Articles for tag: From My Bookshelf

August 28, 2014

Christian Standard

Despots, Presidents, and a Readable Grammarian

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China Jung Chang New York: Anchor Books (Doubleday); originally published by Simon and Schuster, 1991 The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism Doris Kearns Goodwin New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013 For Who the Bell Tolls: One Man”s Quest for Grammatical Perfection David Marsh London: Guardian Books, 2013 Wild Swans sat around our house for too long. My wife, Joy, picked it up a couple of years ago while traveling with our daughter in Vietnam. In the face of other pressures, it sat on the back shelf until

July 31, 2014

Christian Standard

Memoir of an Atheist, Biography of a Genius, Advice for Travelers

By LeRoy Lawson   Joseph Anton: A Memoir Salman Rushdie New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2013 Jim Henson: The Biography Brian Jay Jones New York: Ballantine Books, 2013 Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot- and Cold-Climate Cultures Sarah A. Lanier Hagerstown: McDougal Publishing, 2000 When Salman Rushdie published his infamous The Satanic Verses in 1988, the Muslim world went crazy. Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of Iran”s revolution””the one that drove the Shah from the Peacock Throne and into exile””outraged by what he perceived to be Rushdie”s attack on religion in general and Islam in particular, pronounced a fatwa

June 28, 2014

Christian Standard

Practical Advice for Productive Ministry

By LeRoy Lawson   From Midterms to Ministry: Practical Theologians on Pastoral Beginnings Allan Hugh Cole Jr., editor Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008 Leadership Handbook of Management and Administration James D. Berkley, editor Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007 Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action Simon Sinek New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2009 One Size Doesn”t Fit All: Bringing Out the Best in Any Size Church Gary L. McIntosh Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1999   Everybody knows there”s a world of difference between life in the seminary and life in the church. Almost everybody complains that seminaries and Bible colleges

May 24, 2014

Christian Standard

A Statesman, a Theologian, and a Preacher

By LeRoy Lawson   A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America Stacy Schiff New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2005  Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology Eugene Peterson Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2005 One Year to Better Preaching: 52 Exercises to Hone Your Skills Daniel Overdorf Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2013 Sometimes it pays to look pathetic””or eager””or greedy. I don”t know exactly what my friend saw in my face, but before I left his house that evening he gave me two books. The first was a bit of nonsense featuring

April 18, 2014

Christian Standard

Good Friday, Sexual Identity, and the Fruit of the Spirit

By LeRoy Lawson   City of Wrong: A Friday in Jerusalem M. Kamel Hussein (translated by Kenneth Cragg) Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1995 (first published in 1954) The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex Is Too Important to Define Who We Are Jenell Williams Paris Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2011 Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community Philip D. Kenneson Downers Grove: IVP Books, 1999 Picture yourself in Jerusalem on Good Friday. Even better, imaginatively hover around and in and through the actors, big and small, in this most consequential drama. This is what Kamel Hussein does

April 3, 2014

Christian Standard

New Ways to Research, Serve, Lead, and Counsel

By LeRoy Lawson The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World”s Greatest Encyclopedia Andrew Lih New York: Hyperion, 2009 Unfinished: Believing Is Only the Beginning Richard Stearns Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013 Creative Followership: In the Shadow of Greatness Jimmy Collins Decatur: Looking Glass Books, 2013 Neo-Coherence Therapy: A Bridge to the Soul Bruce R. Parmenter Eugene: Resource Publications, 2013 You understand””I went to college. I wrote research papers. I had to convince my professors I had consulted the best sources, written by the most highly qualified authors with letters behind their names, and that letters were granted by

March 3, 2014

Christian Standard

Seeking Discipline and Considering the Captives

By LeRoy Lawson   Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor Jana Riess Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2011 Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives Thomas French New York: Hyperion, 2010 The title gives it away: Jana Riess”s Flunking Sainthood isn”t going to be your most serious read this year. It may be, though, the most fun. Actually, Riess is serious about the exercise of spiritual disciplines. Her tone is lighthearted, even flippant at times, but her soul thirsts, yea even longs, for the living God. So she goes to work. Her

January 24, 2014

Christian Standard

Power, Forgiveness, and Suffering

By LeRoy Lawson My Beloved World Sonia Sotomayor New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013 Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994, 1995 What Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith Thomas Long Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2011 What books do you take along for vacation? Last summer Joy and I had a rare treat. Marshall Hayden invited us to be a part of a group he led for a cruise on the Mediterranean. (You can adjust!) In exchange for a few lectures, our sailing was

December 28, 2013

Christian Standard

Studies in Pride, Lessons in Humility

By LeRoy Lawson X Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, and Roger Fischer New York: Penguin Books, 1999 You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You”re Deluding Yourself David McRaney New York: Gotham, 2012 The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power Robert A. Caro New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012   “Pride goeth before a fall.” “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” “Just who do you think you are, anyway?” “Blessed are the meek,

November 29, 2013

Christian Standard

Questions, Answers, Death, and Life

By LeRoy Lawson Honest Questions, Honest Answers: How to Engage in Compelling Conversations about Your Christian Faith David Faust Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 2012 Cheating Death: The Doctors and Medical Miracles that Are Saving Lives Against All Odds Sanjay Gupta New York: Wellness Center, 2009 Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Laura Hillenbrand New York: Random House, 2010 David Faust is known: pastor, preacher, author, columnist, editor, professor, university president, and national Christian leader. We don”t have a more prominent leader in the Christian churches/churches of Christ. His reputation is reason enough to read Honest Questions, Honest Answers. It”s

November 1, 2013

Christian Standard

Books I Enjoyed about Subjects I Don”t

By LeRoy Lawson   Fermat”s Last Theorem Simon Singh London: Fourth Estate, 2002 Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory Edward J. Larson New York: The Modern Library, 2006  Massive: The Missing Particle that Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science Ian Sample New York: Basic Books, 2010   Confession is good for the soul, the saying goes””and it is. Whether it is good for the column is quite another matter. Today”s books are held together by a common theme: things I don”t know. I am way, way out of my field here. But just as when driving you get lost

September 26, 2013

Christian Standard

Five “˜Must-Read” Books for Ministry

By LeRoy Lawson Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth Richard J. Foster New York: HarperOne, originally published in 1978 In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership Henri J. M. Nouwen New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989 Communicating for a Change Andy Stanley and Lane Jones Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006 Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend Andy Stanley Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012 Simple Church: Returning to God”s Process for Making Disciples Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006   Recently Milligan College and Christian Standard asked

August 23, 2013

Christian Standard

Your Church Is Like a Family

By LeRoy Lawson Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue Edwin H. Friedman New York: The Guilford Press, 1985 A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix Edwin H. Friedman New York: Seabury Books, 2007 Friedman”s Fables Edwin H. Friedman New York: The Guilford Press, 1990 Where was Edwin Friedman”s Generation to Generation when I needed it? It”s out of print now, published in 1985, but fortunately still available in used books at Amazon.com. I would have missed this one if it hadn”t been for a highly regarded minister friend who said, “This is

August 1, 2013

Christian Standard

Love Story, Leadership Principles, and the Faith of a Scientist

By LeRoy Lawson Joni & Ken: An Untold Love Story Ken and Joni Eareckson Tada Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013 On Point: Four Steps to Better Life Teams Del Harris Charleston: Advantage Media Group, 2012 God According to God: A Scientist Discovers We”ve Been Wrong About God All Along Gerald L. Schroeder New York: HarperOne, 2009 What I like best about Joni & Ken is that I have finally learned more about that shadowy figure who has for more than 30 years been husband, caregiver, friend, and source of strength for one of modern Evangelicalism”s leading ladies. From the moment she began

June 28, 2013

Christian Standard

From the Trivial (but Interesting) to the Eternal (and Compelling)

By LeRoy Lawson At Home: A Short History of Private Life Bill Bryson New York: Doubleday, 2010 The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life Robert E. Webber Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2006 Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009 Some authors are hard to resist. I”d already read several Bill Bryson books (Mother Tongue, Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods, A Short History of Nearly Everything), so when I came across At Home: A Short History of

May 25, 2013

Christian Standard

From Three of My Favorite Female Authors

By LeRoy Lawson   Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson Boston and New York: Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), 2009, 2010 An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith Barbara Brown Taylor New York: HarperCollins e-books, 2009 (HarperOne) Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer”s Life Kathleen Norris New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Group), 2008   This month”s books are by three favorite female writers. Each has earned respect by life well-lived and books well-written. The first is Temple Grandin”s Animals Make Us Human, perhaps a surprising choice

April 28, 2013

Christian Standard

Churches, Brains, and Change

By LeRoy Lawson   Messy: God Likes It that Way A. J. Swoboda Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2012 Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships Daniel Goleman New York: Bantam Books, 2006 Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines His Former Life on Drugs Marc Lewis New York: PublicAffairs, 2012 Gutenberg the Geek Jeff Jarvis Kindle Single, 2012 Early in my ministry I took comfort in a joke””probably already stale””that made the rounds in preacher circles. A pastor ran into a former colleague who was now making his living working in a funeral home. When he asked him why

March 31, 2013

Christian Standard

Shared Secrets for Ministers, Useful Advice for Elders

By LeRoy Lawson   Open Secrets: A Memoir of Faith and Discovery Richard Lischer New York: Broadway Books, 2001 Answer His Call (2009) Reflect His Character (2009) Lead His Church (2010) Enjoy His People (2011) Jim Estep, David Roadcup, and Gary Johnson Joplin: College Press The Healthy Elder: Vital Signs of a Strong Leader Jim Estep, David Roadcup, and Gary Johnson e2 Effective Elders, 2012 Effective Elders: What Every Elder Should Know””a digital curriculum (CD/DVD combo) Jim Estep, Gary Johnson, and David Roadcup e2 Effective Elders  A colleague recently asked for recommendations for articles or books on the subject of

February 25, 2013

Christian Standard

Failing, Fathering, and Falling Toward Maturity

By LeRoy Lawson   The Damnation of Theron Ware Harold Frederic Various editions; first published in 1896 Gilead Marilynne Robinson New York: Picador, 2004 Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life Richard Rohr San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011 Pastoral ministry can be among the hardest jobs there are””or the easiest. Since pastors are granted freedom to set their own schedules and priorities, the conscientious minister tends to work too hard and the indolent one finds every excuse to take it easy. What this means is ministry attracts””or creates””the finest of characters or the worst. I”m exaggerating of course,

February 1, 2013

Christian Standard

Leadership Proverbs and Models of Change

The Leadership Wisdom of Solomon: 28 Essential Strategies for Leading with Integrity Pat Williams with Jim Denney Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 2010 Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard Chip Heath and Dan Heath New York: Crown Business, 2010 Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (Two People, One Year, Zero Watts) Eric Brende New York: Harper Perennial, 2004 Of the writing of leadership books there is no end. So much of what you read in one seems to be copied from others of them. In Pat Williams”s The Leadership Wisdom of Solomon, though, what impresses is not that there is

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