book reviews – OwenStrachan.com http://owenstrachan.com Serving Him, of course. Sun, 28 May 2017 19:13:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5 Great Books: Josh Moody’s “No Other Gospel” http://owenstrachan.com/2011/06/17/great-books-josh-moodys-no-other-gospel/ http://owenstrachan.com/2011/06/17/great-books-josh-moodys-no-other-gospel/#respond Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:32:21 +0000 http://owenstrachan.com/?p=35 joshmoodyWithout a doubt, one of the preachers I most look up to and learn from is Josh Moody of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois.  Josh is a humble man with an outsize résumé–BA from Cambridge, PhD from Cambridge (in none other than Jonathan Edwards), missionary to Georgia (the country, not the Dawgs) and Azerbaijan, husband to Rochelle and father of three adorable children.

If you are a looking for examples of the modern pastor-theologian, you should look directly and sustainedly at Dr. Moody’s ministry.  He reminds me of Jeffrey Epstein, the “Doctor,” due to the intelligence, crispness of expression, and soaring view of God found in his preaching.  College Church is a historic church (Kent Hughes formerly pastored it) and it just celebrated its 150th anniversary.  It is in the hands of a faithful expositor of God’s Word, one whose preaching reminds me of the speakers and leaders one finds in such organizations as Together for the Gospel and The Gospel Coalition.  If you have not listened to Josh’s sermons, do so immediately (and here’s his website).  Here’s what Josh says about his passion:

My passion is the gospel.  By that I don’t mean the cheap, cheesy, man-centered gospel that tells you that heaven can be won

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joshmoodyWithout a doubt, one of the preachers I most look up to and learn from is Josh Moody of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois.  Josh is a humble man with an outsize résumé–BA from Cambridge, PhD from Cambridge (in none other than Jonathan Edwards), missionary to Georgia (the country, not the Dawgs) and Azerbaijan, husband to Rochelle and father of three adorable children.

If you are a looking for examples of the modern pastor-theologian, you should look directly and sustainedly at Dr. Moody’s ministry.  He reminds me of Jeffrey Epstein, the “Doctor,” due to the intelligence, crispness of expression, and soaring view of God found in his preaching.  College Church is a historic church (Kent Hughes formerly pastored it) and it just celebrated its 150th anniversary.  It is in the hands of a faithful expositor of God’s Word, one whose preaching reminds me of the speakers and leaders one finds in such organizations as Together for the Gospel and The Gospel Coalition.  If you have not listened to Josh’s sermons, do so immediately (and here’s his website).  Here’s what Josh says about his passion:

My passion is the gospel.  By that I don’t mean the cheap, cheesy, man-centered gospel that tells you that heaven can be won

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Mike McKinley and the Wimps of Church Planting http://owenstrachan.com/2010/08/06/mike-mckinley-and-the-wimps-of-church-planting/ http://owenstrachan.com/2010/08/06/mike-mckinley-and-the-wimps-of-church-planting/#respond Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:19:08 +0000 http://owenstrachan.com/?p=10 mckinleyYou might have heard about Mike McKinley’s recent book on church planting: Church Planting Is for Wimps (Crossway, 2010).  If you haven’t, it’s a great read.

Mike is the senior pastor of Guilford Baptist Church in Sterling, Virginia.  In God’s grace, he oversaw the revitalization of the church.  Church Planting Is for Wimps is the story of how that all happened.  Though the book is ostensibly about church planting/revitalization, it is an encouraging account of church life and Christian ministry.  I don’t think you would need to be a pastor to enjoy it and profit from it.  Uplifting stories about God’s work through His local church can be hard to find–particularly doctrinally savvy ones–but this text is exciting, easy-to-read, and quite funny.

My favorite section of the text involved McKinley’s account of how his church, planted from Capitol Hill Baptist Church of Washington, DC, reached out to local Hispanics.  At one point, McKinley and his wife hosted a dinner for a number of folks from their diverse neighborhood.  One of them told the couple as he left the house that he had never been inside an American home except to work.  That was a stunning story, one that shows just how wide natural divides are–and how incredible the power of …

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mckinleyYou might have heard about Mike McKinley’s recent book on church planting: Church Planting Is for Wimps (Crossway, 2010).  If you haven’t, it’s a great read.

Mike is the senior pastor of Guilford Baptist Church in Sterling, Virginia.  In God’s grace, he oversaw the revitalization of the church.  Church Planting Is for Wimps is the story of how that all happened.  Though the book is ostensibly about church planting/revitalization, it is an encouraging account of church life and Christian ministry.  I don’t think you would need to be a pastor to enjoy it and profit from it.  Uplifting stories about God’s work through His local church can be hard to find–particularly doctrinally savvy ones–but this text is exciting, easy-to-read, and quite funny.

My favorite section of the text involved McKinley’s account of how his church, planted from Capitol Hill Baptist Church of Washington, DC, reached out to local Hispanics.  At one point, McKinley and his wife hosted a dinner for a number of folks from their diverse neighborhood.  One of them told the couple as he left the house that he had never been inside an American home except to work.  That was a stunning story, one that shows just how wide natural divides are–and how incredible the power of …

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