Ruined Sinners to Reclaim

This book is a compilation of chapters, each written by a respected evangelical scholar, about sin and depravity – covering historical, biblical, theological, and pastoral perspectives. I enjoyed reading portions of the first book in this “Doctrines of Grace Series” called From Heaven He Came and Sought Her, so I was eager to get my…

The Pastor’s Book

The Pastor’s Book, by Kent Hughes, along with Douglas Sean O’Donnell, is a treasure trove of practical resources for pastors. It’s been a tried-and-true pastoral ministry handbook for over a decade now. It is also written with the conviction that all Christian ministry must be centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hughes states that,…

The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, Psalms 51-100

Christopher Ash explains that this commentary on the Psalms is not a technical or scholarly commentary. But it is, “the Psalms read with the breadth of a whole-bible perspective allied with the depth of a clear focus on Christ, the center of history and the fulcrum of the Bible story.” This commentary, in particular, is…

ESV Spiral Journaling Bible

I opened the box to these journaling Bibles and was surprised at how big they are! I was expecting that they would be around the size of the ESV Scripture Journals on the individual books of the Bible that I have used. But these are full-page, standard paper size journals. They feel like one of…

Calling Out the Called

According to recent Barna and Lifeway research projects, the church has a leadership crisis (1-2).[1] The median age of pastors is going up, the number of young pastors is in decline, and there’s a growing urgency to “motivate, mobilize, resource and deploy more younger pastors” (1-2). Scott Pace and Shane Pruitt wrote this book exhorting…

Church Leadership Toolkit

I am a resource guy. I am also a leadership development guy. So when I saw this toolkit available from 9Marks about leadership, I was immediately interested. This kit helps with all things church leadership! The 9Marks ministry put this kit together to assist church leaders as they seek to build biblical leadership in their…

Authority

Authority. Before reading on, take five seconds to stop and stare at that first word. What thoughts come to mind? Are these thoughts generally positive or negative? Does the word stir in you good memories? Perhaps it generates thoughts of a parent or teacher who helped you grow into the person you are now. Or…

Multisite Churches

I’ll start with some interesting statistics about multisite churches in America: These numbers are a surprise to me. I know there are a lot of multisite churches, but 10,000 right now. Wow! It is clear that “multisite churches are here to stay” and have officially entered “into the mainstream of church life” (p. 84). Here…

ESV Bible Atlas

This book has a wealth of information and it is beautifully done! It is super helpful to have a good atlas handy when studying and reading the Bible. There are so many times when I need to pause my Bible reading to look up a map. This atlas has quickly become my favorite resource to…