I’ve scattered quite a few “recommended reads” through the posts in this blog. Many of my “church related” recommended reads are being footnoted in the “Advice to Church Staff” thread at
For example, I’ve just posted about 7 books and website article I recommend for church staff in a post about Church Staff Meetings.  http://sundayresources.net/neil/2008/06/12/staff-meetings-and-staffs/
If you […]

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The Last Lecture, by Randy Paush. Hyperion Books. http://www.thelastlecture.com/
This book has received a lot of press and definitely lives up to the hype. I’ve read it and had my older daughters read it. Youth groups and adult classes should read it. Pastors should read it. Parents should read it. This is one of those books you’ll […]

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Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith; by Rob Bell. (zondervan)
This is a personal book, a discussion of what it means to be a Christian in the 21st Century. It’s authored by one of the most interesting young and upcoming preachers in the country, Rob Bell, pastor of the Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids MI.
The title is certainly refreshing and intriguing, […]

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Jesus Freaks is a book of devotions for teens. Somebody at my church gave a copy to my two older daughters and they actually read it!  I think it was a confirmation gift. Dad, of course, was very interested in what the book had to say, so I started to read it too. It’s a […]

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This post has two book recommendations: Unfreezing Moves, and Moving Off the Map: A Field Guide to Changing your Congregation. Both should be on your reading list if your a leader in your church. I’ve put links to them at Christianbooks.com at the end of this post….
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I’m attracted to books that have fresh points of view, -that try to lift the veil on history and human behavior.  The Tipping Point and 1491 were both NY Times bestsellers that examine something we THINK we know, then bring in new data to challenge that thinking.
The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell was a blockbuster book several […]

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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explodes the Hidden Side of Everything -by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
This 2005 bestseller isn’t about economics. It’s about exploding assumptions and conventional wisdom using some economic principles and investigative techniques.  Frankly, it will blow your mind.
These subjects might seem strange to you, but the glory is in the way […]

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Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who by Frederick Buechner
This is an amazing and wonderful book. Buechner humorously and poignantly goes A to Z through Bible characters -famous and infamous, well-known and unknown, and describes them in such as way as you might imagine they are part of your family, your neighborhood, your church. Or maybe they […]

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Telling the Truth: the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairytale, by Frederick Buechner.
Go ahead, let this titled PROVOKE you. But it’s not what you think. It’s MUCH BETTER than that!
This is the first Buechner book I ever read and it turned me on to the rest of the man’s works. If I have a “theological God-father” […]

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Wishful Thinking: A theological ABC, by Frederick Buechner
Drool Warning: I love Buechner. When I was in seminary and interviewing for my first pastor job the pastor interviewing me asked me what I was reading in seminary, and I admitted I was reading books not recommended by the professors!  The pastor-interviewer asked me, “Who?” and I said […]

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