The Grace of God by Andy Stanley

Andy Stanley in The Grace of God walks readers through the Old and New Testament to gather attributes of God’s grace. Stanley shows how God’s grace was established at creation and is a thread that runs throughout the entire Bible. God’s grace is a gift, freely given and not earned. God’s grace is unfair, given to those who did not earn it. Most importantly, Stanley shows that God’s grace is for you and me and in doing so shines light on God’s deepest desire to be in relationship with everyone, despite our failures and mistakes. Stanley shows us that grace is better and more unexpected than we could ever hope for.

The strength of The Grace of God is the easy to read narrative style. The structure of the book lies on top of the stories that Stanley retells. Stanley restates them in a way that both those acquainted with the stories and those not can enjoy and easily connect to his points about grace. The chronological sequence of the chapters is confusing when the chapter ending in Christ’s burial is followed by his encounter with then woman at the well. Overall The Grace of God is an encouraging book that reminds us that we can do nothing to earn grace and helps us to better understand the awesomeness of God’s grace. It’s a good book, but one I am afraid I overhyped my expectations for.

Review Copy Provided by Thomas Nelson

Why I Love Podcasts

Over the last six plus years I have been lucky to have a job that allows me to listen to a lot of podcasts on a daily basis while I complete my job duties. Over that time I have found some great advantages and disadvantages to having the time and access to teachings electronically. Today I want to provide my take on the advantages of podcasts.

Anytime Anywhere
I can listen at work. I can listen in the car. I can listen on a plane. I can listen in the living room. I can listen mowing the yard. I can listen on the train. I can listen walking. I can listen in the bathroom (though maybe I shouldn’t). I can listen at work at my desk. I can listen on the moon. You get the point. I can listen to this content anywhere where my MP3 player has power after a charge. As long as I have device power, I don’t need or require a cord or access to another device. I could be listening while standing in a cave, and that’s a powerful and convenient tool for enriching one’s spirit and mind. Podcasts and MP3 device liberate me from having to be at a set location and time to access content.

Great Teachings
Podcasts allow you access to teachers and preachers that geographical location would never make available to you. I have lived in both predominantly rural and urban areas during this six year span, but I have always lived distantly from those pastors and leaders I enjoy listening to. Without podcasts, I would not have access to those who unknown to them are helping to spiritually mentor me. Additionally, since these podcasts represent a number of diverse churches they have guest speakers that are either prominent or up and coming that I may not typically seek out on my own. While some of these speakers may be hit or miss they have also introduced me to authors that I would have not have typically sought out. And it was all free.

Variety, Variety, Variety
I listen to a variety of speakers from a variety of denominations with a variety of styles. Additionally, they have differing topics they empathize more than others. Creation care is one great example. For some of these speakers creation care is something that humans are very much a part of with calls of action to actively actively participation in stewarding the environment. For others, they do not stress the care of creation, or advocate the trashing of creation, but place it as a secondary issue behind salvation. Additionally diversity has introduced me to new ways of interacting with theology. I had courses in systematic theology, but it was through podcasts that I was introduced to narrative theology and I love a good story. Additionally, I was able to take in different teachers with different styles preaching to different kinds of communities. The great thing is when you take in so much variety, it becomes easy to see what matters most to us as a “Christian Culture.”

Churchless Does Not Mean Message less
I have been churchless my friend, but the great news is now I’m found. During that time I visited several churches, and during periods of burnout I visited nowhere. But during that entire time span despite not having a community I was not left without teaching and preaching. There really is no excuse for not accessing good teaching and preaching anytime anywhere thanks to podcasts and a little internet access.

These are all great reasons to start browsing the large library of teaching hosted on the internet.

The Gospel According to Jesus by Chris Seay

Chris Seay in The Gospel According to Jesus explores the meaning of righteousness among American churchgoers and attempts to provide a proper perspective on the theology of righteousness. Seay commissioned a Barna research study that finds that most churchgoers have definitional issues around the word righteousness and focus on behavior and actions viewing righteousness as acting moral. Seay attempts to knock down this preconception and turns to Jesus for an example of what righteousness truly is. He paints a picture of righteousness based on relationships with our Savior and with other people and as a quality that brings justice to a broken world. Each chapter is followed by a prayer and interviews with other thinkers such as Mark Batterson and Rick McKinley for review.

The Gospel According to Jesus is a challenging book. And honestly that’s a good thing. Seay pushes his reader to move beyond acting right, putting up an impression of goodness and behaving as expected by our fellowships. Seay urges us to be honest, care for those in need and model Jesus in interactions with others. He sees the righteousness of the saved leading to actions that bring restorative justice to the world. That is a challenge not every reader will be open to! Quoted scripture is taken from The Voice translation, a translation that Seay is deeply involved in but some readers will find alien. This could be uncomfortable to readers unfamiliar with the style and language used by The Voice team, for example the use of the phrase The Eternal for God may simply seem too” new age” and lead to a decreased comfort level for readers. On a personal note, Seay an Astros fan makes jabs at the Chicago Cubs that lead me to reject any credibility Seay has as an author. Sadly, the Cubs refusal to actually beat the Astros this year may prove his points and return to him his authoritative voice. Though seriously, Seay’s personal illustrations successfully aid his arguments by showing how he and others have attempted to live out righteousness as he describes it.

Review Copy Provided by Thomas Nelson

Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference by Max Lucado

Max Lucado in Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference provides advice on leaving a lasting impression on this world with the resources God has given you. Lucado walks through key verses in the Book of Acts, using stories to bring the point of the verses out to his readers. He describes how the Book of Acts shows a small group of devoted believers, with limited education, influence and resources impacted the world from their own time to this day. Lucado notes that the work of the Book of Acts continues to this day, providing a story that has not ended. Key principles the author shares in leaving a permanent mark on the world includes the primacy of prayer, relationships with other believers and non-believers and modeling Jesus’ concern for the poor. Each chapter if followed by a complimentary Biblical verse for reflection and a prayer to focus the reader on the chapter’s content. A discussion guide for small groups is also provided.

Outlive Your Life is a typical Lucado book with a key strength in engaging writing that expertly uses stories to highlight and teach Lucado’s points. Lucado’s clear and entertaining writing allows readers to briskly read the text. Additionally, I think the text is helpful in reminding the reader that Jesus cared for the poor and was sympathetic to those shunned by society. He calls for us to remove our headphones and look around to the brothers we can partner with and the non-brothers who needs our help, help we must give as a result of our salvation. Personally, the most challenging section for me was on prayer, where Lucado reminds us that Jesus did not call his house one of study, sermons or etc but a house of prayer. Being a studious person, it served as a stark reminder that prayer is essential. Lucado puts his actions where his mouth is, donating his royalties from the book to World Vision. Outlive Your Life is a challenging but readable book that challenges Christians to make lasting impacts in the name of Christ.

Review Copy Provided by Thomas Nelson

The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews

The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews
Andy Andrews provides a version of his new book The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters in The Boy Who Changed the World. Andrews tells the story of the development of special corn seeds by Norman, a boy who dreamed of feeding the poor, as the boy who changed the world. But Andrews goes on to ask if it was Norman that saved the world or three other boys, Henry, George or Moses whose actions helped lead to the success of Norman’s seeds in saving billions. In the end, the actions of all four boys contributed to the development of the seeds in a series of events that shows that everyone’s actions matter.

I read the book with my daughter. She enjoyed the book and the pictures. She took up the challenge of being a girl who changed the world, and spent the next several moments sharing her plan to help “lost children.” She did at times get confused as the story jumped between boys. And she tried to pick only one of the boys as the one who saved the world. But overall it was a book that succeeded in calling a child to action. There is one error in the portion about George Washington Carver, a mistake only a Cyclone fan would likely pick up on. Andrews states that Carver attended Iowa State University (ISU), the university’s current name. Carver attended ISU under the name of Iowa State Agricultural College. Overall The Boy Who Changed the World is a good book which may inspire a child to think about doing great things.

Review Copy provided by Thomas Nelson

The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters by Andy Andrews

Andy Andrews in The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters asks the question, “Do I really matter?” Andrews answers the question by telling two stories. The first tale details the heroic efforts of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. Chamberlain, a man who refused to do nothing, ordered a historic charge that allowed Union forces to win the battle, when a Confederate victory could have decisively changed the history of the United States and the 20th Century. The second story Andrews presents is the chain of effects that led to the development of hybridized high yield, disease resistant corn by Norman Borlaug, a historical figure likely not to be familiar to most readers. Borlaug’s creation has saved billions from famine. But Andrews asks was it Borlaug’s efforts that led to the saving of more than two billion or was it the small efforts of others that lead to Borlaug’s work. Andrews shows that as the Butterfly Effect argues, all of our smallest actions have impacts, and Andrews inspiringly shows that those little things have long term impacts.

This is a gift book, so it’s short. To be honest I have thought about this book for more time than it took for me to read it. The book is visually pleasing starting at the cover, with a shiny butterfly graphic. As the great philosopher Jeff Foxworthy once argued, men are attracted to shiny things. The pages are more graphical than textual. I’m not a huge fan of gift books, but I found myself satisfied with The Butterfly Effect and am glad I took the time to read and reflect on it.

Review Copy provided by Thomas Nelson

Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend Edited by Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias guided the collection of essays by his Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) staff in Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend which covers topics as diverse as challenges from non-Christian world religions, evil in the world, spiritual transformation and living a Christ centered life. The text is broken into three sections. The first section, “Addressing the Difficult Questions” provides essays on other world religions including Islam and Hinduism, answering atheists, and engaging youth culture. Additional essays discuss the basics of conversational apologetics, challenges from culture and the challenges of evil and suffering. The second section, “Internalizing the Questions and Answers” provides advice on spiritual growth including dealing with self-deception and a better understanding of the Trinity. In the final section Zacharias provides the two essays in “Living Out the Answers” providing a call for Christians to live out what they speak and claim to believe including practical advice on strengthening one’s body and mind.

To be blunt, this book is and is intended to be heavy lifting. The text covers deep philosophical and theological issues. Therefore this book is likely not for every reader or even mood. It reads much more like a text book than a self help/spiritual growth book in some of the essays. And, being written by multiple authors, the quality of the chapters varies. It is sometimes frustrating to have authors quoting heavily from other authors also in the book, finding me asking what do they think not their colleagues or if they relied so heavily on this essay author why didn’t they write this chapter. Likewise it would be nice to have authors include more personal stories instead of summarizing their study on the topic. The chapters on other religions though informative weigh heavily on global religions which many may not interact with on a daily basis. It would have been a nice addition to include chapters on the Church of Latter Day Saints or Jehovah’s Witnesses as religions that many Christians in the United States may literally have knocking on their door and struggle in understanding Personally, I think the subtitle of “Living the Faith We Defend” is somewhat misleading as only one chapter, which is written by Zacharias, truly addresses living out our faith in a sincere and informed way which was really the topic I wished for the book to address.

Review Copy provided by Thomas Nelson