael Brooks New York: Vintage Books, 2009 Eugene Peterson was feeding his fellow Christians long before he published The Message, his paraphrase of the Bible in contemporary English, but that amazing tour de force raised our gratitude even higher. His insights into church and ministry have refreshed many a weary minister,

April 27, 2012

Christian Standard

Angels, Demons, and the Future of the Church

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined Steven Pinker New York: Viking Penguin, 2011 Charles Dickens: A Life Claire Tomalin New York: The Penguin Press, 2011 The Meeting of the Waters: 7 Global Currents That Will Propel the Future Church Fritz Kling Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2010 Every now and then a book comes along that won”t let go of you. It takes what everybody knows, shakes it up, and puts it back down head-first. That”s Steven Pinker”s The Better Angels of Our Nature. Go to any church you want and you can count on the

March 23, 2012

Christian Standard

To End, to Follow, to Believe

By LeRoy Lawson Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships that All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward Henry Cloud New York: Harper Business, 2010 Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus Kyle Idleman Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011 Hannah”s Child: A Theologian”s Memoir Stanley Hauerwas Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2010 Not long ago a friend urged me to read Henry Cloud”s Necessary Endings. It has inspired and instructed him, he said, because as he leads his megachurch into its next phase of growth, he knows he faces some very difficult decisions.

February 26, 2012

Christian Standard

Provocative Approaches to Purity, Dementia, and the Afterlife

By LeRoy Lawson Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality Richard Beck Eugene: Cascade Books, 2011 Turn of Mind Alice LaPlante New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011 Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives David Engleman New York: Pantheon Books, 2009 Richard Beck”s Unclean is not a nice book. It”s about the disgusting things that shape our spirituality. While most people like their religion neat and clean””it”s what we usually mean by “holy”””life isn”t neat, and many of the people Jesus sends his disciples to reach aren”t clean. What then? The author, a professor at Abilene Christian University, is convinced that

January 28, 2012

Christian Standard

Looking Upward, Outward, and Inward

By LeRoy Lawson The Day We Found the Universe Marcia Bartusiak New York: Pantheon Books, 2009 The Next Christians: The Good News about the End of Christian America Gabe Lyons New York: Doubleday, 2010 The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex Is Too Important to Define Who We Are Jenell Williams Paris Downers Grove: IVP Books (InterVarsity Press), 2011   Many years ago I read that naturalist William Beebe was a guest of President Theodore Roosevelt in his Sagamore Hill home. At the close of an evening, the two went out on the lawn, searched the skies, and Roosevelt said,

January 3, 2012

Christian Standard

Aging, Dying, Disasters . . . and Joy

By LeRoy Lawson   Emily Alone: A Novel Stewart O”Nan New York: Penguin Group, 2011 Death with Interruptions Jose Saramago Orlando: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008 A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster Rebecca Solnit New York: Penguin Books, 2009   I speak fairly often for seniors” conferences. I used to speak for youth conventions. As a wag has noted, that means I”m still talking to the same people. Last year I was on the program for two such conferences in Oregon, one at the state convention grounds in the Willamette Valley, the other at Camp WiNeMa

December 13, 2011

Christian Standard

Four Books About Microfinance

By LeRoy Lawson   When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert Chicago: Moody Press, 2009 Banker to the Poor: Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty Muhammad Yunus with Alan Jolis New York: Public Affairs, 2003 The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World Jacqueline Novogratz New York: Rodale, 2009 A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and the Business Solution for Ending Poverty Phil Smith and Eric Thurman, Forward by Muhammad Yunus New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007 First, hear the story: “Elephant and Mouse

November 4, 2011

Christian Standard

Two Books about Hell

By LeRoy Lawson Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived Rob Bell New York: HarperOne, 2011 Hell Is Real (But I Hate to Admit It)  Brian Jones Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2011 In July, I met with an exciting group of campus ministers from universities around the world. These engaged and engaging young men and women never fail to challenge me with their penetrating questions about today”s leading theological issues. This time there were two issues under consideration: gay marriage (one by one the states are voting to approve it””what are

October 30, 2011

Christian Standard

You Must Read This . . . Beyond a Job Description

By Teresa Welch The Pastor: A Memoir Eugene H. Peterson New York: HarperOne, 2011 For those of you who have read Eugene Peterson”s other works, you will anticipate his memoir to be a collection of well- crafted stories about this author/professor/pastor who has already shared so much through his writings. What he provides in his newest work, The Pastor: A Memoir, exceeds those expectations. Interwoven into Peterson”s memories about his childhood, vocational discernment and formation, planting a new congregation, and responding to the needs of his community are words of exhortation and hope for the church and for those who

October 30, 2011

Christian Standard

You Must Read This . . . Setting Limits, Taking Control

By Jennifer Taylor Boundaries: When to Say YES, When to Say NO, To Take Control of Your Life Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992 Think about the frustrations you”re currently experiencing in your relationships. Maybe you resent your spouse for a recurring hurt or feel exhausted from chauffeuring your kids to countless sports practices and play dates. Maybe you can”t say no to a friend despite his constant demands on your time and energy. Maybe you”re struggling with an addict, an abuser, a manipulative leader, or a selfish family member. All of us experience (and contribute

October 30, 2011

Christian Standard

Good Writers, Universal Truth

By Mark A. Taylor  What makes a good writer? American novelist William Faulkner in 1950 gave his answer to the question. Faulkner accepted the Nobel Prize in literature in 1950, a time when the world lived with a growing fear of nuclear holocaust. “There are no longer problems of the spirit,” he said then. “There is only the question: When will I be blown up?” He encouraged the young writers of his day to forget “anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed””love and honor and

October 29, 2011

Christian Standard

You Must Read This . . . Recognizing Leadership Potential

By Mandy Smith The Contrarian”s Guide to Leadership Stephen B. Sample San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003 It seems the church is ready for some contrary thinking on leadership, not for the sake of being contrary, but to challenge assumptions that may not be scriptural or right for our era. Consider several examples: “¢ Rex Miller explains that for the past 60 years, organizations have rewarded “skills like persuasion, a high-profile image, innovation, risk taking . . . leaps up the success ladder, interpersonal skills, the ability to think on one”s feet, and so forth. . . . But congregants in the

October 29, 2011

Christian Standard

You Must Read This . . . Looking Afresh at “The Least”

By Brian Mavis Same Kind of Different as Me Ron Hall and Denver Moore Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006 I gravitate toward “heady” books, but if you want a book to make your heart smart, read Same Kind of Different as Me. It is the true story of three uncommon friends, Ron and Deborah Hall and Denver Moore. The Halls are white millionaires, and Moore is a homeless black man. The book alternates between the perspective of Ron Hall and Moore as they tell their inspiring story of enduring tragedy, repenting from prejudices, and forging an authentic friendship. And really, it”s

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