Recommended Resources

We believe that the Christian life is one of growth and maturity. Here re great books to help grow in your faith by proven and tested authors.

Evangelism

Let the Nations be Glad

ohn Piper offers a biblical defense of God's supremacy in all things, providing readers with a sound theological foundation for missions. He examines whether Jesus is the only way to salvation and issues a passionate plea for God-centeredness in the missionary enterprise, seeking to define the scope of the task and the means for reaching "all nations." The third edition has been revised and expanded throughout and includes new material on the prosperity gospel. The book is essential reading for those involved in or preparing for missions work. It also offers enlightenment for college and seminary students, pastors, youth workers, campus ministers, and all who want to connect their labors to God's global purposes.

Marks of the Messenger

Many think evangelism is rooted in a method. It is rooted in something much deeper. It is found in what makes us whole and healthy messengers of God's truth about Jesus. Mack Stiles has lived the life of the healthy evangelist in homes and coffee shops, at universities and farms. He has lived out and spoken about the gospel to Kenyans, Koreans, Arabs and North Americans. What he has learned around the world and at home is summarized here in a few basic truths that can shape any of us into faithful people who bring good news to needy and hurting friends. The whole gospel changes much more than our relationship with God. Stiles shows how it changes all of who we are and what we do. It means learning the whole gospel without shaping its message to meet our tastes. It means not just going through the motions of accepted behaviors. It means showing the unity of witness and justice. It means love. It means community. Join Mack Stiles in a life-giving adventure of boldly knowing, living and speaking the gospel.

Confronting Christianity

Christianity is the most widespread global belief system, and promises to remain so well into the future. But for many educated westerners, biblical Christianity is a dangerous idea―challenging some of their deepest beliefs.

Channeling state-of-the-art research, personal stories, and careful biblical study, Confronting Christianity explores 12 questions that keep many of us from considering faith in Christ. Look more closely, McLaughlin argues, and the reality of suffering, the complexity of sexuality, the desire for diversity, the success of science, and other seeming roadblocks to faith become signposts. Jesus becomes not a relic from the ancient world, but our modern world’s best hope.

The Master Plan of Evangelism

For more than forty years this classic study has shown Christians how to minister to the people God brings into their lives. Instead of drawing on the latest popular fad or the newest selling technique, Dr. Robert E. Coleman looks to the Bible to find the answer to the question: What was Christ's strategy for evangelism? This convenient, portable format has an updated look for a new generation of readers.

Parenting

Parenting

What is your calling as a parent?

In the midst of folding laundry, coordinating carpool schedules, and breaking up fights, many parents get lost. Feeling pressure to do everything “right” and raise up “good” children, it’s easy to lose sight of our ultimate purpose as parents in the quest for practical tips and guaranteed formulas.

In this life-giving book, Paul Tripp offers parents much more than a to-do list. Instead, he presents us with a big-picture view of God’s plan for us as parents. Outlining fourteen foundational principles centered on the gospel, he shows that we need more than the latest parenting strategy or list of techniques. Rather, we need the rescuing grace of God―grace that has the power to shape how we view everything we do as parents.

Freed from the burden of trying to manufacture life-change in our children’s hearts, we can embrace a grand perspective of parenting overflowing with vision, purpose, and joy.

Missional Motherhood

There's no such thing as “just” a mom.

Despite the routine tasks and mundane to-do lists, motherhood is anything but insignificant. God has designed motherhood as part of his greater plan to draw people to himself―instilling all women, whether called to traditional mothering or not, with an eternal purpose in nurturing others.

In this book, Gloria Furman searches the Scriptures for the mission of God in motherhood. She opens our eyes to God's life-giving promises―promises intended to empower each and every woman as she makes disciples in her home, in her neighborhood, and around the world.

Risen Motherhood

Motherhood is hard. In a world of five-step lists and silver-bullet solutions to become perfect parents, mothers are burdened with mixed messages about who they are and what choices they should make. If you feel pulled between high-fives and hard words, with culture’s solutions only raising more questions, you’re not alone.

But there is hope.

You might think that Scripture doesn’t have much to say about the food you make for breakfast, how you view your postpartum body, or what school choice you make for your children, but a deeper look reveals that the Bible provides the framework for finding answers to your specific questions about modern motherhood.

Emily Jensen and Laura Wifler help you understand and apply the gospel to common issues moms face so you can connect your Sunday morning faith to the Monday morning tantrum.

Discover how closely the gospel connects with today’s motherhood. Join Emily and Laura as they walk through the redemptive story and reveal how the gospel applies to your everyday life, bringing hope, freedom, and joy in every area of motherhood.

The Disciple-Making Parent

Your children will either live forever with Jesus or apart from him. Too many growing up in Christian homes will not follow Christ as adults. Do you have a strategy for parenting in today's hostile culture?

The Disciple-Making Parent will give you confidence in your journey.

In the Disciple-Making Parent you will learn:
The North Star to Guide Your Parenting
The Process Second-Generation Christians Go Through
The Reasons Young People Walk Away from the Faith
Nine Powerful Influences Found in Wise Families
How Your Example Can Commend the Gospel
What Your Children are Watching at Home
How to Explain Hypocrisy to Them
Why the Heart is the Most Important Part of Them (and How to Stay Connected
How Discipline Prepares Them for the Gospel
How To Clearly Explain the Gospel to Little Children
How to Nourish Them with the Word of God
Different Ways to Have Family Devotions (and When to Stop)
How to Cast a Vision of the World
How to Pray for Your Children (and for Yourself)
The Doubts Your Children Will Experience and What You Can Do
How to Deal with the Electronics and Media Tsunami
And Much More

Christian Living

Gentle and Lowly

Christians know what Jesus Christ has done—but who is he? What is his deepest heart for his people, weary and faltering on their journey toward heaven? Jesus said he is “gentle and lowly in heart.” This book reflects on these words, opening up a neglected yet central truth about who he is for sinners and sufferers today.

Desiring God

Satisfaction…Happiness…Joy. According to John Piper, the pursuit of pleasure in God is not only permissible, it’s essential.

Desiring God is a paradigm-shattering work that dramatically alters common perspectives on relating to God. Piper reveals that there really is no need to choose between duty and delight in the Christian life. In fact, for the follower of Jesus, delight is the duty as Christ is most magnified in His people when they are most satisfied in Him.

Constantly drawing on Scripture to build his case, Piper shows why pursuing maximum joy is essential to glorifying God. He discusses the implications of this for conversion, worship, love, Scripture, prayer, money, marriage, missions, and suffering.

Piper beckons us to approach God with the hedonist’s abandon. Finally, we are freed to enjoy Jesus—not only as our Lord and Savior, but also as our all-surpassing, soul-satisfying Treasure.

Desiring God may turn your Christian world upside down. And that will be a good thing, for the glory of God, and for your deepest joy.

A Praying Life

Prayer is hard. Often, unless circumstances demand it―such as an illness or saying grace before a meal―most of us simply do not pray. This kind of prayerlessness can leave us with a distressed spirit and practical unbelief characterized by fear, anxiety, joylessness, and spiritual depression.

A Praying Life is a prayer guide that has encouraged thousands of Christians to pursue a vibrant prayer life full of joy and power and has helped them learn how to pray faithfully and courageously. A life of prayer invites you to a life of connection to God. When Jesus describes the intimacy that He seeks with us, He talks about joining us for dinner (Revelation 3:20). This book reminds readers that prayer is simply making conversation with God a rhythm of daily Christian life.

A Praying Life includes chapters about:
How to deal with unanswered prayer
How to start a prayer journal
Does prayer make a difference?
Now with added chapters addressing prayers of lament and further guidance for using prayer cards, Paul Miller invites you to foster prayer that regularly hopes, trusts, and expects God to act. Learn to develop helpful habits and approaches to prayer that will enable you to return to a childlike faith and witness spiritual growth today!

Something Needs to Change

While leading a team on a week-long trek of the Himalayas, bestselling author and pastor David Platt was stunned by the human needs he encountered, an experience so dramatic that it "changed the trajectory of my life." Meeting a man who'd lost his eye from a simple infection and seeing the faces of girls stolen from their families and trafficked in the cities, along with other unforgettable encounters, opened his eyes to the people behind the statistics and compelled him to wrestle with his assumptions about faith. In Something Needs to Change, Platt invites readers to come along on both the adventure of the trek, as well as the adventure of seeking answers to tough questions like, "Where is God in the middle of suffering?" "What makes my religion any better than someone else's religion?" and "What do I believe about eternal suffering?" Platt has crafted an irresistible message about what it means to give your life for the gospel--to finally stop talking about faith and truly start living it.

The Gospel Comes with a House Key

What did God use to draw a radical, committed unbeliever to himself? Did God take her to an evangelistic rally? Or, since she had her doctorate in literature, did he use something in print? No, God used an invitation to dinner in a modest home, from a humble couple who lived out the gospel daily, simply, and authentically.

With this story of her conversion as a backdrop, Rosaria Butterfield invites us into her home to show us how God can use this same “radical, ordinary hospitality” to bring the gospel to our lost friends and neighbors. Such hospitality sees our homes as not our own, but as God’s tools for the furtherance of his kingdom as we welcome those who look, think, believe, and act differently from us into our everyday, sometimes messy lives―helping them see what true Christian faith really looks like.

Woman of the Word

We all know it’s important to study God’s word. But sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. What’s more, a lack of time, emotionally driven approaches, and past frustrations can erode our resolve to keep growing in our knowledge of Scripture. How can we, as Christian women, keep our focus and sustain our passion when reading the Bible?

Women of the Word has helped countless women with a clear and concise plan they can use every time they open their Bible. This book will equip you to engage God’s word in a way that trains your mind and transforms your heart.

The Godly Man's Picture

Few preachers in the Puritan era (or any other period of church history) match Thomas Watson for his ability to combine rich spirituality, nourishing doctrine and sane wisdom with fascinating illustration and a pleasant style. Watson is remembered chiefly for his posthumously published
Body of Practical Divinity (reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust in three volumes). But his extant sermons also include this marvelous series on the character of the Christian. It is, as C.H. Spurgeon said of his other work, 'a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom'.

Watson is always the essence of sanity and reliability. But in addition, this work shows how attractive the grace of God is. Christians of all stages, reading it for the first time, will feel as if they have entered the gallery of a great portrait painter. As his sub-title suggests, Watson works with 'a Scripture pencil' in this priceless sketch of the true believer.

Disciplines of a Godly Man

Seasoned pastor R. Kent Hughes’s inspiring and bestselling book Disciplines of a Godly Man―now updated with fresh references and suggested resources―is filled with godly advice aimed at helping men grow in the disciplines of prayer, integrity, marriage, leadership, worship, purity, and more.

With biblical wisdom, memorable illustrations, and engaging study questions, this practical guide will empower men to take seriously the call to godliness and direct their energy toward the things that matter most.

Theological

The Holiness of God R.C. Sproul

Central to God’s character is the quality of holiness. Yet, even so, most people are hard-pressed to define what God’s holiness precisely is. Many preachers today avoid the topic altogether because people today don’t quite know what to do with words like “awe” or “fear.” R. C. Sproul, in this classic work, puts the holiness of God in its proper and central place in the Christian life. He paints an awe-inspiring vision of God that encourages Christian to become holy just as God is holy. Once you encounter the holiness of God, your life will never be the same.

Knowing God

For half a century, J. I. Packer's classic has helped Christians around the world discover the wonder, the glory, and the joy of knowing God.

Stemming from Packer's profound theological knowledge, Knowing God brings together two key facets of the Christian faith―knowing about God and knowing God through a close relationship with Jesus Christ. Written in an engaging and practical tone, this thought-provoking work seeks to renew and enrich our understanding of God.

Holiness

'Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots' is perhaps J. C. Ryle's best-known and, arguably, best-loved book. Although many things have changed since 1877, when this book was first published, one thing remains the same: 'real practical holiness does not receive the attention it deserves.' It was to remedy this attention deficit, and to counter false teaching on this most important subject, that Ryle took up his pen.