General Books

Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ

Neil T. Anderson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

America needs 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I wish more books like this would just make the number one NY sellers list. Americans need to read this type of material.

The power of indentity 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I really want to give this book more than three stars because it is a necessary corrective to many church's teachings that we are all wretched sinners. Anderson uses the scriptures to show us that this is not how God sees us. It is this false conception of ourselves which restrains our Christian growth. However after that good start, this book lacks the practical steps of how to build-up an accurate self-identity. Anderson makes it sound very simple - you simply choose to change your view of yourself and it happens. In reality, this is a process. There is no mention in this book of how fellowship in small groups or accountability partners can be a part of this process. Also, the chapters on unforgivness and marital relationships were off the topic.

Editorial Review:

Ten years ago a breakthrough book launched a ministry that has helped more than one million people overcome this world and win the battle for their hearts and minds. Now Neil Anderson has revised and expanded Victory over the Darkness for a new generation of readers, outlining practical and more productive ways to Christian growth based on Christ's promise: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Victory Over the Darkness emphasizes the importance of believing and internalizing the cardinal truths of Scripture as a base from which to renew the mind and fend off Satan's relentless attempt to convince us that we are less than Christ empowers us to be.

The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission

Rick Warren

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 125 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Sudy Book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I purchased these for my Graceful Ladies Bible Study group, at their request. We haven't begun, yet, but we are anxious to get started.

Editorial Review:

The thesis of The Purpose Driven Church is that when churches think first about their health, growth is sure to follow. "If your church is healthy," writes Rick Warren, "growth will occur naturally. Healthy, consistent growth is the result of balancing the five biblical purposes of the church." These five purposes are to "Love the Lord with all your heart," "Love your neighbor as yourself," "Go and make disciples," "[Baptize] them," and "[Teach] them to obey." And those purposes can only be accomplished, argues Warren, when church leaders stop thinking about church-building programs and shift their focus to a "people-building process" involving fellowship, discipleship, worship, and evangelism. Warren, the founder of the fastest-growing Baptist church in American history, has taught seminars to thousands of pastors from all over the world, many of whom have successfully implemented his techniques.

Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

Barbara Brown Taylor

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 80 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

By now I expected to be a seasoned parish minister, wearing black clergy shirts grown gray from frequent washing. I expected to love the children who hung on my legs after Sunday morning services until they grew up and had children of their own. I even expected to be buried wearing the same red vestments in which I was ordained.

Today those vestments are hanging in the sacristy of an Anglican church in Kenya, my church pension is frozen, and I am as likely to spend Sunday mornings with friendly Quakers, Presbyterians, or Congregationalists as I am with the Episcopalians who remain my closest kin. Some-times I even keep the Sabbath with a cup of steaming Assam tea on my front porch, watching towhees vie for the highest perch in the poplar tree while God watches me. These days I earn my living teaching school, not leading worship, and while I still dream of opening a small restaurant in Clarkesville or volunteering at an eye clinic in Nepal, there is no guarantee that I will not run off with the circus before I am through. This is not the life I planned, or the life I recommend to others. But it is the life that has turned out to be mine, and the central revelation in it for me -- that the call to serve God is first and last the call to be fully human -- seems important enough to witness to on paper. This book is my attempt to do that.

After nine years serving on the staff of a big urban church in Atlanta, Barbara Brown Taylor arrives in rural Clarkesville, Georgia (population 1,500), following her dream to become the pastor of her own small congregation. The adjustment from city life to country dweller is something of a shock -- Taylor is one of the only professional women in the community -- but small-town life offers many of its own unique joys. Taylor has five successful years that see significant growth in the church she serves, but ultimately she finds herself experiencing "compassion fatigue" and wonders what exactly God has called her to do. She realizes that in order to keep her faith she may have to leave.

Taylor describes a rich spiritual journey in which God has given her more questions than answers. As she becomes part of the flock instead of the shepherd, she describes her poignant and sincere struggle to regain her footing in the world without her defining collar. Taylor's realization that this may in fact be God's surprising path for her leads her to a refreshing search to find Him in new places. Leaving Church will remind even the most skeptical among us that life is about both disappointment and hope -- and ultimately, renewal.

Emotionally Healthy Church, The

Peter Scazzero

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Helpful if imperfect... 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

In "The Emotionally Healthy Church," Peter Scazzero suggests that the way most modern, evangelical churches "do church" creates a culture of emotional dysfunctionality, which allows or even forces the people of the church to be spiritually crippled and unable to function in the way that God intends for them to live as disciples of Christ. He then proposes six principles that will right this sinking ship and reestablish the church as a place that produces healthy followers of Jesus, emotionally and spiritually (because the two cannot be separated).

Overall, I agree with the general premises of this book. As Scazzero shared his observation that Christians are unwilling and sometimes unable to hear the truth if it is uncomfortable to them, I was struck by how relevant that claim is in the lives of so many people that I know. As he described how Christians seemingly refuse to acknowledge the reality of such "negative" emotions as anger, frustration, and sorrow, this resonated very much in my own life. Indeed, he suggests that one of the worst things that we can do for our spiritual development is to pretend that these very real and human emotions do not exist or are somehow inappropriate. Finally, I also agreed with his call to acknowledge the fact that we are beings created with limits, and that we do a disservice to ourselves, to those whom we love, and to our Creator by attempting to live limitless lives. Though it's obviously hard to do, I appreciate Scazzero's challenge to recognize our limits and make choices accordingly, even when the consequences are disappointing and sometimes even hurtful to others.

In the midst of agreeing with Scazzero's overarching principles, there were a few smaller ideas that did not sit as well with me. For instance, I am wary of the way that he emphasized grief and loss. Specifically, I agree that we need to create more space in the church for people to deal with grief and loss more honestly, rather than sweeping these emotions under the rug of God's provision, as if the fact that God is in control somehow makes the pain automatically go away. However, the degree to which Scazzero discussed these emotions almost leaves no room for those who have experienced little or no loss. I am uncomfortable that he almost seems to make grief a requirement for spiritual maturity.

My other point of contention is with his call to brokenness. I understand and agree that it is not particularly helpful when pastors present a perfect public persona, never admitting wrong and never acknowledging personal weakness. A willingness to put our own struggles in the open can go a long way toward fostering the type of transparency that is essential for growth to happen within the church. However, I am convinced that there is a time when a pastor needs to provide an example of godliness, faithfulness, and victory. If pastors are always equally broken as Johnny Pewsitter, then what hope does anyone have for freedom from the bondage of sin? As much as the Apostle Paul admits his own wretchedness, he also challenges the church to follow his example as he follows Christ. The challenge to lead by example and to at least occasionally get things right seems to be noticeably absent from Scazzero's teaching.

Scazzero is to be commended for offering a book that many of us in the church need to read. His brutal honesty is refreshing. He provides a healthy model for all church leaders in the way of transparency, and it's a good model for many of us to follow, in terms of acknowledging our mistakes and shortcomings. I also appreciate his charge for church leaders to pursue reality, no matter how disappointing it might be. I'm glad that I read this book and am happy to recommend it to anyone who might be open to the connections between emotional health and spiritual vitality in the church.

Editorial Review:

Something is desperately wrong with most churches today. Many sincere followers of Christ who are passionate for God and his work are unaware of the crucial link between emotional health and spiritual maturity. They present themselves as spiritually mature but are stuck at a level of immaturity that current models of discipleship have not addressed. Discipleship that really transforms a church must integrate emotional health with spiritual maturity. The Emotionally Healthy Church, winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award, offers a strategy for discipleship that accomplishes healthy living and actually changes lives.

Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch

Nelson Searcy; Kerrick Thomas

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I could not put it down 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This was one of the best books that I have read! I got the book on Thursday, finished it on Friday. I could not put the book down, because it kept my attention the whole time. We are in the process of planting a church and I am a Church Consultant. Therefore, I do a lot of research on church planting. I must admit that I was a little skeptical, because of the emphasis of some books on numbers and not souls, and also I was concerned about doing gimmics to get people, but with in the end having no sustainability. This book has been the most helpful and the most practical book that I have read pertaining to this subject. Most books are filled with theory and not priciple, and with oppinions and not systems. If you are wondering about a church plant strategy that will be beneficial to the future and sustainability to your church, this is the book for you. Searcy and Thomas have givin us a great treat in this book and has shown us a more practical, comprehensive, systems apporoach to church plant. It was worth every dime spent and every minute invested:)

Editorial Review:

Starting a church from scratch? Start here! This is no typical church planting or church growth book. The authors, both pastors at The Journey Church of the City in Manhattan, offer specific strategies for beginning a church from scratch, based on their own experiences in launching a church with no members, no money and no staff and watched membership skyrocket to more than a thousand people in three years! They offer clear, practical how-to strategies for quickly raising funds, creating a team, planning services, effective evangelism and rapidly developing a growing membership. Specific advice is included for reaching that often difficult-to-target demographic, the 20- to 40-year-old. You ll also get an insider s look at The Journey Church of the City as a model for church planting. The helpful strategies here will help you remove many of the barriers, questions and doubts encountered in starting a church from scratch. If these principles work in NYC, they ll work for you!

The Making of a Leader

J Robert Clinton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

LEADERSHIP. Where do leaders come from? What does it take to be a leader? When does leadership begin?

The answers to these questions may surprise you. Leadership is not confined to position, title, or training, nor is it limited by experience. In fact, these things sometimes cloud the real issue of leadership.

In The Making of a Leader, Dr. Robert Clinton identifies the patterns God uses to develop a leader. By studying the lives of hundreds of historical, biblical, and contemporary leaders, Dr. Clinton has determined the six stages of leadership development, and he establishes checkpoints to clarify where you are in the process.

As you examine these principles and case studies, you'll begin to recognize that the ministry of leadership flows from a person's being. And that's something God continues to mold throughout a lifetime.

Designed for use as a resource, The Making of a Leader will prove invaluable for students, lay or professional leaders, counselors, or anyone in a leadership training position. It will help you: 1) Identify those with leadership characteristics 2) Direct the development of maturing leaders 3) Recognize where you are in the development process 4) Counsel those who are experiencing periods of trial or frustration

And each chapter concludes with a "personal application" section to further help you become a better prepared leader.

"The Making of a Leader will be a great encouragement to leaders (lay, professional or future) as they begin to see the direct hand of God in their development."-Dr. Robert Clinton

A Work of Heart : Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders

Reggie McNeal

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Outstanding book on leadership 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

One of the best books on leadership I have ever read. The four brief biographies (on Moses, David, Paul and Jesus) that make up the first part of the book are extremely insightful and practical. McNeal writes with authenticity and clarity. There's not a lot of "fluff" or stuff that's rehashed from one leadership book to another. Every chapter is well worth a slow read. His dry wit also adds some spice to the read. Very good stuff.

The Best 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Absolutely the best book on spiritual leadership and development I've ever read! I have bought and sent numerous copies to friends involved in spiritual leadership positions. I'm sold on Reggie McNeal and the powerful scriptural insights he shares.

Editorial Review:

A Leadership Network Publication

Spiritual leaders must become experts in matters of the heart. They must learn to discern God at work in their own lives, shaping their hearts to embrace the particular ministries to which they are called. A Work of Heart shows how God prepares leaders today just as he did in biblical times-and how God creates these leaders in order to share his heart with his people.

Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling

John G., Kruis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Super 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Handy, superb quick reference to the super passages, Ideal for any counselor. Even excellent for those just to study deeper into the Bible

What I Think 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I like the fact that this book uses scriipture references. The mental health workers in this world all need one of these. It's handy, too. It will be helpful in my bible studies.

Editorial Review:

The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling was first published in March 1988. While its primary intention was to help counselors and pastors, over the years laypersons have also found it indispensable in helping them meet their personal needs as well as mold their personal and family devotions.

This revised and expanded edition is specially designed to help people use the Scriptures more effectively in their lives. Scripture quotations are from the popular NIV. Scripture passages on each of the practical topics are thoughtfully arranged in a numbered list so that users can see their significance at a glance. Users have all the pertinent Bible passages at their fingertips when they need them most.

Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road

Timothy J. Keller

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Helpful teaching tool 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I use this book to lead a small group at my church. Keller does an excellent job breaking down the principles and then explaining how to apply the principles both individually and corporately. The teachings are very solid and trustworthy and Keller's focus on the need for balance (of word & deed, lifestyle choices, etc) is stressed throughout the book.

A Good Resource for a Missional Church 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

There's a lot of books out there on being missional. Most of them laud the theory of being missional. This one provides a good example (on a local and urban scale) of how to move toward being missional. Keller provides a strong theological case and some practical examples of how to live out ones faith.

Real Christianity 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Keller's book is an in-your-face account of what real Christianity is. For instance, "Christians must give sacrificially, until they lifestyle is lowered." is the first line of the overview of Chapter Four, which talks about "a balanced lifestyle." Every professing Christian should read and heed what Keller says in this book. It will confirm what they are professing is real of fake.

Courageous Leadership

Bill Hybels

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

"Hybels-Haters" need to read this. I think it would help them shut their mouths. 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I have lived an hour south of Willow Creek most of my life. My father, a pastor, goes there almost weekly to get refreshed and then drives the hour home with new ideas from the Holy Spirit. We are both saddened by the vast numbers of people who criticize Hybels and Willow Creek without knowing their heartbeat or, suprisingly, even stepping foot on the churches main campus.

Courageous Leadership is a book that will act as a portrait of the heartbeat of Pastor Hybels and what makes him tick. It is also a book that acts as a tremendous source for church leaders of all shades and descripitions, even if you are not a pastor.

Covered in this 252 page book are the following....

* Finding leaders who have chemistry and who fit with your current team.
* Establishing clear goals for everyone, and making them tangible.
* Excellence in church is a must. He discusses how people will use excellence in their worldly jobs, but have a hard time using those same critical methods for the kingdom of God.
* The vitality of vision and recasting that vision.
* The importance of celebration and giving honor to church workers, especially volunteers. Hybels tells of a story on page 175 in which all the volunteers were honored in a quasi-parade in which they all marched onto the stage as the church cheered them on. One of Willow's pastors, John Ortberg and drama leader Nancy Beach, acted the parts of Regis and Kathy Lee as they described each ministry group as they marched by.
* Praying to become like Biblical warriors and adopting the best attributes of people like Esther, Joshua, and David.
* Emulating the tenacity of Christ and the Apostle Paul.
* The importance of saying no to certain things and ideas in order to use your energy on what God really wants in your life.
* The importance of staying focused and cleaning up our own secret, inner problems first and foremost.
* The crucial importance of finding a team that is big on character, competence, and chemistry.

I found it interesting that nowhere in this book does Hybels ask leaders to emulate Willow Creek's worship style or vision methodology. He does, however, ask leaders to emulate his own dependence on the living God through different forms of prayer and team-building, accountability, as well as seeking out what our own gifts are while utilizing them where we're at.

Hybels also discusses the importance of getting away from the church at times to be alone with his family and the Lord. I thought this part of the book was probably the best because he talks about how it has revolutionized his own life and turned his children, instead of turning on the faith, into dynamic lovers of the Lord. The summer break, as he calls it, is something that all leaders need in some form or another.


All-in-all, Courageous Leadership is a great book for Christian leaders of any sort, not just pastors.

Editorial Review:

When the spiritual gift of leadership comes alive in churches everywhere, the church will become the hope of the world and a most influential force for good.