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Book Reviews

Sep 20
Love0

Book Review of: How to Lead Your Family

By Book Review, Book Reviews, Family Discipleship, Leadership, Parenting: Childhood, Parenting: Early Years, Parenting: Teens and Beyond
As you know, our ministry seeks to encourage parents to disciple their children. Thankfully, there are many good like-minded brothers, sisters, and ministries in the world. Recently, one of those teachers, Dr. Joel Beeke, released a small book, How to Lead Your Family: A Guide for Men Wanting to Be More. I am grateful for this new resource. The following are some thoughts:Contents SummaryThe Westminster Catechism teaches that Jesus occupies and executes the offices of prophet, priest, and king. As our prophet, he teaches us about God. As our priest, he offered up himself as a sacrifice and continues to intercede for…
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Aug 31
Love0

Book Review: The Master Plan of Evangelism

By Book Reviews, Family Discipleship
As disciple-making parents, we are committed to doing all that we can to raise our children to love and follow Jesus Christ. We know that we cannot control them or change their heart. But we want to do all that we can to influence them. Who is our premier example in this endeavor? Jesus! The twelve apostles as well as many other men and women turned the Roman world upside down. But did they do it without any preparation?  The answer to that question is a resounding, “No.” When we read the gospels, we learn that Jesus spent time ministering…
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Jan 09
Love0

Letting Go: Rugged Love for Wayward Souls

By Book Reviews
Things don’t always turn out like you planned. Ask Peter. The acknowledged leader of the apostles, we can see a roller-coaster existence in his rebuke by Jesus, his denial of him, and then his restoration. But then Jesus finishes his restoration by telling Peter that he would glorify Jesus by dying in a way he did not want to. Not exactly the way Peter saw his life turning it out. Parents of prodigals can say the same thing. Dreams and hopes are dashed. We are surprised and overtaken by suffering. Despair and discouragement are just a few of the many…
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Nov 01
Love0

Book Review: Seven Myths about Singleness

By Book Reviews
I have been waiting for a book like this. With the plethora of books on marriage, teaching on singleness seems underserved. And yet most people will be single for part of their Christian life. The Bible is filled with teaching in this area. Allberry has done the church a service by clearly and biblically slaying seven myths about singleness while laying a foundation for understanding this topic. Read this book if you are single to grasp biblical help for your singleness. Read this book if you are married so that you will understand your single friends – to minister to…
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Mar 07
Love0

Book Summary: Teaching to Change Lives

By Book Reviews
  These words that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Teach them diligently to your children. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 Fathers (and by implication mothers) are to teach the Word of God diligently to our children. Indeed a church has this divine responsibility. Unfortunately, too often this teaching is B...O....R...I....N.....G. We think about what to teach but not how to teach. The late Howard Hendricks was a beloved and influential teacher in the last quarter of the 20th century. His Teaching to Change Lives is a classic work not on what to teach but on how to teach.…
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Nov 17
Love0

Book Review: Reformation ABCs

By Book Reviews
In The Disciple-Making Parent, I have argued that one of the reasons parents are to lead the way in teaching their children is that we learn in the process. When something has to be explained to a child, the teacher must simplify it! The Reformation ABCs book will help you both understand prominent figures in the Reformation and teach it to your young children. As we celebrate the 500th year of the Reformation in 2017, it is especially appropriate. The book is both simple enough to read to a 4 or 5 year old but also will keep an 8…
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Nov 03
Love0

Book Review: What is the Gospel?

By Book Reviews
We have just finished celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Why was the Reformation so important? The answer is that through the years the gospel of salvation by grace alone, from Christ alone, through faith alone had become obscured. Men and women were participating in religious activity but they did not understand the core of Christianity - the true gospel. The gospel had become obscured. A Problem In Our Families? I wonder if this lack of gospel clarity is also a problem in our homes as we raise our children. In The Disciple-Making Parent I say this: Surprisingly, for…
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Oct 20
Love0

Book Review: Tactics

By Book Reviews
I have recently been reading and loving the book Tactics by Greg Koukl. Koukl is a skillful questioner and has honed his "Columbo Questions" as a way to cause people to question what they believe. His desire, he tells us, is to "put a pebble in a person's shoe." In other words, he just wants to get them to doubt things they hold to be true. Basic to his strategy is adopting an attitude like Columbo. The famous TV detective appeared inept but he would constantly ask one more question to help him gain understanding and tighten the noose. Eventually…
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Jul 28
Love0

Book Review: Hurt 2.0

By Book Reviews
    While I am on a book review roll, let me add one more - a quick review of Hurt 2.0 by Dr. Chap Clark. With a first name like Chap, the book has to be good, don't you think?! Teens Are Hurt(ing) According to Dr. Clark, when parents dont attach to their children (see this review), they become abandoned and hurt. Dr. Clark’s book, Hurt 2.0: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers seeks to take us to the culture the adults cannot see. Clark focuses on "midadolescence," young people who are in grades 9-12 and ages 15-18. A…
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Jul 21
Love0

Book Review: Hold on to Your Kids

By Book Reviews
In Hold Onto Your Kids, (HOYK) authors Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté argue that all children need attachment. If they will not receive that attachment from their parents, they will find it in peers. The job of parents is to press in and attach themselves to their children. If they do this then those children can resist the pull of the teen culture. The book is broken into five parts: The Phenomenon of Peer Orientation, How Peer Orientation Undermines Parenting, How Peer Orientation Stunts Healthy Development, How to Hold On to Our Kids, and Preventing Peer Orientation. In the first…
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