Hungry For Life - by Dave Blundell

My thoughts:

I have a bit of a unique perspective on this book and it's author as he and I have been good friends for many years and I now work for him at Hungry For Life International. 

Dave and I met at Bible college and have stayed friends throughout the years. He came to me about nine years ago and said that he had this desire to start a relief and development organization. As I sat and listened to his reasoning of how and why he wanted to start this I became more and more convinced that these were not just musings that had no valid basis in reality, but that it was God's voice whispering to him all the things that He had in store. I told Dave at the end of our dinner that I would come and work for him if he ever got it up and running. And here I am after having worked at Hungry For Life for the past four years and could happily make this my life's work. 

All of that to say that this book is a hard copy of all that is in Dave's heart and mind. This is the garden of his life and you can see all of the seeds that God has planted growing and coming to life on the pages before you. From the stories that he tells of himself as a child selling lemonade in an attempt to end cancer to meeting Dr. Job in India, or the harsh statistics that keep him working to make a change in this world, to the final "so what?" of this book, all of it, each word drips with his blood sweat and tears. I love this book and try to live my life by it's call because the call of this book is also the same call that God spoke into my ear many years ago when I chose to follow Him wherever He choose to lead me, even to the not so pleasant ends of the earth.

Thanks Dave for this book! 

Here is a book that might interest you. In Hungry For Life Canadian author Dave Blundell takes a unique approach to world missions by not offering a prescription for behaviour modification. Instead, he offers a call for renovation of the heart, building on the premise that a deeper global commitment is the by-product of deeper spirituality.

 

In explaining that the spiritual poverty of the Church affects global issues, Blundell states “There is a clear link between the spiritual health of God’s people and the social health of the poor. Throughout Scripture, when God’s people lost their first love, they failed to tangibly love those in need around them. God constantly points to social injustice as evidence of misplaced spiritual affection.” Noting that there are a number of books on social justice being released, Blundell saw the need for a resource for Christian leaders that would not simply criticize or condemn the Church, but one that would provide motivation and encouragement. Hungry For Lifeidentifies three priorities: first, identifying what is broken (global imbalance); secondly, an examination of what our world should look like (the biblical vision of a compassionate church); and thirdly, identifying how the Church can help right the imbalance through making strategic changes. Blundell firmly believes that “The Church has all the spiritual resources, through the Holy Spirit, and all the physical resources to transform the world – but most of us simply don’t know where to start or how to get strategically involved for long term impact.”  Encouraging churches to engage in global development as by-product of deeper spirituality.

Check out chapters 2&3 here on Google books.

Find Dave's website here and read about his other adventures and thoughts.

You can be Everything God Wants You to be - by Max Lucado

My thoughts:

This was a great little devotional book. It was encouraging and meaningful. It would be great as a gift to a recent graduate or for a friend who needs a helping hand. It was a pleasant and quick read if you choose too just sit down and read it but would be ideal for daily thoughts or meditations. 

Check out the first chapter here. Or comment and leave me a note if the link does not work... I am still new to this.

You can be Everything God Wants You to be - by Max Lucado

God made only one version of you. He custom designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment.

You are heaven's Halley's comet; we have one chance to see you shine. You offer a gift to the world that no one else brings. So find it and bring it! And when you do, both you and God will smile.

Yes, you can be everything God wants you to be.

Plan B - by Pete Wilson

I sit here with tears in my eyes as I write this review. Plan B is an amazing book! Who of us has never had a difficult or life changing event? Well even if your answer is that your life has never been anything but fabulous, this book will help you figure out all of us other unfortunate ones who have had our lives rocked by major catastrophes. As I am in the thick of walking through a major life changing situation this book has encouraged me and renewed me hope and trust! I would recommend it to anyone who can read, and for those that can not read, someone please take time to sit and read it to them, you will both be better off for the effort! 


You can check  out the video posted on Youtube as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C34l01O8rI0




"Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available May 2010 at your favourite bookseller. 

The Meeting of the Waters - Fritz Kling

This was a fascinating and helpful book. I work with an organization where we help facilitate groups to go on relief and development missions trips, so the global church is my everyday reality. This book was an encouraging and helpful resource that at times reinforced what I have been encountering in the church and at times it shed new light into a shadowed area for me. I have enjoyed this book a great deal! Fritz Kling has an effective writing style that I found easy to read and relate to my own life. I would recommend this book to those that are interested in current trends or those that work within the church who have ever wondered where it is heading or why. 

Seven Currents that are Changing the Global Church

A Breakthrough Book by Fritz Kling details the rapid transitionary forces facing Christianity today

Two rivers meet in Manaus, Brazil, at the turbulent head of the Amazon River. The different-colored tributaries do not give way or merge, but instead strain against their common seam. For ten miles, they share the same channel but remain distinct like oil and water. 

Christendom finds itself at just such a murky and perilous juncture. The church is caught between its tried-and-true past and an all-bets-are-off future. Christianity throughout the world is stunning in its scope and spiritual impact, but what is happening to the Church as new technological, promotional, and generational shifts make their unavoidable mark? And what difference does it make for Christians in day-to-day life?

The Meeting of the Waters, a new book by Fritz Kling, identifies seven trends—including migration, machines, and the growing Mercy Generation—having an impact on today’s Global Church. Neither an institution nor a bureaucracy, the global Church is incredibly adaptive and vibrant.  It has long been the world’s most effective relief agent, meeting needs across the globe through justice advocacy, material aid, counseling, biblical proclamation, education, and more. But what forces are shaping the global church, and what will it take in this unique place in time for the church to continue its mission of hope?  Equal parts travelogue, character study, and global documentary, this breakthrough book seeks to answer these important questions and is written for anyone eager to make a difference in a changing world.

Kling’s experience as a foundation executive who has researched and directed investments to Christian ministries around the world has taught him how to “connect the dots”—to understand how forces secular and sacred, ancient and modern, spiritual and physical, domestic and international have informed Christian ministry. Over the past eight years, Kling has met with more than a thousand indigenous church leaders from forty different countries. He has made airlines re-think their frequent flyer programs, bounced through endless van rides, and drunk gallons of Coke and chai in both slums and skyscrapers.  Secular commentators have long written about globalization’s wake, but Fritz Kling has witnessed it firsthand—through a Christian lens. The Meeting of the Waters is the byproduct of these experiences and is therefore able to give an original and incredibly well researched perspective on the growing need to understand ministry in a rapidly changing world.

The Meeting of the Waters will be an important addition to the libraries of anyone who wants to make a difference for Christ in a global community. In particular, pastors, mission pastors, missions committees, seminary professors, missionaries, and mission agency employees will find this book a fascinating and useful tool.    

The Meeting of the Waters by Fritz Kling

David C Cook/March 2010/ISBN: 978-1-4347-6484-3/256 pages/softcover/$16.99

http://www.davidccook.com/

A History Of Christianity; Episode One - Diarmaid MacCulloch

This is a brilliant overview of Christianity in the earliest days. It is fresh, interesting and insightful and presents many new sides of the story that, even in all of my church history classes over the years, I have not heard about. MacCulloch is entertaining and so well educated on the topic that this history class never gets boring! It seems strange for me to want voluntarily decide to watch a DVD on the topic of church history but I had seen MacCulloch on TV once before and was impressed, so I thought I would try this one out and I was not disappointed. It was interesting to learn new things and have just enough information given so I was not loosing interest in the information, but not too much to make me bored of the topic and wanting to be done with it. In fact I would even look forward to seeing more of these, and that is saying volumes!

Discovering the Surprising History of the First Christians

New DVD series examines Christianity’s global roots.

Click here to view the trailer!

Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX—There are two billion Christians in the world today, a third of humanity—Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal, and many more. Though Christians, by definition, are well-versed in the story of Christ and the apostles, many have given little thought to the details of their Christian heritage—the miraculous transferring of their faith from the first Christians huddled at Golgotha, across two centuries worth of cultures and languages, wars, and the rising and falling of empires. How did this small, obscure Jewish sect that preached humility and personal sacrifice become the biggest religion in the world? The answer will surprise you.

A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is a six-part series co-produced by the BBC, the Open University, and Jerusalem Productions and presented by Diarmaid MacCulloch, one of the world’s leading historians and Professor of History of the Church and Fellow at St. Cross College, Oxford. As MacCulloch reveals the true history of Christianity, he explores the question, “What does it really mean to be a Christian?”

While most Christian histories start with St. Paul’s mission to Rome, MacCulloch asserts that the Christianity stayed much closer to its Middle-Eastern roots and that, in fact, the first Christians actually took the eastern road from Jerusalem, spreading their faith across Asia, even to parts of China.

“Today, Christianity is seen as a Western faith. Indeed, many in the Muslim world would see Western lifestyles as Christian lifestyles. But Christianity is not by origin a Western religion,” MacCulloch says. “Its beginnings are in the Middle East, where there still exist churches which have been Eastern since the earliest Christian era. The story of the first Christianity tells us the Christian faith is, in fact, hugely diverse with many identities.”

MacCulloch is one of the most widely traveled Christian historians, and A History of Christianity is the first retelling of the Christian story that is truly global in scope. Filmed in high definition, A History of Christianity takes viewers on a 2,000-year odyssey that reaches the farthest corners of the world, from Palestine in the first century to India in the third, from Damascus to China in the seventh century, and from San Francisco to Korea in the twentieth.

A scholar whose fascination with Christian history was cultivated at an early age, Diarmaid MacCulloch is the last in three generations of Anglican clergy. That personal connection enriches the storytelling, as he describes not only the main ideas and personalities of Christian history, its organization, and spirituality, but how it has changed our views on politics, sex, and human society.

“Religious belief can transform us for good or ill. It has brought human beings to acts of criminal folly as well as the highest achievements of goodness and creativity. I tell the story of both extremes,” MacCulloch says.

The twentieth century brought what many perceive to be the greatest threat to Christianity—skepticism and spiritual apathy. Still, MacCulloch contends that the future of Christianity is filled with possibilities.

The DVD set will arrive in stores, including Sam’s Club, in time for the Easter Season. The series will also be available on Amazon.com.

A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years 6 DVD Set presented by Diarmaid MacCulloch

March 2010

www.ambrosevideo.com

The Right Call - Kathy Herman

The Right Call is apparently the third book in the Sophie Trace Trilogy. I personally have not read the previous two books yet, nor have I read any of Kathy Herman's other books, an oversight I will have to correct.

The Right Call was a great novel. The characters were well developed and I found myself easily drawn into the plot of the story. The characters are dynamic and have their odd little quirks which makes them all the more endearing.

There were quite a few references to the happenings from the previous books, but it never came across in a manner that left me, the unknowing reader, confused or lost. However it left me just curious enough to decide I need to buy the previous two books and learn more about the adventures of the Jessup family.

Overall, a wonderful story, lovable characters and an all around successful piece of writing!

Heart-pounding suspense that delivers heart-changing truth

Kathy Herman’s latest book proves to be a thrilling conclusion to the Sophie Trace Trilogy

It’s summer in Sophie Trace, the setting of Kathy Herman’s latest page turner, The Right Call. Based on 2 Peter 2:19b: “For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him,” The Right Call demonstrates how we’re all slaves to something—either to God and righteousness or to the flesh and its pitfalls.

Ethan Langley is home from college for the summer, eager to renew his friendship with Vanessa Jessup (Police Chief Brill Jessup’s daughter) and her infant son, Carter. Before Ethan is even settled his world is rocked by a random shooting that leaves four people dead, including someone close to him. Ethan tries to deal with his grief by staying busy and concentrating on his growing love for Vanessa. When a coworker from the previous summer, Stedman Reeves, seems somewhat obsessed with the shooting—but also sympathetic to Ethan’s deep loss—the two seem to connect.

While Chief Jessup is scrambling to find a suspect in the shootings, Ethan gets a late-night call from Stedman, who sounds panicked and needs to see him right away. Stedman confesses shocking details: due to a series of bad choices, he is going to be framed for the murders. All the evidence points to Stedman’s guilt, and he knows that there is no way he can prove his innocence. Stedman implores Ethan to go to Vanessa’s mother with this information.

When the wrong people find out that Ethan knows too much, those around him are placed in danger. What should he do? Going to Chief Jessup with the truth could save Stedman from doing life in prison—but it could be a death sentence for and Vanessa and Carter. He’s been dealt an impossible hand, but it’s his move. Will he make the right call?

Best-selling suspense novelist Kathy Herman brings this vivid story to life in her new book, The Right Call, the third book in the acclaimed Sophie Trace Trilogy. Filled with heart-pounding suspense that delivers heart-changing truth, The Right Call uses the perilous story of a young college student to reinforce the importance of walking closely with God, to be armed with wisdom and strength in order to face the toughest of circumstances.

The Right Call by Kathy Herman

David C Cook/March 1, 2010/ISBN: 978-1-4347-6784-4/352 pages/softcover/$14.99

www.davidccook.com ~  www.kathyherman.com

Click here to view the book trailer!

Glaen by Fred Lybrand

My thoughts on: Glaen by Fred Lybrand

Gotta be honest, I had high hopes for this book and was a bit disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high but I was really looking forward to the concept of self help and novel being combined, but it just didn't work well for me. The flow of the novel was interrupted by interjecting the self help portions. Not being familiar with Lybrand's previous work I am assuming that he shines in the self help area but is not yet a polished novelist. There were little things like fact that the characters often referred to each other by their proper names. If I am going to get into a novel I have to feel like these characters are my friends and we are hanging out together when I read. When reading this book I felt like it was one big long awkward blind date where I have to keep saying the guys name so I don't forget it. 

Now apart from my above comments I did enjoy the self help parts of the book. I thought that he had some great points and made valid connections. 

Overall I thought the concept of the book and the self help side of it was great, it was the novel side that I was disappointed in. Two out of three ain't bad. 

Here's what others had to say:

Click on cover to see the Glaen book trailer!

What readers are saying about Fred Lybrand’s Glaen:

“This book was a creative glimpse into what freedom in relationships truly looks like and how to relate in authentic ways with those around you. For me, I found it refreshing and thought provoking because it really challenges the way many of us have looked at relationships before.” ~ Christine (27 years old)

“Glaen is has been a great tool to start discussions with my teenage daughters and help them to understand romance and dating in a healthier way.” ~ Christy (a mom)

“Glaen is a clear, straight-forward book with deep, lasting insights about a universally puzzling subject...dating. If you begin it, you will see it through to the end; if not for its wisdom, for also its engaging story. If you care about having a relationship that lasts a lifetime, you will be greatly gratified by reading this story, or sorely deprived by missing out on it.” ~ Stephen (18 years old)

“…insightful, clever, and tied together with surprising twists.  I found the “lies” countered with “truths” presented within the narrative to bring clarity to the often confusing subject of relationships.”    ~ Grant (a senior pastor)

Author Fred Lybrand takes an in-depth look into relationships and dating, plus a little common sense for the real day-to-day world, in his latest book, Glaen.

Glaen introduces the character of Annie Hughes just as she suffers the loss of one of life’s foundational relationships—her parents’ marriage. As a graduate student, Annie suddenly finds herself at a loss to understand how any relationship finds and maintains lifetime staying power, especially a relationship as intimate as marriage.

Lybrand’s character development of Annie Hughes allows him to outline several foundational truths. Using Annie’s “research” and “journal” entries as the vehicle to present thought-provoking ideas to the reader, Lybrand first uncovers the lies of a secular world-view and then counters those lies with the truth of God’s design for the marriage relationship. These observations are made even clearer as the reader observes Annie’s interaction with other couples and friends who are in the process of dating and considering marriage. As she questions her friends’ choices, she also takes an honest look at the relationships she is developing within her own life.

The life changing principles found in Glaen are the gems Lybrand wants readers to take from the story and experience in their own lives and relationships. Thus, Glaen is a book that demands a second reading, as those who read its story will want to go through it again and highlight and examine the truths Annie uncovers throughout her journey. This book will serve as a great teaching tool for parents to use with their children as well as for church leaders guiding couples who are seeking a more satisfying marriage relationship. 

Glaen by Fred R. Lybrand

The Barnabas Agency   February 2010

ISBN: 978-0-578-04652-5/softcover/171 pages/$14.99

Website: www.glaen.com ~ Blog: www.glaen.wordpress.com

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