The Gospel According to Jesus by Chris Seay

Chris Seay in The Gospel According to Jesus explores the meaning of righteousness among American churchgoers and attempts to provide a proper perspective on the theology of righteousness. Seay commissioned a Barna research study that finds that most churchgoers have definitional issues around the word righteousness and focus on behavior and actions viewing righteousness as acting moral. Seay attempts to knock down this preconception and turns to Jesus for an example of what righteousness truly is. He paints a picture of righteousness based on relationships with our Savior and with other people and as a quality that brings justice to a broken world. Each chapter is followed by a prayer and interviews with other thinkers such as Mark Batterson and Rick McKinley for review.

The Gospel According to Jesus is a challenging book. And honestly that’s a good thing. Seay pushes his reader to move beyond acting right, putting up an impression of goodness and behaving as expected by our fellowships. Seay urges us to be honest, care for those in need and model Jesus in interactions with others. He sees the righteousness of the saved leading to actions that bring restorative justice to the world. That is a challenge not every reader will be open to! Quoted scripture is taken from The Voice translation, a translation that Seay is deeply involved in but some readers will find alien. This could be uncomfortable to readers unfamiliar with the style and language used by The Voice team, for example the use of the phrase The Eternal for God may simply seem too” new age” and lead to a decreased comfort level for readers. On a personal note, Seay an Astros fan makes jabs at the Chicago Cubs that lead me to reject any credibility Seay has as an author. Sadly, the Cubs refusal to actually beat the Astros this year may prove his points and return to him his authoritative voice. Though seriously, Seay’s personal illustrations successfully aid his arguments by showing how he and others have attempted to live out righteousness as he describes it.

Review Copy Provided by Thomas Nelson

Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference by Max Lucado

Max Lucado in Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make a Difference provides advice on leaving a lasting impression on this world with the resources God has given you. Lucado walks through key verses in the Book of Acts, using stories to bring the point of the verses out to his readers. He describes how the Book of Acts shows a small group of devoted believers, with limited education, influence and resources impacted the world from their own time to this day. Lucado notes that the work of the Book of Acts continues to this day, providing a story that has not ended. Key principles the author shares in leaving a permanent mark on the world includes the primacy of prayer, relationships with other believers and non-believers and modeling Jesus’ concern for the poor. Each chapter if followed by a complimentary Biblical verse for reflection and a prayer to focus the reader on the chapter’s content. A discussion guide for small groups is also provided.

Outlive Your Life is a typical Lucado book with a key strength in engaging writing that expertly uses stories to highlight and teach Lucado’s points. Lucado’s clear and entertaining writing allows readers to briskly read the text. Additionally, I think the text is helpful in reminding the reader that Jesus cared for the poor and was sympathetic to those shunned by society. He calls for us to remove our headphones and look around to the brothers we can partner with and the non-brothers who needs our help, help we must give as a result of our salvation. Personally, the most challenging section for me was on prayer, where Lucado reminds us that Jesus did not call his house one of study, sermons or etc but a house of prayer. Being a studious person, it served as a stark reminder that prayer is essential. Lucado puts his actions where his mouth is, donating his royalties from the book to World Vision. Outlive Your Life is a challenging but readable book that challenges Christians to make lasting impacts in the name of Christ.

Review Copy Provided by Thomas Nelson

The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews

The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews
Andy Andrews provides a version of his new book The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters in The Boy Who Changed the World. Andrews tells the story of the development of special corn seeds by Norman, a boy who dreamed of feeding the poor, as the boy who changed the world. But Andrews goes on to ask if it was Norman that saved the world or three other boys, Henry, George or Moses whose actions helped lead to the success of Norman’s seeds in saving billions. In the end, the actions of all four boys contributed to the development of the seeds in a series of events that shows that everyone’s actions matter.

I read the book with my daughter. She enjoyed the book and the pictures. She took up the challenge of being a girl who changed the world, and spent the next several moments sharing her plan to help “lost children.” She did at times get confused as the story jumped between boys. And she tried to pick only one of the boys as the one who saved the world. But overall it was a book that succeeded in calling a child to action. There is one error in the portion about George Washington Carver, a mistake only a Cyclone fan would likely pick up on. Andrews states that Carver attended Iowa State University (ISU), the university’s current name. Carver attended ISU under the name of Iowa State Agricultural College. Overall The Boy Who Changed the World is a good book which may inspire a child to think about doing great things.

Review Copy provided by Thomas Nelson

The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters by Andy Andrews

Andy Andrews in The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters asks the question, “Do I really matter?” Andrews answers the question by telling two stories. The first tale details the heroic efforts of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. Chamberlain, a man who refused to do nothing, ordered a historic charge that allowed Union forces to win the battle, when a Confederate victory could have decisively changed the history of the United States and the 20th Century. The second story Andrews presents is the chain of effects that led to the development of hybridized high yield, disease resistant corn by Norman Borlaug, a historical figure likely not to be familiar to most readers. Borlaug’s creation has saved billions from famine. But Andrews asks was it Borlaug’s efforts that led to the saving of more than two billion or was it the small efforts of others that lead to Borlaug’s work. Andrews shows that as the Butterfly Effect argues, all of our smallest actions have impacts, and Andrews inspiringly shows that those little things have long term impacts.

This is a gift book, so it’s short. To be honest I have thought about this book for more time than it took for me to read it. The book is visually pleasing starting at the cover, with a shiny butterfly graphic. As the great philosopher Jeff Foxworthy once argued, men are attracted to shiny things. The pages are more graphical than textual. I’m not a huge fan of gift books, but I found myself satisfied with The Butterfly Effect and am glad I took the time to read and reflect on it.

Review Copy provided by Thomas Nelson

Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend Edited by Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias guided the collection of essays by his Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) staff in Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend which covers topics as diverse as challenges from non-Christian world religions, evil in the world, spiritual transformation and living a Christ centered life. The text is broken into three sections. The first section, “Addressing the Difficult Questions” provides essays on other world religions including Islam and Hinduism, answering atheists, and engaging youth culture. Additional essays discuss the basics of conversational apologetics, challenges from culture and the challenges of evil and suffering. The second section, “Internalizing the Questions and Answers” provides advice on spiritual growth including dealing with self-deception and a better understanding of the Trinity. In the final section Zacharias provides the two essays in “Living Out the Answers” providing a call for Christians to live out what they speak and claim to believe including practical advice on strengthening one’s body and mind.

To be blunt, this book is and is intended to be heavy lifting. The text covers deep philosophical and theological issues. Therefore this book is likely not for every reader or even mood. It reads much more like a text book than a self help/spiritual growth book in some of the essays. And, being written by multiple authors, the quality of the chapters varies. It is sometimes frustrating to have authors quoting heavily from other authors also in the book, finding me asking what do they think not their colleagues or if they relied so heavily on this essay author why didn’t they write this chapter. Likewise it would be nice to have authors include more personal stories instead of summarizing their study on the topic. The chapters on other religions though informative weigh heavily on global religions which many may not interact with on a daily basis. It would have been a nice addition to include chapters on the Church of Latter Day Saints or Jehovah’s Witnesses as religions that many Christians in the United States may literally have knocking on their door and struggle in understanding Personally, I think the subtitle of “Living the Faith We Defend” is somewhat misleading as only one chapter, which is written by Zacharias, truly addresses living out our faith in a sincere and informed way which was really the topic I wished for the book to address.

Review Copy provided by Thomas Nelson

You Can Be Everything God Wants You to Be by Max Lucado

You can Be Everything God Wants You to Be by Max Lucado is a repackaging of selections found in Lucado’s earlier book Cure for the Common Life. The text includes short chapters or selections that highlight Lucado’s ability to write theological concepts in an engaging manner. Lucado reinforces to his readers that they are uniquely made by God, suggests that the best way to live is to do is glorifying God by using one’s uniqueness. Lucado urges readers to understand their S.T.O.R.Y (Strengths, Topics, Optimal Conditions, Relationships, Yes!) in order to move into the sweet spot of life. These concepts are passed on within a book designed with a number of pictures and Biblical reflections which could be used for self reflection.

I really wanted to like this book, but it’s a mess. And from my read it appears to be the repackaging that has created the problems and not the text itself. I would like to have used this as a devotional type book much like Lucado’s Grace for the Moment since its clearly not the deeper dive of this material, which would be the full version in Cure For the Common Life. However the varying sizes of the chapters make it difficult to use the text for a devotional, with chapters ranging from one page, two if you count a title page, to five or more pages. Even more confusing are the use of different sized texts and colors which I am still not sure if they indicate a major point, a supporting point or are part of the general text as the beginning of a sentence. The content appears uneven and inconsistent, the presentation of the S.T.O.R.Y. concept for example includes chapters of various sizes and is introduced, built on later in the text, disappears and then returns. At one point in a story a character is introduced as Chief Wiggles and then later on the page it is explained how Halverson earned that nickname, but Halverson was never really introduced to us. I would have been less confused if the Halverson reference was just left out. And finally, Matthew 25:15 is given emphasis on two different pages, pages that only have a chapter title, the verse and a picture. It seemed odd to have the same verse used in such a way twice, but even more frustrating that the page 12 reference identifies the verse as 25:25. It really appears that editing has done this text no favors. The cover proudly displays a sticker that the book is perfect for a graduate. I think there are plenty of better graduation gifts including other books by Lucado.
Review Copy provided by Thomas Nelson

The Heart Mender: A Story of Second Chances by Andy Andrews

The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews presents two compelling and engaging stories. The first story, which consists of parts 1 and 3 of the book, tells the story of Andrews’ discovery of World War II German U-Boat artifacts in his Gulf Coast yard and his own personal journey to uncover the origins of how these items got into his yard. The second story details the ramification of a chance encounter between Josef a German submariner who becomes separated from his German U-Boat while patrolling the Gulf of Mexico during 1942 and Helen a woman deeply hurt by personal loss leading to anger with God and everyone she is in contact with. Their story is one of grace and ultimately forgiveness allowing each to gain a fresh start on life.

I started this book expecting it to read much like Andrew’s The Traveler’s Gift which used an interesting story to present a number of principles. Instead, this book uses both stories to underscore one valuable lesson, the power of forgiveness and the freedom it gives the forgiver. The book itself and both stories within it are engaging. This combined with the fact that the story is based on real people, made it difficult for me to keep from peeking to the end of the book and where they are now section or searching the internet for information about U-166, Josef’s boat. The story of Josef and Helen combine elements that both men and women will enjoy, giving the reader images of both U-571 and The Notebook as they race through the text. If Andrews’s goals were to entertain and provide a valuable lesson about forgiveness, he has achieved his desire. The Heart Mender is a release of Andrews’ Island of Saints, which he notes had a vocal but small audience. This rerelease will hopefully expose more readers to this engaging tale.

Review Copy provided by Thomas Nelson