Don’t Resign From Reading This Book!

FIVE STARS REVIEW: The Resignation of Eve: What If Adam’s Rib Is No Longer Willing To Be The Church’s Backbone? by Jim Henderson

This book has been beneficial to me as a pastor.

If you are in ministry and want to read a book that will help you understand the “backbone” of the church, read this book. If you are someone who is interested in women in ministry, read this book.

Author Jim Henderson shows that “if women walked out the door, the church would be in grave trouble” (p. 238). He backs that up by stating that researcher George Barna calls women “the backbone of activity in the typical conventional church” and provides a deluge of statistics.

What is sincere and earnest about this book is not the data and figures, but rather the personal stories of women and their relationship to the Church that Henderson has meticulously collected and
organized. As a female pastor, I found the stories informational, eye-opening, and some even heart-wrenching. Some women have resigned to leave the Church because of how they have been treated or not allowed to use their leadership talents and abilities in which they believe God has gifted them.

Reading this book has made me even more aware of the value of women’s voices in the church and a reminder that everyone is gifted. Women are important to God, so women should also be important to the Church. It is our role as pastors and those in ministry to help each person—women and men alike—live into those giftings so that they may further the Gospel mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.


*Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.


You can download the first chapter at http://files.tyndale.com/thpdata/FirstChapters/978-1-4143-3730-2.pdf

I didn’t want the meal to end!

FIVE STARS: REVIEW OF Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory

Every night for a week, I had dinner with Jesus. Even though this is a short book, I wanted to take it slow so that I could savor every course of the meal. Every night, I would sit down and read a chapter and be swept away in a hearty dinner with Jesus. It doesn’t get better than that!

This parable-like story is about how a normal guy, Nick Cominsky, who receives an invitation to dine with Jesus. Nick is enticed by the offer and in the end receives more than an exquisite meal.

I was a skeptic at first thinking that the book was going to be really theologically “light,” but actually found that it covered some deep insights that almost everyone seems to ask such as: What about other religions, are they true, too? How good do you have to be to get into heaven? Is the Bible really reliable?

This book is perfect for new Christians, those asking questions concerning what Christianity is all about, as well as long-time Christians who just want to imagine what it might be like to sit down and have dinner with the Savior of the World!

*I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Dare to be Uncommon

FIVE STAR REVIEW: The One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge by Tony Dungy

I don’t know about you, but next year I want to lead an Uncommon Life. And this book will help you do just that.

About two years ago, I read Indianapolis Colt’s former coach Tony Dungy’s book Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance. In that book, he urges readers to lead an “uncommon” life and writes in his introduction: “At the end of the day, I’m sure of one thing: accumulating stuff and women and titles and money are wrong keys. Fitting in, following the crowd, and being common are not what we’re supposed to do. There’s more in store for us.”

Indeed, there is more in store for us as Christians. A true Christian is uncommon, because they are holy. When we accept Jesus Christ as our savior through salvation, we become holy and separated from the world—set apart for a special use. We become uncommon.

This year, I am going to dare to be even more uncommon and as a pastor, urge my congregations to be more uncommon as well. To help me with that I will dive into this wonderful resource—Dungy’s newest book, The One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge. It gets people into the Word of God each day and reflects on Jesus in a practical, down-to-earth kind of way. Each devotion focuses on one of seven themes, each theme repeating every seven days: Core, Family, Friends, Potential, Mission, Influence, and Faith. Each devotion starts with Scripture (which for me has to be the foundation), and then Dungy interprets the verse or often shares a story from his life correlating to the verse. Some are about his wife and family and some are about football and coaching. Each one-page daily devotion ends with an “Uncommon Key” for you to ponder throughout the day. For example, on November 30 the “Uncommon Key” is, “Ask God where He would like you to be busy today. When you enter into and develop a relationship with Jesus Christ, allow Him to determine the areas where He wants you to be involved the most.”

I am suggesting that Jesus is calling us to be busy reading God’s Word this year. It is a Christian’s nourishment. This devotion is set up in a way that it can be started any time of the year, so if you are just now thinking about getting it, don’t say, “Well, the year has started, forget it.” No, start today and endure. Dungy in Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance quotes Cal Stoll, his football coach at the University of Minnesota: “[He] often told us, ‘Success is uncommon, therefore not to be enjoyed by the common man. I’m looking for uncommon people.’”

Be uncommon, and in doing so, enjoy the victory of being set apart for God!

*Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book. (Visit www.tyndale.com for more information)

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*Watch Tony Dungy's video about the book at http://www.coachdungy.com/index.php/the-one-year-uncommon-life-daily-challenge/

*Check out Tony Dungy's website at http://www.coachdungy.com/

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A hardy book well worth it

FOUR STARS: REVIEW OF As Silver Refined: Answers to Life’s Disappointments by Kay Arthur

This book is well worth purchasing. It is so meaty and hardy—and is virtually two books in one. The book itself is more than 275 pages long while the additional 13-week Bible Study at the end consisting of 75 plus pages. Talk about really being able to dig into God’s Word!

The book talks to readers about refining their lives—how God can take what is impure and make it pure and turn the dull into beautiful. Issues in the book include how to use one’s past to move forward toward the future and how God can use the things in your life to make you into someone He “can use in the lives of others to show them that no matter where they’ve been, no matter how deep the hole, no matter how painful the trial, there’s hope. There is victory (page 118).” Chapter topics include: understanding disappointment, past regrets, facing stress, victory over discouragement, and the secret of endurance.

Arthur also weaves in her own personal stories of suicide, her prodigal son, and her father’s unexpected death throughout the book allowing the reader to connect. It is also chocked full of Scripture which I appreciate. This is no surprise, though, after all Arthur is the queen of Inductive Bible study at Precept Ministries.

*I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Mark Batterson has done it again!

FIVE STARS: SoulPrint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny by Mark Batterson

Mark Batterson has done it again!

I have been a big fan of Batterson since I read In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, and Soul Print doesn’t disappoint. As always, Batterson is a masterful writer that makes the biblical stories jump off the page. The book is full of deep insight, but also contains plenty of humor. Soulprint is educational and entertaining all rolled into one!

Using biblical David as a foundational prototype model, Batterson shows readers how to find their unique soulprints. While our chief objective is to be just like Jesus, Batterson says our other destiny is “to be unlike anyone who has ever lived…to become like Christ is to become unlike anyone else. He sets us free from who we’re not, so we can become who we were designed to be.”

The book is separated into five major sections—Holy Confidence, Lifesymbols, The Crags of the Wild Goats, Alter Ego, and The Devil’s Workshop—which helps readers discover their authentic, unique soulprint. At the end of the book is a very useful tool where Batterson notes the key ides from each chapter along with discussion questions to use for further self-discovery or with a group.

This book is a must read for those seeking to stretch themselves for the sake of discovering their divine destiny.

*I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

A special book bound in spiritual love

REVIEW: His Little Princess by Sheri Rose
Shepherd [FIVE STARS]

I have two “Little Princesses” in my life—my two nieces—and it would be a joy to read this book to them each day.

The book is unique in that it is a devotion and prayer book for young girls, something often not seen. But being a “big Princess” myself, I also found the wisdom and prayers it contained encouraging and uplifting. The book is arranged with a Letter from the King (Holy God) one page and on the opposite page a prayer for the Princess(your little one). The devotion topics range from respect, beauty, courage, character, thankfulness, to Jesus our Savior.

My favorite thing about the book is that each letter and prayer is based on Scripture. This is the bind that I consider most important. For example the Letter from the King entitled “My Beautiful Creation,” is based on Nehemiah 9:6, “You alone are the LORD, Creator of the heavens and all the stars, Creator of the earth and those who live on it, Creator of the ocean and all its creatures. You are the source of life, praised by the stars that fill the heavens.” How magnificent! Shepherd takes the Bible’s already glorious words and truths and puts them in a form that young girls can grasp.

Another thing that I like about the book is the “Little Princess” prayer that goes with each letter. This book teaches girls not only to be thankful for all God has done for them in reading the Letter from the King, but it also teaches them how to pray and offer up thanksgiving for all God has done for them. And I like how each prayer ends: “In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.”

This devotional book would be a treasure for any mother, father, grandparent, uncle, or aunt to read to the “Little Princesses” in their lives. Not only will the Princesses be blessed, but they will, too.

*I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Get your Chazown on!

4 STARS: Review of Chazown by Craig Groeschel

This book disturbed me.

Don’t worry, that’s OK…that is what is supposed to do.

Author Craig Groeschel asks, “Are you willing to let God disturb you with dreams so big that you don’t know how they’ll be accomplished?”

If you are, this book will help you create a roadmap of how to get there with God’s unique purpose for your life.

The book was broken up into small, bite-sized chapters which I enjoyed. It gave me time to pause after each chapter and reflect on the topic at hand, and it also helped me feel like I was succeeding (even if it was just in a small way by reading 33 chapters in a few hours) so that I could move on to succeed in a big way for God.

The book is also two-for-one…a workbook fit into a book. Groeschel offers additional free online resources and worksheets to go along with the book to make your time and energy more productive and focused on finding your God-given “Chazown,” which is the Hebrew word for vision.

By working through the book you can create your personal vision statement and then move forward to set it into action. Groeschel is a practical pastor—which I have liked in his other books as well—in that he lets the reader become the driving force in the book. For example, it is up to the reader to decide what part of his/her vision statement on which to work first (there are five fundamentals he suggests). “Go and live your action plan in that part of your life for a while, then come back and create a plan for another area,” he writes. I appreciate this. Sometimes when we want to make changes in our lives, we create a list of those changes, but when we see how long the list is (at least for me) it is crushing. So instead of going forward with gusto to change and cross things off the list, we sometimes just do nothing. I believe doing it in bite-size pieces, as Groeschel permits, will ensure success in the long run instead of trying to swallow it all at once and get suffocated.

Rejoice in knowing that God chose you to live right now. So get your “Chazown” on!

*I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.