Five Influential Books Meme

There is a meme floating around that asks what five books have most influenced the way you read scripture. I am going to list the five books that have most influenced me in the past year, in which I have spent a significant amount of time rediscovering scripture. During the past year I have radically changed my approach to scripture, and much of this has been due to my interaction with the biblioblog community. However, these books and authors have been influential. Here they are in chronological order:

1. Velvet Elvis – Rob Bell
2. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth -Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart
3. New Testament Exegesis – Gordon Fee
4. Greek for the Rest of Us – William Mounce
5. The Message – Eugene Peterson

This last one is a work in progress as it is a more recent acquisition. Reading the Bible in paraphrase has been very enlightening however. I tag anyone that has not completed this meme yet to go ahead and do so. You can read all of the responses to this meme at the original blog here:

So Many Books, So Little Time

 

Update

I have updated my About Me page as the information there was a year old. Also, I have made a few revisions and updates to my blog roll. This past week I have added around a dozen new blogs to my feed reader, and if they prove to be interesting I will add them to my blog roll.

Also, I will be shifting the focus of my blog from Greek and Biblical Studies into one that is more generally focused on life and my faith. I think that it will be more interesting for me to blog, and hopefully more interesting to read.

 

It

It

How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

By Craig Groeschel

I read this book last week, and it is a worthy read. Primarily written for the leadership of the church, I found it to be a helpful tool for analyzing how churches function. I largely agree with pretty much everything he said, as he is attempting to identify what factors cause a church to have it, or not have it.

The book is divided into three parts, and the first part (2-3 chapters) is only worth skimming through. Parts two and three are worth reading every word however. If you are a pastor, or are involved in the leadership at your church, then I strongly recommend you pick up this book and read through it. Also, I was impressed that the author did not offer a list of steps to figure out the formula for growing your church. Instead he seems to have hit on some key issues that churches should look at and revise if necessary.

Unlike the emerging church movement, I feel that this book offers very valid suggestions for altering the present day church. Primarily, this is geared around focusing the church’s efforts on only a few core ministries, instead of spreading efforts too thin on many ministries. The book doesn’t address the emerging church movement, but I felt that it offered a good alternative for those that are not satisfied with the status quo, and seeking some sort of improvement. My main gripe with all things emergent is that there is a fundamental flaw of lack of oversight or accountability, but I digress.

If you end up reading this book, I’d be curious to know what you think of it. Also, I may make a subsequent post that goes into more detail, if anyone is interested in that. I would prefer people actually read the book for themselves though, as it is worth the time and money required to do so. On a side note, I am hoping to finish up my post about the NLT Study Bible, and get that posted later this month, or in July.

 

One Year of Blogging

Well today marks my one year anniversary for this blog. It has been an interesting experience, and I’ve learned a lot from many of my readers. I just glanced at my visit numbers and was surprised to see that I’ve had over 15,000 visitors in only a year. I’m not sure what to make of that really. I guess I am encouraged that there are people out there who have a genuine interest in learning more about the scriptures. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to creating my future posts and reading yours as well. We’re still very busy with the newborn, but once things settle down I hope to get right back into the swing of things.

If you are curious, my most popular page is the ESV Study Bible Review, with the most visits and the most hits from the search engines. I just checked Google and it is now the very first link, up from number six just a month ago.

 

Baby Boy

Just posting to let everyone know that we have just had a healthy baby boy. He was born on February 13th and both he and mom are doing well. There has been a drought on my blog lately, and that trend is likely to continue due to these new responsibilities. My next post will be about the NLT Study Bible, eventually followed by a review of the TNIV Study Bible.

[edit]
Here’s some images of my daughter Leah, myself, and our new son Lukas Andrew: