It's really no secret that I love books. At one time, it was even a matter of sinful pride. I genuinely aspired to have the largest personal library of all my acquaintances... I know totally uncool in a nerdy kind of way, but true! I got rid of most of them in the course of a single massive purging session a few years ago with a little lot of help from Amy!
I still like books, mind you. I just don't hoard them anymore. Here's a few I've read (or re-read) over the past few weeks...
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To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Old book, but still a very relevant book about love, acceptance, and the value of every life.
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Courageous Leadership, by Bill Hybels. This book is quite simply the best book on leadership in the local church that I've ever read (or re-read). It's one of our mentorship books here at Gateway.
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The Millennium Trilogy, by Steig Larsson. These three books are powerfully addicting. I didn't want to put them down. Read one, and you'll want to read them all!
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A History of the English Speaking Peoples, by Winston S. Churchill. What can I say? I'm a fool for pretty much anything Churchill wrote, especially these four volumes. History aside, Churchill is one of the most powerful communicators (written or spoken) our common culture has ever produced.
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Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, by Rob Bell. Some of you may be tempted to immediately label me a heretic (and swear to never read another of my posts) for even touching this book. That's OK. I've been and will be called worse. BUT if our secular culture sees Rob Bell as an evangelical spokesman, we'd better be personally familiar with what he's saying. If I'm gonna engage with the book, I wanna do it in my own understanding rather than simply adopting the conclusions of my cousin's roommate's brother-in-law's grandfather's pastor who warned his AM radio listeners against reading the book. That said, Bell's conclusions about divine justice and eternal punishment trouble me deeply when I consider them in light of the Bible's full teaching. Unless I miss my guess, Francis Chan's new book, Erasing Hell, will articulate a much more biblically honest assessment of hell.
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What are you reading?
