"Going Deep" by Gordon MacDonald

My hopes for this book were fairly high, even though this is the first Gordon MacDonald book that I've read. And, to be fair, it wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't a terribly good book, either. Before I get too far, here's the main plot: a pastor is praying for a "great idea" to train future leaders and to grow some influential Christians in the church. The end result is "CDP: Cultivating Deep People." A few people from the church are selected to be a part of the CDP group, and they spend a year of discipleship with the pastor and his wife (meeting every Monday night for 40 weeks). The book follows the formulating of the plan and the first CDP group's experience.
Let me start with my criticisms so we can end on a positive note. To begin with, there were times when the conversations in the book seemed a little shallow and.... well, "cheesy" is about the best way to say it. This is merely a personal opinion and reflects my assessment of the author's writing style, so others may disagree. My second criticism involves the time frame. The book covers two years in 383 pages. Obviously, there are some pretty big gaps and jumps in time.
Third, and I hate to say this, but the characters seemed a little wooden (except for the pastor and his wife, Gordon and Gail MacDonald!). The characters are what either makes or breaks a book for me. This book was lacking in the character department.
Fourth...it was just too good to be true. There were no major conflicts (there were a couple of weak crisis points, but they were resolved). It's very hard to remain interested in a book with no climax. If you aren't building up to something, then you have the feeling that it's downhill all the way.
Fifth - and this was the biggie for me - you will read the words "CDP", "great idea", "this thing", or "deep" on average about 5 times on each page FOR ALMOST THE WHOLE BOOK. It got pretty annoying. I guess it was a necessary thing to do, but it made the book very monotonous to me.
Okay, now I can say some good things about the book! Any pastor would love to have an experience like this in his own church. I truly pray that our church will have disciples that are on fire like these disciples were.
Probably the best thing about the book was the information about Jesus as a Rabbi (from a Jewish perspective). It really opened my eyes to what Jesus was trying to accomplish with the 12 disciples. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to research how ancient Jewish rabbis selected and trained their followers. It will change the way you look at Jesus.
The "great idea" that Pastor Mac had in the book isn't a NEW idea at all. It's what Christians should have been doing for 2,000 years. But I'm glad there are 21st century pastors putting new emphasis on the Great Commission: "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19) We need more disciples of Christ. In all, I'd probably give the book 2 out of 5 stars.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson publishers as part of the BookSneeze bloggers program. I was not required to make a positive review, and the opinions expressed are my own.

"Reasons We Believe: 50 Lines of Evidence that Confirm the Christian Faith" by Nathan Busenitz - Kindle Edition

This short book is a perfect starting point for those who have an interest in Christian apologetics, but do not know where to begin. The author has done some thorough research, and the footnotes will provide the reader with many other fine resources for further study and reading.
I applaud Nathan Busenitz for producing a book that has all of the scholarly work presented in an easily-comprehended manner. Even Christians who do not consider themselves "readers" will find this book to be helpful.
The author states that the book can be read straight through (which I did) or used as a topical reference. There are disadvantages and advantages to both approaches. First, the disadvantage to reading it straight through is that many of the items are repetitive. Some of the same verses and facts are used to back different arguments, so you will read them many times.
In my opinion, the disadvantage to reading it topically is that some of the evidences do not hold so powerfully when they are taken by themselves. For instance, one evidence for Christianity is the lives of the many people who have been changed by the Gospel. While this is true, it is not necessarily important evidence in the search for truth - because an atheist could claim that his or her life was changed when he or she denied the existence of God; or a buddhist could claim the same thing, etc. Therefore, a budding apologist may think this a powerful argument if he just read this chapter individually. However, if one were to debate this line of evidence with an intellectual atheist, one would quickly be silenced and confounded.
The greatest advantage to reading the book straight through is to see the CUMULATIVE evidence for Christianity. When approached this way, all of the evidence mounts up to form an impenetrable wall of facts that the atheist, agnostic, or antagonist may beat their head against but never beat down.
It is always encouraging to see that the Christian faith is built upon fact. That is one good reason for all Christians to study apologetics.
5 out of 5 stars!
Many thanks to Bro. Paul Lowe for loaning me this Kindle edition!

"Certain Jeopardy" by Jeff Struecker and Alton Gansky

This book delivers on so many levels - I was floored. The action was great, but the depth of the characters made the book exciting. The story is fairly simple: the U.S. sends a team of elite soldiers to do some reconnaissance in Venezuela. "They" believe that a terrorist group is training extremists there... In actuality, the Venezuelans have captured an American nuclear scientist and want to trade him to the terrorists to help them develop WMDs. The Special Ops team may have to kill the scientist to prevent his knowledge from being used by the wrong people. This creates quite a dilemma for a certain member of the Special Ops team who happens to be a strong Christian - and he is already reeling from the death of an innocent person at the hands of his team.

To put it bluntly, no non-Christian author can write this story because it deals with themes that are uniquely Christian (such as the scenario described above). When you have talented writers with real-life experience in the subject matter, who write for a bigger purpose than just to astound the readers with explosions and action, you cannot go wrong.

I was pleasantly surprised by the over-arching Christian elements to the story. There was at least one scene in the book where the Gospel was clearly presented - and the Christians in the story (with one back-slidden exception) wear the name of Christ well.

But, seriously, the most amazing thing about the book was the way that I immediately had a heart-connection with the characters. They felt like real people going through real problems and displaying real emotion. (Not all of the conflict happens with guns and gadgets... there are other problems - family problems, health problems, etc). I read a lot of books, and let me tell you that few authors have the ability to make characters this real.

In short, I cannot WAIT to start reading "Blaze of Glory"! Struecker and Gansky have made a fan out of me in a BIG way.

A rock-solid 10 out of 10 stars!

"The Knight" by Steven James

Okay, at this point I think it's safe to say that Steven James hasn't learned how to write a bad book. "The Knight" picks up nicely right where "The Rook" left off. In this book, Patrick Bowers deals with some new problems - family problems. He also is faced with evidence that seems to indicate someone very dear to him is the killer he's after.

There were a few minor criticisms. The identity of the killer was unexpected - but at the same time it was very similar to a previous Patrick Bowers story (I won't tell you which one). Also, again dealing with serial killers, there are some scenes in which violence is described. But it comes with the subject matter.

I love the references to Poe and other works of literature, as well as the "side-issues" that enter the books - usually in dialogue between Patrick and his step-daughter. In fact, the character of Tessa becomes even MORE complex in this book (if possible), but she is a fascinating person to read.

I still believe "The Pawn" is my favorite so far, but this story easily holds its own in the series.

I'd give it a solid 5 out of 5 stars.

"Unveiling the End Times in Our Time" by Adrian Rogers (Kindle Edition)

Adrian Rogers is a man I deeply respect. His Bible teaching was always incredibly clear, and his writing was just as good as his preaching. He had a marvelous preaching voice. He had such a winsome demeanor and a contagious glow about him.
This book is really a commentary on the book of Revelation, but not so much a verse-by-verse as it is a paragraph-by-paragraph. Throughout the entire work, the glory and superiority of Jesus is proclaimed. Due to the nature of the structure of Revelation, Bro. Rogers' book was necessarily repetitive concerning certain ideas - but he always managed to approach similar thoughts in unique and thought-provoking ways. He also alliterated everything, which usually bothers me because of the great lengths preachers will go to find the right matches for the alliterations. Adrian Rogers' alliterations, however, seemed to flow naturally from the text of Scripture, and they were not tiring or distracting at all. He also managed to fill the book with interesting or inspiring stories (some personal, some not) to help illustrate the truth he was expounding.
The greatest characteristic of this book is that it is highly evangelistic. Rarely would a chapter end without an invitation to receive Christ as your Savior if you have not done so. This tells me much about the man behind the book - that he had a heart for soulwinning. And anyone who is a dedicated soul-winner has a great love for the Lord (and for people).
Minor criticisms would concern my disagreement with some of the symbolism that the author interprets from the passages; but since it is possible that he is right and I am wrong, I can't hold it against him! Even though it seemed to be a fairly introductory look at prophecy in Revelation, I did learn some things from the book.
This was a great book from a great man of God who was also a great preacher. Highly recommended!
P.S.  Many thanks to Bro. Paul Lowe for loaning me this Kindle Edition!