What I’m reading now:
Rejesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church: Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch
Frost and Hirsch tear away false characterizations about Jesus and reveal a wild and radical revolutionary . . . anything but boring. This book is a huge leap in the right direction (Amazon.com).
What I have read and recommend:
Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are: Neil Cole
Is it possible that the division between the clergy and the laity is unnecessary and, in fact, harmful to the church? In Organic Leadership, Neil Cole fervently says yes and shows how this causes great harm to all (Amazon.com).
From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God: Frank Viola
Deep within God’s Word lies a wondrous story like no other. A drama that originated before time began. An epic saga that resonates with the heartbeat of God. A story that reveals nothing less than the meaning of life and God’s great mission in the earth (Amazon.com).
The Shack: William P Young
Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. (Amazon.com).
The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America: Jim Wallis
Wallis draws on lively stories from his speaking engagements and world travels to discuss how the silent majority of religious Americans who don’t feel represented by the religious right’s agenda can first take comfort in their sheer numbers and then take action in their communities to fight poverty, clean up the environment and eradicate disease (Publishers Weekly).
Saving the Corporate Soul and (Who Knows?) Maybe Your Own: David Batastone
Even those who think the idea of a “corporate soul” is an oxymoron will be persuaded by journalist David Batstone’s whip-smart suggestions for how values can reinvent an organization’s bad behavior (Amazon.com).
Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity: Frank Viola
Viola, who doesn’t believe in clergy, denominations or doctrinal statements, argues that most churches are set up like corporations, while those in the early church were overseen but not controlled by apostles (DeWayne Hamby, Christian Retailers).
Velvet Elvis: Rob Bell
God never changes, nor do the central truths of Christianity. But our understanding of those truths is in constant flux.
The Shaping of Things To Come: Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost
Christendom is dying and needs to be removed from its life-support system.
A New Kind of Christian: Brian McLaren
Postmodernism is the road to take in order to move on from the current stalemate between conservative evangelical and liberal Christians (Library Journal).
The Irresistible Revolution: Shane Claiborne
They call themselves “ordinary radicals” because they attempt to live like Christ and the earliest converts to Christianity, ignoring social status and unencumbered by material comforts (Publishers Weekly).
Houses That Change The World: Wolfgang Simson
In a world where the church is being ignored, it is time to bring the church to the people and not the people to the church.
God’s Politics: Jim Wallis
Why the American Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn’t get it.
Blue Like Jazz: Donald Miller
In this intimate, soul-searching account, Miller describes his remarkable journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely loving God.
Life After Church: God’s Call to Disillusioned Christians: Brian Sanders
Life without church. It’s getting easier to imagine. And maybe you already left. A leaver, then. Committed to Jesus, not an institution.
Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money: Christian Smith , Michael O Emerson and Patricia Snell
Passing the Plate shows that few American Christians donate generously to religious and charitable causes — a parsimony that seriously undermines the work of churches and ministries.
