Young, Restless, Reformed

In this journalistic book by Collin Hansen, editor-at-large for Christianity Today, it outlines the New Calvinist movement over the last 20 years or so. This movement, which is really a return to old Reformed thought and doctrine than to any new beliefs, has been on the move in some amazing ways. This brief history offers an inside look at what some of the leading pastors, churches and conferences are saying from a movement that was even ranked #3 among Time's top emerging ideas changing the world in 2009, seen here.

I was originally attracted to this book from the introduction on Amazon, which talked about the authors roots with Campus Crusade for Christ at Northwestern University. Just 6 years after Hansen first found himself in this movement, I was first introduced to it a couple hours south at the University of Illinois' Crusade ministry. With topics like God's sovereignty, predestination, and irresistible grace at the forefront of many conversations being had by Christians in these two Illinois campuses, many students don't know this is an expanding movement, reaching much farther than their campus grounds. Hansen's book was personally enjoyable for me to get insight into a belief system that in some ways I've been a part of for 6 years now, since entering the U of I in 2005. (This is not to say that Campus Crusade is explicitly or exclusively Calvinist in its confession of faith by any means.)

Overall, the book presented good overview and insight into New Calvinism. It is made up of two years worth of interviews from leading Reformers, such as John Piper, Albert Mohler, C.J Mahaney, and Mark Driscoll, who, for followers, have become household names.

These leaders, and many others, don't all believe the same things about things like baptism and worship styles, but they do share a common passion for spreading the glory of God. They would continue that God is most glorified when He gives us a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we can give God praise after praise because He saw us in our sinful deadness and found it within Himself to reach out to us in our sin, granting us faith and salvation. Because of God's doing, by nothing we have done, we are no longer dead in sin, but alive in Christ.

This is not a book to be read for its conclusions, as not many are drawn. It is more pointed at documenting a unique and developing aspect of church history. New Calvinism is a movement worth learning about whether you are fully involved, partially partaking, or not a part of it at all. And, watch out! It might find you and call you into belief, if you aren't careful; that is, if God providentially ordains it!

I would recommend this book, especially for those interested in church history.

"Church History" (3.5 of 5 STARS)

Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion

Continuing on my Kevin DeYoung kick, I recently read Why We Love the Church, his 2nd co-authored book with Ted Kluck in response to the Emergent church movement. The first of which was Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be. I have come to really respect DeYoung; he is a well thought out, well researched, Christ-centered writer. He is readable, respectful, and can make just about any topic interesting. Case in point: The two books I've read of his have been about decision making and church institutions.

But, enough about DeYoung, let's get to the book. This is much more a response to the faulty, unbiblical teaching of Emergent Christianity, than it is anything else. It delves into why books like Revolution by George Barna, Life After Church by Brian Sanders, and even a book called The Gospel According to Starbucks by Leonard Sweet are off-base and out of touch with God's true desire for Christian community and His bride, the Church. The essence of the Emergent movement is that the church (small c) is old, stale and irrelevant. Leaders even go as far as to say, Jesus' true desire for His Church (big c) is that they experience Him in real community--often small group, house church community or golf course community--outside of the church building. They would rather drink coffee at Starbucks and talk vaguely about God, than step foot in a institution with rules and regulations. To them, going to a church building is all bad and stepping out into a small community of Christian believers with no real structure is all good.

The two authors, DeYoung, the lead pastor of a church in East Lansing Michigan, and Kluck, a church laymen and sports writer, spend most of their time deconstructing the life-after-the-church mindset, warning of the dangers and presenting clear Biblical evidence for why Jesus does in fact like the "boring" parts of church--the institution, structure and hierarchy. They admit the church is not a perfect organism, but frankly, it is made up of all sinners and it will, therefore, have lots of room to grow into a more Christ-like thing. They contend the church does a lot of good and give many examples of this.

As for my opinion, I found this to be a worthwhile read. I didn't expect it to be such a drawn out critique on the Emergent movement, as I thought that was what their first book was about, but I did find it to be pertinent to a culture that looks for the easy way out (read: let's go hiking and talk about God's creation, rather than sit in a pew and sing the same old worship set). I think they boldly, yet tactfully, made their point. I leave you with one of their concluding thoughts that I liked:

"It's easy for the church to be blind to her failings. But it's also easy and borderline slanderous to constantly berate the church for all her failures as if she cared for no one, helped no one, and made no difference for anyone anywhere." (page 222)

"Church Doctrine" (3.5 of 5 STARS)

- ae

Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will

I thought I would finally write a review on the book I've been quite obsessed with the last 2 months. In fact, to give you an idea of how obsessed I have been, I have been going through this book in discipleship with six of my guys, along with doing a seminar based upon it at U of I Cru's Fall Getaway, among many other plugs to anyone that will listen to me :-)

The main thrust of DeYoung's book on Godly decision-making is that God cares much more about how we make a decision and much less about what our decision ends up being. The catch is, if our decision involves sin or sinful motives, by no means is that where God's will would have you go. God cares most that we love Him and walk with Him, living daily by going to the cross of Jesus, worshiping Him for who He is and for saving us from our sinfulness, raising us into a righteous standing before a perfect God. If we are doing this, which very much involves seeking Him, we are free to make choices in our lives.

According to the author, God is not going to give you a "yes" or a "no" answer for the everyday decisions we face. The same goes for big decisions in our lives, such as who we marry, what career to take, and when to buy a house or have children. The key here is that God promises to lead us by the Holy Spirit as Christians, but He never promises to give direct answers. Moreover, there is not a corn maze for us to track down God's will for our lives. His will and what He most desires is that we walk a life devoted to Christ. As for where he wills us to go directionally, he doesn't so much care. Now, of course, the God of the Universe cares for us, but at the end of the day, if you are not in sin, walking in manner worthy of His calling, he doesn't care what you choose.

Isn't that refreshing?!?! Personally, I think this is the biggest insight of the entire book and it is truly liberating, as the subtitle tells us the book will be! Our lives do not have to be an exhausting search for God's will for our lives. He doesn't have a hidden path, filled with secret Bible verses, that he expects us to miraculously discover.

I would highly recommend this short read for everyone out their that faces decisions, which means you! It is a quick, engaging read that you will not be able to put down.

"Christian Living/Practical Life/Decision Making" (5 of 5 STARS)

Death by Love: Letters from the Cross

As I began reading this book, it quickly became apparent to me that Driscoll's writing style is much more pastoral than I would have expected. This book, heavily due to that fact, quickly became one of my favorite books long before I finished the last page. The combination of cross-centered theology and practical application of the gospel is far unmatched by any other book I've read. In fact, Driscoll is so real and caring for those he is ministering to, both inside and outside of the book, that you get a real taste for his heart as a pastor. His minister's heart, interwoven through the text of this book, is one thing I came to really respect.

The book consists of twelve letters written to twelve individuals, meant to witness gospel truths to ways they have sinned, been sinned against, or both. For example, in one letter written to a man named David, a man who would call himself a Christian because he follows all the rules of Christianity (good morals, basically), the author writes of how only Jesus' righteousness and work on the cross could save David. There is nothing he can do, even by what he thinks to be "good" morals, as his self-righteousness, no matter how good, will get him nowhere with God.

Through some of the most real and devastating sins--rape, molestation, pride, violent abuse--Jesus' person and work on the cross are appropriately applied. In the book's simplest form, Jesus dying on the cross and resurrecting from the grave is the solution to any sin of man, even the most dark and horrific. After all, the killing of a perfect man was one of the most dark and horrific events in history, but Jesus came for this very purpose, to love wicked man enough to die the death he deserved.

This pastoral book helped me to see Pastor Mark minister to those in and around his church in an astounding way. He was bold, yet gentle; forthright, yet truthful; and even blunt, yet filled with the grace of Christ. Each person he ministers to is done so with an appropriate signpost, if you will, pointing to Jesus. The harsher the sin, the harsher the message. This is not to say that all sins are evaluated differently in God's eyes; they are not. Each sin does, though, have differing earthly consequences, especially as to who they affect.

Another big positive to this book, is its Christology, or theology of Christ, which is applied to real-life situations in a way that would minister to any reading heart. What Jesus has done for all of mankind is made new and understandable. Through twelve unique people and their stories, it is sure to impress the gospel on you in significant ways.

It is for these very reasons that I would give "Death by Love" my highest recommendation. It does just what it is categorized to do: Make theology practical. Jesus' act of reconciling, revealing, sacrificing, atoning and much, much more will be a lot more clear and visible after reading this book.

"Theology/Practical Life" (5 of 5 STARS)

Three Cups of Tea

Greg Mortenson was a twenty-something man living the stereotypical lifestyle of searching for, but having not yet found, purpose in life. After receiving a nursing degree from the University of South Dakota, he became an addict of climbing. Not long after acquiring a taste for this new adventure hobby, his ambitions soared and he attempted to climb K2, the second tallest and most feared mountain in the world, situated in Northern Pakistan. It was there, after failing to reach the summit, that a purpose began developing which involved the little-known Baltisan people of Korphe, Pakistan.

Nearly at the point of death, the Korphe people treated and nursed the first American they had ever met back to health. The over-sized, soft and lovable Mortenson quickly became a good friend. Before leaving, the Pakistani people were promised their first school by the inspired American. It is here that this young, now ex-climber, developed his sense of purpose in life: building elementary schools for young children, and in particular, young Muslim girls.

Soon Mortenson is building one-to-three classroom schools throughout Pakistan, wooing and befriending Pakistani's as he goes along and casting vision for Americans on what it looks like to curb terrorism through education, not war. This comes as the U.S. is on the verge of going to war against terror.

From a worldy, secular perspective, this is a refreshing piece of literature, depicting one of the greatest humanitarian efforts of our time. It is an eye-opening picture of the people of the Middle East that the American government and media are simply not depicting in their broadcasts of the war torn area. Not only that, but the very reason for Mortenson's successes were due to the kindness and trust of many accommodating Pakistan and Afghan men and women.

From a Christian perspective, it was sad to see a man who grew up with Christian parents find no purpose in Jesus. Mortenson completely abandoned his faith in Christ for a relativistic take on being good to all, which is fine and well, but was not grounded in an absolute truth.

The greatest strength of "Three Cups of Tea" is that the feared people of the Middle East are seen as just that, people. In fact, very few have anything to do with radical Islam. People from the area are rather sad to see hate rise between their country and America. In a revolutionary take on relations between warring countries, you can hardly come away without having a changed perspective on world politics. Moreover, you might just find yourself advocating education over war in the combat against terrorism.

Recommendation:

I would recommend this book to anyone with a misguided, misinformed or incomplete view of the Middle East, Muslims, or the War on Terror. It is an enjoyable and engaging read, and though some parts seem slow and trivial, overall it will open your eyes to relevant world events and talking points.

"Humanitarian" (4 of 5 STARS)

The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

Wow! This book is perhaps one of the most simply-spoken, profound gospel presentations I have ever heard.

Central to this book is the idea that we are not just prodigal sons, but God is also a prodigal God. In other words, we not only radically rebelled against God and sinfully turned away from him, but that He was all the more radical for taking us back. No matter our idolization of other things--in the case of the prodigal son in Luke 15, the son idolized pleasure and living the good life--God radically accepts us in the depths of our sin and receives us back with a welcome-home party of great proportions. In fact, as I learned, the father in the parable risked his family's name to celebrate the return of his lost, sinful son.

Keller starts to get radical himself when we deepens the discussion, defining the elder son with just as much "lostness" as the younger. We often forget, as he points out, that a self-righteousness will no more save us than losing our righteousness, or dignity, as the younger son does. I found this to be the most revolutionary truth of the book. I will let Keller explain:

"Here, then, is Jesus's radical redefinition of what is wrong with us. Nearly everyone defines sin as breaking a list of rules. Jesus, though, shows us that a man who has violated virtually nothing on the list of moral misbehaviors can be every bit as spiritually lost as the most profligate, immoral person. Why? Because sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord, and Judge just as each son sought to displace the authority of the father in his own life." (pg 43)

I found this book a fascinating, quick read. I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone. It presents the gospel in such fresh way that you cannot not change after reading it.

-ae

10 Million Words Blog - Tim Challies

I recently discovered Tim Challies' new blog entitled "10 Million Words" which you can find here. You can also go to his original blog entitled "Informing the Reforming" here. Challies is an evangelical blogger and author.

His newest blog's undertaking is to read every top-15 non-fiction book on the New York Times bestseller list throughout all of 2010. If accomplished, as you can guess, this will add up to more than 10 million words read and an average of 3 books read each week. According to Challies' overall goal of the project, "I am interested in the cultural and worldview implications of all of these books. They will provide, I’m sure, a snapshot of where America is at as she enters a new decade."

Personally, I think this is a fascinating idea and I am anxious to see how this blog unfolds. I have been following it for about 2 weeks, and so far, it has indeed proven to be really interesting.

- ae

Humility: True Greatness - C.J. Mahaney

I recently enjoyed my read-through of "Humility" by C.J. Mahaney and I wanted to say a couple of words.

I found this to be a quick but powerful read on the severity of pride as sin and the necessity of humility before the Lord. The central Scripture that this book is centered on is James 4:6b, which says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

Mahaney does a good job of taking us exactly where we need to go to rid of our pride--the humbling display of God's grace through Jesus on the cross. If we are to mortify the sin of pride, we must do so out of the power of the cross, for Christ rescued us from our sin by being our very ransom:

"the emphasis of the ransom image is on our sorry state--indeed our captivity in sin--which made the act of divine rescue necessary...So to hear the Savior speak the word ransom and understand it rightly is to be freshly reminded and affected by our own serious and sorry state, our miserable lostness and wretched bondage to sin. We cannot free ourselves from pride and selfish ambition: a divine rescue is absolutley necessary." (pg 51-52)

As C.J regularly teaches (esp. in "The Cross-Centered Life"), our lives must focus on the cross of Christ through every life situation. He does a great job of portraying this truth throughout "Humility."

-ae

Back to the Blogosphere

Well, friends, I recently got the itch to start blogging again, so here I am. After reflecting a bit on what I should blog about, I came to the conclusion that I would blog short "blurbs" of thoughts and quotes from books that I am reading. Sure, I could tell you about my life, but isn't that what my Twitter is for anyway?

My goals through this blog:

1. For this blog to give all glory and credit to Jesus Christ, my Lord
2. Review and comment on books I am reading with the hope of sparking interest in books you might find worth reading
3. For reviews to be "short and sweet," giving just a taste, leaving the rest for you to discover
   
4. To have some fun with this, not taking myself too seriously

That should do it. I hope you enjoy reading and be sure to comment and add your thoughts along the way.

Happy Reading!

-ae