What are You Reading?

Valley of Vision

This thing is incredible! The prayers in this book will lift up your soul and cause you to pray more. And when you pray you will desire to pray the way these amazing men have laid out before us... no more wimpy wish lists. Let us pray with God-centered content.

On Being A Pastor by Derek Prime and Alistair Begg

Great book on the practicalities of pastoral ministry. This book has helped very much with sorting through the many pitfalls of being a pastor.

Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Holy smokes! This man knew something of what it meant to follow Jesus no matter the cost. For those of you that do not know Bonhoeffer was imprisoned for preaching against idolatry (See Foreword) and specifically the idolatry of Nazi Germany. He was a young man that was engaged to to his beautiful fiancee when imprisoned (so his words have a special weight to me). And, at age 39 he was promoted to glory as a christian martyr. This book will wreck you as Bonhoeffer unpacks what it truly means to follow Christ.

The Cross of Christ by John Stott

John Stott is one of my favorite authors and this theological book on the cross is becoming one of my favorite books. Stott is crystal clear in his logic and explains things in a way that is very understandable and compelling. I skipped to the chapter entitled "Suffering and Glory" to help prepare for an upcoming sermon and that chapter alone is worth purchasing the book.

The Call to Reformation: Priorities from Paul and his Prayers by D.A. Carson

Carson is another of my cherished authors. I try to read a lot of his works because they are aimed at those in pastoral ministry and his insights are very helpful. This book explores the prayers of Paul and unpacks the beauty of allowing your prayers to be shaped by scripture. This has been particularly helpful in preparing for our current series on prayer.

Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians by D.A. Carson

Preparing for our Philippians series in the fall... I must admit I have yet to crack this book. Carson in other places when teaching on expository preaching encourages to read, re-read, re-read, and re-read before going to any other sources. In fact, Carson sites a pastor who reads a book of the Bible 100 times before beginning to preach on the text. I think I have only read Philippians 3 times recently so I have some ground to cover before opening Basics for Believers.