Third Quarter Reading Review and Summary

I have found myself reading more and more nonfiction, so if you need a fictional recommendation, I can really only discuss psych thrillers at this point!

Loren Cunningham: I think that this was the most interesting of the missionary books I have read from this missionary series by YWAM. Growing up, we would have missionary Mondays, where my dad would read a chapter on Monday evenings. Loren was the founder of Youth with a Mission. I do not align with his beliefs and the organization as a whole, but I always find it is worth one’s time to understand the foundation and history of different organizations throughout church history. Loren’s family was heavily involved with revival meetings and both of his parents would preach at these events. The other “red flag” about Loren’s upbringing was that he attended, and was associated with as a pastor and teacher, an Assemblies of God church and school (during his college years).

An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches: Lord willing, I hope to do a whole blog post on this false teaching theology but as a quick summary, this book was “wonky” and very liberal in what it left out. I do not recommend any books by this church movement.

I am Hutterite: The Hutterites are an offshoot of the Anabaptists, and were started by Jacob Hutter in the 1500s. They follow more of the Acts 2:44-45, “socialist” Christianity. In saying this, the cult moved to colonies in Canada and northwest United States. The author was born and raised as a Hutterite, and her family left when she was 10. This story is of her family transitioning into normal living and the journey of her faith.

Revival and Revivalism: For my Church History class I had to write a final paper on a time period in church history. I chose the history of revivals and the biblical understanding of them. Of course, since this gave me an “excuse” to go buy some more books on the topic this one was my first read! I still have one more that I need to read through, but I think the author of this book wrote in a way that puts some of these men, like Charles Finney, in the correct lighting. I may have to share my final project as a post in the future if that interests you guys…

For the Glory of God: Assigned as a textbook for my Corporate Worship course, it was an intriguing read! The author, Dr. Block, broke down how worship was presented (and not presented) in both the Old and New Testaments. For example, the raising of hands was used for prayer, not singing songs of praise as we see now in the church. I learned a lot and agreed with about 99% of his book!

Be Your Own “Doctor”: I read a little bit at a time through this book since it is broken into many parts and chapters (for easy reference). For the price (around $25), it taught me priceless information on first aid and long-term health advice!

Art & the Bible: Less than 100 pages in length, this little book is comprised of two essays written by Francis Shaeffer on how Christians should view and understand art. I found it very helpful!