Something Different

Here is a quick recap of the books I read in January.

Deep Church by Jim Belcher

I very much enjoyed this book and its approach. Belcher identified that most people view the church as either traditional or emergent. The emergents bring great questions to the table and the traditionals usually have a great response. His book asks if there is a third way. A way that captures the health of both. I learned a lot about the emergent church in this book and felt that Belcher offered some great suggestions in the ever intensifying debate.

Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris

I wrote a more in depth review here. The quick of this book is a systematic approach to why we believe what we believe. I though Harris did a great job of making tough concepts a little easier to understand. In April I will attempt some similar cartoon artwork in a service that I found in this book.

Green by Ted Dekker

This is the fourth book of the circle series and was released quite a bit later than the other three. I use to be a huge fan of Dekker but gradually his books have gotten darker and darker and at some point I wonder how much health can come from reading about darkness. Further I though Green ended in a very hopeless manner. I would still recommend this to anyone who has read Black, Red, and White. I also would add that reading Showdown helped me a lot in understanding other characters in this book.

Eyes of the Tailless Animals by Soon Ok Lee

This book was given to me by a good friend who has spent a few years in a closed country teaching English. This is a powerful account of one women’s prison experience in North Korea. The images and stories told are tough to read through. I found this book to be a healthy reminder to pray for those who are being persecuted.

Zero to Sixty by Bob Franquiz

I’m always trying to grow as a leader and this book offered a bunch of wisdom. I liken this book to Axiom by Bill Hybels as it just gives you quick helpful thoughts about a subject matter and then moves on. I found many of the chapters encouraging in that we at thebridge have already wrestled through some of the topics and landed in a place that Franquiz advised.

Guerrilla Lovers by Vince Antonucci

A couple years ago two books were written that were very similar in thought process. One was “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan a good book. The other was “I became a Christian a Christian and All I got was this Lousy T-Shirt” which was a very very good book. Fast forward to this month and I read this book and the book listed below. Servolution is much more well known but Guerrilla Lovers is by far better. Best book I’ve read since “Primal.”

Servolution by Dino Rizzo

As you could probably tell from above this book just didn’t resonate with me at the same level as Guerrilla Lovers. Vince did a far better job of telling stories, bringing in application points, and using scripture. Servolution does have a healthy appendix that will useful but overall this book was ok.

Tea With Hezbollah by Dekker and Medearis

The idea behind this book is great and I did enjoy reading it. For a full review you can visit here.

Why We’re Not Emergent (by two guys who should be) by DeYoung and Kluck

There is a lot in this book that is right on in its caution of the emergent movement. However, I found they reached far to wide with some of their thoughts and accusations. They would grab a statement from a book here and there and throw the whole lot in with them. They chose Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, and Rob Bell as their main punching bags but included many others. They openly admitted to not exactly knowing what the emergent movement (no one knows) is but chose to harpoon anything positive that could come of it in spirit of fear and control. It was a debate in which believe must come before belong or stated another way it is more important to believe the right things about Jesus than to be like Jesus. Deep Church did a far better job of stating errors in the emergent thought while affirming some of the things that they do well.