The Stranger in the Woods left me with questions and connections that made this random purchase in an airport bookstore worth it. So take it from this stranger—this extraordinary book can speak to your life. And remember, the ways of God are often strange.
Arts & Culture
Ready to Rumble
Brown’s research on leadership reads like a series of stories from a friend. Her witty insights and personal failures invite us as readers to consider our own stories, the ways we have led with courage and vulnerability, and the new paths we must take forward. This book has challenges and encouragement for anyone who desires to lead with their whole self, in or out of the workplace.
Savoring Life
Waheed’s poems give readers permission to sit with their pain and hold themselves gently in it. Readers are given permission to listen to the Spirit and work for their own thriving and the thriving of all in the spaces God has placed them.
Timely and Timeless: The Character of Virtue Review
The Character of Virtue Letters to a Godson Stanley Hauerwas Eerdmans, 205 pages Reviewed by Don Johnson | February 6, 2019 Grandparenthood overwhelmed me and took my heart hostage. From November 2016 until August 2018 I had the unique privilege [...]
A Shadow of Hope
Whenever I hear Austin Channing Brown interviewed about her book I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, one of the first questions she is asked refers to the opening line of her book: “White people can be exhausting.” It’s more than just a provocative first line—it sets the tone of the book. It’s a signal to readers that Brown is not going to dance around the truth in this space.
Reclaiming the Trap
Let the Trap Say Amen is relevant yet also prophetic. It is deeply grounded in the sounds and struggles of contemporary culture, yet the words urge listeners to seek a hope beyond one’s present circumstances.
Seeing is Believing
The film The Polar Express is a fantastical tale of belief and doubt, wonder and rationality, confidence and timidity, of seeing with the eyes and searching with the heart.
The Hard Work of Gratitude
’Tis the season to give thanks. It’s the time of year when we ask each other, “What are you thankful for?” And studies indicate that 78 percent of Americans say they felt strongly grateful in the past week.
This I Know
Recently someone asked me, “Why don’t you preach more about the wrath of God?” It threw me off. Why don’t I preach more about the wrath of God?
Across the Divides
A caveat: I know and adore the authors of Impossible Love. I used to work with Craig and Médine Keener when we were all associated with Eastern University near Philadelphia. So if you’re looking for an objective, dispassionate review of this book, then mine will likely not do much for you.
Strength in Numbers
If you’ve participated in a leadership conference, team building event, or spiritual direction retreat in recent years, you’ve probably heard talk of the Enneagram. It’s a frequent topic among my friends and colleagues, both in casual conversation and in discussing our work in ministry.
Discovering God the Good, Good Father
Choose and Choose Again is a mosaic of personal stories collected by author and Covenant pastor J. Kevin Butcher, who founded Hope Community Church in Detroit, Michigan. The stories he shares (as well as his own testimony) display the complexities of people who live their lives as prisoners and prostitutes, as well as those who are lawyers and in business.