A year has passed since I blogged about books, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading. Between working on marketing my own books and dealing with the sudden changes imposed on us due to the virus outbreak, I’ve been delayed in pulling this list together. Since many of us, like myself, are probably spending more time at home, this blog may be timely if you are looking for good resources and books to read.
Since we are currently in the season of Lent, I want to mention my favorite Lenten read. It is a book by Michael Card titled, A Violent Grace. The pastor of the church my husband and I attended when our boys were small preached a sermon series on this book and encouraged the congregation to read it. I purchased a copy, fell in love with it, and have used it as part of my Lenten devotions ever since.
I like this book because it is small, based completely on Scripture, and thought provoking. I love how Michael Card can focus in and get right to the point on deep, sound doctrine while also telling a story. This book is also illustrated with sketches that bring to life the agonies, the tensions, and the love Christ felt as he experienced the events of Holy Week.
Please, pick up a copy of this book and use it for your own devotional times and reflections to make the Lenten season more meaningful and life changing.
This book is published by Multnomah Publishers, Inc. with a copyright of 2000.
My next favorite read is the book, Including People with Disabilities in Faith Communities by Erik W. Carter. This is a well written book for church staff, lay leaders, and families to use in helping the person in their life with disabilities serve the body of Christ. It is a bit of an academic read, but includes checklists for assessments as well as sample forms for use to develop relationships and ministries within the congregation. I heard Erik Carter via live stream when he presented in the January Series at Calvin College. This helped me become acquainted with him as an advocate for disability ministry. Since then, our community has relied on the work reflected in this book for further ministry to people with disabilities.
This book is published by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company with a copyright of 2007.
Canoeing the Mountains has to be my all time favorite book on leadership. As a history buff, I appreciate the clever metaphor Tod Bolsinger makes between the expedition of Louis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery as they were sent to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase in the early 1800’s. This concept is where the book got its name. The premise of the book is the idea that Louis and Clark expected to be able to find a water route that would lead them all the way to the Pacific Ocean, but instead, they encountered the Rocky Mountains. Oars didn’t work in the mountains pressing them to adjust their tactics, just like, “in every field, every business, every organization, leaders are rapidly coming to the awareness that the world in front of us is radically different from everything behind us…we now have to use every bit of what we know and become true learners who are ready to adapt to whatever comes before us” (p. 27).
Tod Bolsinger came to the town where I live and was the guest speaker for the leadership alliance hosted by a local corporation last fall. He is just as good, if not better, in person as he is on paper. I fully enjoyed learning from him as a student for a day as we sat in chairs around tables in a large, machine shed sort of atmosphere transitioned into a conference room.
If you would like a timely book on how to do creative leadership that is effective and stable, make sure to check out this book.
This book is published by InterVarsity Press with a copyright of 2015.
Lastly, over the winter, I’ve been spending time with the classics of Grace Livingston Hill. She was the forerunner of the Christian Historical Fiction so many of us enjoy today. She lived during the early 1900’s, and wrote stories about people during World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and World War II. Considered contemporary fiction during her lifetime, these books are now invaluable resources of historical fiction to authors like me who write stories set in the early 20th century.
Grace writes with a definitive Calvinist, Presbyterian world view as far as doctrine is concerned. I personally appreciate this perspective as my writing echoes this same slant on theology. I am both amused and enlightened as I discover her opinions on flappers in comparison to what she felt a wholesome, godly woman should be.
The images in this section are the covers to three of my favorites. These books are in the Love Endures series. This is a series of these classic books with updated covers by Barbour Publishing.
