Wounded by God’s People (Zondervan, 2013) Author Anne Graham Lotz speaks from numerous personal experiences when she affirms that the wounds inflicted by God’s people are painful and devastating. Even so, we can’t allow ourselves to reject the God of those who rejected us. Basing her book on the Old Testament story of Hagar, Anne […]
Satisfied (Zondervan, 2013) Satisfied: Discovering Contentment in a World of Consumption is the second book by Jeff Manion, senior teaching pastor at Ada Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His first book, The Land Between, used the Israelite’s journey through the Sinai Desert as a metaphor for being in an undesired, yet potentially transformational, time of […]
In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day (Multnomah Books, 2006) The author of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Mark Batterson, is the founding pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D. C. Pastor Batterson bases the book on 2 Samuel 23:20-21, where Benaiah seizes opportunity by the […]
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (Dutton, 2013) Walking with God through Pain and Suffering is the latest book from Timothy Keller, founding and current pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. The central theme of the book, which has three parts, is the image of suffering as a fiery furnace. In […]
Healing Your Church Hurt (Tyndale/Barna, 2013) Author and former pastor Stephen Mansfield bases this book on the loss of his ten-year pastorate “amidst conflict and uproar”, chronicling and modeling his journey from woundedness to subsequent healing with refreshing candor. Mr. Mansfield compares church hurt to a splinter in our souls working its way to the […]
Emotions (Howard Books, 2013) Emotions: Confront the Lies. Conquer with Truth is the latest book by Charles Stanley, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Atlanta since 1971. Dr. Stanley establishes the basis for this book by observing that because emotions exert as powerful influence in our lives, we must manage them with the […]
You’ll Get Through This (Thomas Nelson, 2013) Max Lucado’s latest book, You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times, applies the Old Testament story of Joseph to the “pit” experiences of our lives. Offering hope in the midst of tragedy, Pastor Lucado notes that our “pits” catch us off-guard. We all fear that […]
The Prodigal God (Dutton, 2008) Timothy Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, City, begins The Prodigal God with his assertion that the story most commonly named the Parable of the Prodigal Son might be better called the Parable of the Two Lost Sons. The latter name is more inclusive, since the […]
Who is This Man? (Z0ndervan, 2012) Pastor John Ortberg begins Who is This Man? The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus by stating that Jesus’s life and teaching simply drew people to follow Him. Jesus entered the world with no dignity and died with even less dignity, yet something about Jesus keeps prodding people to […]
The Attentive Life (InterVarsity Press, 2008) The Attentive Life is Leighton Ford’s interpretation of the “divine hours”, traditionally practiced by religious orders but originally designed by St. Benedict (The Benedictine Rule) as a guide for laypeople. Kairos, the word the Bible uses most often to speak of those opportunities that become turning points, is the […]
Gods at War (Zondervan, 2013) Author Kyle Idleman is Teaching Pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY. Gods at War is his second book, preceded by the best-selling Not a Fan. Pastor Idleman begins Gods at War by noting that there are a thousand or so references to idolatry in the Bible. In contrast […]
What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops? (Freeman-Smith, 2012) What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops? is a devotional written by singer/songwriter Laura Story that is based on her Grammy Award-winning song “Blessings”. The song chronicles her journey toward redefining the blessings in her own life. When Laura’s husband Martin was diagnosed with a brain […]