Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Constant Reader

P&R Publishing has a proven track record of publishing great books. Recently I spent time in three of their newer titles.


Giving Up Gimmicks: Reclaiming Youth Ministry An Entertainment Culture by Brian Cosby
Giving Up Gimmicks is a celebration of the ordinary yet powerful means God has given his church to win the lost and makes disciples. I wish this book had been available to me as a young youth pastor. Although Cosby's views of the sacraments are from an historic Presbyterian perspective, I would encourage every baptist youth pastor to read this book carefully.

"For more than a generation now we have sought to attract and entertain our precious youth rather than nurture them by grace. The majority have responded by turning their backs on the church. Brian Cosby has listened to their heart and is offering us the best biblical guidance we could ever hope to receive."- Michael Card, Award-winning Singer, Songwriter, and Author


7 Toxic Ideas Polluting Your Mind by Anthony Selvaggio
In this helpful book, Anthony Selvaggio examines 7 decidedly unchristian ideas that are commonly held by Christians. He takes us deeper than outward behaviors and helps us to focus on the ideas that fuel them. I think 7 Toxic Ideas is going to end up on my regular list of recommended books.

"By making good things ultimate things -- love becomes lust, rest becomes sloth, and so on -- we fall into what used to be called the seven deadly sins. We have a harder time spotting the seven modern idolatries that Anthony Selvaggio outlines for us, but the process is similar: individuality becomes individualism, equal opportunity becomes egalitarianism, and so on. Seven Toxic Ideas Polluting Your Mind helps us to spot those current tendencies and, with God’s grace, contain them."- Marvin Olasky, Editor-in-chief, WORLD


Lifted: Experiencing the Resurrection Life by Sam Allberry
It is an unfortunate reality that the resurrection of Jesus is a subject that has inexplicably been neglected compared to other important doctrines. Sam Allberry has written a book that seeks to help the reader understand the present power of Jesus' resurrection in the lives of all those who believe. Don't make your consideration of the resurrection of Jesus something that is confined to one Sunday in the Spring. Allberry helps us to understand how our joy, hope, assurance of salvation, and transformation are all tethered to Jesus' resurrection.

"Sam Allberry has written a wonderful book on the significance of the resurrection. Full of great images, clearly organized, encouraging, humorous, biblical, insightful – I could go on. Reading this little volume on a central but neglected topic will benefit your life. If you would like more assurance, transformation, hope and purpose, this book shows you how we get all that from the resurrection of Christ."
- Mark Dever, Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington DC

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