BookPastor >> "Relational Children's Ministry" (Dan Lovaglia)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on Feb 12th, 2016.

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TITLE: Relational Children's Ministry: Turning Kid-Influencers Into Lifelong Disciple Makers
AUTHOR: Dan Lovaglia
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (272 pages).

As far as children are concerned, the Bible has been very consistent. The Bible has said in Psalm 127:3 that "Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from Him." We are blessed to have children in our midst. I remember how children light up the mood in any room. At the same time, we need to look at what it means to practice Proverbs 22:6 to "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Even in the New Testament, children are specifically told to obey their parents. That is one main reason for children's ministry. We want to reach children for Christ, to groom them to be God-fearing individuals, and to help them live a life honouring to God and to people. In the words of Dan Lovaglia, author and Director of Leadership Development at Awana International, children's ministry must be relational. He wants to equip leaders to move from "kid-influencers into lifelong disciple makers" and in doing so to help children do the same when they grow up. Such leaders include not only ministry workers, volunteers, and pastoral staff. Most importantly, it is about reaching and equipping parents by coming alongside them, supporting, encouraging, and guiding them. All of these are best done through relationships. With skill and care, Lovaglia helps us through three main stages.

BookPastor >> "What Christians Ought to Believe" (Michael F. Bird)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on July 8th, 2016.

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TITLE: What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles' Creed
AUTHOR: Michael F. Bird
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (240 pages).

Wonderful! A book of theological truths based on the Apostles Creed. Theology is more important than what the average Church goer may think. Rather than plowing through thick volumes of theological textbooks on systematic theology, or buy individual books on various theological topics, we have in our hands a book that expounds on the essence of the history, the core theological issues, and the crucial doctrines every Christian ought to know. The Apostles Creed is an excellent choice because it is still the most unifying creed for all (if not most) Christian communities. The Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, Evangelicals, Non-Denominationals, Bible, Independents, and many others are pretty united when it comes to this ancient creed. Even fringe groups will very likely profess the same creed with certain disclaimers. Whether one agrees with the creed fully or not, the scope of coverage is wide enough to give the Church a pretty decent theological syllabus. Author and New Testament Professor Michael Bird has done exactly that and has written this book for the masses.

He begins by making a case for the Apostles Creed as an important syllabus for beginners. Not only is it biblical, it gives us a basic summary of what the Early Church held, what traditions are, and how they inform our theological education. Creeds are part of the way God has used to teach us. From the Old and New Testaments, we get the life of Jesus, the Apostolic teachings, the Rule of Faith, and the Creeds. Creeds are used in worship; in promoting unity and fellowship with other believers; in reminding us about our faith. They also form a key part of our devotional lives. The rest of the book deals with a particular part of the creed.

BookPastor >> "Relational Children's Ministry (Dan Lovaglia)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on July 12th, 2016.

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TITLE: Relational Children's Ministry: Turning Kid-Influencers Into Lifelong Disciple Makers
AUTHOR: Dan Lovaglia
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (272 pages).

As far as children are concerned, the Bible has been very consistent. The Bible has said in Psalm 127:3 that "Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from Him." We are blessed to have children in our midst. I remember how children light up the mood in any room. At the same time, we need to look at what it means to practice Proverbs 22:6 to "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Even in the New Testament, children are specifically told to obey their parents. That is one main reason for children's ministry. We want to reach children for Christ, to groom them to be God-fearing individuals, and to help them live a life honouring to God and to people. In the words of Dan Lovaglia, author and Director of Leadership Development at Awana International, children's ministry must be relational. He wants to equip leaders to move from "kid-influencers into lifelong disciple makers" and in doing so to help children do the same when they grow up. Such leaders include not only ministry workers, volunteers, and pastoral staff. Most importantly, it is about reaching and equipping parents by coming alongside them, supporting, encouraging, and guiding them. All of these are best done through relationships. With skill and care, Lovaglia helps us through three main stages.

BookPastor >> "NIV Zondervan Study Bible" (Edited by DA Carson)

TITLE: NIV Zondervan Study Bible, Hardcover, Full Color, Free Digital: Built on the Truth of Scripture and Centered on the Gospel Message
AUTHOR: Bible Translated by NIV Translation Team with D.A. Carson as General Editor
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015, (2912 pages).

This is an excellent Zondervan study Bible based on the NIV translation. With Dr D.A Carson as the general editor, more than 60 contributors from the evangelical world have come together to create a study Bible packed with study tools, maps, notes, color diagrams, and commentaries centered on a biblical theology. The 28 articles are written by well known persons such as Kevin DeYoung, Tim Keller, Andreas J. Kostenberger, Douglas Moo, Andrew David Nasalli,  Moses Silva, etc. Commentaries are drawn from experts such as TD Alexander, Craig L. Blomberg,  Richard S. Hess, Tremper Longman III, Mark Strauss, Douglas K. Stuart, Robert W. Yarbrough, alongside Regent College professors, Rikk E. Watts, V. Philips Long, and Bruce K. Waltke. With nearly 3000 pages of commentaries, notes, maps, pictures, photos, introductory material, and extensive footnotes, every page is filled with information for the avid student to ponder and to learn.

BookPastor >> "No God But One" (Nabeel Qureshi)

This review was first published on Aug 17th, 2016 at Panorama of a Book Saint.

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TITLE: No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity
AUTHOR: Nabeel Qureshi
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (320 pages).

Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Is Allah the same as Jesus? This issue costs a tenured professor her job and puts her seminary at the center of a controversy. For the rest of us, it highlights the confusion behind the differences and the similarities between Christianity and Islam. On the one hand, there is a lot of similarities in the Old Testament with the Quran. On the other hand, there are distinct differences in the theology of the person of God. As a convert from Islam, author and speaker Nabeel Qureshi has a personal interest in this one issue, partly because of his acute background understanding of Islam, and also because of his new found faith in Jesus. Having struggled with the differences between Christianity and Islam in a very personal level, he knows why and how people are confused about the whole matter. This book is his attempt to tell the differences between the two great religions and to investigate who God is. For over a decade, he has struggled with the issue, together with thousands of people he have met caught between the theologies of the two faiths. It is hoped that the book will not only clarify the differences but will enable us to pray more knowledgeably for the people caught between the two faiths.

BookPastor >> "For a New Generation" (Lee Kricher)

This review was first published on Aug 22nd, 2016 at Panorama of a Book Saint.

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TITLE: For a New Generation: A Practical Guide for Revitalizing Your Church
AUTHOR: Lee Kricher
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (176 pages).

If you are reading this book, there is a good chance that you come from or know of churches trying to address the aging problem. Churches all over the world are constantly being challenged toward leadership renewal, engaging the young, and replacing the old. People don’t live forever and there will be a time in which the baton needs to be handed to the next generation. Provided there is a next generation. Are you doing enough to reach the next generation? Are we doing both church planting as well as church revitalization? Can we put in place a strategy to enable a church toward ‘perpetual church revitalization?’

For senior pastor of Amplify Church, it means developing a new generation church that has “attendees whose average age is at least as young as the average age of the community in which the church exists.” For Amplify Church that was founded in the late 1970s, by 2003 they had such a sharp decline that the less than 200 people in the church could hardly afford its monthly mortgage payment. They even needed to make arrangement with a bank to service only its interest! Most alarming was the rising average age of the congregation. By refocusing their efforts on becoming a new generation church, the numbers not only reversed but the church grew to an average weekly attendance of 1400 people. More encouraging is the average age of the congregation hovers under 35. This book is about the journey of Amplify Church, and how it takes a declining situation and turns it around to be a vibrant new generation church. It comprises five strategies:

1. Adopt a New Mindset
2. Identify the Essentials
3. Reduce the Distractions
4. Elevate Your Standards
5. Build a Mentoring Culture

BookPastor >> "An A-Z Guide to Biblical Prophecy and the End Times" (J. Daniel Hays, J. Scott Duvall, & C. Marvin Pate)

This review was first published on March 27th, 2012 at Panorama of a Book Saint.

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TITLE: An A-to-Z Guide to Biblical Prophecy and the End Times
AUTHOR: J. Daniel Hays, J. Scott Duvall, & C. Marvin Pate.
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012, (512 pages).

This book  is one of the clearest and most concise dictionary and guide for anyone interested in knowing all things associated with biblical prophecy and the end times. It is literally packed with detailed descriptions of two very important but least understood topics for Bible readers today. It is more than a dictionary that merely explains each subject. It is simple without being bogged down with difficult technical words. Even the big theological words are carefully explained to guide the layperson along. The illustrations and the diagrams are included to enable the reader to appreciate the concept better. For instance, the 'Already-Not Yet' biblical idea of the kingdom of God has been clearly diagrammed with Christ's two comings. On top of that, the precious implications are also marked to hone in the meaning of the two ideas. Every prophetic book are explained. The most popular positions surrounding prophecy are carefully dealt with fairly, without the authors pushing through their own views. This is truly a work of scholarship that is fair and gives room for readers to interpret and to make their own judgment.

There are articles on people, places, prophets, positions, and many more. The work is also comprehensive in dealing with the end times. The various positions are explained and within each explanation, the authors carefully compare and contrast how they are different from the other positions. For example, in explaining the Covenant theology and the dispensationalist views of the end times, the primary emphasis is to ensure that the readers understand the terms fairly on its own merit. The views of Amillenials, Premillenials, Postmillenials, and so on, are openly given with the purpose of reminding the reader that there are more than one view to the same topic. Such a pattern is repeated throughout this book. Three eminent scholars wanting to share what they know about bible prophecy and the end times, have done it in a way that is clear, concise, and comprehensive. This is what a good dictionary and guide looks like. Hays, Duvall, and Pate has not only given us a powerful reference for all students of the Bible, they have demonstrated what good educators should do. I am amazed at by the breadth of information but also by the depth of research to each article. I highly recommend this work for Bible teachers, students, pastors, seminarians and laypersons.


Rating: 5 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book is provided to me free by Zondervan and NetGalley without any obligation of a positive review. All opinions given above are mine unless otherwise stated.

BookPastor >> "How to Preach and Teach the Old Testament for All Its Worth" (Christopher J.H. Wright)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on April 16th, 2016.

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TITLE: How to Preach and Teach the Old Testament for All Its Worth
AUTHOR: Christopher J.H. Wright
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (288 pages).

Christians who believe in the authority of the Bible will have no problem about the importance of the Old Testament. However, when it comes to communicating the truths and the nuances of the biblical texts for the general audience, it becomes more challenging because of the ancient contexts, the archaic languages used, and how it is relevant for contemporary cultures. Author Christopher Wright has seen it all. He knows how infrequent preachers use the Old Testament for their Sunday sermons. Even those who teach prefer to use the New Testament as it involves less work for the teacher and less intense for the students. Yet, the difficulty should not be the reason for not studying the Old Testament. Despite the title of the book, there is a progression of why first before the how. This is important.

Part One of the book is about the WHY we need to preach and teach the Old Testament. Part Two reveals the HOW.

BookPastor >> "Answering Jihad" (Nabeel Qureshi)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on April 14th, 2016.

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TITLE: Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward
AUTHOR: Nabeel Qureshi
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (176 pages).

What does it mean to say that Islam is a religion of peace? Is this understanding the same for both Western and the Middle-Eastern minds? What is Jihad? How does a religion cause a person to become radicalized? What is the meaning of Islam and its origins?

Spurred by the rising anxiety of terrorism from Islamic radicals and the confusion surrounding religious truth and ideology, Nabeel Qureshi shares honestly and passionately about what Islam stands for, what Jihad essentially means, and how we can respond or relate to Muslims. Qureshi is a former Muslim who when young, was very pious about all things Islam. He has previously shared about his conversion from Islam to Christianity in a book entitled, "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus."

Some of the clarifications he have made in the book include his study, experience, and analysis of the history of Islam and the teachings of the Quran.

1. The Western understanding of Islam as a religion of peace is different from the Muslim's understanding of peace. Islam means "surrender," a peace that comes only after all the enemies of Islam have surrendered. Violence may be necessary in order to bring about such peace. 
2. The word 'Jihad' means 'struggle,' and is sometimes referred to as the sixth pillar of Islam. While the word sometimes is used in the Quran in a spiritual sense, it more often than not refers to a physical struggle for a spiritual goal.
3. Each time anyone attempts to go back to the origins of the Islamic faith, violence is part and parcel of the struggle in the faith. A vast majority of Muslims have not bothered to go back to the roots of the religion. In order to understand the Islamic religion, one must also understand the contexts of the religion. 
4. The history of the prophet Muhammad is replete with violence; both offensive and defensive forms of jihad. (Example, in Quran 9:29, there is a command to fight Jews and Christians because of belief, not aggression)
5. "Sharia" literally means "path to water" but the interpretations of Shariah law varies tremendously due to "abrogation" where there are verses the some say are no longer relevant but others insist on its relevance.
6. The expansion of Islam involves the use of the "sword" whether directly or indirectly.

BookPastor >> "Core Christianity" (Michael Horton)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on April 2nd, 2016.

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TITLE: Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God's Story
AUTHOR: Michael Horton
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (192 pages).

The story that we believe will determine our responses to events in life. This is the core message of the book. Also known as worldview, author and professor Michael Horton puts it simply as the story we believe in our hearts. For Christians, Horton believes that the story is the Christian story. We understand it by proper doctrine; by living in Jesus; by having reason informed by faith; and the fundamental Christian living determined by the 4Ds.

1. Drama: The biblical narrative
2. Doctrine: What the drama means
3. Doxology: Praising God with grateful hearts
4. Discipleship: Fruit of love and good works

Michael Horton is J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. He has also authored several theology textbooks, one of which is Pilgrim Theology. Comparatively speaking, this book is a distilled version for lay readers. It is written with the ordinary church goer in mind. Selecting ten core doctrines, Horton writes in a more direct, conversational, and popular style. Where there is a need to describe in theological terms, the author makes it a point to separately define and explain it, which is useful for those of us unfamiliar with the more demanding words used in theology. The ten doctrines are:

1. The Deity of Jesus
2. The Trinity
3. God
4. Sin
5. Old Testament Promise
6. Salvation
7. The Gospel
8. Jesus Christ
9. The End Times
10. Witnessing for God

BookPastor >> "Living God's Word" (J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on Nov 24th 2012.

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TITLE: Living God's Word: Discovering Our Place in the Great Story of Scripture
AUTHOR:  J. Scott Duvall and  J. Daniel Hays
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012, (320 pages).

We learn best from stories because stories shape our thinking and our living. If we can find God in the story, and subsequently see our place in the story, we are in for an exciting time of learning and living. This is the premise of this book. For those of us who loves to "walk" through the Bible and see the big story, this book helps us to do just that. Through their teaching experience at Bible schools, the authors encounter two major problems. Firstly, students are not sure how the stories in the Bible fit in the overall Story. Secondly, students need help on how to read the Bible for themselves. Riding on the success of their first book, "Grasping God's Word," Duvall and Hays have come up with a complementary edition that focuses on the overall story of the Bible. The earlier book was written to enable readers to read, to interpret, and to apply the teachings of the Bible. This new book is intended for readers to survey the whole Bible, and to enable readers to discover the riches of the Bible for themselves. Using the letter C as an alliteration device, the authors comb the 66 books of the Bible to tell the story in 20 chapters. The first half tells the great story of God's creation leading all the way to the final and perfect Redemption of the world. Beginning with creation, there is the unfortunate fall of man. God enters the picture again with a redemption plan, to redeem Israel through the Abrahamic call. Israel fails terribly and soon, God enters the picture with a relationship with the people through the Mosaic covenant and the commandments. Israel fails miserably again despite their conquests and their requests for a king. As Israel crumbles and goes into captivity, despite the multiple warnings given by prophets and priests, kings and soothsayers, God's people continue their rebellion, and the Old Testament ends without much good news as far as the Israelite behaviour is concerned. This is followed by a chapter that describes the time of silence. I find this chapter very illuminating as it stands between the first and the second testaments, in a neither beginning or end state. Readers are left pondering "What happened?" as they reflect on the Old Testament events. They are also left to grapple with the next questions:

• What does it all mean?
• What is going to happen next?
• Is there hope?

Enters God again in the New Testament. The New Testament is broadly described in three segments: Christ, Church, and Consummation. Like creation, God is the Initiator again. Man cannot save himself. God can. By sending Christ, to enter our world, to teach the world, and to be crucified and sacrificed for the sake of the world. After His resurrection, Christ commissions his disciples to continue the mission. He promises the Holy Spirit who will lead the Church to do great things for God, in distributing the salvation message. The Consummation represents a happy ending to a great story. Each chapter begins with a hook to get the reader interested. There are stories like toddler and the electrical outlets, spiders in a truck, a wedding vow, Superman's cape, and many more to grab the attention of the contemporary reader. The reader is then urged to read or listen to a few key passages of the Scriptures that describe the story more explicitly. The contexts, the characters, and the contents are introduced, followed by some basic themes.


My Thoughts

There is an intentional story-telling emphasis in the whole book. In order to tell the story of stories, one needs to be utterly familiar with the whole Bible. This is where the authors shine in their comprehension and their familiarity with modern learners. Like good teachers, they give readers a clear overview of the book. I love the way they put the chapter headings so concisely. Reflecting on the chapter title alone already gives us a good idea where the authors are heading. For me, it is a powerful learning key. The twenty learning keys are like handrails to guide readers through all 66 books of the Bible. They all lead toward a great climax of the story. They all build upon previously established steps or story endings. They all progress in a direction. While the authors do not give an individual book-by-book approach, they provide a thought-by-thought progression that makes great story-telling. In fact, preachers can also use the book as material for 20 sermons too. The frameworks are excellent ways to tell stories and to bring out the biblical themes clearly. I like the many summaries that we need reminding from time to time. For example, the summary of the Ten Commandments, the maps of Palestine and Israel to give readers an idea of the contexts of the land, the comparison of narratives in Kings as well as Chronicles, and many more. The blue-boxed out summaries are refreshing and make for great Powerpoint slides. The bibliography at the end of each chapter is intentionally short so as not to make research too intimidating.

That said, there are some weaknesses in the approach taken by Duvall and Hays. Let me mention three. First, there is some amount of straitjacketing going on. Everytime we use a alliteration device, we try to force our story to reflect the C-word we choose. It is one thing to let the Bible inform the story. It is yet another to let a certain interpretation inform how one reads the Bible. For this reason, I recommend the book for beginner to moderate level readers. Those who are trained theologically will know that there are many more nuances associated with each of the 66 books. While the story flow is true, we cannot presume that these are the only stories worth telling. Second, there is some reductionism going on? Why only 20 chapters? Perhaps, brevity is a concern. Maybe, the book is designed more for popular reading. That said, it is important to remember that this is the authors' way of communicating truth in a readable manner. In fact, there can be 30 chapters or even 40 chapters, depending on how we want to frame our story. It is a reminder that the book is a summary, and readers are to remember that summaries do result in some reductionism. If readers understand that, it is ok. Third, this book in itself is already an interpretation of the Bible story.  For readers who are keen to do inductive studies, this book is not for you. Supplement this book with others. However, if the book can encourage Bible literacy, to motivate readers to read the Bible with more enthusiasm, it is still a very good thing.

If I can use my own learning acronym for this book, it will be F.U.L.L.

1. Finding the story (Discovery)
2. Understanding the story (Delight)
3. Learning the story (Deepen)
4. Living the story. (Do)

This book helps us to do that very well. I recommend this book for the beginner student, as well as the layperson wanting to read the Bible from the eyes of story telling. If you have read "Grasping God's Word," you will love this book too.

Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book is provided to me free by Zondervan and NetGalley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
conrade

BookPastor >> "Four Views on Hell"

This review was first published on March 26th, 2016 at Panorama of a Book Saint.

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TITLE: Four Views on Hell: Second Edition (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)
AUTHOR: Preston Sprinkle, Denny Burk, John G. Stackhouse Jr., Robin Perry, and Jerry Walls
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (224 pages).

The topic of hell and eternal damnation has been a controversial topic recently. Since Rob Bell's Love Wins, which is essentially a book that not only rejects the existence of eternal hell but advocates the position of universalism, many Christians are caught in a bind about what exactly does the Bible teach about hell. A number of outspoke critics railed against Bell. A popular Christian pastor, Francis Chan was so upset about Bell's universalist approach that he responded with Erasing Hell. The chief editor of ChristianityToday publication wrote God Wins to counter Bell's ideas. While these books appeal at a popular readers' level, there are some people who would like a more in-depth treatment of the topic of hell, damnation, and eternal suffering. Enters this book which is part of Zondervan's Counterpoints series. Four different perspectives are provided not simply for readers to pick-and-choose but to be understood and to learn from. If not everybody have the whole truth, surely, together, we can all draw a bigger picture that we can learn from. Each view comes with three responses. The main purpose of this book is to lay out the different views of hell for the purpose of instruction and illumination, so that there will be bridges of understanding of all sides. This book is not new. The first edition was published in 1996 with the literal view (John F. Walvoord), the metaphorical view (William Crockett), the conditional view (Clark H. Pinnock), and the purgatorial view (Zachary J. Hayes). This second edition has been updated with four new contributors.

BookPastor >> "Discipleship That Fits" (Bobby William Harrington and Alex Absalom)

This book was first published on Feb 17th, 2016 at Panorama of a Book Saint.

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TITLE: Discipleship That Fits: The Five Kinds of Relationships God Uses to Help Us Grow
AUTHOR: Bobby William Harrington and Alex Absalom
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016, (240 pages).

When buying clothes, we look for those that fit the wearers. When hiring people, we usually talk about whether we get the right person for the right job. Even in churches that are hiring staff, we are passionate about finding the right fit. In a world of increasing personalization and customization, the idea of fit matches very well with modern society. Bobby Harrington and Alex Absalom have extended the idea of 'fit' to discipleship. They are convinced that the primary command of the Great Commission is to make disciples. Without discipleship, churches risk getting converts without depth, believers without passion, and people without purpose. For Harrington, discipleship is about the process of turning believers into followers of Jesus in every way. For Absalom, a disciple is an "intentional learner from Jesus." The authors highlight the presence of three common sets of behaviour in churches. The "bounded set" is about churches that tend to focus on the boundary to determine who is in and who is out. Such a set tends to be too discriminative and fails to build community with people different from us. The "fuzzy set" type runs to the other extreme where there are no distinctions, leading to a confused state. The "centered set" has all persons in the community united in one goal.

The two key questions for discipleship are:

1) What is Jesus saying?
2) What am I doing in response?

BookPastor >> "Preaching the Whole Counsel of God" (Julius Kim)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on Feb 12th, 2016.

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TITLE: Preaching the Whole Counsel of God: Design and Deliver Gospel-Centered Sermons
AUTHOR: Julius J. Kim
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015, (240 pages).

There are lots of preaching going on every week everywhere. Due to the many different theories and philosophies surrounding the ministry of preaching, very often, it is not easy to distinguish what is true preaching of the whole counsel of God. Some expound the Bible well but fail to connect with contemporary relevance. Others connect so well that they fail to emphasize the relevance of the gospel to life. Some believe that content is everything while others insist on the method of delivery. Not only that, preaching is also about the audience. Do we preach until it hurts or do we maintain a level of feel-good healing posture? This book is important for the simple fact that good preaching means reestablishing a renewed confidence in the Word of God for all of life. The basic question in this book is this: What constitutes the whole counsel of God?

As far as author Julius Kim is concerned, there are four parts to this. Preaching must begin with the author's discovery of the truth; progressing to discerning the truth; designing the message; and finally delivering the text.

1. The herald must discover the truth of the text according to the human author.
2. The herald must discern Christ in the text according to the Divine Author.
3. The herald must design a sermon that is true, good, and beautiful.
4. The herald must deliver the sermon for attention, retention, integration, and transformation.

BookPastor >> "The Will of God as a Way of Life" (Jerry Sittser)

TITLE: The Will of God as a Way of Life: How to Make Every Decision with Peace and Confidence
AUTHOR: Jerry Sittser
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004, (256 pages).

When there is a book about the will of God, I will read. If it is written by an unknown writer, I may just borrow it from the library. If it is written by my favourite authors, I will usually buy it. This book is one of them.

According to Sittser, this book is about a perspective of the will of God, not a series of steps to attain the holy grail of the experiment called life. Sharing about how he manages to move through the twists and turns of life, the book reveals a lot about how Sittser fumbles through life, and eventually arriving at a clearer understanding of what God's will means for him. In Chapter One, he shares about 3 clues. Firstly, 'we will never know how things will turn out' (20). The second clue is about how suffering and loss dispels his idea of a perfect and nice will of God. The third clue is that the Bible says very little about the future path of God's way, but a present avoidance of anxiety and wrongful presumption. The conventional way of thinking is in terms of finding out that ONE specific will of God for each person. Such a thinking reveals 3 problems.

BookPastor >> "The Volunteer Church" (Leith Anderson and Jill Fox)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on November 6th, 2015.  It is clearly one of the best books on servanthood and how to encourage the laity to serve willingly and passionately.

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TITLE: The Volunteer Church: Mobilizing Your Congregation for Growth and Effectiveness
AUTHOR: Leith Anderson and Jill Fox
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015, (160 pages).

Every member is a servant in the Kingdom of God. For the Church is not a building made of bricks and stones. It is a Body of Christ made of people serving God and one another in the love of Christ. Volunteerism is in. Compulsory work is out. This is particularly so in a ministry that requires us to put our faith into action. If there is any group of people who deserves more encouragement and praise, it would be the group of people who willingly offer to serve at their own time and own resources. Weekly, they work without official pay. They do their best despite not having the best tools or training. In fact, the best form of leadership development is to increase the level of volunteerism in any organization. A Church grows not on the basis of attendance numbers but volunteer numbers. The challenge for any church is not only to encourage the volunteer numbers, but to increase the cheer among all. This book is written for three groups of people.

1. For leaders exhausted by lack of volunteers
2. For volunteers wanting to have more to join them
3. For ministry staff wanting to train and to cultivate a culture of volunteerism

BookPastor >> "Character Formation in Online Education" (Joanne Jung)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on October 31st, 2015.

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TITLE: Character Formation in Online Education: A Guide for Instructors, Administrators, and Accrediting Agencies
AUTHOR: Joanne J. Jung
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2015, (144 pages).

Is it really possible to have Christian Formation happening in online education? If it is, how do we go about doing that? With firm conviction, author Joanne Jung believes it is entirely possible and doable. Jung teaches at Biola University as an Associate Professor in the Biblical and Theological Studies department. With a PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary, she is particularly interested into spiritual formation and Puritan piety. Through this book, she extends this interest into the online arena. Other than the usual "face to face is better" argument, Jung puts forth other compelling arguments for an online involvement.

• It allows students who needed time to process to come back to the teacher with questions. Students need not be restricted during the limited class time.
• It increases participation level above the typical 15%
• It gives teachers an additional resource for teaching, to use online resources to teach and to maximize face to face opportunities for teacher-student interactions
• It enables students to get to know their teachers beyond the classroom setting.

BookPastor: "The NIV Serendipity Bible For Study Groups" (Serendipity House)

TITLE: The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups: Contains the Complete New International Version Text
CONTRIBUTORS: Community of believers gathered by the Serendipity House organization
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1988, (1646 pages).

Have you ever read your Bible and found yourself stuck on how to study the Bible? Do you depend mostly on your teaching leader or Bible study teacher to prepare all the questions? What if you can find a Bible with questions already prepared on the side columns? What if study questions can help you facilitate the Bible study so that you can build on it with your own? What if this set of helps can be extended not only for the passage you are interested to study, but also for the whole Bible?

Way back in 1978, a group of believers had a dream to design a Bible just for study groups. With the actual text, they put together resources to help believers to be like the Bereans, to study the Bible together in search of truth that has been revealed. The result is this Bible study resource that contains over 20000 questions to draw in believers' excitement and to send out passionate disciples.

Three categories are offered. The first is OPEN where questions were used to open up discussion. Often, study groups will take a while to warm up. Some would use icebreakers or opening salvos to launch a lively discussion. As a Bible study leader, I appreciate this because it gives me a fresh way to prepare the group. In fact, I find the pressure to simply put something on the page lifted. It allows me to put in my own thoughts and formulate my own questions. At the least, if I could not put anything in due to tiredness or lack of inspiration, I know I have something to fall back to. The second is DIG for a deeper understanding of the contexts, the content, and the contrasts with life both then and now. Learning requires deep reverence as well as respect for the text we hold. At the same time, we can pepper the texts with questions and be open to the way the Holy Spirit uses the texts to question us. The third is REFLECT and to see how we can apply the Word into our lives. Instead of asking about what the Bible means, this third category helps us ask how the Word applies to us.

The system is not exactly Inductive Bible Study method, but it serves a useful guide to doing Bible study together as groups. What's more, this Bible study resource has been put together by many community leaders across many nations. It's quite an amazing feat for Serendipity House to provide such a useful guide. Of course, with the Internet nowadays, we can get all kinds of information. The problem with this is not about information but about what kind of information we can discern correctly. It can often become a hit and miss effort. Worse, it can be the introduction of false theologies that even the most well-intentioned leader can make a mistake too. That is one reason why this resource can be most helpful. At least there is a consistency in format. There is assurance of credible writers all committed to the same cause. There is a unity of the body of Christ.

If you are thinking of a good Bible study, perhaps, for a lack of informed choices, you may just want to pick this up.

conrade

BookPastor >> "The Emotionally Healthy Leader" (Peter Scazzero)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on August 14th, 2015.

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TITLE: The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World
AUTHOR: Peter Scazzero
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015, (336 pages).

The author of the popular "Emotionally Healthy Church" has come up with another book on the same themes of healthy emotions that lead to healthy Christian lives. This time, instead of dealing with Church-related matters, he targets the leader's inner and outer lives. Scazzero is the founder of New Life Fellowship Church, based in Queens, New York. A popular speaker, he has influenced many with his "Emotionally Healthy" series of books. This book is no different. He begins with a personal retelling of his own journey to unhealthy leadership. Arranged in four dramatic conversions, he talks about how he first became a zealous Christian after being touched by God in his teens. He went for theological training and learned Spanish. He started his own Church called New Life Fellowship Church and was soon busy with the daily grind of Church work, developing leaders and planting churches. For all the external successes, he was ignoring his internal recesses of the heart. His second conversion is about his awareness of the need to address his emotional health more seriously. He wondered about the shape of things, whether it is ok for others to be cared for spiritually while his own spirituality was suffering. The crisis came to a hilt when his own wife, Geri quit the Church. Thankfully, he recovered only to be faced with a third conversion: "From busy activity to Slowed-Down Spirituality." Influenced by the teachings and writings of the Monastic movement, he began to work more with contemplative spirituality, to let God work him from the inside out. One significant result of that conversion was his publishing of the bestselling book, "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality." Learning about spirituality and teaching about it is one thing. Connecting them all with one's life is totally another. As a result, he skimmed through many essential duties instead of paying adequate attention to them. He needed a fourth conversion: "From Skimming to Integrity in Leadership."  This book is a result of this fourth conversion. The key motive in this book is to change the world with the gospel, not through the many activities and strategies to be employed, but with a transformation of the inner self. Something must happen first inside in order to be fruitful and faithful outside. The first part of the book deals with the Inner Life while Part Two deals with the Outer Life.

BookPastor >> "Becoming Worldly Saints" (Michael Wittmer)

Is it possible to be a Christian and still enjoy life? 

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on May 8th, 2015.

conrade

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TITLE: Becoming Worldly Saints: Can You Serve Jesus and Still Enjoy Your Life?
AUTHOR: Michael E. Wittmer
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015, (208 pages).

Is it possible to be a Christian and still enjoy life? How can we practice a faith that is both world-affirming as well as world-denying? What does it mean to live in this world and not be of the world? Simply put, just because we are Christian does not make us less human. Just because we are called to be saints does not mean we are no longer sinners. Just because we are heaven bound does not mean we ignore our life on earth. In fact, we are called to live out heaven on this earth.  In order to do this, author and Professor of Systematic Theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, Michael Wittmer affirms the joy that every believer can exhibit, whether serving, working, or enjoying this present life. We need a larger narrative that is able to embrace both the "high purpose of heaven" as well as the "normal pleasures of earth." When we do affirm both together, we are saying no to the extremes of naturalism and spiritualism. The former is fixated on things physical and existential while the latter tends toward an extreme version of supernaturalism.

Wittmer helps us appreciate the one biblical story through four aspects: Creation, Meaning, Fall, Redemption. In doing so, we are led through various aspects of life's paradoxes. We are liberated in Christ, yet are subjected to the Lordship of Christ. We are concerned about present human suffering but also mindful of the eternal suffering. Two distinctions are emphasized. The first is that of the natural and the supernatural. The second is the unique distinction of us being redeemed despite our fallen nature, which ought to inform our mission whether we are giving people a fish or teaching them how to fish. In much Christian humanitarian work, people tend to focus on doing things for people. However, the greatest need for all people is Christ. He offers two pieces of encouragement.

1. It is impossible to do only what is important. We still need to do the routine and mundane stuff of life.
2. There will always be a tension between what we do and what we ought to do, a tricky balance between earthly and heavenly mindedness.