by Brad Blocksom | Dec 30, 2020 | Church & Pastoral, Disciple Making, General, Missional, Practical Theology, Reviews
I’ve been on a missional reading journey for a number of years now, and I thought it was time that I share some of my favorites with you all. The Forgotten Ways By Alan HirschIt all started for me here, and this book changed my life forever! After 25 years of...
by Brad Blocksom | Sep 8, 2019 | Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, General, Healing, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer, Reviews, Small Groups, The Vineyard Movement, Theology
Disclaimer: Mike Turrigiano is one of my favorite people in the Vineyard movement! Luke Geraty (his co-author) is a friend and kinda my boss here at Think Theology. What follows is my attempt to, none-the-less, provide an impartial, unbiased review of Pastor...
by Luke Geraty | May 5, 2016 | Biblical, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day and if you are going to be preaching this week, you’ve probably been looking for some resources that would help you with your sermon. Thus, it only seems fitting to review Making Sense of Motherhood: Biblical and...
by Robby McAlpine | Aug 27, 2015 | Biblical, Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
It has been my privilege to read Mary Boller’s The Wisdom of Wimber over the past few weeks. Marty (can I call you Marty?) has done an excellent job of collecting a variety of the late John Wimber’s pithy insights and pastoral wisdom, and sharing them in a...
by Brad Blocksom | Jul 7, 2015 | Biblical, Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews
For those of you who enjoyed my series on 10 Ways We Must Read Scripture Differently (#1 starts here), I thought it might be nice to see a different perspective on how not to read the Bible! In this case, by someone far more qualified than me to write on this topic...
by Luke Geraty | Jun 18, 2015 | Church & Pastoral, Reviews
Finding helpful books on preaching can be challenging because there is no shortage of books on the subject. There are lots of books claiming to offer “secrets” to preaching, including the “secret to preaching without notes,” which I’ve...
by Brad Blocksom | Jun 8, 2015 | Biblical, Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
Yesterday at 12:30pm, Pastor, teacher, author, speaker, scholar, disciple of Jesus and friend of many, Dr. Bill Jackson, passed from this life into the next. The Vineyard movement has lost one of its greatest leaders. And the Evangelical Church has lost one of the...
by Luke Geraty | Jun 4, 2015 | Biblical, Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
I think I could sit at a table talking about the Holy Spirit with Dr. Jack Levison for hours. The way that he thinks and writes is ever engaging and many of the questions and concerns he poses go on to raise countless hours of reflection. Those of you who are into...
by Luke Geraty | Jun 4, 2015 | Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
Historical biographies are important for the health and development of individuals and ecclesial communities. While it may be true that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, as George Santayana is famous for saying, I’d like to think...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 7, 2015 | Biblical, Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
Last year I was at Society of Vineyard Scholars’ annual conference and had lunch with a really cool dude with a beard. He informed me that he had started attending the Central Vineyard in Columbus, OH and was a writer. As an aspiring author, I was immediately...
by Luke Geraty | Feb 12, 2015 | Biblical, Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
If I had to summarize all of the preaching of Jesus and all of the preaching of Paul, I’d suggest that they had one message with many applications: the kingdom of God. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom (Matt. 4:17, 23; 9:35; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 8:1; Acts 1:3, etc.)...
by Brad Blocksom | Jan 31, 2015 | Biblical, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
OK, folks. I’m taking up the challenge from Able Baker and following in the footsteps of his post recommending books for Pastors. In the interest full disclosure, I’m not a Pastor, but do like to study the word as if I had to teach it every week. I’m...
by Able Baker | Jan 22, 2015 | Church & Pastoral
Here is a list of reference books that have been a tremendous help to me in my teaching and preaching. Christian Theology by Alister McGrath (The who, what, where, when, how, and why of what we believe as Evangelicals) The Christian Theology Reader by Alister...
by Luke Geraty | Jan 19, 2015 | Biblical, Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
I have a love/hate relationship with study bibles. On one hand, I really like that there is a resource for people who may not have had seven hundred years of seminary training. On the other, it’s frustrating when some well-meaning people treat the commentary...
by Luke Geraty | Jan 12, 2015 | Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews
St. James tells us that caring for widows and orphans is the kind of religion that is pure and undefiled before God (James 1:27). Considering that there are more than 132 million orphaned children, the Church has its work cut out. Daniel J. Bennett understands this...
by Luke Geraty | Nov 7, 2014 | Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews
Shortly after my wife and I were married we were expecting our first child… which we quickly learned was actually two children, twins! The excitement of expecting children was pretty incredible and almost impossible to explain. Sadly, we lost that first...
by Luke Geraty | Aug 13, 2014 | Biblical, Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
In this post, I want to review and interact with Ken Wilson’s work in ALTMC on the Apostle Paul. In addition to several posts covering Ken’s introductory work (here, here, and here), I’ve posted my thoughts on his use of the Old Testament. Now I want...
by Luke Geraty | Jul 24, 2014 | Christian Living, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
Throughout the year I often find myself asking questions about personal “soul care” and this usually turns into questions about my time spent reading Scripture and praying. I used to always feel like I was the worst follower of Jesus in the universe...
by Luke Geraty | Jul 3, 2014 | Biblical, Church & Pastoral, Reviews, Theology
I think a case could be made that the Bible offers a variety of options regarding church polity. However, I personally find the plurality of pastors model the best option for the local church (see my top 5 books on the subject). In fact, if you take a look at my list...
by Daniel J. Fick | Jun 4, 2014 | Church & Pastoral, Ecclesiology, Evangelicalism, Missional, Practical Theology
I get really nervous when people start throwing around numbers. “Our attendance was 602 last Sunday!” “We baptized 17 people tonight!” “We have had 296 conversions this weekend!” “We just opened our sixth campus!”...
