The Pleasure of Re-reading an Author

Thirty years ago, I was an aspiring literary scholar and the focus of my passion was William Faulkner.  I seriously considered applying to the University of Mississippi for a Ph.D in Faulkner studies. God, however, had other plans.
At the college I attended, the fall semester ended in mid-December and the spring semester did not begin [...]

Review of Stephen Mansfield’s The Search for God and Guinness

“[Guinness] did not drain a man and then expect the church or the state to rebuild him again. They invested… They did this because it was the right thing to do, yes, but also because it made their firm more successful than those who did not understand this vital kind of investment.”
Coming from a teetotaler [...]

Review of Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

“…I came to believe the Voice was God, and God was trying to write a better story.” So says Don Miller in a rich and provocative book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. Written against a backdrop of a movie script creation about his life, Miller takes [...]

Review of Avery T Willis, Jr and Matt Willis’ Learning To Soar: How to Grow Through Transitions and Trials

One of my favorite Bible verses is Isaiah 40:31 and I have watched several shows about eagles, but not until I read Avery and Matt Willis’ book, Learning to Soar: How to Grow Through Transitions and Trials, did I fully begin to understand the story behind the verse. In an intergenerational and inspirational way, the [...]

Review of Max Lucado’s Fearless

“Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear,” appears in bold on the back cover of Max Lucado’s newest book, Fearless. These days that very much appears to be true. However, with his trademark calm and hopeful pastoral voice, Lucado again points us, not to greater self-effort, but a greater trust in the Lord, [...]

Review of Breedlove and Ennis’ The Shame Exchange: Trading Shame for God’s Mercy and Freedom

The Shame Exchange, written by two couples, both of whom have spent many years in ministry, is a book that is at once profoundly personal and leaves you gasping for words as you journey with them through the stories of people who have dealt with, and/or are dealing with, two kinds of shame.
There is ‘heaped-on [...]

Review of Wolfgang Simson’s The House Church Book

(Done for Tyndale Publishing House’s blogger reviewer program)
“…instead of getting people to the church it gets the church to the people,” so says Wolfgang Simson. The ‘it’ is a house church.
Borne out of a multi-faceted view, that the there is too much “copyism” in the Christian faith today that leads to discouragement among church leaders, [...]