Book #8 The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter
This is another book in the Puritan Paperbacks series that gave me a few ninja slaps to the face. Richard Baxter was one of the most well-rounded pastors making sure to not only preach and teach effectively but care for his flock of people he was entrusted with. This book was going to be a speech he gave at what we would call a 'Pastor's Conference' of his day. He ended up becoming ill so he wrote his speech out which eventually turned into this book. The three main sections are divided up into 1)Let me slap you around a little bit and tell you how lazy and unproductive you are at your calling 2)Let me slap you around a little bit and tell you how you should take seriously your calling 3)How to be effective at your calling. I really did love this book. Baxter takes seriously the calling of Pastors and gives an effective message no young pastor should go without hearing.
Book #9 Death By Love by Mark Driscoll
Each chapter of this book is written in the form of a letter from Pastor Mark to a person who is facing the real situations of life be it relationship discord, abuse, pornography, anger and more. Through each situation Driscoll beautifully points to Jesus and highlights the work of Christ such as justification, propitiation and the like. One of the most meaningful chapters in the entire book is the chapter he writes to his youngest son. This book is very moving on an emotional level dealing with these weighty situations as well as very deep mentally helping the believer build a firm foundation that deals with these subjects.
Book #10 Out of Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis
This is the first book written out of the three in the Science Fiction series of Lewis. After reading the Narnia series numerous times I expected something along the same lines but was surprised to find this book quite a bit more meaty than expected. The influence of Tolkien is seen in the incredible description of the planet and of its inhabitants. Although the first half of the book seemed a little too descriptive for me (why I'm not a big fan of fiction, I want to get to the point!) the last half picked up the story a bit more and left me diving in to the 2nd book.
Book #11 Who Made God (100 Questions...) by Norman Geisler and Ravi Zacharias
If you're looking for a deep and almost academic approach to some of the heavy questions when it comes to faith and theology this is a good book to have at your disposal. The book is actually written by numerous authors who each take a chapter and deal with some of the difficult questions people bring up on their faith journey. Geisler and Zacharias do a nice job putting all of the info together and laying out the book in a way that doesn't get to stuffy or heady.
Book #12 Greatness: Reagan, Churchill & the Making of Extraordinary Leaders by Steven F. Hayward
As a lover of almost anything to do with history, this was one of my favorite books I read in this first quarter of the year. Hayward writes with a easy to read style that keeps you longing to turn the next page. In this book he attempts to put the lives of Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill on display and discoveries numerous similarities in their leadership style. As a rather enormous fan of Churchill, I knew this book was unlikely to disappoint. Hayward starts out with both of these men's childhood experiences through their education and entry into politics, even discussing the somewhat similar situations each faced with WWII and the Cold War as well as economic situations for both countries. What I found to be most eye opening was the economic situation Reagan found himself dealing with has numerous similarities to that of our current reality.
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