I finished reading Love Wins. Maybe I am more of an apostate than I thought I was, but I did not see anything Rob said that denied the orthodox views of the afterlife. What I did read was an earnest attempt by a very hip pastor to explain how something like hell and judgment can… Read More »
Hey, Rob Bell Wrote a Controversial Book!
You may not have noticed, but here are some people who have. http://www.redletterchristians.org/love-wins-rob-bell-and-the-new-calvinists/ http://www.patheos.com/community/jesuscreed/2011/03/19/rob-bell-reviews/ http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/church/features/25030-is-rob-bell-a-universalist http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/03/16/we-have-seen-all-this-before-rob-bell-and-the-reemergence-of-liberal-theology/ http://www.jesusneedsnewpr.net/my-thoughts-about-rob-bells-interview-lovewins/ http://www.russellmoore.com/2011/03/15/the-blood-drained-gospel-of-rob-bell/ http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/april/lovewins.html http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=34868 These are just the links from the last day or two. The book was released on Tuesday and has been flying off the shelves. Christianbook.com announced on their website that due to the controversial nature… Read More »
Review – Do Hard Things
Do Hard Things purports to be the story of regular teens doing extraordinary things. The primary tenets of the book – that teens are allowed to slough and lounge their way through life when they should be working hard and doing stuff – is one that I can agree with wholeheartedly. But I feel as… Read More »
Review – The Principle of the Path to Where You Want to Be
Andy Stanley has written some great books. So when he puts out a somewhat average one, it is hard to be excited about it. His best books are those which are not based on a teaching series – like Communicating for a Change, and 7 Practices of Effective Ministry. Usually when a book is based… Read More »
Review – Find Our Way Again
Brian McLaren has made a writing and lecturing career out of being controversial. Sometimes I think he creates controversy where there is not enough so that he can be on the other side of it. As I’ve said in other posts, I like the questions McLaren asks. I don’t necessarily agree with his conclusions, but… Read More »
Review – The Next Christians
Gabe Lyons is one of the cofounders of the national conference “Catalyst” and the co-author of the Christian bestseller unChristian. He has become something of a spokesperson for the post-emerging evangelicals that he calls The Next Christians in the book of the same name. I am not sure what I expected from Lyons’ book. For… Read More »
BOOK REVIEW – Unlikely Disciple
You’re a non-religious, nineteen year old journalism student at an Ivy League college. What should you do for the spring semester of your sophomore year? Why not attend the nation’s largest Christian liberal arts college in cognito and learn about this group from the inside out? That’s exactly what Kevin Roose did, and as a… Read More »
BOOK REVIEW – Transforming Church in Rural America
I pastor a small but growing church in a small town in New Hampshire, and I thought the region where I minister was rural – until I looked up Harrison, Arkansas, the town where Shannon O’Dell pastors. In reality, the town of 25,000 where I minister is twice the size as Harrison, and our county… Read More »
BOOK REVIEW – My Princess Bible
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1tcD2iplEM] Since this is not my usual fair when reviewing, I asked my daughter to help me review My Princess Bible, published by Tyndale House Publishers. My Princess Bible is an interesting take on telling the stories of biblical women. My daughter found the pictures to be entertaining and the stories were easy to read.… Read More »
BOOK REVIEW – The Strategically Small Church
If there is one thing that I, as a pastor of a small church, find annoying about church growth literature it is that it is almost always written by guys who planted churches. This sounds weird, but it is true. Most books on church growth are ‘ground-up’ books. They start with a plant team and… Read More »
