Staff Suggestions for Summer Reading

Here are some suggestions for summer reading from our Ministerial staff at GFBC:


1. Gathering Together: Baptists at Work in Worship (2013) - ed. Rodney Wallace Kennedy & Derek C. Hatch

This book of essays written by prominent Baptist theologians and pastors helps the church to think intentionally about the importance of liturgy in Baptist worship. With articles on prayer, preaching, communion, baptism, and music this book seeks to offer Baptist congregations the biblical, theological, and spiritual foundation they need to ground their liturgical worship practices.

2. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way we Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (2012) - Brene Brown

This book works to dispel the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage. She explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions such as fear, grief, and disappointment as well as the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She explains that when we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the people and experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.

3. Consider the Birds: A Provocative Guide to the Birds of the Bible (2013) - Debbie Blue

This book explores the significance of ten birds in the Bible and illustrates how and why they have represented humanity across culture, Christian tradition, art, and the contemporary psyche. By bringing these (usually) minor characters to the forefront of our imaginations, Blue illuminates such human qualities as desire and gratitude, power and vulnerability, insignificance and importance—and provides us with profound lessons about faith and God's mysterious grace.

4. Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (2009) - James K. A. Smith

This book argues that humans (as Augustine noted) are not primarily "thinkers" but "agents of desire" full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love. Malls, stadiums, sporting events, and universities, etc., influence and shape our thoughts and affections through "cultural liturgies" that teach us what to love and form our vision of "the good life." Ultimately, this book seeks to help us recognize the "cultural liturgies" we all participate in and to re-vision Christian education and life as the formation of desires towards God's vision of the good life (i.e. the kingdom) through the practice of worship.

5. How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist (2009) - Andrew Newberg & Mark Robert Waldman

This book written by a neuroscientist and a therapist draws on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies, a wide-reaching survey of people's religious experiences, and analyses of adult drawings of God. Using this research, the authors argue that consistent, intense prayer, meditation, and spiritual practice not only draws us closer to God and to each other but actually reduces stress, slows the aging process, decreases anxiety and depression, and increases feelings of security, compassion and love.

6. God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships (2014) - Matthew Vines

This book carefully engages all the major issues in the debate over homosexuality with compassion and grace in highly accessible language. By describing his own journey, discussing the vexing question of "orientation", and addressing each of the biblical passages that have traditionally been used to condemn homosexuals, Vines dispels many of the cultural myths and misinterpretations of the Bible that have been the foundation of Christian opposition to same-sex relationships.

7. The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives (2010) - Peter Scazzero

This book argues that Christians cannot become healthy disciples of Jesus if they are emotionally immature. Scazzero claims that emotional maturity is the last (and most important) frontier of Christian discipleship. By drawing on the story of his own personal emotional growth and his church's discovery that emotional maturity is the most important trait for their leaders, Scazzero charts a new path for transforming people into disciples and facilitating congregational health.

8. Discovering the Depths: Guidance in Personal Spiritual Growth (1976) - William P. Clemmons

This book written by a Southeastern professor (before the fall of the SBC) is intended for people seeking serious guidance in personal spiritual growth. It describes spiritual formation as a journey into deeper dimensions of what it means to be individually and collectively formed into God's people. Clemmons calls us into an inward journey where the work of God is done at such a depth that the results of this deep encounter are experienced in a changed self, a commitment to deal with the irrelevant structures of our culture, and a call to minister to a broken world.

9. The New Parish: How Neighborhood Churches are Transforming Mission, Discipleship, and Community (2014) - Paul Sparks, Tim Sorens, & Dwight J. Friesen

This book employs the old concept of the "parish" as a way to describe what the church must become today in an age of dislocation and disengagement. The notion of a church that knows its place and gives itself to its neighborhood is like a breath of fresh air and a sign of new life. When faith communities begin connecting with the neighborhood, they learn to depend on God for strength to love like never before. When the local church is a real part of the community and connected to the struggles of the people the gospel becomes much more tangible and compelling. 

10. Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority (2012) - Tim Wise

White Americans have long been comfortable in the assumption that they are the cultural norm. As white people wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, truly multicultural nation, this notion is being challenged. Facing economic insecurity, a popular culture that reflects the nation’s diverse cultural reality, and a future in which they will no longer constitute the majority of the population, whites are growing anxious. Wise argues, however, that the hope for survival of American democracy lies not in anxiety and fear, but in the embrace of our multicultural past, present, and future.

Have a great summer and enjoy your summer reading!

Ben, Lauren, Robin, and Stephen