Category Archives: Books

Live Second [Book Review]

Live Second: 365 Ways to Make Jesus First is a devotional book for all ages. Being that I work with junior high students, I can easily see this as a resource that they would connect with.

In this has twelve sections, one per month. Within the sections are seven days worth of devotional reading, reflection, & discussion questions. Each section begins with someone’s story (video), and the following days are a devotional reading on certain aspects of the Christian life.

What I like about the book:

- It is designed to be used hand in hand with The Bible. It’s not a “stand alone” devotion book in this regard. I like the discipline of going to your own Bible and reading.

- The layout: 1 Devotion per day, 7 days/week, 365 days/year. No off days. There are no specific dates on the pages, simply Day 1 through Day 7 and then it starts over at Day 1.

- To quote from the Introduction, “You don’t need to believe in Jesus to start the journey.” So true! This book connects with the early believer and challenges everyone to consider what life would be like by putting Jesus.

- It’s social media savvy. Also, every devotion for the day has corresponding a twitter hashtag (#). This allows you to continue the discussion in realtime through twitter.

- All of the video stories are easily accessible through a QR Reader which makes it simple for smartphone users. If you don’t have a QR Reader, the website link to the video is provided.

What I’m uncertain about:

- The twitter hashtags provided with each devotion make it obvious that it’s social media driven. Being on twitter myself, I can see the positive with this but it also carries the downside of having to “front” or join a popularity contest. I will be interested to see how these hashtags are utilized. (Note: I’m reviewing this book before public release. At the time of this writing, I have not found any tweets utilizing these hashtags provided).

- The devotion for each day opens with a short verse then prompts the reader to reference and read the full passage in The Bible. I love the discipline of going to your personal Bible for the scripture but it’s an easy road to read the day’s devotion without opening The Bible.

All in all, I’m excited to see the response to this daily reader and how the social media aspects are acted upon.

–

Live Second: 365 Ways to Make Jesus First
By Doug Bender
December 11, 2012

To let you know, I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson in exchange for this review. I was not required to write a positive review, instead encouraged to write what I think.

Parent’s Guide to Understanding Teenage Guys [Book Review]

This is real-life, storytelling, and hard hitting.

Some of the parenting books I’ve read have felt clunky and out of touch. Not this one. Oestreichter and Morgan have a tremendous mix of personal stories and veteran wisdom to encourage parents.

A few topics the book covers are:

- Technology
- Lust
- Anger
- Discipline
- Apathy
- The Parent Friend

What’s the best part? That it’s grounded in faith! This book is all about preparing your son to live a life for the Lord.

–

A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Teenage Guys
Mark Oestreicher and Brock Morgan
August 15, 2012

Greater [Book Review]

“Some days, actually, I feel like I sort of suck as a Christian,” Steven Furtick writes. “I’m guessing you’ve had thoughts like that too.”

Being great for God can be confusing. After all, what determines greatness? And if God has called us all to great things, then why do so many of us seem stuck?

Those are two of the questions that Furtick tackles in this book. He highlights the story of Elisha, a prophet in the Old Testament, to guide us.

Here are some tweet-sized quotes from the book:

Most believers aren’t in imminent danger of ruining their lives. They’re facing a danger that’s far greater: wasting them.

My greatest enemy of the greater life had has for me is… Me.

I sometimes want to throttle my enemies instead of praying for them.

God doesn’t do greater things exclusively through great people. He does them through anyone who is willing to trust Him in greater ways.

Igniting God’s vision starts with becoming more acutely aware of God’s presence in your life.

Just because you haven’t heard God tell you specifically what to do with your life doesn’t mean He’s not conspiring great things for you.

God does not necessarily tell you how He will do it, only that He will do it.

God’s more interested in your full obedience than your full understanding.

Some people never get greater because they’re not willing to leave good behind.

The cost of following Jesus is great. The cost of not following Him is even greater.

A big dream without a small start is nothing but a daydream.

You can’t expect God to entrust you with a big dream if He can’t trust you to make a small start.

It’s not what we do for God. It’s what we say to God- yes or no.

You have everything you need to do all that God is calling you to do right now.

All God needs is all you have.

Your greatest limitation is God’s greatest opportunity.

The path to greater things is rarely the path of least resistance.

God doesn’t always answer our prayers. Amen to that, Garth Brooks. But God never wastes our faith.

That’s the thing about pride: it’s always somebody else’s problem.

Pride is a hidden cancer that gnaws at your insides.

If it wasn’t about Jesus, then it definitely isn’t about you.

Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking your life is too big for you to obey a simple instruction from God.

You’re not alone. Never have been. Never will be.

Parents have the power to build or destroy confidence in their kids.

This book is about having the boldness to live the Christian faith. It will stir you to let go of your fears and live into your greater purpose in God.

–

Greater
By Steven Furtick
September 4, 2012

To let you know, I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. I was not required to write a positive review, instead encouraged to write what I think.

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World [Book Review]

Years ago, Michael Hyatt set out to build a platform.  He wanted to become a distinguished voice of authority in a market filled with voices.  He accomplished that feat, and this book is proof.  It’s no wonder the book was a staple on all the major bestseller lists.

No matter where you’re at along the journey of blogging, public speaking, selling, or leading, you will benefit from this book.  It’s a gold mine of practical tips, tricks, thoughts, and strategy for growing your voice.  Great thing is, everything in this book is tried and true by the author himself.

I don’t buy too many books with my own money, but this one I did because wanted to support the author and I really enjoy being a part of the community at Michael Hyatt’s blog.  If you have not been there, give it a whirl because there is something on his site for everyone to learn.  If you have been active in following Michael’s blog, you may remember much of the content that is detailed in this book from his previous blog posts.  Even still, it’s nice information to have it in one place.

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
By: Michael Hyatt
Copyright 2012

Platform by Michael Hyatt

Stop Stealing Dreams [Book Review]

Seth Godin has written an incredible e-book about the current status of our school system and digging deep to answer the question, “What is school for?”

The book challenges the current school system and calls it out for churning out millions of workers who are trained to do 1925-style labor.  As Godin states early in the text, “The goal of this manifesto is to create a new set of questions and demands that parents, taxpayers, and kids can bring to the people they’ve chosen, the institution we’ve built and invested our time and money into.  The goal is to change what we get when we send citizens to school.”

Here are some tweet-sized quotes from the book:

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