The Return

Review: Jesus Called: He Wants His Church Back Ray Johnston W Publishing Group 2015 Catchy title.   I did notice it and decided to read it.    This author really likes lists!!   Five of this and four of that and 15 of the other.   Even the back cover has a set of bullet points.   The reader does begin not to notice them after a while.   The endorsements included are numerous and stellar.   The narrative is easy to read.   The content except for the last chapter and few anecdotal pieces along the way left me cold.      Why?   The “what’s wrong with the church” books have enumerated repeatedly all the woes and ills that anyone who attends a church or even observes one from afar can see.   What is really needed if you want to write a book is to point folks to the solution.   Would it sell?   Probably not since it’d be too simple and too difficult all at once.   It’d be a rehash of th...

Review: Midnight Jesus: Where Struggle, Faith, and Grace Collide… Jamie Blaine W Publishing 2015 Read this Book!   Spend your money for a copy.   Borrow one if you’ve got no money for it.   It is the best I’ve read in a long, long, long time.   I can’t say it any better than Augustan Burroughs has, “Gorgeous, brilliantly written, deeply moving, life-affirming, and just plain stunning.”   I don’t get excited about a book often, but this one is different.   And in the best way possible.      Blaine makes it plain up front that the book is “A work of creative nonfiction” meaning the names, dates, locations, and other identifying features have been changed to protect those he’s thinking of while he writes.   Don’t be surprised if you find a little of yourself inside this book.   Also don’t be surprised if you find yourself wondering if a few changes need to happen in your own life.   And don’t be surprised if y...

Review: Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better Brant Hansen W Publishing Group 2015   What! Is that a real word? Unoffendable?   It is now if it wasn’t before.   And one that needs to hang around.   Hansen has found a single change that could make all of life better.   In chapter after chapter he makes his case for being unoffendable.   Sometimes it looks like humility, and then it could look like forgiveness.   Other forms it could take are obedience and love.    We know all those words so what is Hansen’s point?   His point is that anger in whatever form has to go.   All the time.   Every time.   No exceptions.   He looks at all the “but, what about…” angles and doesn’t miss very many of them.   Each time the answer is be unoffendable and it isn’t his idea.   It is Biblical.   Don’t believe that?  Read this book.   “It’s not fair!” is even off ...