I'm part of a team in my Sunday School class tasked with the assignment of picking out our next book to read. We each assume responsibility to teach in our class. A book that we can divide up in 3 months or less and discuss and teach at a reasonable pace would be most desirable. Recent authors we have read include: Max Lucado Rick Warren Joyce Meyers Joel Osteen David Jeremiah's father (forgot his name) We have just finished Joyce Meyers' latest book. It was good but it took way to long as we are likely to just take a chapter a week. I am lobbying for a faster pace to our study as we tend to lose focus and interest after the second month... Thanks in advance.
It's an adult Sunday School Class right? MadMax recommended a great book to me, that I read and loved. It is called Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. It is easy to read rather quickly, but plenty to discuss and disect within it. Bell apparently has a new book coming out in March as well.
Can it be fiction? I was very touched by Pierced by a Sword when I read it a few years back...very intense and engaging read...and you can defiitely apply it's messages to everyday life.
Blue Like Jazz, or Searching for God Knows What, both by Don Miller. Or a classic - Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis Maybe The Case for Fatih, Lee Strobel.
Please read Don Miller. More churches need to. Blue Like Jazz Searching For God Knows What Those books seriously changed my life.
Thanks for the suggestions. I've made note and will do some research. rimbaud, one of the suggestions was for us to occasionally do a book of the Bible study but I don't see us taking on the whole Bible. The church sponsors small group Bible Studies outside of SS Classes. Our habit has been to get a book and spend six months on it. We only read Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyers in the last year. Talk about plodding. I'd love to do something new every six weeks or so, but I don't know if others are willing to move apace. We would be best served with short impactful books. I don't think we've ever done fiction-- a short story might work as an interlude between books selections. Anyway, I'm just part of the group helping make the selection. I just wish I was JVG, Lovable Tyrant Coach...
by Brother Yun. This book is SO powerful. Tells of the Holy Spirits power. I would strongly recommend this to ANYONE wanting to hear a bit about the miracles of God.
I'd recommend The Light And The Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, especially if you like history. It's one of my favorites, in fact I am currenty reading it again.
Dante wrote "The Divine Comedy". Boccaccio wrote "The Decameron". Boccaccio does have some history with "The Divine Comedy" but he isn't the author.
Sounds like this is the book about the guy who died? Was he military? One of my classmates just got back from a year in Iraq. He had recommended that book before he left... if it's the one I'm thinking it is.
giddyup -- here's a suggestion. http://www.hearthevoice.com/ "Chris Seay's vision for The Voice goes back 15 years to his early attempts to celebrate the beauty and truth of the biblical narrative. As western culture moved into what is now referred to as postmodernism, Chris struggled with a deep desire to preach the whole story of God. Much like the Hebrews at the time of the New Testament, emerging generations today connect with story rather than isolated facts. Too often, preaching is reduced to articulating truth statements somehow hidden in a complex, powerful, and redemptive story. Jesus taught through parables and metaphors; modern Christians have attempted to translate His teaching into a system of irrefutable fact statements and something seems to be getting lost in the translation. Hence, a group of writers, poets, scholars, pastors, and storytellers have committed to work together to bring the Scriptures to life in a way that celebrates both beauty and truth. The result is a retelling of the Scriptures: The Voice, not of words, but of meaning and experience." Chris Seay is a friend of mine from college and a pastor of a church here in Houston called Ecclesia. They've done about 5 of the books of the Bible so far. You can download the first chapter of each (I think) to take a look. Otherwise, I'd go Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Bell is seemingly calling for a reformation within the church, that I find extremely refreshing.