Book and Companion CD
Luke: The Gospel of Amazement by Michael Card (IVP, 2011)
Luke: A World Turned Upside Down by Michael Card (IVP)
The Facts: Part one of a four-part project called the Biblical Imagination Series, Luke is an imaginative commentary on the third Gospel. It is well-researched, based on reliable scholarship, and tries to bring the narrative alive creatively.
The Slant: This volume shouldn’t replace your go-to commentary on Luke. Nevertheless, it could make for an excellent resource for sermon preparation or as a text for a small group. Card’s goal, as he explains in a song on the new album, is to move the story of Jesus “from the head to the heart, from the heart to the mind.” He does so by focusing on narrative details—why does Luke emphasize what he emphasizes or leave out what he leaves out?—and helps the reader enter the story. Book and CD are sold separately.
Website
The Facts: Weebly is a free, one-stop, do-it-yourself source for creating a professional-looking website. You can build your site, register a domain name, and even host your site all from Weebly.
The Slant: We mentioned it was free, right? It’s also extremely easy. The program includes a number of styles and page formats to choose from. If you can click and drag with a mouse, you can build a website. We editors spent half an hour creating a website for an imaginary church. If you had text (say, for your homepage) and images (say, of your staff) ready to go, you could have your church website up and running in a morning. For free.
The Good News We Almost Forgot by Kevin DeYoung (Moody Press, 2010)
The Facts: This small book is made up of 52 (one per week) short reflections on the content of the Heidelberg Confession. It is essentially a brief introduction to the Bible and Christian doctrine.
The Slant: DeYoung devoted a year to working through the Heidelberg Catechism and distilling its message in weekly church newsletters. So the project has been church-tested and pastor approved. The approach is fresh. It doesn’t read like a commentary on a historical document. It is an engaging devotional on the theological issues and biblical insights that are distilled in and summarized by this 450-year-old catechism. Even if you aren’t Reformed, this book would make great Sunday school or small group material.
Copyright © 2011 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
