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Favorite Reading
In Association With 
People always want to know what books I'm finding helpful in my journey so we've begun to compile a list of books that help encourage the dynamics of relational Christianity. If you'd like to buy the book you can click on "Order it Here!" and you'll find yourself at Amazon.com. Lifestream Ministries receives a small referral commission from Amazon for every order placed through the links on this page. Blessed Reading
As to my own books, I would recommend people read these four first, in this order: He Loves Me!, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore! Authentic Relationships, The Naked Church and Tales of the Vine.
Then I'd recommend these books in order of how they have most shaped my journey.
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The Shack by William P. Young
If you have not read The Shack, you’re missing what I think is one of the best books that’s been written in the last 40 years. It is fiction, but it is one of the most creative explorations of God’s love and intimate care in the midst of unspeakable tragedies. Religious publishers turned this book down initially, so Windblown Media was birthed to bring this wonderful book into print. It is now available at Amazon.com and discriminating bookstores. We also have them here if you want to add them to a Lifestream order. It is also available now in a special hardback edition.
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Dangerous Wonder By Mike Yaconelli - Order it Here!
This is that rare book that will capture your heart as well as your mind, and the one book I've read in the last twenty years that I truly wish I had written. Mike Yaconelli will encourage you out of the stale confines of religion and help you rediscover with childlike simplicity and awe what a relationship with Father is really all about. He writes: "This is an adventure book, written by a man who cam precariously close to losing his childlike faith, and who is still in the midst of discovering how to be a child again. It is not a book of answers from someone who has arrived; it is merely glimpses from someone who is still stumbling around yet hot on God's trail." And he does it so well. I dare you to read this and not come away with a renewed passion to live in the danger of loving the Living God. Chapter titles include: Risky Curiosity, Wild Abandon, Wide-eyed Listening, Irresponsible Passion, and Happy Terror. If you read one book this year, make it this one. You will not be disappointed!
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The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California. - Order it Here!
This is the best book on the Christian life I have ever read. It was recommended to me by one of my friends in New England and I was not disappointed. Here is how our relationship with Jesus leads to grace-based transformation of how we think and live in the world in God. Walk with him through the Sermon on the Mount and you will find more treasures than you've ever seen before. Wiping away all the religious gobbledygook that twists the passage into meanings Jesus never intended, Willard lets us see how God had always planned to put his life into us and make us his lights in the world. I took notes on almost every page of this book. I'll warn you that it is a bit 'scholarly', so you have to enjoy the fancy words, but in it he offers a curriculum of Christlikeness that can help be a guide to the kind of learning experiences that can help you be more like Jesus. |
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Tale of Three Kings, by Gene Edwards
I do get letters of concern about recommending Gene's books. I greatly appreciate what Gene has written to encourage believers to think outside the box and experience God's life. At the same time, I have deep concerns with how Gene himself actually lives out the things he teaches and the communities he has planted. Like anything else, you need to enjoy the meat in what he writes and toss out the bones. Since I have been unable to talk with him personally about my concerns, I'll not give more details here. You will enjoy his books....
- A Tale of Three Kings - the best book ever written for those who are dealing with betrayal and conflict with other believers. Order it Here!
- Overlooked Christianity - Order it Here!
- How to Meet Under the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Available from SeedSowers - P.O. Box 285; Sargent, GA 30275; 1-770-254-9442)
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Soul Talk by Larry Crabb.
The man who helped me write the Jake Colsen story said this is the best book he's ever read, and if you want to learn how to converse with others on this journey, getting past surface issues to the underlying realities, this book will help a ton. But like all Crabb books, I think the first 2/3rds of his books is where the meat is. The last third are usually how-to steps that are almost worthless.
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Abba's Child by Brennan Manning.
You've got to love Brennan Mannings honesty as a former priest and alcohol struggling to learn to live in the love of the Father. He has many excellent books, but this is one of my favorites. In here he helps us see that God's invitation is not for us to wake up every morning trying to be loved by God, but waking up each morning as the beloved of God!
Also from Brennan Manning
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The Jesus Style by Gayle Erwin.
One of the best books I've ever read about Jesus' style of ministry and leadership, which is polar opposite to the way the world does it and to the style used in all of our religious institutions. Gayle is a wonderful friend of mine and has been a real help to me over the years. You can order from Amazon or at Gayle's own website, Servant Quarters.
Also from Gayle Erwin
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That They May All Be One Even as We Are One by T. Austin-Sparks
Few men have written so eloquently about the centrality of Christ and the importance of relationship like T. Austin-Sparks. Seedsowers offers a lot of his books and they are excellent. Perhaps the best summary of his teaching comes in this two-volume set of observations on the journey by T. Austin-Sparks taken from recordings made in Philippines toward the end of his life. You can read it on line at: www.austin-sparks.net. Just go to the bottom of this page and click on "That They May All Be One..." You can also order this two-volume set from the some dear saints in Tulsa who do not charge for books, but any contributions you make will be used to reprint and distribute even more books: You can check out their catalog and send in an order or contact them directly at Emmanuel Church • 12000 E. 14th St. • Tulsa, OK 74128-5016 • Phone: (918) 838-1385 If no answer call: (918) 437-7064 |
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Divine Nobodies by Jim Palmer
What does a Hip-Hop artist, Waffle House waitress, tire salesman, and disabled girl have to do with discovering spiritual truth? What if embracing authentic Christianity is a journey of unlearning? Welcome to Jim Palmer’s world! Here's what I wrote when I reviewed this book. “You hold in your hands an amazing story of a broken man finding freedom in all the right places-in God’s work in the lives of some extraordinarily ordinary people around him. You will thrill to this delightful blend of gut-wrenching honesty and laugh-out-loud hilarity, and in the end you’ll find God much closer, the body of Christ far bigger and your own journey far clearer than you ever dreamed.” Order it
His newest book is Wide Open Spaces Order it
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What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey.
A classic as you learn the difference between living in grace or ungrace toward yourself and others. Order it |
A lot of writers influenced my thinking in my young days. I was a Tolkein and Lewis fan in my college years and beyond and I still pull off one of their titles from time to time and give it a luxurious read. My passion for relational church came from books in the 70s from Robert Girrard (Brethren Hang Loose, Brethren Hang Together and When the Vision Vanishes. I don't know if you can still find them or not, but that last one is one of the most brutally honest books of disappointed hopes that I've ever read. I loved Called and Committed, by David Watson, an excellent primer on the basic of the Christian walk and how to begin a life-long relationship with the living God. I also was a Howard Snyder fan and devoured his books on church life, such as:
More recently books by Gene Edwards (see above) and Christian Smith's, Going to the Root opened the door to alternatives for church life. I also enjoyed The Open Church and the synopsis house church thought in Wolfgang Simpson in Houses that Change the World, if not the model it offered for others to replicate.
I am alway s challenged and encouraged by reading of the spiritual journeys of others. I loved the honesty, humor and insight of Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz. It's a classic. Except for parts about smoking cigars and beating our chests in the woods to prove our manhood, I've enjoyed the relational thinking of John Eldredge in Waking the Dead.  Recently I've enjoyed the discoveries about the loving God in Darrin Hufford's, God's Honest Truth, even if the title is a bit presumptuous. I love reading Anne Lamott's wry observations about her spiritual journey, even if she holds to a very different political agenda than I embrace. But her insights into grace are second to none and her blatant honesty about her own struggles and pain is invigorating.
 Sara and I also enjoyed the Boundaries books by Cloud and Townsend. The original work Boundaries ought to be required reading for all religious conservatives who absolutely have no appreciation for personal boundaries and how to love people without seeking to control them. If you've not been exposed to their thinking, let me commend it to you. Sara and I also enjoyed Boundaries in Marriage and it was great encouragement not only how we relate to each other, but otehrs as well. This material dovetails well with Romans 13 and 14. Read it with your spouse if you're looking for something to nurture your marriage.
On a personal level I also enjoy legal thrillers and problem-solving fiction. I also re ad a lot of historical biographies, especially on America presidents and European monarchies. I find the use (or mainly misuse) of power to be a fascinating study. I don't reach much Christian fiction, since I find most of it predictable and shallow. One exception of not is my brother's novels. He  worked with me on Authentic Relationships, but has three other contemporarly novels about sorting out the life of Jesus in real life situations. Novels from Clay Jacobsen. (Yep, It's my brother of flesh and faith!)The Lasko Interview by Clay Jacobsen is a murder mystery set in the backdrop of Hollywood's television industry rings with authenticity. It also has a relational church twist. Circle of Seven, his second book, involves a national conspiracy to manipulate public opinion and it being exposed by an investigative reporter who is also a passionate believer. At every torn he is torn between following God's leading or doing what is expedient. Finally, his Ultimate Reality Show puts the hero in a Survivor-like reality TV show with moral dilemmas to resolve. You can find out more about his work at clayjacobsen.com.
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