The Bishop by Steven James

Releasing books once a year is killer on the nerves. Especially if the books are part of a series. This is the case with Steven James' The Bishop book 4 of The Bowers Files.

It began with The Pawn, followed by The Rook and The Knight. In The Bishop, we catch up with FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers and his step-daughter Tessa.

They are dealing with strange emotions now that Tessa's biological father is suing for custody and Patrick is trying to juggle relationships with two women who always happen to end up working with him.

There has been a string of gruesome murders happening around Washington D.C. Bowers is on the case and, as is the case in D.C., the trail could lead clear to the Vice President's office.

In addition to crafting an excellent psychological thriller, James includes some deep thoughts on free will and the nature/nurture debate. You know the author is skilled when you find out you've learned something about yourself while solving crimes.

Steven James has placed himself above all other thriller writers with this series. The books are so large and all-encompassing that once you finish his work, you feel completely satisfied. The characters are fully formed and it feels like you could watch them in the theaters every week.

If we are to assume the titles will follow the chess pieces, with the next book titled, The Queen we may only have 2 books remaining in The Bowers Files.

Each time I reach the end of these books and discover whodunnit, I'm always caught by surprise. How can someone develop such profound, brain-twisting stories on a consistent basis?

Steven James is the leader of thrillers. You can learn more at www.stevenjames.net


This book was provided for review by Revell Publishing.

Authentic Communication by Tim Muehlhoff & Todd Lewis

Part of the Christian Worldview Integration series, Authentic Communication attempts to teach students of communication how to engage culture from a Christian worldview. (hence the series name)

Inside, you will find 2 parts: Understanding the Components of Communication and Applying Communication.

In the first part, you will learn about the power of human communication, how to engage the views of others, and the power of persuasion.

In part 2, you will learn about how communication deals with conflict, forgiveness and popular culture.

The major chapters deal with postmodern times. The authors detail how Christians can be counterpublics, without deepening the angry divide.

They finish up with a chapter on social justice.

All-in-all this book is meant for those in education. I think it's supposed to be required reading for those students of communication and not an average joe-reader.

This book was provided for review by IVP Publication.

Jungle Warfare: A Basic Field Manual for Christians in Sales by Christopher Cunningham

Jungle Warfare Was given to me from Thomas Nelson for their blog section. Chris Cunningham is a sales professional and has worked at the vice presidential level in sports and entertainment marketing.

He has combined his sales experience with his grandfather's military field manual to create a 22-day devotional book. It is only 207 pages, so don't expect a large novel.

Cunningham begins each day with a blurb from an old military field manual, continues with a Bible verse and then offers a couple pages of commentary dealing with Sales and Christianity. He closes with a written prayer and a section to add your thoughts.

I had no problem reading this devotional until I got to Day 11. In the commentary section, Cunningham writes, "Even before time was recorded, God created Jesus Christ and had a no-fail plan to share Him and His life-giving sacrifice with us at a perfect time in history."

Did you catch that? God created Jesus Christ?!?!

I wrote Chris because he offers his e-mail at the back of the book for questions. Look through the comments below to read his reply.

With the exception of that slip, this is a fine book to give as a gift to your friend who is in sales.


This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Letters to God by Patrick Doughtie & John Perry

What do you get when you read a book based on a movie? Letters to God was written as a companion for the Major Motion Picture which opened at #10 in the Box Office.

Based on the true story of author Patrick Doughtie's son, Tyler is an 8 year old battling cancer. He prayers to God in the form of letters and then sends in the mailbox.

Brady McDaniels is the postman who discovers the letters and is used by God to deliver them to people who need them most.

It's difficult to write anything critical about a story based on truth. (particularly as this was written by the boy's father who lost his home and job as a result of what it took to care for Tyler)

Parts have been fictionalized and can be considered religious fluff - lots of "sermons" about talking to God and the cliche of having people turn from God only to put their trust in Him.

It is a sad book so I don't recommend reading it if you don't like crying while you read.


This book was provided for review by Zondervan Publishing.

The Last Operative by Jerry Jenkins

Jerry Jenkins, #1 New York Times best-selling co-author of The Left Behind series has re-released his first stand alone novel, The Last Operative.

Jordan Kirkwood is an intelligence operative with the NSA. The story opens with Kirkwood getting information that could threaten to bring The United States to her knees. MIG fighter jets are somewhere on American soil with nefarious plans.

When Kirkwood's wife is murdered in front of him, he becomes a man on a mission to discover who wants him dead and who is supplying the terrorists bent on America's destruction.

To make matters worse, Kirkwood cannot trust anyone; even those within the NSA are suspects.

This is typical Jenkins writing. The characters are easy to connect with and the writing is really easy on the eyes. The plot is a little watered down when compared to stories by Steven James: the twists just aren't as punchy.

But I would recommend this book if you needed a quick beach-read for the end of the summer.



This book was provided for review by Tyndale Publishing.

Disturbing Divine Behavior by Eric Seibert

If you are prepared to stretch your theology and beliefs of God and the Old Testament, I would recommend reading Disturbing Divine Behavior by Eric Seibert.

Dr Seibert is an Associate Professor at Messiah College. He is very much a pacifist and believes that Jesus Christ is the fullest representation of the moral character of God.

We're all in agreement so far right?

Seibert has difficulty with the God portrayed in the Old Testament; specifically the violent words and actions that come from God.

Think of the world-wide flood, the destruction and plagues of Egypt, the violent conquest of Canaan by Joshua. These portrayals do not reflect the God that Jesus represents according to Seibert.

So how do we resolve this problem?

Seibert proposes that we look at the Old Testament stories as not factual historical documents. He believes that the writers of these stories had an agenda to tell, not historical truth, but stories to apply in their current situation.

For example, he believes the story of David was written during the time when the families of Saul and David were competing for the throne and the author wanted to use history to prove that David was good and Saul was bad.

He touches very briefly on the death of Jesus and if it was all in God's plan for Jesus to come to die. We're talking seriously adjusting the atonement theory here. So I won't touch that in this review.

This is a very controversial book with wild ideas. But that's what makes it such a great read. Seibert writes in a way that is very easy to read. You won't be discouraged by big theological words or ideas.

While I may not agree with everything in this book, I do agree that it is a resource that needs to be read and thought about.


This book was provided for review by Fortress Press.

Transformational Church by Ed Stetzer & Thom Rainer

The author of Simple Church has returned with a kind of follow up in Transformational Church

Thom Rainer has been conducting church surveys for a number of years. They aren't interested in created the outcome, they want to find churches that are transforming lives and share how they are doing the work.

This is not a book for cookie-cutter ministry. In fact, the authors state that every church that was deemed "Transformational" did ministry different. So you shouldn't read this book intending to copy the successes of the named ministries.

With the decline in Christianity in America, Rainer and Stetzer wanted to provide hope that our churches can still be agents of Christ. They begin with a chapter on that hope.

Then they discuss the idea of changing how we measure healthy, successful churches. No longer should we just count the number of people in the pews and baptisms. How do you measure life change?

Churches should have a missionary mentality, vibrant leadership, intentional relationships and prayerful dependence.

You will find a breath of fresh grace in these pages. You will find encouragement and, hopefully, will give you a jump-start to impacting your community.

I don't know if Rainer can write a lacking book.


This book was provided for review by B&H Books.

Monsters vs Aliens

Continuing the kids-friendly video borrowing, I recently saw Monsters vs Aliens.

This is a terrific movie. It was a great counter to the failure that was Where the Wild Things Are.

There is a secret government group comprised of monsters. These monsters are released to combat an alien bent on the earth's enslavement.

While this was released in 3D, I was unable to see it in that format.

The voices are provided by: Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Colbert and many others.

Casting Colbert as the President was genius. He steals the show. Every single line is laugh out loud. My particular favorite has to do with "Code Brown" because he has to change his pants.

Dreamworks has been trying to steal some of the thunder from Pixar for years. This film is great for the entire family to watch and not have to worry about subtle, inappropriate humor.

Rent this tonight!

Where the Wild Things Are

Who hasn't heard of the book, Where the Wild Things Are? If you're one of the blessed to have read it and have not seen the film, save yourself the heartache and avoid the DVD.

I don't know what happened in the transfer, if Spike Jones (the director) was attempting to make a kid's book into an independent film and failed miserably or if he was trying to make a children's film and failed miserably.

When you look at the voices for the creatures, you'd think this would be a winner. We had: Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Paul Dano and Catherine O'Hara. Big-time actors. However, this interpretation left me feeling, "I just wasted 101 minutes on this travesty."

Max lives with his mom and sister. And feels like nobody cares about him. It's the typical growing up cliche. After biting his mom on the shoulder, Max runs away from home, jumps in a boat and ends up in a new land filled with monsters.

These monsters behave like him and he proclaims himself "king". The monsters follow his commands as they construct a fort, have mud clod wars and howl into the sky.

But then conflicts arise and Max realizes you can't stay a kid forever.

Stick with the book and avoid this film.

New Moon

Because I'm not a teenage girl, I didn't see New Moon in theaters, but because I'm a sucker, I borrowed it from the library on DVD.

I have read 3 of the 4 books in this Twilight saga but that was a long time ago. The movies are fairly faithful to the books even to a fault - the actors and actresses are atrocious.

Kristen Stewart plays the vampire-loving-accident-prone-Juliet-channeling Bella. My hope would be that her character is the result of how she portrays the person of Bella but if not, the performance of every actor in these films are gut-wrenching.

Robert Pattinson returns as Edward. He's the vampire who loves to torment Bella by being so close to her yet going away for 2/3rds of this movie because he doesn't want to hurt her.

Taylor Lautner is the best of the three here with his acting ability. But even his chance to shine stumbles over the script. Lautner plays Jacob - who we find turns into a werewolf. And, surprise surprise, they are the mortal enemies of vampires. AND - Both Jacob and Edward are in love with Bella.

And Bella loves them both.

I cannot believe these make as much money as they do. I think, at this point, it's just the fact that it's Twilight. If they were to make the next 2 movies with just the characters standing around staring at each other, the audience would shell out the millions.

Complete garbage.

Laser Mission

I was given the Classic Features: 50 Movies Sci-Fi for Father's Day and The following are the reviews from films included in the collection.

For those who know of the film, The Crow, this movie may be one you need to see. Laser Mission stars Brandon Lee.

Professor Braun is kidnapped by Soviet agents and forced to work on a laser weapon that could be used to enslave the world. It's up to Brandon Lee and Braun's daughter to conduct the rescue.

It's rated R but I had a hard time figuring out why. The movie is seriously bad.

Gamera the Invincible

I was given the Classic Features: 50 Movies Sci-Fi for Father's Day and The following are the reviews from films included in the collection.

Gamera the Invincible is like Godzilla except, he's a turtle whose legs turn into rockets. The silliness of Japanese monster flicks reach an all-time high with Gamera.

A Soviet bomber, carrying an atomic bomb is gunned down over the Arctic. The prehistoric turtle, Gamera, is awakened and heads to Tokyo for some ultimate destruction.

In future films, Gamera becomes the defender of children. If you can't get your fix of Godzilla-type movies, check out Gamera.

Jesus Manifesto by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola

Is your pastor preaching on finances? Does he spend 6 weeks on the workplace? Is your church concerned with how to better your life? Sweet and Viola would say that your church is missing the point.

In Jesus Manifesto they explain that the church has moved away from their first love. Many in the church have heard that term before - first love. This refers to our relationship with Jesus Christ. Like the Colossians, some churches are more interested in becoming self-help groups (Which is actually an oxymoron) instead of proclaiming Christ to the world and surrendering our life to the Life of Christ.

Things get a little confusing throughout this book as you read some of the chapters that seem to speak in endless circles. Maybe it's because I don't quite see the problem this book is trying to address.

They believe if you are to preach on topics other than Jesus, you must focus the topic on Christ.

I guess I've always experienced sermons like this.

I'm assuming this book takes a swipe at the Emerging Church and their social justice push. These churches are wisely wanting to be the hands of God, but the forget to bring Him along.

With most of Sweet's books, this is a great read.


This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Horrors of Spider Island

I was given the Classic Features: 50 Movies Sci-Fi for Father's Day and The following are the reviews from films included in the collection.

Horrors of Spider Island tells the story of a group of female dancers who crash land on a South Pacific island. There they find the remains of a mad scientist.

Their manager gets bitten by a spider that transforms him into a spider-like man-beast who stalks the women one-by-one.

It's funny to watch the ladies run around the island with the awful overdubbing of their voices.

Plus the infamous catfight is a scene stealer.

She Gods of Shark Reef

I was given the Classic Features: 50 Movies Sci-Fi for Father's Day and The following are the reviews from films included in the collection.

She Gods of Shark Reef was very proud to have been filmed in Hawaii. An escaped prisoner and his brother become shipwrecked on an island filled with women. These women pearl dive and then sell the gems to passerby sailors.

One girl is selected to be sacrificed to the shark gods. Because she happens to be the girl whom the brother loves, a rescue attempt is a must.

Here's a clip from the film, you can watch the entire film on youtube.

The Incredible Petrified World

I was given the Classic Features: 50 Movies Sci-Fi for Father's Day and The following are the reviews from films included in the collection.

The Incredible Petrified World tells the story of a crew diving deep under the water inside a diving bell. The first explorers go missing. The second team encounter a labyrinth of underwater caverns and a survivor from a shipwreck who tells them that there is no escape.

Starring: John Carradine as the professor Millard Wyman, this film was in black and white and actually had a good story going until that survivor showed up. Then things really got silly.

It appeared as if they tried to recreate The Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Here is the trailer: