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2011 Book Club Reading Course
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Requirements for completing the Reading Course are:
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Read... Chose one book from any four of the following categories - Foreign Missions - Home Missions - Stewardship/Devotions |
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| The four books are to be read completely and individually within the year. A book may be read for credit only once. Recognition will be given at Yearly Meeting by the Reading Course Secretary for those completing all requirements for the Reading Course. |
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* Books added to the Reading Course will be used for two years.
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2011 Book List:
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| Most books can also be purchased at your local Christian book store or at Amazon.com. |
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Foreign Missions
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God of This City Regal Books, 2010. 124 pages, The popular worship song "God of This City" was written by Aaron Boyd, lead singer of Bluetree, while they were on a mission trip to Thailand. Near the end of a gig in a bar beneath a brothel in one of the world's sex-trade capitals, Aaron began to sing to the city that "greater things are yet to come / greater things are still to be done in this city." Within a few days, the full lyrics had emerged; within a few months, the song was ringing in Bluetree's hometown of Belfast, where the promise of "greater things" is starting to bear fruit. "God of This City" eventually became the anthem of the Passion international worship conferences, but there is more to the song than an inspiring melody and unusual history. In God of This City, the book, Aaron Boyd unpacks the lyrics of the song, and along the way shares his thoughts on the state of the Church, the persistent injustice in the world and the biblical mandate to right the wrongs done to our global neighbors. |
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Humanitarian Jesus: Moody Publishing, 2010. 218 pages, $14.99 Paperback ISBN: 9780802452634 Is it possible for evangelism and the social gospel to coexist harmoniously? Yes, say Dobson and Buckley, especially if good works support Jesus' great commandment to preach salvation and make disciples. Guiding Christians from the left and right to a middle way, this broadly biblical approach includes interviews with Franklin Graham, Tony Campolo, and others. 224 pages, softcover from Moody. |
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Home Missions & Church Growth
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Guerrilla Lovers: Changing the World with Revolutionary Compassion Baker Books, 2010. 256 pages, $14.99 Paperback ISBN: 9780801068164 With engaging true stories, Antonucci inspires readers to wage war on complacency and surprise the people around them with acts of love. You've never loved like this before Everyone is trying to change the world. Whether it's bringing justice to Darfur, fighting global warming, building schools, or rebuilding cities, people are flocking to causes bigger than themselves. They are dissatisfied with the status quo and are sacrificing their time and money to change it. God's people should be at the forefront of this movement. But we're not. Author and pastor Vince Antonucci challenges you to take part in changing the world, and shows you how to do it by adopting the strategy Jesus used: becoming a guerrilla lover. Just as a small group of people who deliver surprise attacks in close proximity can change the course of a war, you can change the course of this world with love. With engaging true stories of everyday guerrilla lovers, Antonucci will inspire you to wage war on complacency and surprise the people around you with acts of love. |
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Coffee Shop Conversations: Making the Most of Spiritual Small Talk by Dale & Jonalyn Fincher Zondervan, 2010. 233 pages, $14.99 Paperback ISBN: 9780310318873 In a world of designer spirituality, how do you talk to people about Jesus without offending them? Coffee Shop Conversations, by Dale and Jonalyn Fincher, will provide you with the tools you need to have meaningful, tolerant, and respectful conversations about your faith with those who don’t share your views. |
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Stewardship and Devotion
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Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell & Don Golden Zondervan, 2008. 218 pages, $19.99 Hardback ISBN: 9780310275022 It's a book about faith and fear, |
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Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?: (‘Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV) by Karen Spears Zacharias Zondervan, 2010. 233 pages, $16.99 Hardback ISBN: 9780310292500 Author Karen Spears Zacharias believes Christians have been paying good money for a false doctrine—the Cash and Cadillac Gospel. With humor and wit in Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?, Zacharias unpacks story after story of those who use the name of God as a means to living their own “good life,” as well as some unlikely folks whose genuine faith has led them to a different understanding of wealth. |
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Family Life and Social Relations
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by Jonathan Merritt Imagine God recycling bottles and planting trees. In this book by faith and culture writer Merritt, God is honored as the ultimate environmentalist who restores and loves His own creation. Evangelical Christians are less supportive of environmental causes than other groups, a statistic that Merritt attributes to misinformation and politics that hamper understanding. Through a compilation of scripture, statistics, and his own anecdotes, Merritt explains that creation care is a shared moral obligation—not a political viewpoint or a film by Al Gore. The world is God's apologetic about Himself; it is the Christian's job to maintain its beauty and complexity. Merritt arms the reader with Bible verses commanding care for creation; resources and suggestions for green living are given in the appendixes. Himself a convert to the idea of God as green, Merritt is sure to appeal to the hearts of even the most polarized Christians. His guide could be turned into relevant sermon material and should be mandatory reading for churchgoers. |
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Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess by Matthew Paul Turner WaterBrook Press, 2010. 242 pages, $14.99 Paperback ISBN: 9780307458018 Raised in a strict but loving Christian home, Turner was "churched" at an early age---but that didn't stop him from being mischievous and curious. Offering a hilarious look at growing up in the '80s, he affectionately remembers his firm-but-caring parents, passionate pastor, and sometimes misguided friends. A compelling coming-of-age story---with a new chapter! |
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Friends (Quakers)
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Missions by the Spirit: by Ron Stansell Barclay Press, 2010. 321 pages, $24.00 Paperback ISBN: 9781594980206 Missions by the Spirit: Learning from Quaker Examples captures Quaker (Friends Church) dynamics in global outreach. Author Ron Stansell shows that Quakers have carried out some aspects of missions differently than other evangelicals. Consciously and unconsciously, twentieth-century Friends were influenced by traditions and beliefs about the Holy Spirit, interpersonal relationships of peace and harmony, convictions that the human condition involves both physical and spiritual needs, and the belief that a passionately holy life full of integrity was required of them as missionaries. The bold witness of early Friends includes biblical teaching about the equality of all human beings, the work of God in the hearts of people everywhere, loyalty to Scripture, the centrality of Christ, the possibility of culture being transformed, and the personal guidance of the Holy Spirit |
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I Love You, Miss Huddleston: and Other Inappropriate Longings of My Indiana Childhood by Philip Gulley Harper, 2009. 200 pages, $12.99 Paperback ISBN: 9780061809552 With his ear for the small town and his knack for finding the needle of humor in life's haystack, Philip Gulley might well be Indiana's answer to Missouri's Mark Twain. In I Love You, Miss Huddleston we are transported to 1970's Danville, Indiana, the everyone-knows-your-business town where Gulley still lives today, to witness the uproarious story of Gulley's young life, including his infatuation with his comely sixth-grade teacher, his dalliance with sin--eating meat on Friday and inappropriate activities with a mannequin named Ginger--and his checkered start with organized religion. |
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Fiction
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Chosen: The Lost Diaries by Ginger Garrett David C. Cook, 2010. 288 pages, $14.99 Paperback ISBN: 9781434768018 She came to conquer a king but discovered a man and in the end, saved a nation. What really happened in Xerxes? palace? Queen Esther's secret diaries tell all. |
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Under the Cajun Moon by Mindy Starns Clark Harvest House, 2009. 332 pages, $13.99 Paperback ISBN: 9780736926249 New Orleans may be the “Big Easy,” but nothing about it was ever easy for international business etiquette expert Chloe Ledet. She moved away years ago, leaving her parents and their famous French Quarter restaurant behind. But when she hears that her father has been shot, she races home to be by his side and to handle his affairs—only to learn a long-hidden secret that changes everything she knew to be true about herself and her family. |
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You can order the most books from Barclay Pres at 1-800-962-4014 or at Amazon.com.
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If you have any questions about the reading list, please contact the Reading Course Secretary:
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Website design and graphics
by Wild Flower Art House © 2012 |
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