2011 Book List

Below is my 2011 reading list. The titles in bold were my favorites. Feel free to comment or ask questions.

Reading List 2011
Goal: 60 books

1. Decision Points by George W. Bush
2. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
3. Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn
4. Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
5. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
6. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament by John Walton
7. The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson
8. Church Planting is for Wimps by Mike McKinley
9. American Assassin by Vince Flynn
10 Cyndere’s Midnight by Jeffrey Overstreet
11. Raven’s Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet
12. The Unexpected Journey by Thom Rainer
13. Upside Down by Stacy Rinehart
14. Evangelism: A Biblical Approach by G. Michael Cocoris
15. The Ale Boy’s Feast by Jeffrey Overstreet
16. Becoming a Contagious Christian by Bill Hybels
17. Business As Usual in the Missions Enterprise? by Tom Steffen
18. The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
19. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
20. Ministering Cross-Culturally by Sherwood Lingenfelter
21. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement ed. by Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne
22. The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H.W. Brands
23. John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock by Iain Murray
24. Serving with Eyes Wide Open by David Livermore
25. Golf’s Sacred Journey by David L. Cook
26. The Searchers by Alan LeMay
27. Slave by John MacArthur
28. Erasing Hell by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle
29. The Purity Principle by Randy Alcorn
30. Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church by Michael Lawrence
31. Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy
32. I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris
33. The Next Story by Tim Challies
34. Teach as Jesus Taught by Roy Zuck
35. A God-Sized Vision by Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge
36. Don’t Call It a Comeback ed. by Kevin DeYoung
37. The Mission of the Church by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert
38. Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas
39. Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris
40. Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism
41. The Cross of Christ by John Stott
42. Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? by C. John Collins


Fiction: 13
Non-fiction: 29

1 & 2 Timothy

I have the privilege of teaching through 1 and 2 Timothy for the next several months on Tuesday nights at our church's youth service called Reality Check. As I continue to learn and develop as a teacher/preacher, I refine my style and habit of study. Of course, my study habits and times are also governed by my school schedule. I still have almost four weeks until school starts, though, so my schedule is much more flexible and open. I am hoping to utilize my knowledge of Greek in a more extensive way than I've been able to previously in teaching. To aid in my teaching, here are the resources I'm using:

Entrusted With the Gospel, edited by Andreas J. Kostenberger and Terry L. Wilder.
The Pastoral Epistles, by Donald Guthrie.
1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, by Gordon D. Fee.
Pastoral Epistles, by William D. Mounce.
1-2 Timothy & Titus, by Philip H. Towner.

I've yet to come up with a title for the series, but I love the intimacy of the letters from Paul to his "true child," Timothy. I also was attracted to the amount of topics that Paul touches on in the 10 chapters of 1 and 2 Timothy: stewardship, the gospel, money, widows in the church, biblical inspiration, church structure, elders, deacons, dealing with false teachers, just to name a few!

I look forward to laboring through these books over the next few months.

2010 Books

My goal was to read 60 books this year. I failed. However, for the first time since 2006, I've read 50 books in a year. Below are the books in the order I read them. The bolded books were my favorites of the year. Feel free to comment below.

1. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
2. Understanding Four Views of the Lord’s Supper ed. by John Armstrong
3. Peace Like A River by Leif Enger
4. The Reason For God by Tim Keller
5. College Ministry 101 by Chuck Bomar
6. Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong by John MacArthur, et al.
7. Adopted For Life by Russell Moore
8. The Art of Pastoring by David Hansen
9. Jesus and the Gospels by Craig Blomberg
10. John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life by Herman Selderhuis
11. The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
12. Calvin and the Atonement by Robert Peterson
13. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
14. Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller
15. What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert
16. The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
17. Start Your Family by Steve & Candice Watters
18. A Little Exercise for Young Theologians by Helmut Thielicke
19. Pendragon by Stephen R. Lawhead
20. Invitation to Biblical Preaching by Don Sunukjian
21. A Harmony of the Gospels by Stanley Gundry and Robert L. Thomas
22. The Words and Works of Jesus Christ by Dwight Pentecost
23. Grail by Stephen R. Lawhead
24. Ashamed of the Gospel by John MacArthur
25. Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey
26. Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne
27. War by Sebastian Junger
28. Taking Your Church to the Next Level by Gary McIntosh
29. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
30. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
31. Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung
32. Going Solo by Roald Dahl
33. The End of the Law by Jason C. Meyer
34. A Painted House by John Grisham
35. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
36. The Deliberate Church by Mark Dever and Paul Alexander
37. Looking For Calvin and Hobbes by Nevin Martell
38. The Green Mile by Stephen King
39. Trail of the Spanish Bit by Don Coldsmith
40. Radical by David Platt
41. The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire
42. Life After God by Douglas Coupland
43. Here Today, There Tomorrow by Gary McIntosh
44. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
45. The God Conversation by J. P. Moreland and Tim Muehlhoff
46. The Elk-Dog Heritage by Don Coldsmith
47. Follow the Wind by Don Coldsmith
48. The Rainmaker by John Grisham
49. Buffalo Medicine by Don Coldsmith
50. The Heart of a Great Pastor by H. B. London Jr. and Neil B. Wiseman
51. More Than A Carpenter by Josh and Sean McDowell

The Not-As-Old Age-Old Story

The title isn't referring to the "old, old story,/How a Savior came from glory," but to the seemingly eternal debate between Calvinism and Arminianism. So often it's not put in those terms, but involves vitriol and disgust over terms like "free will," "predestination," "election," "prevenient grace" and the like.

I've declared myself to be a Calvinist many times and mainly read books and listen to sermons by Calvinists. And however much I believed in reading and listening to those I disagree with, I haven't practiced that very consistently. Okay, so not really at all!

That is going to change and part of the way I am endeavoring to change by reading Arminian Theology by Roger E. Olson. I'm only on page 30, but so far it has already been helpful to read the views of someone on the other side of this intramural debate. I think that Roger Olson is a brother in Christ and loves God with all his heart. His tone is irenic, but he is not willing to become a doormat for Calvinists either. I appreciate that very much.

I'm also reading Radical by David Platt. It's currently ranked #27 on all of amazon.com! The book's subtitle is "taking back your faith from the American Dream," an apropo title to worry this reader who grew up in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb. I love David Platt's preaching and listen to his podcast religiously. I would already encourage to pick up this book and read it. It's fairly amazing/amusing to me that a book about a young man who downsized his house and regularly calls people to give most of their money away has made it on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Have a good weekend!

Halfway there . . . almost!

So this year I had the audacious goal of reading 60 books in a year. What made this crazy was the fact that I hadn't reached my goal of 50 books in a year since 2007. Below you'll find my reading list so far in 2010:

1. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
2. Understanding Four Views of the Lord’s Supper ed. by John Armstrong
3. Peace Like A River by Leif Enger
4. The Reason For God by Tim Keller
5. College Ministry 101 by Chuck Bomar
6. Right Thinking in a World Gone Wrong by John MacArthur, et al.
7. Adopted For Life by Russell Moore
8. The Art of Pastoring by David Hansen
9. Jesus and the Gospels by Craig Blomberg
10. John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life by Herman Selderhuis
11. The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
12. Calvin and the Atonement by Robert Peterson
13. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
14. Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller
15. What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert
16. The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
17. Start Your Family by Steve & Candice Watters
18. A Little Exercise for Young Theologians by Helmut Thielicke
19. Pendragon by Stephen R. Lawhead
20. Invitation to Biblical Preaching by Don Sunukjian
21. A Harmony of the Gospels by Stanley Gundry and Robert L. Thomas
22. The Words and Works of Jesus Christ by Dwight Pentecost
23. Grail by Stephen R. Lawhead
24. Ashamed of the Gospel by John MacArthur
25. Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey
26. Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne
27. War by Sebastian Junger

A Systematic Summer

This summer I'm reading through Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. I was spurred on to do it by a variety of influences, one of them being an ambition to know exhaustively the doctrines of the Christian faith.

Every morning I have been reading a chunk of the book and I'm currently on page 118 (of 1,164 pages) in chapter 7 - The Necessity of Scripture. This quote substantively says what I try to tell our youth all the time:

"To neglect regular reading of God's Word is as detrimental to the health of our souls as the neglect of physical food is detrimental to the health of our bodies."

I really do believe that and Grudem does a fantastic job of explaining why that is the case in his chapters on the authority of Scripture.
Another reason that I'm doing this--aside from the fact that I'm a huge nerd AND in seminary--is for a series we'll be doing in Reality Check in the fall called "Boot Camp." In the series we'll be preparing the youth for deployment in the Lord's Army (yes sir!) by covering the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. I feel that the baptistic tradition I've lived in my whole life has so negatively reacted against other denominations and church structures that we've lost the original sense of confirmation classes. No, I'm not interested in baptizing babies, but I do think that making sure our young people are grounded in the truths of their faith is vastly important and vastly overlooked in most churches in Southern California. It is a direct offshoot of our youth's theme for the 2010-2011 year: War!
Our logo was designed by Melanie Brown, a college freshman who attends Reality Check. Enjoy!