Book suggestions

I love to read but I also have the bad habit of starting books and not finishing them. This past year (or two) I've managed to finish several (some I trudged through) and I thought it only fitting to share some of them with you.

Mark Driscoll remains one of those guys that inspires me and makes me laugh at the same time. I started with his book The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out. Shortly afterward I read Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church. In these books he chronicles his heart for missional ministry and his ongoing journey to plant and grow Mars Hill Church in Seattle. From there I read his works Vintage Jesus and Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions. These books have a more theological flavor but offer a ton of useful information that is so practical I even used them as small group literature. Truth be told, I'm a big fan of Driscoll and love his style of writing and communicating. The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose was the first book I ever read on the Kindle of iPhone. Roose pulls a ruse by "infiltrating" the student body at Liberty University for a semester to see how the "other side" lives. I didn't necessarily agree with all of his conclusions bu this honestly was refreshing.

In the area of church ministry and church planting I read Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. These guys have an incredible house church style ministry in England called The Crowded House and their philosophy of ministry that is focused on intimate communities of believers is fascinating alternative to the megachurch mentality that I am so used to. Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas penned Launch as a chronicle to the work that they have done at The Journey Church in New York City. This book offers a step-by-step look into how these men prayed, planted, and are now growing this thriving ministry in Manhattan. Dr. Danny Akin, the President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote Five Who Changed the World. This book tells brief snippets of the lives of missionaries William Carey, Adoniram Judson, Lottie Moon, Bill Wallace, and Jim Elliot, and how these men and women sacrificially and obediently fulfilled the Great Commission of Jesus. He also includes key Scriptures that match the lives of each missionary, using their lives as vivid illustrations of the truth of God.

Along more theological and apologetical lines I read The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller. More than making this just a book on apologetics, Keller shares countless stories of the encounters he's had with skeptic and cynics during his work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and he tackles issues that often cause many of us to balk and stammer. Ravi Zacharias' End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists and Walking from East to West, his autobiography, were great reads from a man I love and respect. Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be was an insightful and well written analysis of the emergent movement (compared to the emerging church) by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. These guys tackle every aspect of the emergent movement and expose it for what it truly is (and what I never knew that it was).

Finally, I read a handful of books that deal with events going on in Africa, particularly in Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan, and Sierra Leone. A Long Way Gone:Memoirs of a Boy Soldier chronicles the struggle of Ishmael Beah as he is recruited to be child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war and his wonderful escape to live a "normal" life in the United States. Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan by Sam Childers, Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted by Matthew Green, and Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children by Faith J. H. McDonnell all tell the tragic stories of the war being waged in Southern Sudan, Northern Uganda, and now the Democratic Republic of Congo by Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army. If you aren't familiar with that situation then you owe it to yourself to check out the ministry of Invisible Children to not only learn more of the history behind that conflict but also find ways to help the innocent children caught up in all of that mess.

Happy reading!