Series: Reviews

October 29, 2010

Christian Standard

A Resource for Readers of Books

By Mark A. Taylor “Do you publish books?” It”s a fair question for Standard Publishing, because our company is known for so much more than books: Sunday school courses for every age, a best-selling and award-winning VBS, classroom supplies, youth material, electives for children and teenagers and adults, small group resources, teacher-training materials, and much more. But amid all these Bible-teaching resources is a growing library of books that many adults have come to savor and share. Some of them are best-sellers, too. All of them inspire and entertain and teach. You”ll find many good reads among the books we”ve

October 13, 2010

Christian Standard

Hiring Resources

By R. Paige Mathews So, you need to hire a church worker””what is your first step? Here are some books and Web sites that will be helpful in your search. Job Descriptions Creating a comprehensive job description is the place to start in any church worker search. The following books provide a framework for writing a job description unique to your situation. The Big Book of Job Descriptions for Ministry by Larry Gilbert and Cindy Spear (Gospel Light Publications, 2002). Job Descriptions and Duties for Church Members and Workers by Herbert W. Byrne (Xulon Press, 2005). Staff Your Church for

October 4, 2010

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Two to Help Us Think About Prejudice

Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind Margalit Fox New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007 Christianity: A Short Global History Frederick Norris Oxford: One World, 2002 ___________________ By LeRoy Lawson For this reader, Margalit Fox”s title could be Talking Hands””and What They”ve Taught Me About Prejudice. Prejudice is sneaky, hiding in the deepest crevices of the human psyche, seldom recognized in oneself even by the most accepting and fair-minded among us. Campaigning Against Sign Language Take our attitudes toward the deaf, for example. Who would have guessed that Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, whose compassion for his

September 1, 2010

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Missionary Loses It All””Even His Faith

By LeRoy Lawson ___________________ Daniel L. Everett, Don”t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle (New York: Vintage Books, 2008). Kerry and Chris Shook, One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2008). Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984). ___________________ You won”t sleep through Daniel Everett”s Don”t Sleep, There Are Snakes. This is one of the most engrossing and disturbing books on missions I have read in a long time, a study in cultural anthropology and linguistics that often reads like a jungle

July 18, 2010

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Who Will Help the Poor Help Themselves?

By LeRoy Lawson The Poor Will be Glad: Joining the Revolution to Lift the World Out of Poverty Peter Greer and Phil Smith Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009 The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America Jeffrey Rosen New York: Times Books, 2006 On the Wealth of the Nations P.J. O”Rourke New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2007 Sunday”s sermon was a good one, but on the way home we talked less about what the preacher said than what the preacher showed. His PowerPoint pictured the church”s mission dollars at work in Uganda, among the poorest of the poor: images of the

June 6, 2010

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Three Reads to Make You Squirm

By LeRoy Lawson Frank Viola and George Barna, Pagan Christianity? Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices (Carol Stream: BarnaBooks, 2008). Jim Henderson and Matt Casper, Jim and Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversations About Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians (Carol Stream: BarnaBooks, 2007); also available on Kindle. Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009). This column isn”t going to be easy reading. Well-intentioned friends recommended all three books. Maybe they felt I needed to squirm, undoubtedly thinking I”m a little too much at ease in Zion, too comfortable in my suburban church life. Well, I read and I

March 14, 2010

Christian Standard

FROM MY BOOKSHELF: Politics, Commerce, and Religion: All About Us and Them

By LeRoy Lawson Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2009). James A. Morone, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004). David Domke and Kevin Coe, The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). Love of country can be beautiful. I remember returning from my first extended trip to Europe. When we landed I almost kissed the ground, I was so glad to be home again. I”ve since had that experience over and over. I”m proud to be

November 1, 2009

Christian Standard

Christian book recommendations

My ‘Must-Read’ Books

Christian Standard contributing editors and ministry leaders share must-read books that have shaped their worship, leadership, spiritual formation, ministry, missions, and personal reading.

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