The Last Christian by David Gregory

What if the political push of tolerance eliminates Christianity from The United States? This is fact in David Gregory's novel, The Last Christian.

Abi Caldwell has lived in the jungle of New Guinea for her entire life. Something has wiped out the village her missionary family has served. This sends her to distant relatives in America.

Bryson Nichols has created the next step in human evolution: the silicon brain. Now all you have to do is upload your existence within computers and virtual reality.

Creighton Daniels teaches history and is dealing with the sudden unexpected death of his father.

Somehow these characters are connected and the twists will keep coming.

Abi is tasked with reintroducing Christianity to The United States. Someone doesn't want this to happen and will stop at nothing to see that this religion remains dead.

The Last Christian is an interesting "what-if" futuristic novel. This is a could-happen story with spiritual truth. The main truth is the foundation of the Christian faith. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? What does it mean that Jesus is the Life?

I enjoyed reading through this book however I was not pleased with the fatal detail at the very end of the book. I felt this was an unnecessary aspect. It just didn't need to happen.


This book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing.

Life in Defiance by Mary E. DeMuth

Author Mary DeMuth will take you over the edge with Life in Defiance, the final book in the epic Defiance Texas Trilogy.

What began with the kidnapping and murder of a little girl, comes to a conclusion with the identity of the killer revealed.

DeMuth has crafted characters with such depth, you'd think this was a true story.

Never before have I been so angry at characters written on a page.

DeMuth will have you so angry that you'll forget this is a fictional tale.

Daisy Chance was murdered. Daisy's mother, Emory was full of guilt and rage. Now with the finale, we get a view of Ouisie Pepper. Mother to Jed, Daisy's friend; and wife to Hap, an angry preacher.

Ouisie knows who killed Daisy and it's just one of the many secrets she keeps.

Her husband, Hap, preaches to a church on Sundays and then physically abuses Ouisie every other day.

When Ouisie begins reading a book on how to become a better wife, you're blood pressure will skyrocket with what she is "taught" through the book.

Won't anyone save Ouisie from a horrible home life in addition to herself?

Mary DeMuth, you are the author everyone must read!!



This book was provided for review by Zondervan Publishing.

Sherlock Holmes

The latest version of Sherlock Holmes has the typical British fast-speak with American action.

Robert Downey Jr stars and the logical, quick-tongued Holmes and Jude Law co-stars as the gambling-addict Dr Watson.

Downey and Law have some good chemistry with each other which is a lot better than the relationship between Holmes and Rachel McAdams as the pick-pocket Irene Adler. Didn't director Guy Ritchey remember her from Red Eye?

If you are a Sherlock Holmes purist, you will probably not enjoy this action-adventure version and should stick with the BBC productions.

This is not an origin story. The story picks up as if you should already know everything about the characters. If that's a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. Don't expect every character trait to be explained or every relationship's past to be explored.

Outside of how great an actor Downey is, I loved the foreshadowing to the sequel involving the greatest arch-nemesis. (If there will be a sequel)

Bottom line: a reboot/introduction of Holmes to a new era but not for those who read the books every year.

Speed Racer

Take a cartoon from the 60s, add The Wachowski brothers and you get Speed Racer.

Right off the bat, I think this movie got the reception it did because some people saw the Wachowski name and assumed they were getting an adult version of the classic cartoon.

It's rated PG for some language. Very mild stuff.

I also think this film didn't do so well because the bluescreen effects have been done too often (think 300 and Sky Captain) that it's lost the cool factor - if it ever had the cool factor.

The Racer family loves their Mach 5 car and the thrill of the race. Older brother Rex died in a horrible accident which left Speed to become great in his own way.

Once Speed wins a big race, the money-hungry Corporations come calling for him to join their team. Speed declines and it becomes a race for Speed and Racer X to overcome and defeat the evil CEOs.

Based on a Japanese cartoon, Speed Racer is a fun movie. Remember when you used to see movies because they were fun and you didn't have to worry about something looking realistic or how unbelievable?

Speed Racer stars Emile Hirsch as Speed, Susan Sarandon as his mom, Scott Porter as Rex, John Goodman has Pops, Christina Ricci as Trixi, and Matthew Fox as Racer X.

A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren

The first book of a trilogy written in the style of The Shack, McLaren introduces you to A New Kind of Christian.

Pastor Dan Poole has almost given up on the ministry. He is disillusioned and isn't even sure what he believes anymore. Upon taking his daughter to a homegrown rock concert, Pastor Poole meets Neil Oliver - a High School science teacher.

Dan and Neil begin a relationship that will cover faith, doubt, reason, mission, leadership and spiritual practice.

This relationship isn't without its barbs. Some readers may find themselves identifying with Dan as his foundation of spirituality is reconstructed in the postmodern world.

Have you given up on faith, God and the church?

If you've read The Shack and were impacted by it in a positive way, I believe you will gain much from reading the first book of McLaren's New Kind of Christian Trilogy.

Brain McLaren shares his views on a number of topics via the conversations between two fictional characters. It's amazing how a story can present ideas better than a lecture or even a non-fiction inspirational book.



This book was provided for review by Jossey-Bass Publishing.

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

Take the former CEO of Lenox and have God challenge him with the gospel and you'll end up with The Hole in Our Gospel.

Richard Stearns uses his personal adventure and growth to challenge the rest of us to do what God expects of us and change the world.

What does Christianity mean to you? Does it mean just going to a building on Sunday, reading parts of the Bible and maybe not being as bad as others?

We seem to be returning to this idea that there's more to having faith in Jesus than just learning about him. We seem to be going back to the idea of once you become a trusting follower of Jesus, you then make that trust evident. You do works.

And "works" is a very bad word in Evangelical circles. We follow the salvation by faith and not works. But we seem to forget that works is the appropriate response to that salvation.

There's a section of pictures that give faces to the stories you'll read in this book, there's a new section (in the paperback edition) full of Things You Can Do: practical ideas to help spread the good news of Jesus Christ - not just hand out the booklets, but actually do some good in the world.

And perhaps you'll get a stronger grasp of what a follower of Jesus looks like when you study the whole Bible as Stearns did.


This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Change Your Church for Good by Brad Powell

"You can create change without compromising truth" is the tag for the revised edition of Change Your Church for Good.

Brad Powell is the pastor of one of the fastest growing churches in the Midwest. The premise behind this book is from his own words:

"I believe the church is the hope of the world...when it's working right. And therein lies the problem. Most churches aren't."

Broken into 5 parts, Powell explains how the church is not working right at being the hope of the world. He was able to change the church he pastors without compromising the truth.

He believes the right leader has to be involve; and they need to invest in team building, develop a ministry charter and communicate it until you're blue in the face, and then communicate it some more.

Throughout the book, Powell shares some personal stories of how he dealt with being a pastor who led the church through transition. And it seems like whenever someone opposes him, they are always wrong and Powell is always correct. This attitude leads people to leave the church (which is best in the long run because more people are coming to the church) and allowed others to step in to leadership roles.

I couldn't get past the feeling that the author was very confident in his leadership skills almost to the point of arrogance. But I suppose if you're leading a church like the one he has, you will be pretty sure of yourself.

The basic plan is to be culturally relevant. Have your Sunday services imitate the culture around you and always be upbeat - never be somber. This is the key to change (in a nutshell)


This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing