Fight Like Jesus by Jason Porterfield

 This is the kind of book I loved to underline and sink my teeth into.

As a pastor, I have recently been inundated with requests that do not make sense to me: "Preach more on Trump", "Preach more on Biden", "Tell me who I should vote for", "Speak out against masks", "Speak out against anti-vaxers".

It gets to be too much. What happened to, "Preach about Jesus"?

So when this book came across my desk, I consumed it. Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace throughout Holy Week.

Porterfield takes us from Palm Sunday, through each day of the week up to and including Easter Sunday.

He uses historical context and biblical unpacking to help promote his theory on Jesus promoting peace in a city that was on the brink of violence.

This is what my heart and mind was looking for. The way he explains and expounds his points is such a comfort.

I appreciated how he used historical events to help explain why the crowd and individuals acted in the way they did. He shares why the palm branches were political symbolism and not just things people used in a parade. 

He shares why the priests and Pharisees were the way they were at that period of time.

But equally important, Porterfield takes those truths and insights and brings application for our circumstances in today's world.

The church should be about her Savior's business and His business was waging peace in a world at war.

This book was provided for review at no cost.

NIV Beautiful Word Bible

 I would imagine that this edition of the NIV Bible would be attractive to young ladies. The style and graphics of the cover along with the illustrations seem to fit.

The peel and stick Bible tabs are a nice addition and the added space for in-Bible journaling is a bonus. I'm not sure how anyone else feels about writing in the Bible but if you're comfortable doing that, you would enjoy using this for your study and jotting down thoughts.

The illustrations are vibrant and the text font is slightly bigger than expected but it isn't a large print Bible.

It's what you have come to expect from the NIV publication and would be a wonderful addition to your Scripture reading.

Posting Peace by Douglas Bursch

 Ladies and Gentlemen: this book is the kind of book my soul longs for!

Our society is consumed with Social Media and digital communication. How can a follower of Jesus pursue the Kingdom of God when we aren't communicating face-to-face?

Douglas Bursch provides an excellent overview of what is going on and why our social media feeds are filled with arguing and fighting and angry bursts of text. And then he outlines the path towards peace.

It's all about dehumanizing one another. The screen in front of us provides us an out in that we don't have to relate to one another the way we used to. There are so many feeds and statements being presented to us that the work it used to take to build and nurture relationships is gone.

Replaced in the notion that unless the person is feeding my own preference, I can end the relationship because it's only digital.

If you are a follower of Jesus and use Social Media or if you are just tired of reading all the negativity and arguing online, you need to read this book and put it into practice. 

We need to be peacemakers and, surprisingly, Bursch directs the reader to stop blocking/unfollowing/ghosting people we disagree with in the pursuit of peacemaking. 

It will be difficult but this is the journey Jesus has taken and calls us to take with Him.

Loving Your Community by Stephen Viars

 The subtitle, Proven practices for community-based outreach ministry is very apt. I found the practices inside this book to be practical. I enjoyed reading the ideas and how they recommend planning, starting up, and executing the many practices.

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Some of the examples are creating Biblical Counseling, using your facility for something else during the week, creating classes adults can take. These were all ideas I thought any church could dream about and actually begin.

It's later in the book where Stephen tackles some very large-scale projects that felt more in line with mega-churches or churches that teamed up with other local churches. We're talking about going in and restoring entire neighborhoods, building Community Centers, and starting Treatment Programs.

Again, we're given very practical ideas and applications. I have underlined and dogeared many pages in this book.

I look forward to discussing and dreaming with the leadership team about how we might implement some of these ideas.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by BakerBooks publishing

Star Trek: The Wisdom of Picard by Chip Carter

 This is a short book for fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation; specifically the character of Captain Picard.

Inside you will find photos from the many episodes and films from The Next Generation as well as the new Picard show.

Along with the photos are numerous quotes from the character about a number of different issues that came out in those episodes and films.

That's really all this is, a quote book from the character of Captain Picard.

So really, it's a testament to the writers of the character and then you can add to it your remembrance of actor Patrick Stewart delivering the lines.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Adams Media

Through the Kaleidoscope by Elizabeth Jeffries PhD

 Dr. Jeffries grew up in a charismatic, fundamentalist, evangelical church. Hers was a childhood of memorized Bible verses, youth groups, Halloween dramas on Heaven and Hell, and prophetic ministry.

As she went off to college, she discovered that the world was much bigger than the bubble she grew up in. She began to question some of the certainties she had heard as a kid. She discovered that some of the teachings she remembered just didn't make as much sense now that she was getting wider experiences.

Her penchant for discovery led her to a degree in cell biology and her world has bloomed outward since.

There were many aspects of Dr. Jeffries' life that I recognized. I too grew up in an evangelical church - however my experience was not as charismatic as hers. There were a number of examples that I couldn't not identify with nor agree with.

But that's not to say the evangelical church movement has caused great deal of pain to a number of people. In fact, there are too many aspects of the evangelical movement that I just don't recognize anymore.

With her exploration of cell biology, Dr. Jeffries discovers a new way to explain life and spirituality away from her fundamentalist upbringing.

I have to be honest; I found myself skipping large chunks of each chapter when she wrote about the details in her field of study. I understand that probably diminished my experience of the book, but each chapter followed the same formula: she would write about an experience with her church, then she would write about how amazingly complex our cells and its systems are, then she would tie in her new discoveries into her newfound spirituality and call it a kaleidoscope.

It seemed like, by the end of the book, Dr. Jeffries had embraced a kind of humanism mixed with reincarnation. But it wasn't quite clear to me.

It was encouraging to read of her reconciliation with her parents and that she was brave to sit down and discuss her evolution as she explores life.

Synapse by Steven James

I am a big fan of Steven James and his chess piece series. This book is similar to the structure of how James writes.

In Synapse, you will find a minister who has lost a child living in a world where artificial people are manufactured.

The book asks interesting questions about the future of artificial intelligence and gives readers a convincing "what if" kind of future.

Like his other books, James builds to a high-octane climax where you're racing to read the answers to the questions he's lay before you.

Unlike his other books, I didn't care about any of the characters. I didn't find myself invested in their journey.

But here's another observation about books by Steven James (at least recently): he tries to build instant emotional connection with his readers by involving some horrific or traumatic experience that involves children.

I'm not a fan of that type of overt manipulation (at least that's my interpretation).

Like I said, the book asks interesting questions that may very well be asked in our near future. But I don't think I'll be reading any more books from this series - if this is to be a series.

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