Yesterday's post about Max Lucado made me think of other books that influenced my thinking and behavior as a young believer. I'll share the list below. Some may not mean anything to you; it's likely you may not have heard of a few of the authors. That's probably more indicative of my experience than your's. These were the books I needed to read. So ... here it goes (in no particular order): I Just Want to be a Christian by Rubel Shelly Discipleship: The Multiplying Ministry by Milton Jones Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis Power for Living by Jamie Buckingham The Cruciform Church by Leonard Allen The Worldly Church by Leonard Allen The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman How about you? What were the books that influenced your faith development? ---------------------- If you've never seen the movie about C.S. Lewis, I'd recommend it.…
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For ninety-nine cents I couldn't pass it up. That's how much paperbacks cost at Goodwill. Granted, most of them are worth about ninety-nine cents. Romance novels, even less. Not this one. This particular book did for me something few books ever do: it changed the way I live. It did so by changing the way I viewed Jesus. As a teenager, for the first time, Jesus became a living, breathing person to me. With words and images, it painted color between the black and white lines of scripture. It was Max Lucado's "No Wonder They Call Him the Savior". Over the years, I have given copies of this book to new believers and non-believers alike. As my two daughters have grown older, I have thought about getting them a copy as well. And there it was -- for only ninety-nine cents. My oldest is about the age when I first…
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David Feinleib has started five companies and works as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. His book, "Why Startups Fail: And How Yours Can Succeed", offers good advice to anyone starting a business -- or a new church. He has thirteen principles; I'll share just a few and direct my comments towards church planting. (To read a good summary of all thirteen, click here). There's no place for your product. On the one hand, there are few places in the United States that have too many churches. We'll agree to that. But what if you're answering questions no one (at least the non-believer) is asking? What if your style of worship doesn't fit your neighborhood? Then ... there's no place for your product. Your product stinks (OK, he said sucks). This is not about performance or perfection; it is about doing the best you can with what you have. In…
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Our Friday morning men's group is studying the book of James. Today we were in chapter two and covered these verses: "My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?" (James 2:1-4) James touches on a common human tendency: to want to impress those who impress you. In so doing, we often look down on those who don't impress us. It's why "average" people fawn over celebrities and then turn around and treat rudely…
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