book reviews


  • Planting missional churches

    By ed stetzer & Daniel IM

    According to the authors, we need to get back to the New Testament model of church as a gospel movement, and plant more churches. This book surveys churches across multiple denominations and identifies the kinds of practices that healthy, growing churches are following in the USA and abroad. Read more...

  • finding common ground | Tim Downs

    In Finding Common Ground, author Tim Downs draws a helpful distinction between harvesting (i.e. evangelism -- leading someone to Christ) and sowing (finding common ground with non-Christians so the gospel can be heard when the time is ripe). We need to sow, says Downs, and the consequences are tragic if we don't. Read more...

  • Compensation handbook for church & staff | Richard Hammar

    This book, published by Church Law and Tax, a ministry of Christianity Today, represents data from over 2,500 churches, and encompasses 15 pastoral, professional and support staff positions from senior pastor to custodian. Guidelines are provided to ensure fair compensation, compliance with federal tax laws, and tax savings tips that can benefit the church and employees. Read more...

  • Ready to launch

    by J.D. and veronica greear

    If you're looking for a great study guide for parents keen on Biblically informed parenting, Ready to Launch is a good place to start. The sub-title makes an important point: godly parenting is not child-centered, it's Jesus centered -- and that makes all the difference. Child-centered parenting puts the child's interests first, with the child central to the learning experience. As parents, it's easy to idolize our children, making them an adornment of our lives, or saturating them wth comfortable, safe experiences. However this kind of parenting runs the risk of stunting children's development and keeping them useless. Read more...

  • Transformational church

    by Ed Stetzer & t. rainer

    The church in America is in serious decline. Projections show that by 2020, only 14% of the North American population will be in a worship gathering on any given Sunday. There's no end to the downward trend, which is why LifeWay's Transformational Church book is so important. It's distilled from research involving 7,000 pastors and 20,000 church members across 123 denominations. Read more...

  • transformational groups

    By Ed Stetzer & Eric Geiger

    In a world that pushes people into isolation and superficial connection, the church must push for deep, authentic, community. We must keep the values of the world out of the church body. The world's values are not the values of the people of God. On the contrary, followers of Jesus are expected to be salt and light shining out into the world. What makes fothe authentic Christian community that Jesus intended? This book helps answer that question. Read more...

  • Transformational Discipleship

    By eric GEIGER ET. AL.

    When it comes to discipling, the church must do better. There's a discipling deficiency in most churches, resulting in a lack of transformation. Yet discipling is the most important task of the church (Mt 28.19-20), and gospel internalization is central to discipling, as we at Village Schools strongly affirm. Coming out of one of the largest research projects on church health ever completed, this book offers a message of hope for the church. Read more...

  • Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy | Eric Metaxas

    In reading Matexas' Bonhoeffer, I discovered a brother and friend who saw the decline of God and His gospel in a relativistic culture - a culture that would soon be devoid of a moral center. It was this culture that gave the world the final solution and World War II. It was this prophetic spirit that makes Bonhoeffer a prophet for our time. Read more...

  • Knowing and growing: Reflections on the changes of the new Testament | Max frazIer jr.

    Let me recommend an excellent companion devotional to your New Testament Bible reading. Take along Knowing and Growing. You will be blessed. Read more...

  • You make me so mad | David Powlison

    Our inability to handle anger and our unwillingness to forgive others has poisoned our souls - even those of who are considered mature in Christ. These two sins have destroyed marriages and families and churches. With Powlison, we have a biblical antidote for anger. Read more...

  • Dangerous Calling | Paul David Tripp

    I picked up Paul Tripp's book thinking it would exalt and affirm the high calling of the pastorate. Instead, I read exhortations, warning, and correctives designed to protect pastors from fatal mistakes. Dangerous Calling also helps congregations provide a grace-filled environment that results in healthy pastors and healthy churches. Read more...

  • A God-Sized Vision: Revival story that stretch and stir | Collin Hansen and John woodbridge

    The authors of A God-Sized Vision provide the reader with balanced thinking on all things revival. Revival is not magical, but supernatural. In many ways life in the church - is worship, preaching, prayers and evangelism continue on. Read more...

  • Is God a Moral monster? making sense of the old Testament god | Paul Copan

    God tells the Israelites to conquer Canaan and kill men, women and children. The Lord commands Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. We also find "Bride-Price," polygamy and concubinage tolerated in the Old Testament. How do we reconcile the actions of God in the Old Testament? Dr. Copan's Is God a Moral Monster provides cogent answers to prickly and somewhat embarrassing questions about the God of our Bible. Read more...

  • The heavenly Man | Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway

    Brother Yun was being interrogated by the Public Security Bureau (PSB) and refused to tell them who he was or where he lived. As the authorities tried to bully and beat the information from him, Brother Yun shouted out, "I am a heavenly man! My home is in heaven!" Read more...

  • evangelicalism divided: a record of crucial change in the years 1950 to 2000 | Iain h. murray

    Murray characterizes the present state of evangelicalism as being divided into two camps. One camp has stood for orthodoxy and biblical doctrine, while the second branch has dedicated itself to gaining recognition for evangelicalism as a whole. The author documents how decisions by some noted evangelical leaders, primarily for the sake of academic respectability, visible unity and results, compromised the true gospel and the church as a whole. Read more...

  • unbroken: a world war ii story of survival, resilience, and redemption | laura hillenbrand

    Hillenbrand's story is about one man's survival of a deplorable and evil POW camp. This is a book about war and how our fathers fought and died or survived it. We are talking about hero's - every one of them. We thank God for their courage to put themselves in harm's way for the sake of our liberty and freedom. But where is God in all of this? Read more...

  • Blue Like Jazz | Donald Miller

    Likely, right now someone in your church is reading Blue Like Jazz or some similar book. It will resonate with them in style and content -it is cool and Christian. And it is extremely un-helpful. Read more... 

  • love wins | rob bell

    Love Wins is another attempt to justify that God will ultimately accept all people because of His love. The author began down a road that looked promising, but then detour onto another that led to an dead-end. Read more...

  • Evangelical Convictions | Evangelical Free Church of AMerica

    In 2008, the EFCA adopted a newly revised Statement of Faith. This book seeks to give clarity to the theological convictions contained in that Statement - spelling out what is denied (and what is not addressed). It expounds these convictions - helping the reader understand and appreciate the wonderful truth contained in this brief and concise confession. Read more...

  • The coming economic armageddon | dr. david jeremiah

    One topic affects each one of us in so many ways. That is money and finances. Money is an absolute life. Without it, we are hard-pressed to survive. I know you have heard that Jesus spent more time speaking about money and finances than about any other matter while He was here on earth. It was that important to Him. The truths in this book need to be heeded as we approach the one-world government with its one-world financial system. Read more...

  • Grace Notes: Daily Readings with a Fellow pilgrim | Philip Yancey

    This is a book highly recommended for the person who wishes to dig deeply into the background of New Testament times, especially those of the Gospels. It is not light reading, but its rewards are a blessing. Read more...

  • The Jesus you can't ignore | John Macarthur

    In this day when the Church tends to err on the side of collegiality, it was good to be reminded that Jesus was more focused on the proclamation of truth than in making friends. It is the truth that brings liberation. Read more...

  • Inside the revolution | Joel Rosenberg

    This is a book deserving of your undivided attention. It is a must-read if we are to better understand what is happening in the Middle East. And, I can assure you, what you read in the final part if the book is something you will never hear from major media sources. Read more...

  • Captured by grace | dr. david jeremia

    Dr. Jeremiah explores the depths of portions of the Epistles of Paul to help us to understand both the mystery and the magnitude of God's grace. It is a grace that captivates us and then changes us. Grace is the father of the Prodigal embracing a son who bore the stench of the world and welcoming him home. Grace is the bright light, bringing a strong-willed Pharisee to his knees on a road to Damascus. It is grace assuring our hearts that "all things work together for good to those who love God" even when our minds would cause us to question that truth. Read more...

  • The truth about muhammed | robert spencer

    A central feature of this book is a discussion on the concept of jihad or holy war. The purpose of jihad is to advance the religion of Islam against those who would seek to oppose it. The ultimate goal of jihad is the conquest of the world for Islam. In America, our introduction to jihad came on 9/11, and since that day, jihad has become part of our vocabulary. Mr. Spencer calls upon his reader to be awakened to that stated purpose of Islam. Read more...

  • The next world war | grant r. jeffrey

    According to this author Jesus Christ warned that one of the unmistakable signs of the return of the Messiah would be the rise of a terrible hatred of the Jews. He develops a fascinating scenario around the Ezekiel 38-39 passage of Gog and Magog and the invasion of Israel from the north. He is convinced that the burden of prophetic evidence points to the War of Magog occurring at some point in the near future, prior to the Antichrist making his seven-year treaty with Israel. Read more...

  • End of the spear | Beyond the gates of slpendor

    I can assure you that you will have great difficulty in putting down this book once you begin. The story of God's transformation of stone-aged killers into gentle servants of Christ will thrill your heart, And the video, Beyond the Gates of Splendor, is equally outstanding. Read more...

  • The Chronicles of narnia | c.s. lewis

    Introduce your children or grandchildren to The Chronicles of Narnia. Better yet, read them together as a family, then discuss the Christian principles that are woven into the very fabric of the stories. It would be a great way to cultivate Christian principles into the lives of young minds. Besides, you also will enjoy the books. Read more...

  • Heaven | Randy alcorn

    "Life on Earth matters not because it's the only life we have, but precisely because it isn't - it's the beginning of a life that will continue without end. It's the precursor of life on the New Earth. We need to stop acting as if Heaven were a myth, an impossible dream, a relentlessly dulling meeting or an unimportant distraction from real life. We need to see Heaven for what it is: the realm we're made for. If we do, we'll embrace it with contagious joy, excitement, and anticipation" (page 443). Read more...

  • Job: a man of heroic endurance | Chuck Swindoll

    We have no way of knowing what tomorrow may bring...but if it is anything life the past, more storms will come. They will drive us to our knees once again, forcing us to trust Him even though we cannot understand why He would permit such a thing to occur. Like Job, we believe in Him with all our hearts, we want to walk in obedience before Him, and we desire nothing more than to bring greater glory to His name. Read more...

  • The divine conspiracy | dr. dallas willard

    The most telling thing about the contemporary Christian is that he or she has no compelling sense that understanding of and conformity with the clear teachings of Christ is of any vital important to their life, and certainly not that it is in any way essential. Such obedience is regarded as just out of the questions or impossible. Read more...