This is the second book I’ve read (and reviewed) by Gary Gilley. In This Little Church, Gilley evaluates the contemporary church movement primarily from his own background and familiarity with psychology. He finds the methodology and motivation of the contemporary church almost identical if not primarily borrowed from the world of psychology. Our society is […]
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Book Genre: Theology - Ecclesiology
The Means and Methods to be Adopted for ...
I was being guided around Edinburgh by a friend who was intending to spend the afternoon in the public library. I had a note with me from an email friend who had written his Ph.D. dissertation on John Angell James while he was at the University of Edinburgh. In the card catalog of the library […]
Shepherding the Small Church
(reviewed by Don Shrader) The book begins with an amusing allegory about two combines, contrasting the megachurch with the small “hub and spoke” church. I am sure the megachurches will take great umbrage at the analogies. While the book has a lot of good things to contemplate with respect to ministry and the church, Daman […]
Crisis in Christian Music
I found this book to be an interesting look at the CCM problem from a man with an interesting background. Wheaton has a BA in Music from Denver University, an MA from UNC and a PhD in Music from UCLA. He now is the director of instrumental music for Calvary Church in Santa Ana, CA. […]
Why I Left the Contemporary Chrisitan Mu...
This book is powerfully written from the perspective of a former contemporary praise and worship leader. It is Lucarini’s apology for the years he spent inside the CCM Movement acting as a “change agent” in several evangelical churches. He directs his criticism at those responsible for leading the CCM charge, not the average worshipper, and […]
Vital Church Issues
There are at least twelve books in this “Issues” series, printed by Kregel but copyrighted by Dallas Seminary. I have reviewed quite a few of these over the years and have always enjoyed the variety they present. They usually contain fifteen or twenty articles written by various qualified authors. This issue is devoted to the […]
Feed My Sheep
The subtitle is: “A Passionate Plea For Preaching.” Eleven authors, mostly of a Reformed persuasion, contributed to this book (Mohler, Boice, Sproul, Piper, MacArthur). I enjoyed the book (and quoted it in this month’s article) and was encouraged in many areas of my own preaching and pastoring. Because these men are mostly Reformed and I […]
Escape From Church, Inc.
Wagner, pastor of Calvary Church in Charlotte, NC and former Promise Keepers employee, is speaking out against the CEO style pastor and for the Shepherd style pastor. I enjoyed his statements against using current business and leadership techniques to build churches, including daring to question evangelical gurus such as George Barna (whom I have often […]
The Call
Guinness is arguing for a return to what he sees as the original Protestant and Puritan idea of calling: “the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to […]
The Doctrine and Administration of the C...
Paul Jackson (d. 1969) was a pastor and president of Baptist Bible Seminary in Johnson City, NY. His book was and is used as a textbook for Administration classes in Bible Colleges and Seminaries. I reread this book recently and enjoyed his direct, Baptistic approach to local church polity and to individual character and responsibility. […]