Honestly, at this moment, I wish I wasn’t obligated to write a review of this book.
I obtained a copy of this book through the Multinomah Books blogging for books program where they send bloggers books on the condition we write a review and post it on our websites. We don’t have to write glowing reviews. We just have to write them.
So here we go. READ MORE »
When I first met Bryan Allain, he had a duck on his head.
Ok, he didn’t.
But he had a sense of humor that matched the comedic level of a duck on the head. He had an ease of personality with the humor that made him someone who naturally drew your attention. Then he started talking about blogging and ways to improve it and I thought he might be on to something.
Then I received his book. READ MORE »
I know when I normally write a book review I put the title of the book and the author in the title of the blog. I can’t do that with this review. The reason? You need to do what the title says and read this book.
My plan tonight was to go to bed early. Say, 9ish. I had received a free copy of Kristen Jane Anderson’s “Life, In Spite Of Me” from Waterbrook Multinomah’s Books for Bloggers program in exchange for a review and thought I would read a chapter or two while in the tub and come back to it tomorrow night for a few chapters.
Three hours later, READ MORE »
This is a hard review for me to write. ”Radical” came to me very highly recommended by a number of people with whom I attend church. They said it would transform the way I saw my faith, the church and Christianity in America. When you see people with a passion for a book that you can feel engaging you, then it’s a book you need to pick up.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have that great an experience with “Radical.”
It’s not that Platt is off on his subject matter. The material contained in “Radical” is powerful, resonates strongly with Scriptural teachings and certainly provides steps for life transformation. When Platt writes about those in his congregation and the way they’re going to the ends of the earth to spread the truth of Christ, I can see the foundation for the book.
However, that overarching theme of “world” missions that seems to permeate the book was a real hindrance. The impression I had while reading is that Platt would almost look down on someone who doesn’t feel led to mission work outside of the United States. Someone who feels like their calling is to equip the saints on the front lines or perhaps their calling is to support local mission work or even raise their children.
Look at this passage from page 160 wrapping up a chapter subtitled “why going is urgent, not optional”:
The question, therefore, is not “Can we find God’s will?” The question is “Will we obey God’s will?”
Will we refuse to sit back and wait for some tingly feeling to go down our spines before we rise up and do what we have already been commanded to do?
Will we risk everything – our comfort, our possessions, our safety, our security, our very lives – to make the gospel known among unreached peoples?
Such rising up and such risk taking are the unavoidable, urgent results of a life that is radically abandoned to Jesus.
To me…that reads like God’s will for all of us is to go to foreign lands where people haven’t heard of Christ. Other things like being Jesus to homeless in our communities…which don’t fit that “going to unreached peoples” angle…don’t seem to be considered as equally valid in Platt’s eyes.
Now, I would be willing to bet that Platt doesn’t mean to come off that way. He obviously has a driving passion for overseas missions. His desire to see us shake off the “American Dream” in favor of what God calls us to do in life is admirable and if that was the entire gist of the book, a position I could heartily endorse. Unfortunately, the hammer of overseas mission work just makes the book seem more like a lecture than an exhortation to change our lives.
There are also some open ends in the book…like the story of some medical staff who went to a country with a high HIV infection rate. Two members of the team were stuck by needles and may have been infected…but Platt doesn’t tell us how the story turns out. (I’m assuming that because he didn’t mention they were infected, they were OK.)
If you’re someone into foreign mission work or a missions pastor or church leader, then this could be a very useful tool for you. If you’re looking to shake off the nagging feelings that the American dream isn’t God’s best for us…then this is a good book as well. However, others may be put off by the book although there’s no doubt it will make you think.
Ever read a book so good you wish that you had obtained it earlier?
This is one of those books.
Sun Stand Still is the first book out of the gate from Elevation Church pastor Steven Furtick and it is a Tour de Force. It’s a book that when you pick up you don’t want to put it down because of the power in the pages. (I planned to read a chapter before bed the night I received it free for review from Multnomah Press…133 pages later I had to force myself to go to bed!)
The concept behind the book isn’t anything that in reality shakes earth. It’s not something that we don’t really know as followers of Christ. The problem is many times the knowledge of God doesn’t go from our head to our heart and we don’t stop to realize the God who made the sun stand still for Joshua is the same God we worship today.
The.
Exact.
Same.
One.
So why do most of pray something lame like “God, be with me today” instead of really laying out our lives before the One who can make the sun stand still or who can keep rain from falling on Israel for over three years? Furtick makes us take a hard look at the way we view God…the way we believe who He is. He makes us take what is in our heads from Sunday School and step out into our lives with a rock solid belief that He is the same as in the pages of the Bible.
I wish could share this entire book with you but I’m going to put a few parts to whet your appetite. Furtick writes about God starting to move in great ways with us in the ordinary parts of our life and he uses the story of Moses and the burning bush as an example. Think about it: Moses is in the desert, tending sheep that belong to his father-in-law. Ordinary day, right? Then a bush starts burning. Furtick encourages us to look for these kinds of moments in our ordinary days when God starts burning a bush where we work, go to school or go to church.
Don’t think this is a “name it and claim it” kind of book…it’s not. Furtick doesn’t preach a gospel of you doing it yourself. This is all about God and allowing Him to work through you. Still, he encourages us to move forward into what we feel God leading us to do as we pray our Sun Stand Still prayers and not be idle. Furtick challenges us on the notion we have to be completely sure before we move into where we feel God leading us. He even admits that at most we can be “55 percent sure” it’s God leading us. He tells us to move anyway.
Furtick also addresses how we should respond when we pray for the sun to stand still and it still goes down. I was very happy to see that chapter as someone who’s had more night than day over the last few years. Furtick didn’t just write a “rah-rah” feel good book.
This is a very powerful book and if you’re someone who wants to really chase after what God is calling you to do in life then you need to pick up this book.
I don’t think it was coincidence God dropped this book in my lap right before Mustard Seed Year started yesterday. (And when the verse driving MSY, Matthew 17:20, appeared on page 193 I laughed so hard I cried.)
Deep within all of us there’s a desire to make our lives matter beyond the days we walk upon this earth. It’s that desire that Max Lucado touches upon with his latest book, “Outlive Your Life.” The good news is that there are many ways for us to act upon those feelings and Lucado gives many examples of how people have done it…and how we can do it too…even if our name isn’t Bono. 
Now, there’s nothing in the book that’s really a previously unseen revelation. However, what Max does very well in the book is cut through a lot of the hype and marketing and pre-packaged Christianese to take the well sold message of “Christians need to do good” and show us clearly the way it’s simple to fulfill God’s instructions to us. It’s not about the pressure-driven way Christians are told to “give” to “missions” but rather our opening our eyes to the world around us and looking for ways to share and give. Whether it’s a taxi driver in the UK who gave to help a man in a third world country he’s never met start a business to give his family a better life or the mentor to a young pastor that showed him actually SEEING the man in front of you can change a life there’s many practical lessons for all of us within the book.
Lucado doesn’t skip the importance of preaching the Gospel and he certainly doesn’t make it appear that good works are the key to salvation…that’s in Christ alone and Lucado never wavers on that. However, Lucado makes it clear that those of us who love Christ need to follow His example regardless of our perceived economic situation or social status.
It’s a light weight read but with a long-lasting aftertaste. I’d recommend it.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
“Not only is grace possible, but that grace really does matter.”
Let that sink in for a minute.
That statement is really at the core of the new book Gracenomics: Unleash The Power of Second Chance Living by Mike Foster. Foster, co-founder of the organization People of the Second Chance, takes a bold, honest stand for the power of grace and the way it can transform our lives and the lives of those we interact with every single day.
Foster examines grace not just outward toward others (which is how most people think of grace) but within as well. He examines the way we can allow ourselves to dwell in a position of victimization rather than taking a sitaution where we’ve been legimately victimized, given ourselves the grace to know a situation may not be our fault and move forward. And if it IS our fault, to allow ourselves to look in the mirror and accept forgiveness from the person we see staring back at us.
I loved this powerful passage from Mike:[more]
If we were honest with ourselves we would see the ongoing injustice and oppression doesn’t lie within the event, but in the belief that we are powerless to move on.
How often do many of us believe we’re powerless to move on from something that happened in our past? A hurt that’s lingered from our youth? A crude insult given to us in high school or that teacher who told us we were just too stupid to figure things out? Perhaps something said to you by an ex-spouse on their way out of the courthouse? All of these things are powerless to stop us from moving on if we allow ourselves the grace to do it.
One of the strengths of Gracenomics is the way Foster presents the material. No long dissertation on any one point or dozens of pages of statistics and research studies. It’s quick, sharp and to the point. A perfect book for those who spend their days plugged into Facebook or twitter and see their lives 140 characters at a time.
For example, the explanation of “Gracenomics for Others” is boiled down to “grace is free”, “grace ignores categories” and “grace is not forced upon anyone.” There’s a single paragraph under each header with a real life example of that principle in action. It’s something you can read while you’re waiting for your pop-tart to come out of the toaster but heavy enough to rattle in your brain the rest of the day.
And…if you’re a business owner or manager…the lessons in the power of Gracenomics with your workforce could not only radically transform the way you do business but give you a healthier environment for employees and create a place that people WANT to be rather than feel as if they no choice but to show up.
The bottom line…the world would be a be a much better place if people followed the teachings in this book.
You must make time to read it.
To get the book, visit People of the Second Chance. Also, follow Mike Foster on twitter at @MikeFoster.
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