The good people at Thomas Nelson sent me a copy of The Expanded Bible: New Testament
So, how useful is the expanded material provided in The Expanded Bible
Reading The Expanded Bible
Final Vote: Useful, but clunky.
To see a translation that does a good job of integrating notes into the text in a readable way, check out The Voice
Thanks to the good folks at Multnomah Books, here’s the second giveaway for Booktober Fest 09:
Holy Roller: Finding Redemption and the Holy Ghost in a Forgotten Texas Church
Book Summary:
Julie Lyons was working as a crime reporter when she followed a hunch into the South Dallas ghetto. She wasn’t hunting drug dealers, but drug addicts who had been supernaturally healed of their addictions. Was there a church in the most violent part of the city that prayed for addicts and got results?
At The Body of Christ Assembly, a rundown church on an out-of-the-way street, Lyons found the story she was looking for. The minister welcomed criminals, prostitutes, and street people–anyone who needed God. He prayed for the sick, the addicted, and the demon-possessed, and people were supernaturally healed.
Lyons’s story landed on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald. But she got much more than just a great story, she found an unlikely spiritual home. Though the parishioners at The Body of Christ Assembly are black and Pentecostal, and Lyons is white and from a traditional church background, she embraced their spirituality–that of “the Holy Ghost and fire.”
It’s all here in Holy Roller–the stories of people desperate for God’s help. And the actions of a God who doesn’t forget the people who need His power.
Want a free copy of Holy Roller
So, I know you’ve all been refreshing my blog every few minutes wondering who would win the much desired A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
K has hooked me up with several good free books in the past, including Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?
Congrats, K!
Thanks to the good folks at Thomas Nelson, I’m kicking of Booktober Fest 09 by giving away a copy of Don Miller’s Latest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Read my review here.
Why do you want a free copy of this book? Leave a comment on this blog post between now and 11:59 PM on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, letting me know why you need/want this book. Feel free to be serious or funny or creative with your answer. :)
On Wednesday, October 7, I will pick one commenter to receive a copy of A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
What story are you living?
Do you want to live a better story?
In A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
While working on a project to turn his bestselling Blue Like Jazz into a movie, Miller begins to learn the elements of story. Realizing that the elements that create a good story could also be applied to create a good life, Miller decides to live a better story. And he does. Hiking the Machu Picchu. Biking across America. A quest to find his father. Starting an organization to mentor young men. As he tells about the new narrative he is crafting for his life, readers learn to live a better story themselves.
Miller writes “A good writer doesn’t just tell a better story, though. He invites other people into the story with him, giving them a better story too.” This is what Miller does in A Million Miles
I loved this book. I cried when I read Chapter 9 “How Jason Saved His Family.” As a parent, this book was a reminder to invite my children to live in a meaningful story—the story of what God is doing in the world. I can’t wait to read it again.
Miller’s early work featured observant and witty commentary on the world; A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Here’s a sample for you to read:
In So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church
If there were “just one word” the church needs to hear today, it is the one you will hear in a variety of ways throughout this book. Mission. …. The ultimate story of the Bible, the metanarrative that unlocks the whole story, is that God is on a mission, and we are summoned to participate with God in that mission.
The shift from APC church to MRI church is a change from merely growing larger churches to joining in the mission of God, no matter the size of our church. Attractional church creates members; missional church creates missionaries. Propositional church creates believers; relational church creates disciples. Colonial church creates consumers; incarnational church creates world changers.
After providing sections on each of the three elements in an MRI church, Sweet ends with an epilogue that sketches some ideas for measuring the success of an MRI church. What do we measure besides attendance, buildings, and cash?
In So Beautiful, Sweet has written a book that is both useful to the expert and open to the novice. This is no easy task! I was especially delighted by the 50 pages of footnotes that make this book a springboard into other useful books and articles.
I will be keeping my very marked up copy of So Beautiful as a great resource.
Thanks to the nice people at Waterbrook Press who sent me a copy of Holy Roller: Finding Redemption and the Holy Ghost in a Forgotten Texas Church
I’m running behind on my book reviews, so expect a future post sharing my thoughts on this book and how you can get a free copy. In the mean time, here’s the book summary.
Julie Lyons was working as a crime reporter when she followed a hunch into the South Dallas ghetto. She wasn’t hunting drug dealers, but drug addicts who had been supernaturally healed of their addictions. Was there a church in the most violent part of the city that prayed for addicts and got results?At The Body of Christ Assembly, a rundown church on an out-of-the-way street, Lyons found the story she was looking for. The minister welcomed criminals, prostitutes, and street people–anyone who needed God. He prayed for the sick, the addicted, and the demon-possessed, and people were supernaturally healed.
Lyons’s story landed on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald. But she got much more than just a great story, she found an unlikely spiritual home. Though the parishioners at The Body of Christ Assembly are black and Pentecostal, and Lyons is white and from a traditional church background, she embraced their spirituality–that of “the Holy Ghost and fire.”
It’s all here in Holy Roller–the stories of people desperate for God’s help. And the actions of a God who doesn’t forget the people who need His power.
The fine folks at Random House sent me a couple of copies of Hero: Becoming the Man She Desires
I’ll be posting a review and giveway for this book soon. In the meantime, here’s the summary for the book.
You already know it’s not easy being a single man in this culture today. But it is easy to be overwhelmed, to feel helpless and hopeless about living by God’s high standards for singles. It’s easy to cave in to the pressures of this sex-soaked world and accept defeat—blaming the media, the culture, even girlfriends who don’t know how tough it can be.
But many men have read books like Every Young Man’s Battle and Tactics and have committed themselves to stand strong and pure in the power of God, and to go on the offensive against the onslaught of negative stereotypes. Some have suffered. Some have fallen. But many have experienced victory—and you can be among them.
What makes those committed men so desirable to women? Be Her Hero is their motto. From best-selling author Fred Stoeker, along with his son Jasen, come the straightforward insight and real-life examples you’re looking for to help you take personal purity to its logical conclusion. Here’s straight truth with irrefutable evidence of what makes an ultimate hero to women who long for men of faith—men who stand by their convictions and make their world a safer and better place.
Are you ready to accept the challenge?
This is the first of two book giveaways I’ll be having this week in honor of Mother’s Day.
The really nice folks at WaterBrook Press/Multnomah Books sent me two copies of Enduring Justice
After the 50 page rule I decided this book wasn’t for me.
So, I have 2 copies to give away. These will go to the first two people who leave a comment requesting a copy.
Here’s the book summary:
In Enduring Justice, Hanna Kessler’s childhood secret has remained buried for over two decades. But when the dark shadows of her past threaten to destroy those she loves, Hanna must face the summer that changed her life and the man who still haunts her thoughts.
Crimes Against Children FBI Agent, Michael Parker knows what it means to get knocked down. And when the system fails and a white supremacist is set free, Michael’s drive for retribution eclipses all else.
A racist’s well-planned assault forces Hanna and Michael to decide between executing vengeance and pursuing justice. When the attack turns personal, is healing still possible?
This thought-provoking novel deals with healing from sexual abuse, the balance of justice and mercy, and maintaining mixed-race friendships in the midst of racial tension. Readers who enjoy investigative thrillers by Dee Henderson, Colleen Coble, and Catherine Coulter, and who watch crime dramas like Law & Order: SVU, Criminal Minds, and Without a Trace will love this book—and the entire series.
