God Speaks by Craig Evans

Craig Evans is a professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College and is a well-known evangelical scholar throughout the world. In God Speaks: What He says and What He means, Evans points out that far from being a dusty old book, the Bible is a relevant and eternal message of love and reconciliation that can change lives and transform societies and nations. He examines the Bible as a force for progress in justice, charity, economics, and human rights. He explores the Bible’s power to shape individuals, cultures, and entire nations. He highlights God’s eternal message of hope and forgiveness that is found in Christ alone, and Evans provides his readers with tools to understand Scripture to apply its everlasting principles and precepts to daily life. There are essentially two parts to this book: What has God said and what does He mean. Evans is absolutely correct when he says that most people in our culture are biblically illiterate who haven’t read the Bible for themselves and they often react to comments and ideas they have heard from other godless people. I actually have a friend who is an atheist who is rather dogmatic in his denunciation of the Bible and Christianity and his views are completely informed from other militant atheists. This book should be read, understood, and communicated to those who want to be better informed about Christianity and the Bible.  

At Any Cost by Mike and Hayley Jones

Mike and Hayley Jones share their story of adopting eight siblings from Sierra Leone in their new book At Any Cost: Overcoming Every Obstacle to Bring Our Children. They share how they faced doubts from within and character assaults from without and a bureaucratic jungle, the Joneses and their two biological children went on a thirty four month journey that resulted in the “The Jones Dozen” It is a heartfelt story of a couple who truly believe that God calls individuals to trust Him even when it sounds like a impossible task and they are a testament of God’s immeasurable grace and love. Read this book as you see how this family responded to God’s call with trust and obedience. More importantly, as the authors themselves state, this book is not just their family’s story, nor is it a how-to book on adoption. It is a book about redemption. It is listening to what God has called you to do.

Skinny Life by Crystal Dwyer Hansen

Crystal Dwyer Hansen provides practical tools, research and affirmations as she guides the reader to demolish beliefs that disrupt weight loss and replace them with positive tools that improve health and well being in her new book Skinny Life: The Secret to physical, emotional, and spiritual fitness. Some of the things she addresses in her book are for people to get honest about self defeating thoughts and habits and replace guilt and shame with the habit of self-care, freedom, and self-respect. She advises her readers to feed their bodies with foods that energizes them and protects them from diseases that are often a result of inadequate nutrition. The reader can also find out the right type of movement that brings them fulfillment and integrate it into their daily life. The book is divided into three parts: (1) The truth about weight loss; (2) A new way of looking at weight and you; (3) Life as the new you. There are twelve chapters that make up those three sections in her book.