I spoke at Antioch yesterday on The Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is one of the most confusing and often neglected aspects of the Christian life and Christian doctrine.

As a book recommendation or “all church read”, I’d like to commend the recent book by Francis Chan called The Forgotten God.  I had the opportunity to read the book in manuscript form and believe that God just might use it mightily to encourage believers as well as challenge the church in America.  It is well worth the investment of time!!

Pick up a copy at the Antioch book cart on Sundays or at The Kilns Bookstore during the week.

Someone asked me what I’m reading, so I thought I’d share what’s on my nightstand.  

1.  Wittgenstein’s Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument between Two Great Philosophers by David Edmonds and John Eidinow.  It’s the history of a certain part of philosophy – namely, Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgentstein.  You’ll probably like it if you like history.

2.  Buyology: Truth and Lies About What We Buy by Martin Lindstrom.  Recommended by my friend Bill Chiaravelle.  So far it’s a pretty fascinating explanation and exploration into decision making and how that affects branding.

3.  The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West by Niall Ferguson.  This book is a whopper… over 800 pages.  It’s taking me a while, but it is a fascinating look at the last century by an amazing mind (check out Cash Nexus by Niall Ferguson too).

4. Justice: A Reader by Michael Sandel.  This is the compendium that Sandel uses with his Harvard course on Justice.  It’s one of the best readers that I found when prepping for the History of Human Rights course I’m co-teaching at Kilns College this fall.

I just answered an e-mail asking for book recommendations on “peace.”

Just finished reading the classic book by Joseph Conrad called Heart of Darkness.

It was published in 1902 and is set in colonial Congo. It was one of the first books to expose the atrocities that took place under the Belgian rule in that part of Africa (then referred to by Europeans as “The Dark Continent.”)

For you movie buffs… it was also Francis Ford Coppala’s inspiration for the last third of the movie Apocolypse Now, which came out in the late seventies as one of the first major Vietnam war films.

It’s a quick read and I highly recommend it… if for nothing more than the historical value!!

The staff is reading through a book right now by Francis Chan called Crazy Love.

The book pretty much nails it on the head… so much so, that we made it an “all church” read at Antioch and want as many people to read it as possible.

Trust me… if you want to remain the same then don’t read this book.

A good friend, Ed Underwood, delivered this morning’s message at Antioch.

Take a listen, but be warned… it’s pretty rowdy.

Also, for anyone dealing with difficult circumstances and wondering where God is in the midst of pain, Ed’s book When God Breaks Your Heart is excellent.

The staff is going to start reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together starting today at our monthly Creative Team meeting.

Life Together is a fascinating book. Bonhoeffer, who was a German theologian before and during WWII, wrote this about his time living in community at an underground seminary in Finkenwalde.

Hitler’s government had shut down all the churches and schools who were not a part of the state sponsored church, so Bonhoeffer and others started a church called the “Confessing Church” and opened an illegal seminary that would eventually be raided and shut down by the Nazis.

His thoughts on community, brotherhood, the church and many other topics in this short work are born out of some of the most extreme conditions and are utterly prophetic and profound.

We’ve got this book at The Kilns Bookstore as well as the book cart at Antioch… feel free to read along!!

As Kim just said, “Whenever there’s a chance to give a shout out to Bonhoeffer we should do it!!”

Here is an amazing book that I just finished reading through.

King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa.

It not only tells the dark story of King Leopold’s Congo, but the beginning of the modern human rights movement, which developed in the face of it.

It is a fascinating read if you are interested in either African History or the history of Human Rights movements.

I had someone ask me today what I’m currently reading…

We kick off the series on the Book of James at Antioch tomorrow and one of the things that I’m going to do is recommend that the church read John Piper’s Desiring God through the series and throughout the summer.

I used to be really into personality tests.

I’ve been dealing with a lot of ministry stuff lately that partly stems from the church in America’s under-emphasis on discipleship and true transformation.

I’m going back over the book Tipping Point. It usually takes quite a bit for me to go back to a book, but I really enjoyed this one!! Besides, this time I’m doing it on audio CD (the lazy man’s way to take in a book).

John Piper, more than any other person (besides C.S. Lewis), has shaped my life and thinking. I remember driving around Whittier, California during seminary listening to his tapes on headphones (that is until a sheriff in my church threatened me because headphones in cars are illegal, but that’s another story :)

One of the sermon series that opened up a whole new world in my thinking was on Unbelief. I had never put it together before that unbelief is the opposite of faith; and, therefore, the root of sin (whereas faith is the root of righteousness). The ideas in those sermons trickled down through my life and changed everything…

This morning I got an e-mail with a link to a new book by Piper discussing these same themes. If you’ve got the time and energy… this’ll be a book worth reading.

Battling Unbelief: Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure

I found a great one the other day:

The leadership at Antioch is currently reading This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley.