Going Deep by Gordon MacDonald

MY REVIEW...
Gordon MacDonald begins with asking the question, "What does a deep person look like?"  Then he enumerates several qualities that describe deep people:

• Quiet but noticeably living, people who exude all the fruit of the Spirit as well as grace and wisdom
• People who know what their motivational gift is and who operate within that gift.

If a church were populated with a whole congregation of such deep people, there would be no power on earth great enough to stop their ministry.

Enter an unchurched friend who suddenly ask the 40+ year pastor, "What's your church's elevator story?" The pastor has this doe-in-the-headlights look. "What's an elevator story?

Thus a wonderful journey begins. With some very simple, yet powerful changes in church leadership meetings, injecting fun as mandatory, and understanding people's gifts, MacDonald takes this church into new heights of power. Miracles happen, and a church is deepened with the power of Christ Jesus.

An absolute must read for every pastor who deeply desires his church family to make a difference in the community doing exactly what God has intended His church to do. An amazing, and very readable book.

Five out of Five Stars.

 ABOUT THE BOOK...
The future of the Christian faith will not be determined by the number of people who fill the pews but by the spiritual depth of those people.
Pastor Gordon MacDonald revisits the fictional New England congregation of his critically acclaimed book Who Stole My Church to deal with a new dilemma: What's his church's story? What is it doing that justifies its existence? The importance of these questions is anything but fiction.

Through a series of e-mails and discussions with friends and parishioners, Pastor Gordon's search for their story leads him to realize that the future of the Christian faith, and thus the church, is at risk. As MacDonald says, "We seem to know how to get unchurched people to visit our buildings. We even seem to know how to draw them across the line into a declaration of personal faith in Jesus. But what we do not seem to know is how to cultivate spiritually deep people. Tomorrow's church could be headed for trouble."

Deep people. People who possess spiritual awareness and maturity, people with solid, grounded, life-altering faith. MacDonald shows that the church needs people with a passion for God's presence and a desperate hunger to seek him above all things.
Join Pastor MacDonald and his congregation on their quest to cultivate spiritual depth and grow into a community of believers whose hearts and minds are truly focused on God.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...

Dr. Gordon MacDonald has been a pastor and author for more than fifty years. He serves as chancellor at Denver Seminary, editor-at-large for Leadership Journal, and speaker at leadership conferences around the world.

Gone To Green by Judy Christie

This novel was a delight to read. It is extremely well balanced, it has the charm of Old South and Small Town. I especially liked the newspaper angle, since my background is in newspaper, too... especially since I was an editor of a weekly paper in Louisiana. There is so much that is true in that story, I thought I might be reading back issues of my old paper.

The characters are well developed and there really isn't too much whining from the protag. I really like that.

On the back cover, the story is compared to the Harmony Series. It is not like it very much because there isn't much Laugh Out Loud in the novel, although there are vast amounts of Grin Out Loud and Chuckle Out Loud.

Judy Christie has truly captured the flavor of a small newspaper, and the impact it has on the small town, including all the politics in a fun and lighthearted way that keeps your interest, keeps you turning pages and even keeps you up at night when you've got to get to work early. You don't mind, though, because you've had a great evening of satisfying reading.

This is well worth the money and is a keeper for the book shelf. I highly recommend it.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Gone To Green

Abingdon Press (August 2009)

by

Judy Christie


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:




Judy Pace Christie, after working as a journalist for twenty-five years, left the daily news business to open a consulting firm that works with individuals, businesses, and churches on strategies for meaningful life and work, including goal-setting, living fully, and balancing personal and professional lives. She is the author of Hurry Less, Worry Less; Hurry Less, Worry Less at Christmastime; and co-author of Awesome Altars. Judy and her husband live in northwest Louisiana.




ABOUT THE BOOK

Lois goes from being a corporate journalist at a large paper in the Midwest to the owner of The Green News-Item, a small twice-weekly newspaper in rural North Louisiana. The paper was an unexpected inheritance from a close colleague, and Lois must keep it for at least a year, bringing a host of challenges, lessons, and blessings into her life.

When Lois pulls into Green on New Year’s Day, she expects a charming little town full of smiling people. She quickly realizes her mistake. After settling into a loaned house out on Route 2, she finds herself battling town prejudices and inner doubts and making friends with the most surprising people: troubled teenager Katy, good-looking catfish farmer Chris, wise and feisty Aunt Helen, and a female African-American physician named Kevin.

Whether fighting a greedy, deceitful politician or rescuing a dog she fears, Lois notices the headlines in her life have definitely improved. She learns how to provide small-town news in a big-hearted way and realizes that life is full of newsworthy moments. When she encounters racial prejudice and financial corruption, Lois also discovers more about the goodness of real people and the importance of being part of a community.

While secretly preparing the paper for a sale, Lois begins to realize that God might indeed have a plan for her life and that perhaps the allure of city life and career ambition are not what she wants after all.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Gone To Green, go HERE

Any Minute by Joyce Meyer and Debbie Bedford

I read The Penny in almost one sitting. It was so good, I snatched at the chance to review Any Minute. I made the mistake of reading the outside back cover instead of just plunging into the story. Every page I turned I kept expecting the plunge, but it never came. I got so tired of looking for it and expecting it that I missed half the story. So, when it finally came, it was anticlimatic for me. Don't read the outside back cover! Or if you do, rest assured that the plunge doesn't happen for a very long time, so don't miss the story.

You really don't want to miss this story. While on one hand it is just the littlest bit like a characture of Today's Busy-ness Woman, it really packs a punch on what we women consider The Important Things In Life.

Have you ever sat down and listed the things in your life according to priorities? Most of us have not. It is truly quite enlightening. If you were to list the things in life according to how much time you devote to each one, I believe it would be an eye-opener for you.

Unlike what happens to most of us as we sorjourn this earth then go to be with the LORD, Sarah Harper gets a second chance to priortize the things in her life according to their true importance. We are but grass in the field, tall and green today but brown and chaff tomorrow. We should truly discover how to devote most of our time to the important things in life before God has to step in and drastically rearrange our list.

Buy this book. It is a keeper.

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Any Minute
FaithWords (June 30, 2009)
by
Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford


ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Joyce Meyer is one of the world's leading practical Bible teachers. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, she has written more than seventy inspirational books, including The Confident Woman, I Dare You, the entire Battlefield of the Mind family of books, her first venture into fiction with The Penny, and many others. She has also released thousands of audio teachings as well as a complete video library. Joyce's Enjoying Everyday Life® radio and television programs are broadcast around the world, and she travels extensively conducting conferences. Joyce and her husband, Dave, are the parents of four grown children and make their home in St. Louis, Missouri.


Deborah Bedford is a career fiction writer who began her professional life as a journalist in a Colorado mountain town.

A Rose By The Door, Deborah's first with Warner Book (name changed to FaithWords in 2006), hit bookstores in November 2001. A Morning Like This was released by Warner Books in 2002. Deborah's short story, “Connor Sapp's Baseball Summer,” is included in Multnomah Publisher's The Storytellers' Collection, Tales From Home, alongside stories by Chuck Colson, Terri Blackstock, Randy Alcorn and Karen Kingsbury.

Deborah and Jack have two children, Jeff and Avery. When she isn't writing, Deborah spends her time fly-fishing, cheering at American Legion baseball games, shopping with her daughter, singing praise songs while she walks along the banks of Flat Creek, and taking her dachshund Annie for hikes in the Tetons where they live.


ABOUT THE BOOK


Sarah Harper is driven to achieve success no matter what the cost. She wants to do good and not hurt the people she loves--especially children and her husband, Joe--but her desire to succeed in her career too often leaves little time for family.

One cold, autumn afternoon, all of that changes when Sarah's car plunges off a bridge and into a river. She is presumed dead by those on the "outside," but Sarah's spirit is still very much alive. What she discovers on the other side transforms everything about Sarah's view of life--past, present, and future.

When Sarah is revived, she is a changed woman. And the unsuspecting world around her will never be the same again.


If you would like to read the first chapter of Any Minute, go here!

Wind River

Now listen, I know that Tom Morrisey has written a lot of books. He writes really well, has excellent characterization and doesn't ramble. That should make for a most excellent story.

I kept reading and reading expecting every time I turned the page to get out of the introduction and into the body of the story. I never got there. The whole think kept leading up, and leading up and didn't go anywhere. I don't want to be harsh. I loved the characters and I loved the depiction of a a really old man going on a last journey into the mountains. It was an excellent character study. But, don't believe what you read on the back cover. You'll just have to read through three quarters of the novel first, and to wait to the last few chapters to get to the exciting part. By the time I got there, I was tired of waiting.

On the other hand, it is well written and it keeps your attention. It is just different. It is not suspense, it is not a love story, it is not any particular genre. It is a character study. If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE


Tom Morrisey is a mountaineer, aviator, shipwreck diver, and explorer, who holds a Full Cave certification from the National Speleological Society - Cave Diving Section. He has launched, edited or contributed to numerous national publications and is an award-winning adventure-travel writer. A popular speaker, he is also active in both evangelism and the arts. Morrisey earned an MFA in creative writing from Bowling Green State University, and his fiction has been featured in numerous anthologies and magazines. His first novel, Yucatan Deep (Zondervan, 2002) was a finalist for the Christy award, and he is the author of four other novels: In High Places (Bethany House Publishers, 2007), Dark Fathom (Zondervan, 2005), Deep Blue, (Zondervan 2004), and Turn Four (Zondervan 2004). In addition Tom has also written two nonfiction books: 20 American Peaks & Crags (Contemporary Books, 1978) and Wild by Nature (Baker Books, 2001). He and his family live in Orlando, Florida.