Shaped by the Gospel by Timothy Keller

Pastor Timothy Keller tackles some misconceptions about being a Gospel-centered church/minister and the disconnect with saying it and actually living it out in the church setting.

He spends some time unpacking what the Gospel of Jesus is and what Christians have claimed it to be and the differences as he sees it.

This was a very enjoyable read. I like how Keller can unpack an idea and then builds upon it in an articulate manner.

What I didn't enjoy was the alternative essays as a kind of response to what Keller had written. Then Keller responds to those essays.

I get that you provide alternate approaches and that may help flesh out your own understandings, but I was simply interested in reading Keller's thoughts. (Call me biased)

Enjoyable read that helped me solidify an understanding of what the Gospel ultimately is and what it actually isn't and how to flesh that out in ministry life.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Zondervan Publishing.

For Better or for Kids by Patrick and Ruth Schwenk

Loving your spouse with kids in the house.

A fun read with enjoyable personal anecdotes from the authors. These two offer advice to keep the marriage bonds strong while living the exhausting life of raising kids.

The advice given is practical and absolutely relateable. While not going too deep, they do provide some interesting insights, using Scripture, that I hadn't thought of.

For example, the passage used in weddings: "what God has joined together, let man not separate" is used in this book to include children. "let children not separate". How often do marriages feel the strain because the kids are quite demanding?

This isn't a bad thing as long as the two adults continually return to work on their relationship.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was a quick, fun read with very good words of encouragement, challenge, and insight.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Zondervan Publishing.