Recent Reads

Here’s a short list of some books I’ve read recently:

• The Celtic Way of Evangelism by George Hunter III – A great book highlighting how Patrick contextualized the gospel to reach the Celts in the 5th Century. It really challenged me to consistently evaluate the ‘how’ of ministry while maintaining the ‘what’.
• Carry On by Scotty Gibbons – This is the first book written by the student ministries pastor of a growing church in Springfield, MO (James River Assembly). He had some valuable insights on youth ministry, but some great overarching leadership principles as well. I would highly recommend this to anyone going into/currently in youth ministry.
• Mavericks at Work by William C. Taylor & Polly G. Labarre – This is a straight business book but highlights a number of principles that are applicable outside just the business world.  Throughout the book, the authors share the stories of different corporations that have revolutionized their industries – these included companies like Southwest Airlines, ING Direct and Chick-Fil-A.  Their stories are inspiring to read about and I would strongly recommend this one!
• A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado – This was a challenging book.  Max breaks down 1 Corinthians 13 and challenges the reader to apply these different aspects of love in their daily lives.  It is packed full of great sermon illustrations too!  One thing I would say is it does drag at moments, but the chapters are short, so that gives some incentive to keep trucking through!