WHAT TOP-YWAM LEADERS READ
and
RECOMMEND
click on the names of the leaders who have contributed so far
Jeff Fountain | John Dawson | Alv Magnus | Lynn Green | Danny Lehman | Steve Goode | Rick Allegretto | Jeff Romack | Tom Hallas
If you are a YWAM leader, please contribute as well: read more
Most of the titles shown can be
purchased at a discount in our online store;
just click on the links.
Simply Christian:
Why Christianity Makes Sense-by N.T. Wright
This is simply a beautiful book. Some have compared it to C.S. Lewis's classic apologetic, Mere Christianity. I like it better. Wright's skill both as a writer and theologian make this book equally effective for the person who knows nothing about Christianity as it is for the long time believer. He speaks of the human longing for relationships, justice, spirituality, and beauty as "echoes of God's voice" resonating in the human heart. Once you've read this book you will have a clear understanding of what Christians believe about God. And, you will know what it looks like to follow Jesus, to be energized by his Spirit, and to serve him in the world. This book should be read slowly, not that it is difficult, but to be meditated on and savored.
The Shaping of
Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church-by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
This book presents a discussion of the missional church in a western and postmodern context. I think YWAM bases at their best should be understood as missional communities. As such, they are uniquely positioned to impact the communities in which they exist; they should not simply train and send graduates off into the world (like so many other training institutions). Many missiological concepts usually understood and applied in a frontier mission situation are here presented and given application for discipling the post-Christian West..
This book will be most helpful for those doing mission in that context. The book is written by a couple of Aussies... so you guys in OZ should do your part and pick up a copy.
Bible and
Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World-by Richard Bauckham
This little book is a fresh look at a biblical theology of mission in the changed context of the postmodern world. I recommend it highly to those who teach the Biblical Basis of Mission in our schools and for those who are thinking about the process and effects of globalization. The gospel has something to say to the global powers that would dominate our world today. Jesus is Lord!
What Saint Paul
Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?-by N.T. Wright
Okay, this is the third recommended book by N.T. (Tom) Wright. (Jeff Fountain earlier recommended Wright's The Challenge of Jesus. I do too.). Take the hint and go read something by Wright. You will not be disappointed. I've been a YWAMer for twenty-five years but it took Tom Wright to help me understand what the gospel really is--considerably more than an invitation to having sins forgiven and a free pass to heaven when I die. Let's face it; that's the message as it is usually presented. Then we wonder why the church is like it is?
Wright is a prolific author, a great speaker (if you ever have the opportunity to hear him don't miss it) and the most influential NT scholar today. His work on Jesus, Paul and the Kingdom of God is impacting the Church worldwide. For all those that think there is nothing new to be learned in reading the Bible.Think again!
Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas & Will Willimon | Where Resident Aliens Live, Stanley Hauerwas & Will Willimon | The Truth About God, Stanley Hauerwas & Will Willimon | Truth to Tell, Brad Kallenberg Paul | Fresh Perspectives, N.T. Wright | The Last Word, N.T. Wright (In UK, Scripture and the Authority of God) | The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann | Colossians Remixed, Brian Walsh & Sylvia Keesmaat | Ancient-Future Faith, Robert Webber | Ancient Future Evangelism, Robert Webber
The 360 Degree
Leader-by John Maxwell
On Mission
With God-by Henry Blackaby & Avery Willis
Epic-by John Eldredge
Epic starts off with a quote from G. K Chesterton, “I had always felt life first as a story — and if there is a story there is a storyteller.”
John Eldredge knows how to speak to us about life, about the larger story, how we have lost our way and how we can find ourselves again. He speaks through four acts, a prologue and an epilogue. Simple yet powerful.
I found myself throughout this book of just over 100 pages asking myself about my role in this story, where I had come from, where was I presently and where was I headed? Stories are like that, and each of us have a story to tell. We also want to know how we fit into the larger story of 6.6 billion people. What is our role to play? What is our contribution to make in this larger story? Do you know? What is your story? This little book is for you.
The
Jesus Creed-by Scott McKnight
From the Preface: "A Jewish expert on the law once asked Jesus what was the most important thing for spiritual formation. Jesus' answer turned history upside down for those who followed him. This book is an invitation for you to explore Jesus' answer to that man. I call it the Jesus Creed, and what he said should shape everything we say about Christian spirituality. Everything."
McKnight is an Old Testament scholar but he does not write like one. I have to admit that I sought out this book because of the loving others part. I think we in the church should be doing that better and more often in order to demonstrate the love of God to the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, animist and other unreached worlds. Loving God and Loving others is like a coin. You cannot have one side without the other.
This book helped me a great deal. Compassion in the Jesus Creed is on every page of this book, just like it is in the four Gospels. I think we forget that sometimes, but Jesus did not. That is why He made it the center. God help us to continue to love Him and others, and thus fulfill the Jesus Creed.
Joy At Work-by Dennis Bakke
This is an incredible story of leadership and how values shape an organization, business, school, church, mission or government. This book will help people who want to know how decentralized organizations like YWAM are successful and why young people are so attracted to them. Dennis is a Christian with a biblically-based view of the world, a Harvard Business graduate who put what he proposes into practice with his work in government services, an energy company and now in one of the largest chartered school systems in the USA.
He shows how work is one of the ways we honor God. Work is worship. God set the example in Creation by working for six days, then resting for one day. He gave us a model to steward resources and meet other people's needs. Any work, even the least creative and inspiring job, that is accomplished for God, meets a need in society and honors God. "The key to joy at work is the personal freedom to take actions and make decisions using individual skills and talents." Thus, the key to good organizational leadership is restraint in making decisions of importance. A radical idea.
Editor: See other Leadership and Marketplace titles in our bookstore
Kite Runner-by Khaled Hosseini
I write this summary from Kabul as I have been coming to Afghanistan since 1984 for holistic development work through our partners. The sounds of the call to prayer from the mosque outside my window and controlled explosions of mines and bombs, the sites of battle and the rebuilding, the fresh smells of naan and kabobs, the language, the Afghan hospitality bring reality in the reading of this novel. However, one does not need to be in Kabul to read this book. Mr. Hosseini’s ease of language brings it to you from an Afghan, a refugee and an American perspective.
This is a gripping story of family, friendship, cruelty, brokenness, deceit, and strength in Afghanistan during the rule of the King Zahir Shah, the Russians, Afghan communists, the Mujhadeen and the Taliban. It brings back strong memories of the journey of Afghanistan as a nation. It disturbingly follows and is seen through the lives of two young Muslim boys of different ethnic backgrounds... One privileged, one illiterate. One a weak, the other strong. One a kite flyer, the other a kite runner. Two friends and yet something more. Jealousy and desire searching for identity. A haunting journey in the midst of war. Secrets discovered that overwhelm the soul.
Mr. Hosseini’s writing and story telling have given him a place on the New York Times best seller list. It is a heart wrenching story but well worth reading.
The Challenge of Jesus:
Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is -by N.T.Wright
N.T. Wright (Bishop of Durham), is a refreshingly original evangelical Anglican historian re-examining the person and character of Jesus in the context of the first-century Jewish world.
Not light reading but greatly challenges our own cultural or sub-cultural presuppositions about Jesus. He makes very clear application of the Easter story to the message of hope we are to live and share in a postmodern world.
Bono: In
Conversation with Michka Assayas
-by Michka Assayas
I haven't yet read it, but the opening chapter has the intriguing title: 'There are stories to tell that aren't songs...' which is why he allowed a book to be written. In that chapter he describes his conversations with his dad who had lost his (Catholic) faith.
Bono's dad: "It's a one way conversation... you seem to hear something back from the silence!" I said: "that's true, I do.... I hear it in some sort of instinctive way, I feel a response to a prayer, or I feel led in a direction. Or if I'm studying the Scriptures, they become alive in an odd way, and they make sense to the moment I'm in, they're no longer a historical document."
Jubilee
Manifesto-ed. by Michael Schluter
Required reading for those of us who attended the Winter School of the Jubilee Centre in Cambridge, England, the first week of January 2006. A group of nine YWAMers, including Lynn Green (see his comments below), attended to reflect on how Relationism, a Biblical framework for social reform, can provide an agenda for the task of discipling nations.
Fire
of God: Discovering Its Many Life Changing Purposes-by Joy Dawson
Perhaps it is better for somebody other than myself to recommend 'The Fire of God' because I am the author's son, but I do feel that this book helps spiritual leaders to lead in this time when so many are suffering and going into a season of sorrows in the earth.
(Editor's note: we felt it significant to note that he reads his mother's books. The "suffering" he alludes to, refers to the multiple deaths in the YWAM family at the end of 2005--fatal accidents in Nigeria and India, untimely deaths in Brazil and Zambia.)
Derek Prince: A Biography-by Stephen Mansfield
I recommend the new biography of Derek Prince put out by Strang and authored by Steen Mansfield. This story of Derek Prince's life is a gripping fascinating epic, full of inspiration and instruction to all.
God's Passion for His Glory: Living the
Vision of Jonathan Edwards(with the Complete Text of by Jonathan Edwards' The End for Which God Created the World)
-by John Piper
I think it brings in a perspective of the importance of a God-centered theology in a man-centered Western culture. I believe we should pay special attention to the negative influence on the Christian community from a thoroughly humanistic and hedonistic culture. Nothing can be more helpful as a contrast, than Edward's perspective.
C.S.Lewis said that for every book one reads from one's own era, a book should be read that originates from another time period in history. That way we can hope not to be blinded by the bias of our own era.
Thinking for a
Change-by John Maxwell
I am quite convinced that the ability to organize thoughts and the information we possess is one of the keys to effective leadership. John Maxwell clearly excels at this ongoing task. He is also a great advocate of each person making quality thinking time for themselves. That is a subject I run across again and again these days. It's always difficult to set aside time for prayer, reflection and thinking , but John Maxwell's book is a great encouragement to do so. Again and again he inspires the reader to effective thinking and the development of ideas. That dimension of leadership is not often stressed as much as it needs to be. John Maxwell has done us a real favor.
The World is
Flat-by Thomas Friedman
This is the book everyone is talking about. I heard people mention it and read about it in interviews several times before I finally ordered a copy. I was not disappointed even though it's long and sometimes gets a little bit detailed. Nevertheless the overall themes of the book are far-sighted and will provide a grid through which we will see the world for many years to come. I find myself using the phase "The earth is flat" again and again to describe our current international environment, especially when it comes to communications and information technology. The book is not primarily about technology but about the way our world is changing. I think it is a "must read" for people who are trying to understand the way the world is changing and why.
Iraq: Searching
for Hope-by Andrew White
The war in Iraq is one of the most controversial subjects on the planet today. Most of us think about it or write about it with at best indirect information. However, my friend Canon Andrew White has been engaged in Iraq for many years and has the most extensive network of key contacts across all the communities there of anyone I know. As a committed Christian, highly skilled in reconciliation and peacemaking, Andrew's thoughts on Iraq are certainly worth consideration. Andrew has first hand information of the deep divisions within Iraq and the difficulty of getting Sunnis, Shia, Kurds, and all the mini factions within each of those groups to work together. He also knows the depth of tyranny exercised by Saddam Hussein and has reached some conclusions about the justification for war. Amongst the millions of works written about Iraq and its suffering in recent decades, this is one book more than worth reading.
Milestones:
Memoirs, 1927-1977-by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI)
It was a fascinating book to read for insight into the spirituality, theology and personal background of this man who has become so broadly influential over the past couple of decades. As a Protestant I read with satisfaction the depth of his commitment to the scriptures and the way his outstanding intellectual ability has been applied to grappling with the ways of God. He also gave me insight into how he deals with the traditions and doctrines of the Church that are not directly traceable to Scripture. For example, he opens wide a mystical door into understanding his perspective on the Church's relatively recent doctrine of the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven. I came away with a deep respect for the spiritual character of this man and clearer understanding of what the disagreements are about within the body of Christ. I know what I don't agree with and why, but I also understand how decisions that may seem odd to me are made. I also have the confidence that they should not cause complete breakdown in communication.
Basil Hume: The
Monk Cardinal (June 2006)-by Anthony Howard
I enjoyed this biography of Cardinal Basil Hume written by Anthony Howard. It is entitled The Monk Cardinal. Here was another man of deep spirituality and personal discipline and therefore one who inspires me.
A friend of mine who knew him pretty well said, 'Whenever I met him, I always felt as if I had just interrupted his prayers and should speak very quietly.' This biography, however, also goes into more of the politics and machinations of the Catholic Church and its relationship to the British establishment, the public and the press.
Personally, I think it is quite difficult to blend together spirituality plus political wisdom and the ability to lead people well while still maintaining peace with an antagonistic political establishment or press corps. In that sense this biography is inspirational and I came away impressed with the humility of a man who, though he had other character flaws which were represented honestly, nevertheless had a humble judgment of himself in spite of ever increasing influence.
How to Be a Bad
Birdwatcher-by Simon Barnes
For several years now, I have found increasing enjoyment from watching birds. I began to feed them in my back garden (or yard for Americans) about 10 years ago and get particular satisfaction from a new species turning up. Just for fun a couple of evenings ago, my 10-year-old grandson and I decided to name all the different kinds of birds we could think of and we came up with more than 60! Try it. You might be surprised at how many different birds you can recognize.
I am not interested in getting a notebook and rushing around the country to see how many birds I can identify, but I am interested in being more observant in relation to one of God's great creative masterpieces. If you feel similarly, then this is the book for you. Simon Barnes is much more knowledgeable than I am, but he has the same approach. He finds relaxation and recreation in the process of noticing birds, their identifying traits, their songs, their patterns of flight etc.
Noticing birds is an activity (or perhaps an orientation to life) that can add value at many different times--as you walk to catch a train or bus, as you drive through the country, as you sit with your Bible on an early summers morning... I recommend bird watching and "How to be a Bad Birdwatcher" is a source of inspiration to all those who do not intend to ever take it too seriously.
Jubilee
Manifesto-ed. by Michael Schluter and John Ashcroft
Michael Schluter of the Jubilee Centre has spoken at a number of YWAM leadership gatherings in the last few years. He and his team at the Jubilee Centre and the Relationship Foundation have done an enormous amount of thinking about how the gospel message applies to such subjects as: criminal justice, relationships between nation states, economic policies, public policies in relationship to families and social structures, how should welfare work within society, what is the role and what are the limitations of government, what is the role of international law, should the heads of nation states be subject to some kind of international law? If so what should it look like? What's to prevent it becoming tyrannical? I recently attended the Winter School of the Jubilee Centre in Cambridge and was deeply encouraged by the quality and amount of work these men and women have done. It was also encouraging to see a few YWAMers and ex-YWAMers amongst those in attendance and those lecturing. The Jubilee Manifesto is a collection of chapters on various aspects of society which need to be addressed if we are going to talk with any depth about the transformation of nations. I do recommend it.
The Broker-by John Grisham
As usual Grisham produces a very readable book ideal for airplanes and vacations. Grisham has just enough characters to force you to concentrate so the books don't get boring, and the characters are developed well enough that you begin to empathize with them. Grisham's characters are normally distinguished by good being clearly good and evil being clearly evil. This time though the main character crosses from one side to the other. So that makes for an engaging twist.
Timeliness is one of the things that makes books popular and this book is on the market just as major lobbying scandals are unfolding in Washington DC. So this is an opportunity to put together a little insight into how lobbying works and how it goes wrong. For me it was enjoyable enough that I was actually disappointed when it came to an end, so I recommend The Broker.
Repenting of
Religion-by Gregory Boyd
This is an excellent read in which Boyd was able to simplify some of the more complex writings by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (killed in a Nazi concentration camp) who had an amazing insight into the Scriptures and their application (see Creation and Fall and Cost of Discipleship).
The main thesis of the book is this; either we are walking with the Lord on a daily basis from a perspective of judging others (eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) or walking in love (eating from the tree of life!).
I found the spiritual application of the two trees to be enlightening as I seek to follow Jesus who “came not to judge the world but to save the world.” Drawing on some great illustrations, Boyd addresses the main passages that command us not to judge one another. He suggests that we ask ourselves a simple question whenever we encounter anyone: Am I walking in love or am I walking in judgment?
He gives practical advice on how to deal with what he calls “Rage of the Pharisees” which is his synonym for judgmental, critical, mean-spirited Christians who love to criticize others. He contrasts that with the way of Jesus, who (while not compromising the faith) exhibited humility and tolerance, and believed the best about others. I’d give this one a 10, on a scale of 1-10.
Velvet Elvis-by Rob Bell
Lately I have immersed myself in books by some of the more postmodern Christian authors, including: The Emerging Church (by my friend Dan Kimble), Brian McLaren’s titles (A New Kind of Christian, The Story We Find Ourselves In, The last Word and the Word After That, A Generous Orthodoxy, Adventures in Missing the Point [see more on these four previous titles below]), and titles by Leonard Sweet and Chuck Smith Jr.
Out of all of these who write with great insight about the issues surrounding the postmodern generation, I think Rob Bell (a 33 year-old pastor of a large church in Michigan whose ministry I have been following over the last couple of years) is not only the most refreshing, but his Velvet Elvis is the most clear.
Subtitled “Repainting the Christian Faith,” he provides refreshing insights into reaching this generation as well as some excellent dipping into Hebrew and rabbinical traditions to help illustrate his point. Apart from a lame illustration about the Virgin Birth, his book is awesome, and his insights will keep you on the edge. I would give this one a 10 on the scale of 1-10.
Let the Nations Be
Glad-by John Piper
The School of Biblical Evangelism-by Kirk Cameron & Ray Comfort
Desiring God-by John Piper
The Next
Christendom-by Philip Jenkins
A Generous
Orthodoxy-by Brian McLaren
God
at War-by Gregory Boyd
The Suffering of
God- by Terence Fretheim
I have been tracking through the material of the "openness group": authors like, Clark Pinnock, John Sanders, Gregory Boyd, et al, and have found that all at some time refer to Terence Fretheim in their writing. I first met Fretheim in his wonderful representation of God in "The Suffering of God."
In this book, he lays the foundation upon which many of the openness (open theism) writers continue to build. In the first chapters, he develops the appropriate hermeneutic for viewing the Old Testament Scriptures and then proceeds to view the Scripture through that lens. He is referred to by the group as the 'master of metaphor' and takes the view that humans are “theomorphisms” rather than human experiences, just like emotions being attributed to God as anthropomorphisms. A must read for all who wish to develop an appropriate theology of the Personhood of the Godhead.
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