iCrucified

I’ve been blogging and maintaining my church website for the last two plus weeks and it’s causing me to feel like my own site is reeling from “Cinderella syndrome,” so I’m going to give it a little love today by throwing down a few posts.

First up, I thought I’d let you in on what’s in my bookbag. I’ve got a scheduled reading list, but occasionally I have the odd book or two (or three) bump the lineup. You can see from the “Current Book List” in the left-hand frame of my blog what is on my current “scheduled” list. Looking into my bookbag reveals a somewhat different story…sorta. So, is the suspense killing you? Let’s look inside (sound of bookbag unzipping):

• For Young Men Only by Jeff Feldhahn & Eric Rice : I’m currently reviewing this for a blog tour this week for Multnomah publishing a division of Random House. A review is forthcoming in the next day or two.
• Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage by Mark Gungor : This is one of the books Laurie and I are using as we gather resource material for an upcoming marriage retreat we are hosting and leading.
• It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get IT and Keep IT by Craig Groeschel : I’ll share more about it later…when I review it
• Walking With GOD Day by Day by Martyn Lloyd-Jones : I’ve been using this as supplemental reading in my morning devotional time for this past year; really good stuff.
• The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary by Aaron Milavec : I’m studying methods of discipleship and thought looking into the earliest methods might be a good place to freshen my thinking. I picked this one up on recommendation of a respected teacher-theologian.
• The Holy Bible: Tyndale’s New Living Translation : This has been my preferred translation for my personal devotional reading for the past couple years. It continues to be my “go to” for reading.
• Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Chruch by N. T. Wright : I started this a last month, but a few other books keep jumping into line, but I am finding that that to be ok. There is much to “chew” on in this work from Bishop Wright and I don’t mind taking bite-size chunks as I work my way through it.
• Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology by Eugene Peterson : I have been reading this book for a year now. This is not a book to simply read through and return to a shelf. I continue to find thinking that is buried in the words shared through a lifetime of experience from Pastor Peterson.
• Two Homemade DVD’s from downloaded video podcasts (available from iTunes) of Francis Chan’s teaching at Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley California.
  • Lukewarm and Loving it
  • The Church (a multi-part series)
• Today’s Christian: People of Faith. Stories of Hope
  • July/August issue
  • September/October issue

And…that’s what’s in my bookbag. How about you; what’s in your bookbag?