“Readers are Leaders…”

“Readers are leaders…”

“Readers are leaders…”

This was one of my Aunt Linda’s favorite sayings.  Aunt Linda is my mom’s sister.  She just retired from school teaching in Knoxville, Tennessee.  My sister and I used to spend a few days each summer with her.  While we were there she would always find something fun and educational for us to do.  She was passionate about us learning…and having fun doing it.

One of our Christmas traditions was to gather at my grandmother’s house (my mom’s mom), eat, and exchange presents (oh yeah…we’d watch football too).  As everyone showed up, they would place their presents under the tree.  As the presents would pile up, we children would agonize over those with our names on them.  We would wonder what those presents were….except for one.

There would always be several flat, hard packages that were from Aunt Linda.  All the kids knew what they were.  They were packages with books in them for us to read.  Aunt Linda would buy us the best books, and she is a big part of the reason I am a voracious reader to this day.  I love my computer and all its electronic books.  But…truth be told…I love having all my books on my bookshelf.

I now have about 1300 volumes in my book collection (Aunt Linda…you.  God has been so gracious to allow me the opportuntiy and privilege to gather and read many, many books.  In a given year, I will read somewhere between 50-60 books.  With all those books, one might think that they all blur together.  Yet, there are a few that really stand out to me.  I mean, there are certain books that God has used in my life to spur me on toward Him, love Him, and serve Him.

No matter how many books I read, there are certain of them that will be forever in my mind, heart, and spiritual consciousness.  These particular books vary in type, category, and authors.  One thing that they all have in common is that they have helped me to know God and follow Him in a greater way. 

Recently, a dear brother in my church asked me to put together a book list from some of the books that have impacted me most.  This could be sort of a spiritual bibliography to encourage and help other believers.  Below is that bibliography.  I pray that the books listed below might be of help and encouragement to you the same way that they have been to me.   Please excuse the way the margins shifted and the dates moved around.  I haven’t completely figured out this blog yet.

To God be the Glory!

 

 

List of Books

Thanks go especially to Sharlene Bond for her help in putting all these books into a bibliographical form.

Bunyan, John                        The Pilgrim’s Progress          Baker Book House               1994

Chute,  Anthony                  A Piety above the Common Standard               Mercer Univ. Press             2004

Coleman, Robert E.              The Master Plan of Evangelism           Fleming H Revel                  1993

Comfort, Ray                         Hell’s Best Kept Secret         Whitaker House                  1989

Cymbala, Jim                         Break Through Prayer          Zondervan Publisher          2003

                                                Fresh Prayer         Zondervan Publisher           2001                      

                                                Fresh Faith            Zondervan Publisher           1999      

                                                Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire       Zondervan Publisher           1997

Foxe, John                             Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs               Bridge-Logos         2007

Fee, Gordon                          How to Read the Bible for all its Worth           Zondervan             1993

George, Bob                          Classic Christianity               Harvest House                      1984

Govan, I.R.                             Spirit of Revival    The Faith Mission 1978      

Harris, Alex & Brett             Do Hard Things     Multinomah Books               2008

Harris, Joshua                       I Kissed Dating Goodbye     Multinomah Books               1997      

                                                Stop Dating the Church       Multinomah Books               2004

Hession, Roy                         The Calvary Road Christian Literature Crusade                              1950

Hodgson,Homera                 In the Cross of Christ I Glory              Union Gospel Press             1925

Huegell, F.J.                           The Cross of Christ               Marshall, Morgan & Scott, Ltd           1935

Johnson, Phillip E.                Darwin on Trial     InterVarsity Press 1991

Kendall, R.T.                          Total Forgiveness Charisma House   2002

Kinnear, Angus                     Against the Tide   Tyndale House      1973

Lloyd-Jones, D.Martyn        Preaching & Preachers       Zondervan             1971

 

Lewis, C.S.                              Mere Christianity                 Macmillan                              1952

                                                The Weight of Glory                            Macmillan                              1965

MacArthur, John  Safe in the Arms of God      Nelson Books                        2003

                                                How to get the Most from God’s Word            Word Publishing  1997

                                                Expository Preaching                          Word Publishing  1992

                                                The Second Coming                             Crossway Books    1999

                                                The Book of Leadership      Nelson Books                        2004

                                                Ashamed of the Gospel      Crossway Books    1993

McDowell, Josh    More Than A Carpenter     Living Books          2005

Miller, Wendell    Forgiveness                           Clearbrook Publishers                        1994

Murray, Andrew  The Andrew Murray Collection         Barbour & Co                        1995

Nelson, Alan E.      Broken in the Right Place   Thomas Nelson     1994

Olford, Stephen   Anointed Expository Preaching         Broadman & Holman                           1998

                                                Not I, But Christ    Crossway Books    1995

Packer, J.I.                             Knowing God                        InterVarsity Press 1973

Ravenhill, Leonard               Why Revival Tarries             Bethany House     1987

Skinner,Betty Lee                                DAWS –Story of Dawson Trotman    Zondervan             1974

Strobel, Lee                          The Case for Christ              Zondervan             1998

Sutton, Jerry                         The Baptist Reformation     Broadman & Holman                           2000

Thomas, Gary                        Sacred Marriage  Zondervan             2000

Tozer, A.W.                           The Knowledge of the Holy                HarperSanFrancisco            1961

                                                The Pursuit of God               Christian Publications                          1993

 

 

 

I’m no Hershey Bar…

My precious bride and I just returned from a special anniversary trip to Hershey and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  We visited Hershey — the sweetest place on earth, and we then spent a day in Gettysburg and toured the battlefield there.  Out of all the things I saw, and the chocolate I ate, the part I appreciate most is learning of some of the great personalities in our nation’s history.  From Hershey’s Chocolate Avenue to Seminary Ridge and Little Round Top battle points, we learned of men who arose in different circumstances to accomplish great things.

H.M. Hershey was born in 1857, had a completely dysfunctional home life (moved 10 times and saw his father leave his family when he was a young boy), lived in historic times (he was in 2nd grade, just an hour from Gettysburg, when the Battle of Gettysburg happened), started and failed in four businesses (all candy making businesses of some type), transformed the chocolate industry beginning in 1908 (he mass marketed chocolate and made it available for average people, like Henry Ford did the automobile), built a model town to enhance the lives of his employees, and began a school for orphans, underprivileged, and at risk youth that is still thriving today (http://www.mshersheyfoundation.org/). 

In Gettysburg, we were reminded of great names such as General John O. Buford (Union Calvary officer that was the first to meet a Confederate army at the Battle of Gettysburg), General Robert E. Lee (one of the great military leaders in ALL of our nation’s history, as well as a man of God), Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Colonel in the Union, at the time of Gettysburg, that held the left side of the army’s line and helped save a Union victory), or Abraham Lincoln (considered one of the great presidents in our nation’s history).

All of these men have in common that their identity is tied to the great feats that they accomplished, or the great things they have done for themselves and others.  In fact, all of this list involves me who are known because of their personal accomplishments and feats of intellectual, military, social, and business successes.  There is nothing wrong with our identity, as people know us, to be tied to our identity being tied to our personal accomplishments. 

In fact, the accomplishments of these men, before their great feats, brought little or no recognition of their identity.  Before these men were great, some of them were very normal, very unsuccesful, or very insecure in their position in history.  Yet, their personal achievements gave them new identities.   What great stories they have!  Yet, I have a greater story of identity.

In John 15 Jesus tells his disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”  Jesus is completely changing the identity of these followers of His. In addition, Jesus changes the identity of EVERY follower of his. 

What, you may ask, brings about this identity change?  Is the new identity tied to our accomplishments?  Is the new identity dependent on how good we act or how successful we are?  Quite the opposite.  Though identities like Hershey and Robert E. Lee are tied to their achievements, the identity I have in Christ is based up on HIS achievement.  In other words, even if I have done NOTHING significant in the world’s eyes, Christ gives me a new identity because of what He did for me on the cross.

This means that acceptance in Christ’s world is based on what Christ has done for me and not what I have done for Him.  He gives me a new identity and a new hope.  For those of us who may be fairly average in our accomplishments, that is awfully good news!