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Looking for a fast-paced, exciting story about how a trouble-making washout became a highly-trained Navy SEAL who loved to party, but then gave his life to Christ and became a full-time evangelist?
Then SEAL of God is the book for you. I don’t know of any other book quite like it. It is a quick and easy read – I finished it in a few hours – and a definite page-turner.
Chad’s story is intriguing for several reasons.
Would you be willing to share your ‘darkest’ secrets in order to serve others?
Have you ever bared your most intimate struggles, on a highly controversial issue, knowing that the mean-spirited will use your weaknesses against you?
If someone else did this, would you be interested to hear their story?
Dr. Hill has offered us, his readers, just this kind of rare gift in Washed and Waiting.
In doing so, Dr. Hill accomplishes at least three major objectives:
Ghandi is reported to have said, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”
And what could be more different than the example of a homeless, penniless, persecuted, despised, and finally crucified person – and his followers waking up in multimillion dollar homes, watching the morning news on flat screen TVs, checking for Facebook updates on their iPhones, driving to church in their luxury sedans, stopping at Starbucks for a four-dollar cup of coffee, being chauffeured into the multimillion dollar church building on golf carts, singing along to a professionally produced rock concert, listening to an entertaining message from a celebrity pastor, and finishing up the experience with an enormous lunch at one of the nicest restaurants in town? Or as Platt would contrast it:
Bias. In order to undercut an unpleasant argument, just claim that prejudicial self-interest blinds another person from seeing the error of their ways.
So what to make of Dr. Berlinksi, with a Ph.D. from Princeton and time spent as a postdoctoral fellow in mathematics and molecular biology at Columbia University, who opens his critique of the New Atheists by claiming:
The Reason for God, by Tim Keller, is an outstanding response to the biggest questions of our day. (In the very unlikely chance that anyone is wondering: no, there is no connection whatsoever between Tim Keller and this website).
Tim Keller is the highly regarded pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, a church with weekly attendance around 5,000. Redeemer has planted dozens of other churches and is generally considered to be one of the most influential churches in America. From the first page, then, Keller has earned substantial credibility for his excellent track record of addressing people’s toughest questions in one of the world’s great cities.
The Next Christians, by Gabe Lyons, offers a provocative but ultimately encouraging vision for the flourishing of the Christian faith in 21st century America. Both big-picture vision and practical ideas come together in this intriguing book; as the subtitle indicates, The Next Christians offers “seven ways you can live the gospel and restore the world.”
Lyons’ book is divided into two major sections: first, an analysis of the rapid cultural change in the U.S., with the challenges this has created for the American church, and second, defining what he calls the “restorers” — the next Christians whose bold and faithful lives to Jesus and the gospel, exhibited in creative and loving connection to those around them, will strengthen and grow the church.
Mastering Monday, by John Beckett, provides excellent guidance for integrating the Christian faith with the responsibilities of work. By all accounts, Beckett practices what he preaches, and this book is, as far as I can tell, written by a person of integrity, love, and genuine faith in God.
The book is organized into three sections: John’s own story, reflections on people who worked in the Bible (from Adam to David to the disciples of Jesus), and explaining five Biblical themes for the integration of faith and work. Throughout, Mastering Monday is an encouraging, hopeful treatise of practical ways to integrate an active Christian faith with the demands of our jobs.
What is the most important question in the world? That’s hard to say, but one weighty contender has to be the question, “Who is God?” Whether you’re Richard Dawkins or a Bible-thumping KJV Christian, how you answer that question is of great consequence.
Want more friends? Better conversations? Frequent, life-changing spiritual encounters? But wait, there’s more! What if you could also avoid dead-end discussions, pointless arguments, and go-nowhere debates? Then you should be interested in Tactics, a book by Greg Koukl, the President of Stand to Reason Ministries.
The fact is that many Christians feel intimidated by evangelism. Many atheists are frustrated with the same old cliches being read to them from the same pre-packaged scripts. We all need a new way forward if we’re going to have important but respectful conversations about what really matters.
Tactics is an outstanding book for three main reasons:
Escape from Camp 14, by Blaine Harden and Shin In Geun, is a powerful expose of the ongoing horror story that is North Korea. As you read, consider the question: is evil real? Is the North Korean prison system evil – or is that just a word we use to describe our personal feelings about it?By retelling the story of Shin, a North Korean born within Labor Camp 14, Harden vividly exposes us to the frightening world of a living nightmare. Shin’s story is but one story: there are perhaps 200,000 individuals living in these prison camps as you read this post.