Whether your summer involves a trip to the beach, tiring your kids out at the neighborhood pool, or nights spent on your back porch enjoying the fireflies, chances are you will be cracking a book or two open in the next couple of months. Here is a comprehensive list of book recommendations from our staff. 

We hope you enjoy these books as much as we have!

1. The Heart of Evangelism

by Jerram Barrs

As Christians, we are called to evangelism but it doesn't necessarily come easily to most. Jerram Barrs demonstrates a variety of approaches used in the New Testament for sharing the Gospel with others. This book will both make you comfortable with witnessing and make you understand the privilege of living with a heart for evangelism.

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2. Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices

by Thomas Brooks

This book is a Puritan classic on the influence and power of Satan. Thomas Brooks wrote that his reason for writing this book was because "Satan hath a greater influence upon men, and higher advantages over them than they think he hath, and the knowledge of his high advantage is the highway to disappoint him, and to render the soul strong in resisting, and happy in conquering."

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3. Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

by Tish Harrison Warren

Do you seek God's presence during your typical daily tasks? In this book, Tish Warren reveals the practical theology of the everyday. She relates menial activities like making your bed or brushing your teeth to a spiritual practice and an aspect of our Sunday worship services.

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4. Work: It's Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation

by Daniel Doriani

How does my work fit within my efforts to live a life that honors God? This book seeks to answer this question and more by exploring the Bible's teaching on work. No matter what type of work you do, you are constantly presented with the opportunity to love your neighbor and serve God.

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5. The Return of the Prodigal Son

by Henri Nouwen

Henri Nouwen encounters a reproduction of Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son painting. This leads him to reflect on the painting, the classic Bible parable, and how both compare to his own life journey. This deeply personal meditation leads readers to ask themselves the question "Where has my struggle led me?".

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6. Restoration Story: Why Jesus Matters In A Broken World

by Robert Cheong

We all have our own stories that have been shaped by our life experiences. Robert Cheong helps readers examine their story and learn how to retell their story based on God's character and actions. At the intersection of God's story and your own story, you will learn that God's love sustains, guides, and comforts you.

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7. It Began on Washington Street: Tracing the Goodness of God Through All of Life

by Kristen Couch

In Kristen Couch's memoir, she shares her life's stories within the framework of Scripture. She demonstrates how God combines our joyful moments, painful moments, and even mundane moments with a good and holy purpose. God uses each of these moments for good as we trust him.

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8. It's Not Fair: Learning to Love the Life You Didn't Choose

by Melanie Dale

This book is like having a cup of coffee with a good friend. Melanie Dale is so real about her struggles with infertility, depression, and chronic pain and how these struggles have stretched her faith. If you are dealing with a hardship and you aren't sure how to possibly cope, Melaine's empathy and humor will be comforting.

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9. Becoming Elisabeth Elliot

by Ellen Vaughn

Elisabeth Elliot was a young missionary in Ecuador when the unimaginable happened. An Amazonian tribe killed her husband Jim and four other missionaries. She courageously took her toddler daughter to live in the jungle with the tribe who killed her husband. In this biography, Ellen Vaughn tells the stories of Elisabeth's adventures and how God used them to yield one of the most influential women in modern church history.

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