RESOURCES

Here is Pastor Seth’s 2021 Reading List with descriptions! If you are thinking about picking up a book, these would be great books to start:

Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund
This was a gift I was given very recently, and though I haven’t completed it yet, it’s been amazing. An exploration of the heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers.

Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley
A much needed and important perspective from a great scholar. Amidst all the cultural upheaval and conversations around justice and the church, this is an important piece to the conversation.

Reappearing Church by Mark Sayers
Brilliant cultural analysis and actual hope for how the church could very well be on the verge of a great move of God. If you’ve never read or heard Mark Sayers, do yourself a favor and read this and anything else he’s written.

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
While I feel like I could just read the teachings of Jesus for the origin of his premise, It’s still fun to read truth discovered and articulated by non Christian sources. This is a great leadership book. If you are a coach, leader, manager, or especially if you run your own business, you should also read Synek’s “Start With Why.” Both of his books can be found in TED talk form if you’d just like the summary.

Beautiful Resistance by Jon Tyson
Jon Tyson is an Australian born pastor in New York and one of my favorite voices in the American church today. He manages tensions and cultural sophistication while still being, unapologetically passionate about and faithful to the Gospel.

Against Empathy by Paul Bloom
This will be a challenging read for many, as the title alone might suggest. Are we even allowed to say anything negative about empathy? It’s almost sacrilegious in our culture to do so. However, this was a very helpful read to help balance the conversation around empathy and prevent the burnout and fallout from it. There is a lot of biblical truth within these ideas, even though this isn’t a Christian author.

The Wingfeather Saga Trilogy by Andrew Peterson
For anyone looking scratch your youth fiction itch. This was a fantastic three part series I read to my kids at the beginning of quarantine. A great enjoyable discipleship opportunity for parents to read with or aloud to their kids. If you like C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, you’ll love this.

Experiencing The Trinity by Darrell Johnson
You have and will hear more and more from my teaching on the trinity in the coming years. This book is a phenomenal and impactful read on the Trinity.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
A sociological book that can be tough to get through at parts, but there is pure gold laced all throughout. I gained a ton of self awareness. Chapter 19 alone explained so many past relationships and present cultural phenomenon for me that it was worth the price of the book. Should be required reading for leadership.

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
This is a classic that my wife recommended to me. She reads a lot but doesn’t recommend much, but when she does it always changes my life. This book is no exception. I wept, I worshiped, I pleaded with God for greater faith and to be made more like Christ. This is a true story told in first person from World War II.

Factfulness by Hans Rosling
I used this book in a sermon this year about all that wasn’t terrible in the world. Bad news sells, but good news goes silent all around us. This book is a much needed and balancing perspective to have in our world. It’s not written from a Christian perspective, but is enjoyable and uplifting nonetheless.

BONUS BOOKS:
Stop Taking Sides by Adam Mabry
Well written, full of truth, and desperately needed in the Church today. Lots of great topics in this to explore. This was a really helpful book to use in my Divided sermon series.

Mask Off by Adrian Crawford
Learning to lead and serve Jesus according to your true design can save a lot of frustration and lead to a lot of fulfillment. Adrian has been living and teaching this message for years and I’m thankful for this book.

If you would like to purchase any of these books through Amazon, check us out on Amazon Smile at Grace Christian Church of Corvallis. Amazon Smile is a simple way to support charitable organization, like us, every time to shop with no extra cost to you.

This moment in our country is filled with lots of tension, but also hope.  We are at a tipping point for meaningful change to happen, and we pray that God’s hand and wisdom would be in all of it.  The Church has not always lived up to her calling as ministers of reconciliation, and even contributed to the injustice of our culture.  We don’t want to be followers of this moment, but to come closer to God’s heart, grow as His people, and help lead and model a way forward.  Here are some great resources to learn more and to help make Grace City reflect even more of God’s heart for justice and redemptive relationships.

Grace + Peace,
Pastor Seth