Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 28, 2022)

 

Brothers Karamazov

By Fyodor Dostoevsky (1879; 1984 by Bantam Classics)

 

It’s worth the time to make the journey through Dostoevsky’s classic. He shows the gospel and many of the questions the gospel births in the minds of women and men.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 27, 2022)

 Pastor Rob recommends …

Hospitable Planet: Faith, Action, and Climate Change

By Stephen Jerovics (2016)

 

In this book you will find a spiritual/scriptural foundation for recognizing creation care as a key aspect of discipleship. You will also find practical ways you can get started in creation care.

Pastor Rob recommends ... (January 26, 2022)

Pastor Rob recommends …

Compassion (&) Conviction: The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement

By Justin Giboney, Michael Wear, and Chris Butler (2020)

 

The authors offer a brilliant argument for the way Christians in America can and should participate in politics and civic life.  Their political expression is an extension of their faith and is rooted in scripture.  Truly Christian political participation cannot be partisan.  It must be faith-based, and these authors makes this point beautifully and thoroughly.  Have your Bible ready when you read this book.   If you engage with the scriptures the way the authors do, you'll find their conclusions to be on solid ground, you'll be ready to follow their guidance by participating in public life yourself, and by doing it as a follower of Jesus.

Pastor Rob recommends ... (January 25, 2022)

Pastor Rob recommends …

  

The Allure of Gentleness: Defending the Faith in the Manner of Jesus

By Dallas Willard, edited by Becky Heatley (2015)

 

God bless Dallas Willard's daughter.  She brought together some of his last talks and edited them into book form.  It's a final word from one who was brilliant in teaching apologetics and evangelism by way of discipleship.

 

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 24, 2022)

Pastor Rob recommends …

 

A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.

Edited by James M. Washington (1986)

 

The subtitle tells you exactly what this book is. It also begs the question. Do you even know what Martin Luther King said and did? Everyone in America admires him. Many, especially many white people, express that appreciation in an unveiled attempt to appropriate his fame to promote themselves. Do we know MLK’s actual thoughts? This book is long, 679 pages. And you should read every word.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 21, 2022)

Pastor Rob recommends …

 

Letters from a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles with His Father’s Questions about Christianity

Dr. Gregory A. Boyd and Edward K. Boyd (2008)

 

 

Dr. Gregory Boyd shares a series of letters exchanged between himself, a Christian theologian living in Minnesota, and his retired father, a retired, unbeliever living in Florida. The letters extend over a period of a little over a year. The tone is irenic, but Greg the son is open and clear; he wants his father Ed to become a follower of Christ. The journey is beautiful to observe. Also, Gregory Boyd's outreach to his father challenges any Christ follower who reads the book to do what he has done and reach out to someone they love who is an unbeliever.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 20, 2022)

Pastor Rob recommends …

 

The Flavor of our Faith: Reflections on Hispanic Life and Christian Faith

Karen Valentin (2005)

 

 

Valentin offers a beautiful, genuine picture of Christian faith from the perspective of a Latinx family living in the United States. Her moving portraits of how God has defined and blessed her identity as Puerto Rican woman who lives her life in Christ.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 19, 2021)

Pastor Rob recommends …

 

The Poverty and Justice Bible (2008)

 

In the Poverty and Justice Bible, all the verses related to justice and God’s care for the poor are highlighted in orange. Reading this will impress upon the readers that if you want to be on the side of God, you have to advocate for justice and care for the poor, widow, and orphan.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 18, 2022)

Church: What to Do When Everyone is Like You

Daynette Snead Perez (2021)

Daynette Snead Perez asks a question every church should ask itself.  “Can there be unity and diversity here?”  In her latest book ‘Church: What to do When Everyone is Like You,’ she answers ‘yes,’ and ‘yes.’ There can be unity in your church.  In fact, there must be.  And there can be diversity, no matter where your church is.

 

Snead Perez doesn’t just make the assertion.  She charts the course.  Blending Biblical principles, bible stories, and her own story, the author introduces the reader to her Stranger to Neighbor ministry.  This approach to unity/diversity is going to catch on and alter the way churches see the people who walk through their doors as well as the people in the community who walk past their doors.

 

Pick up a copy of this book for your pastor, you church elders and deacons, the Sunday school teachers, and yourself.  You’ll come away ready for a more colorful, blessed future for your church.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 17, 2022)

 Pastor Rob recommends …

  

Mere Christianity

C.S. Lewis (1952)

 

Lewis writes, “Now the whole offer Christianity makes is this; that we can, if we let God have his way, come to share in the life of Christ.” The brilliant 20^th century author/thinker unfolds the essence of a life spent following Jesus.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 14, 2022)

 Pastor Rob recommends …

  

The Way of the Wolf: the Gospel in New Images

Martin Bell (1970)

 

Bell’s creative use of imagery and metaphor in his poems and short stories frames the Christian faith in moving, beautiful, creative settings. This book was instrumental in my faith development in my college years.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 13, 2022)

 Pastor Rob recommends …

  

The Way the World Is: The Christian Perspective of a Scientist

John Polkinghorne (2007)

 

Christians who want their witness to be taken seriously by 21^st century listeners have to account for scientific discoveries in their testimony. Christ, not science, determines a Christian’s worldview. However, science is not to be ignored. The late John Polkinghorne, a physicist and Anglican priest brought these worldviews together in a way that encourages Christians to develop their faith in a world that listens to scientists.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 12, 2022)

 Pastor Rob recommends …

 

That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, & Universal Salvation

David Bentley Hart (2019)

 

Bently Hart makes a compelling case for taking a long look at passages like John 12:32. Jesus said, “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.” Hart shows how this and many other pericopes raise questions about traditional, widely held assumptions about Heaven and Hell. 

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 11, 2022)

Pastor Rob recommends …

 

Crossing the Lines we Draw: Faithful Responses to a Polarized America

Matthew Tennant (2020)

 

Drawing on his reading of scripture, his understanding of Christian theology, and his experiences as a pastor, Tennant presents a case for reconciliation. He urges Christ-followers to reach across racial and political divides to unite with their fellow human beings.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 10, 2022)

Pastor Rob recommends …

 

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heave, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

N.T. Wright (2008)

 

The subtitle says it all.  This is one of the most helpful books on the resurrection and on what happens when we die on the market today. It’s readable, biblically sound, and, as the title indicates, a word about hope.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 7, 2022)

 Pastor Rob recommends …

  

The Book of Forgiving

Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu (2014)

 

One of the profound acts Christ does for us and expect us to do for one another is forgive. Through personal stories and an intentional process, Desmond Tutu sets a path for forgiving. 

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 6, 2022)

 Pastor Rob recommends …

  

One: Unity in a Divided World (2017)

 

Deidra Riggs sets the tone for relationships across racial and political lines from a Christian perspective.  That last part, "a Christian perspective," is the key for appreciating Riggs's work.  The market is being flooded with excellent literature on race relations.  Riggs' book is extremely important because she writes first and foremost as a follower of Christ.  That above everything else defines her and sets the tone for her work.  This is as it should be for a disciple of Jesus interested in racial justice work and reconciliation.  Jesus defines how we understand justice.  Too many Christian writers insist that our sense of justice defines our view of Christianity.  It's supposed to be the other way around and Deidra Riggs demonstrates this beautifully.

Pastor Rob Recommends ... (January 5, 2022)

 Pastor Rob recommends … (January 5, 2022)

 

The Green Bible: Understand the Bible’s Powerful Message for the Earth (2008)

“Many Bibles called ‘red-letter editions,’ have Jesus’ direct statements printed in red. We have adapted this practice to introduce the ‘green-letter edition,’ In it we highlight the rich and varied ways the books of the Bible speak directly to how we should think and act as we confront the environmental crisis facing our planet” (p.I-15).

 

This is the Bible with the same words you’d read in your KJV study Bible. The verses printed in green remind us that when God created the world, he saw that it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and he placed us here to till it and keep it (Genesis 2:15).

Pastor Rob recommends ... (January 4, 2022)

Pastor Rob recommends …

 

Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids

Dr. Kara Powell and Dr. Chap Clark (2011) - SF: What is Sticky Faith? | Fuller Youth Institute

I don’t care how old you are or what your life situation, I want to ask you, do you have a stick faith? Is your faith one that endures, holds on even in the face of trials and adversity?

The authors offer a good perspective on teens transitioning to young adulthood in American churches.  Christian leaders, pastors, and commentators observing the church in America all bemoan the trend of teens entering adulthood and gradually or immediately giving up the faith they were taught growing up.  Powell and Clark identify why this happens and give numerous ideas for how to curb this trend.  The reader of this book who wants to see teenage faith in Jesus Christ mature into adult discipleship is encouraged.

Moreover, working through the slippery faith sometimes seen in teens, the reader will be pushed to examine whether or not he/she has stayed connected to God in Christ.

Pastor Rob recommends (January 3, 2022) ...

Pastor Rob recommends …
  

Where is God in a Coronavirus World?  John Lennox (2020)
 
 
Lennox, an Irish mathematician and devoted Christ-follower, deals with the theodicy, the problem of evil and pain. How can suffering exist when we believe God is all-good and all-powerful? This short book (only 62 pages) will help you wrestle with difficult questions, and in the wrestling, you will grow in your faith.

Reading through 2022 - Recommendations from Pastor Rob

 

Turn off Netflix; not forever, but for now. Disney Plus. Hulu. HBO Max. Pluto TV. Plain, old cable or satellite. Turn it off, unplug, and sit down in a comfortable chair with a nice mug of cocoa and a good book. You know, the kind you hold in your hands. Losing yourself in a book is a lost art that our technology-crazed culture needs to rediscover.

I hope to help with this. To begin 2022, I am offering a daily book recommendation. I’ll do this Monday-Friday, throughout January. It will be posted on my blog, my Facebook and twitter pages, and I will post it on the Hillside church twitter page (daily) and Facebook page (each Friday).

I read a lot of books. I don’t read through an entire book every day, but I read often. If you trusted me so much you went ahead read all the books I recommended, that would end up being 21 books – less than two books a month for 2022! Whether you read any of my recommendations, or read your own books, please, READ! Engage your mind in the activity of recognizing words on a page that then stimulate your imagination in order to wrestle with concepts, or walk in new stories. READ!

We have such a gift. God’s holy word is available to us in the Bible and in America, there are Bibles aplenty. A Christian could easily benefit from the countless study Bibles that are available. But, we need to read well.

We become better Bible readers as we improve as readers in general. And the stories and ideas we glean from our reading (poetry, novels, commentary, history, plays, short stories, inspirational literature, etc) awaken our minds to the endless possibilities that come from scripture. With illumined reading eyes, we see so much more in the Bible. So, I hope you’ll join me on a beautiful journey of reading through 2022. Watch for the first recommendation today!