Happily Ever After by Gary Chapman Book Review

Gary Chapman is the best sell author of The Five Love Languages has written a insightful, relevant, practical book "Happily Ever After".  Gary tackles some of the most common challenges marriages face today.  He uses real life examples, which helps the readers understand that they are not alone.  Often, many couples who are experiencing a challenge in their marriage feel that they are by themselves, but the reality is they are not alone.  This book helps the readers know that they are not alone and learn from others at the same time.  Gary discusses what he calls the Six Secrets to a Successful Marriage - Gary maintains that if we navigate these six areas successfully, we will have a successful marriage.  The six areas are:  1) Solving Conflicts without Arguing
                 2) Negotiating Change with Your Spouse
                 3) Making Money an Asset in Your Marriage
                 4) Marriage After the Children Arrive
                 5) Making Sex an Act of Love
                 6) Becoming Friends with Your In-Laws
As you can see this list is a pretty conclusive list, I can assure you that after you finish reading this book you will have insight into what can be done to help you in your marriage.  I want to be clear, this is not only a book for those who find themselves in challenging situations, its also for marriage counselors, leaders, Pastors, etc.  Its a great resource for a newlywed couple or it could be an anniversary gift for a couple celebrating many years of marriage.  I really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it!

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the Tyndale Blog Network book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence on the content of my review.  The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own

Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow Book Review

 

I found this book to be very interesting and relevant to the present times.  The author David Murrow uses the premise that the global church is predominately made up women and pushes men away from church and thus the shortage of men in church.  The book is divided into three parts, the first part lays out data to support his premise of men shortage.  The second part discusses the church culture and how church cultures are overly effeminate and caters to women.  The third part lays out practical ideas and ways to get me engaged in the church.  As a man who regularly attends church and serve with other strong, I am encouraged by the level of activity and involvement of men in my church.  Could it be better? Of course, but as with anything I've learned to rejoice in the small victories.  I have seen more churches spring up with an emphasis on reaching men and they have been very successful.  I think as God continue to raise up church planters who have a heart for reaching men and seeing a strong representation of men.  There will be a greater intentionality in reaching and developing men and as a result men will be greater force in the local church.

If you are a pastor of a local church or Men's Pastor or Leader, this would be a great resource for you to have on your shelf.  It offers great insight, strategy on how to reach men and create a culture that embrace men in your church.

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com  book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence on the content of my review.  The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.

More Than Just A Book

”Prayers that Bring Healing & Activate Blessing” by John Eckhardt is more than just a book you will read and put on your shelf.  This book is more of a reference guide for full time ministers or laypersons with ministry responsibilities.  The book is divided into to two sections.  The first is Prayers that Bring Healing and the second section is Prayers that Activate Blessings.  Some of the topics the author discusses is:  Exercising Faith for Your Healing, Drawing From the Well, Blessing by Asking, Blessing by Obedience, Blessing by Giving.  This book is very user friendly, the layout of the book makes the references and scriptures easy to find.  After each chapter, there is a list of scriptures/confessions to support the topic discussed.  I highly recommend this book.  If this book isn’t on your book shelf, it should be! 

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the Charisma Bloggers book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence on the content of my review. The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.

360-Degree Leader Book Review by John Maxwell Book Review

John Maxwell is a world-renowned speaker, author, and leadership guru.  He is known throughout many different countries.  The 360 Degree Leader was written for the middle leaders.  On a macro scale every leader is a middle leaders.  Even if you are on the executive level you are a “middle manager”.  Middle leaders are leaders who have to answer to someone above them and lead someone below them. John addresses the myths of middle leaders, the challenges middle leaders face, and principles that middle leader must practice to lead up, across, and down.  He finishes up with identifying the value of middle leaders, and insight for creating and environment that unleashing middle leaders. 

The 360 Degree Leader is a great book for everyone.  This book is designed to help everyone in the organization grow and expand his or her leadership capabilities.  We live in a culture that recognizes and rewards outstanding individuals who possess more than base line skills (average).  If you are aspiring toward leadership, this book will give you a better understanding and foundation for expanding your leadership capabilities.  I highly recommend this book, if you are in leadership or desire to be in leadership, this book should be on your bookshelf!

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com  book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence on the content of my review.  The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.

Life Application Study Bible Devotional

 

This devotional resource is great for those exploring faith, new believers, or those seeking a better understanding or deeper relationship with God.  This devotional explores the life of Jesus by delving into the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  The author highlights some of the catalytic moments in Jesus life, providing commentary, context, and thought provoking concepts giving the reader ideas to “chew” on throughout their day.  The devotional is broken down into four sections:  reading of the word, setting the scene, getting personal, and talking to God.  As you can see, it is very engaging and interactive giving the reader a clear format to follow making the devotional time simple but yet very powerful.

I found the devotional to be very inspiring, most of the stories highlighted in the devotional were stories that I am familiar with, however, the authors took each story, parable and revealed thought provoking ideas for me to ponder and apply to my life.  If you are follower of Christ, we all desire to be like Him.  Oftentimes, we failed to pursue His example because we are unsure of what “being” like Christ entails.  This devotional lays out exactly what Christ –likeness entails, giving the reader and blueprint to follow.  This is a great devotional I highly recommend it!

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the Tyndale Blog Network book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence on the content of my review.  The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own

The Grace of God by Andy Stanley Book Review

Andy Stanley does a masterful job of revealing the Grace of God in the old and new testaments.  I have counseled many people who have struggled with understanding the God of the Old Testament in contrast with the God of the New Testament.  Any amateur bible reader can quickly discover the differences in what appears to be a harsh, mean, impatient God of the old testament to the loving, kind, patient God of the new testament.  While I have seen this disparity, I have been very careful not to attempt to understand the God of the universe with my limited mental capacity.  This is where I think many people attempt to bring God on their level, attempting to understand him better.

Andy shows the Grace (unmerited favor) of God in the Old Testament, even though to our natural mind it appears that God is being unfair, to harsh, unloving.  Andy takes Old Testament biblical stories and provides commentary and context that reveals the “big picture” of God’s love.  God’s heart was and is to redeem his people to himself.  Just as any earthly father disciplines his son or daughter, at the time it may seem harsh, unfair, overprotective, etc.  As a dad, we are doing it because we have our child best interest at hand.  Andy does a great job of painting the picture of Grace.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who has been shaken in the their faith.  Often times, circumstances happen and we don’t quite understand why God would allow such horrible circumstances to happen.  This book will give you a perspective to help you understand God better.  Bad things happen because we live in a broken world, contaminated by sin, as Andy so eloquently states.

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com  book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence on the content of my review.  The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.

George Washington Carver by John Perry Book Review

As an African American male in my early thirties, I must say I thought I knew all there was to know about George Washington Carver (GWC), boy was I wrong.  GWC is a staple in African American history, known for his inventions, intelligence, and affiliation with Tuskegee.  Author John Perry's insight into the life of GWC gives the reader a behind the scene look into the life of GWC.  As I read this book, I had this overwhelming appreciation for Mr. Carver and his trust and dependence on God to direct his paths and order his steps.  It was amazing to read and visually see God's hand on his life.  It was obvious that God had an awesome plan for his life, from his peculiar upbringing, natural talents and interests in science, and his loyalty and commitment to give back and help "his" people move forward.

This book is for casual readers, students, or historians.  This is a very well written book, easily understood and very engaging.  I highly recommend this book. 

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com  book review bloggers program. Other than that, neither the publisher, author nor anyone connected to them offered any influence  on the content of my review.  The opinions I have expressed are entirely my own.