Recommended Reading

Here is a partial list of recommended reading on a variety of topics to help you grow as a disciple who makes disciples.

Devotional Life

The Prodigal God

Tim Keller
Taking his trademark intellectual approach to understanding Christianity, Timothy Keller uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable.

Desiring God

John Piper
Satisfaction…Happiness…Joy. According to John Piper, the pursuit of pleasure in God is not only permissible, it’s essential.

Knowing God

J.I. Packer
For over 40 years, J. I. Packer's classic has been an important tool to help Christians around the world discover the wonder, the glory and the joy of knowing God.

The Knowledge of the Holy

A.W. Tozer
This classic of Christian testimony and devotion explores the attributes of God...strengthening and deepening the spiritual life.

Personal Growth

The Gospel-Centered Life

Bob Thune
This nine-lesson small group study will help participants understand how the gospel shapes every aspect of life. Each lesson is self-contained, featuring clear teaching from Scripture, and requires no extra work outside of the group setting.

You Can Change

Tim Chester
It's about heart change, not behavior change. That's the conviction of Tim Chester as he seeks to help everyday Christians "connect the truth about God with our Monday-morning struggles." 

Experiencing God

Henry Blackaby
Through examination of biblical and contemporary illustrations, participants will understand and apply seven realities of experiencing God and churches will learn how to experience God as a church.

Radical

David Platt
In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple--then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. 

Spiritual Disciplines

Knowing Scripture

R.C. Sproul
In this expanded edition of Knowing Scripture, R. C. Sproul helps us dig out the meaning of Scripture for ourselves... He presents in simple, basic terms a commonsense approach to studying Scripture and gives eleven practical guidelines for biblical interpretation and applying what we learn.

Living by the Book

Howard Hendricks
In a simple, step-by-step fashion, the authors explain how to glean truth from Scripture. It is practical, readable, and applicable. By following its easy-to-apply principles, you'll soon find yourself drawing great nourishment from the Word—and enjoying the process! 

Praying the Bible

Donald Whitney
Offering readers hope, encouragement, and the practical advice they’re looking for, this concise book by professor Donald Whitney outlines a simple, time-tested method that can help transform our prayer lives: praying the words of the Bible.

Moving Mountains

John Eldredge
Moving Mountains shows you how to experience the power of daily prayer, learn the major types of prayers—including those of intervention, consecration, warfare, and healing—and to discover the intimacy of the cry of the heart prayer, listening prayer, and praying Scripture.

Discipleship

The Master Plan of Evangelism

Robert E. Coleman
For more than forty years this classic study has shown Christians how to minister to the people God brings into their lives. Instead of drawing on the latest popular fad or the newest selling technique, Dr. Robert E. Coleman looks to the Bible to find the answer to the question: What was Christ's strategy for evangelism?

Organic Discipleship

McCallum & Lowery
Two leading disciple makers explain how they mentor disciples in one of the most successful discipleship-based churches in North America. Biblical and practical, this book gets down to the real questions in the disciple making process.

Real-Life Discipleship

Jim Putman
Real-Life Discipleship explains what should happen in the life of every Christian and in every small group so that the church becomes an army of believers dedicated to seeing the world saved. 

The Cost of Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Cost of Discipleship is a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty.

Evangelism

The Art of Neighboring

Pathak & Runyon
What if Jesus meant that we should love our actual neighbors? When Jesus was asked to sum up everything into one command, he said to love God with everything we have and to love our neighbors as ourselves. What would happen if every follower of Jesus took the Great Commandment literally? 

Gospel Fluency

Jeff Vanderstelt
Even if they want to, many Christians find it hard to talk to others about Jesus. Is it possible this difficulty is because we're trying to speak a language we haven't actually spent time practicing?

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

Mark Dever
Evangelism is not only largely misunderstood, it is often all but neglected among Christians today. Many want to share the gospel with others, but feel intimidated and incapable of doing so. Yet God has given us answers in the Bible that instruct and equip us to share the good news with others.

Becoming a Contagious Christians

Hybels & Mittelberg
You will discover your own natural evangelism style, how to develop a contagious Christian character, to build spiritually strategic relationships, to direct conversations toward matters of faith, and to share biblical truths in everyday language.

Go Global

Let The Nations Be Glad!

John Piper
Let the Nations Be Glad! has become a modern missions classic. A trusted resource for thousands of missionaries, pastors, church leaders, and laypeople, it provides a biblical basis for missions and worship. This third edition has been expanded to include timely new material on the prosperity gospel.

Simply Good News

N.T. Wright
The bishop, Bible scholar, modern heir to C. S. Lewis, and revered author of Simply Christian and Simply Jesus offers a fresh look at the Gospel, explaining why Jesus’ message is “good news” and why it is more timely and transforming today than we know.

Miraculous Movements

Jerry Trousdale
How do the people most resistant to the transformative power of the gospel come to be its most devoted followers? Miraculous Movement recounts an amazing change taking place within Muslim communities where the truth of Jesus Christ is turning around the lives of many thousands of Muslims from more than twenty people groups. Discover through the sometimes humorous, often sobering, but always enlightening and encouraging true stories how imams, sheikhs, and entire mosques are forsaking Islam and embracing Christ.

A Wind In The House Of Islam

David Garrison
Dr. David Garrison's long-awaited global survey of Muslim movements to Christ reveals that we are in the midst of the greatest turning of Muslims to Christ in history. David Garrison, PhD University of Chicago, traveled a quarter-million miles throughout the Muslim world investigating movements, each one with at least a thousand baptisms that have occurred over a two-decade period, some containing tens of thousands of Muslims who are now followers of Jesus Christ.

Apologetics

Mere Christianity

C.S. Lewis
One of the most popular introductions to Christian faith ever written. Rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity's many de-nominations, Lewis provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to hear a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith.

The Reason for God

Timothy Keller
Using literature, philosophy, real-life conversations, and potent reasoning, Keller explains how the belief in a Christian God is, in fact, a sound and rational one.

More Than a Carpenter

Josh & Sean McDowell
Skeptic Josh McDowell thought Christians were out of their minds. He ridiculed and insulted them, then decided to combat them with his own thorough research to disprove the claims of Jesus Christ. To his surprise, he discovered that the evidence suggested exactly the opposite-that Jesus, instead of being simply a first-century Hebrew carpenter, truly was the God he claimed to be.

Reasonable Faith

William Lane Craig
As Craig says, "If you have a sound and persuasive case for Christianity, you don't have to become an expert in comparative religions and Christian cults. A positive justification of the Christian faith automatically overwhelms all competing world views lacking an equally strong case."

Leadership Development

Spiritual Leadership

J. Oswald Sanders
The need for talented, vigorous leaders in the church cannot be overemphasized. Such times demand active service of men and women who are guided by and devoted to Jesus Christ.

5 Levels of Leadership

John C. Maxwell
Through humor, in-depth insight, and examples, internationally recognized leadership expert John C. Maxwell describes each of these stages of leadership. He shows you how to master each level and rise up to the next to become a more influential, respected, and successful leader.

Good to Great

Jim Collins
For over 40 years, J. I. Packer's classic has been an important tool to help Christians around the world discover the wonder, the glory and the joy of knowing God.

The Conviction to Lead

Albert Mohler
Cultures and organizations do not change without strong leadership. While many leadership books focus on management or
administration, the central focus of The Conviction to Lead is on changing minds.

Marriage

The 5 Love Languages

Gary Chapman
Whether your relationship is flourishing or failing, Dr. Gary Chapman’s proven approach to showing and receiving love will help you experience deeper and richer levels of intimacy with your partner—starting today.

This Momentary Marriage

John Piper
This Momentary Marriage unpacks the biblical vision, its unexpected contours, and its weighty implications for married, single, divorced, and remarried alike.

What Did You Expect?

Paul David Tripp
Everyone’s marriage morphs into something they didn’t intend it to be. At some point you need something sturdier than romance. You need something deeper than shared interests and mutual attraction. You need changed expectations, you need radical commitments, and, most importantly, you need grace.

The Meaning of Marriage

Timothy Keller
The Meaning of Marriage offers instruction on how to have a successful marriage, and is essential reading for anyone who wants to know God and love more deeply in this life.

Parenting

Shepherding a Child's Heart

Tedd Tripp
Written for parents with children of any age, this insightful book provides perspectives and procedures for shepherding your child's heart into the paths of life. Shepherding a Child's Heart gives fresh biblical approaches to child rearing.

Give Them Grace

Elyse Fitzpatrick
Give Them Grace is a revolutionary perspective on parenting that shows us how to receive the gospel afresh and give grace in abundance, helping our children know the dazzling love of Jesus and respond with heartfelt obedience.

Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles

Paul David Tripp
In this life-giving book, Paul Tripp offers parents much more than a to-do list. Instead, he presents us with a big-picture view of God’s plan for us as parents.

Grace Based Parenting

Tim Kimmel
Rejecting rigid rules and checklists that don't work, Dr. Kimmel recommends a parenting style that mirrors God's love, reflects His forgiveness, and displaces fear as a motivator for behavior. As we embrace the grace God offers, we begin to give it-creating a solid foundation for growing morally strong and spiritually motivated children.

Self Leadership

Crazy Busy

Kevin DeYoung
Kevin DeYoung addresses the busyness problem head on in his newest book, Crazy Busy — and not with the typical arsenal of time management tips, but rather with the biblical tools we need to get to the source of the issue and pull the problem out by the roots.

Essentialism

Greg McKeown
Essentialism is not one more thing—it’s a whole new way of doing everything. It’s about doing less, but better, in every area of our lives. Essentialism is a movement whose time has come.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Stephen R. Covey
With penetrating insights and practical anecdotes, Stephen R. Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity—principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

What's Best Next

Matt Perman
Productivity isn't just about getting more things done. It's about getting the right things done--the things that count, make a difference, and move the world forward. 

Dealing With Conflict

The Peacemaker

Ken Sande
In The Peacemaker, Ken Sande presents a comprehensive and practical theology for conflict resolution designed to bring about not only a cease-fire but also unity and harmony.

Boundaries

Cloud & Townsend
In the New York Times bestseller, Boundaries, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend help you learn when to say yes and know how to say no in order to take control of your life and set healthy, biblical boundaries with your spouse, children, friends, parents, co-workers, and even yourself.

When People Are Big and God is Small

Edward T. Welch
Overly concerned about what people think of you? Welch uncovers the spiritual dimension of people-pleasing and points the way through a true knowledge of God, ourselves, and others.

Unpacking Forgiveness

Chris Brauns
This book goes beyond a feel-good doctrine of automatic forgiveness, balancing the beauty of God's grace and the necessity of forgiveness with the teaching that forgiveness must take place in a way that is consistent with justice.

Theology

Systematic Theology

Wayne Grudem
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem has been thoroughly revised and expanded for the first time while retaining the features that have made it the standard in its field: clear explanations, an emphasis on each doctrine's scriptural basis, and practical applications to daily life.

Christian Theology

Millard Erickson
This influential textbook, now substantially updated and revised throughout, offers a comprehensive introduction to theology that is biblical, contemporary, moderate, and fair to various positions. 

Doctrine

Gregory T. Maine
Introduction to Biblical doctrine, written by a molecular biologist and staff member at Faith Church, is the author’s journey through the Scriptures describing what he has learned about God over the past 40 years, both as a scientist and as a Christian.  It is a free download from the author’s website.

Concise Theology

J.I. Packer
Theology matters! At last it can be understood easily, thanks to this “layman's language” approach to biblical belief... Thoughtfully arranged and refreshingly readable, this is a book that belongs on the shelf of every Christian.

Christian Classics

The Pilgrim's Progress

John Bunyan
With a gallery of memorable characters and visits to colorful places, Bunyan’s allegorical narrative describes one man's extraordinary adventure on his journey to faith.

The Religious Affections

Jonathan Edwards
In one of the unsurpassed religious masterpieces produced by an American writer, Jonathan Edwards distinguishes between true and false religion by defining a believer's correct affections and explaining their importance.

The Confessions

Saint Augustine
The Confessions of Saint Augustine is considered one of the greatest Christian classics of all time. It is an extended poetic, passionate, intimate prayer that Augustine wrote as an autobiography sometime after his conversion, to confess his sins and proclaim God's goodness.

The Imitation of Christ

Thomas a' Kempis
This classic of Christian devotional literature has brought understanding and comfort to millions for centuries. Both Protestants and Catholics — as well as mystics and historians of religious thought — have studied these meditations on the life and teachings of Jesus, finding in them a path to prayer and spiritual guidance.