Book Club | Gracepoint Church Library

Happy new year! While I won’t go so far as to say I made a resolution to post more this year, I am going to try my best to do so.

When we launched the book club in November, I tried the multiple options by genre, but it got a little unwieldy when thinking about how we would have discussions on multiple books. Also, it diluted the power that initiatives like “One City One Book” have in creating community! So I’ve decided to simplify and go back to my original idea to make it truly a “book of the month” type of thing.

As we know, our churchwide January theme is “Cultivating the Mind” so rather than thinking this is adding another “to do” for you, this is a win-win!

January’s book selection is Live No Lies by John Mark Comer. Published at the end of 2021, it is a timely book — its subtitle is “Recognize and Resist the Three Enemies That Sabotage Your Peace.” This book is both a social and cultural commentary, as well as a spiritual formation kind of book that lays out practical tips on how to overcome the lies that contribute to our spiritual deformation. Here is a “book trailer” by the author.

I hope this book sparks new thoughts, deepens convictions, and moves us to action in this war for our souls and our peace. Looking forward to the discussions on convo and in real life!

We’re marking the end of this blog’s 29-month hiatus by kicking off the Gracepoint Book Club! 🙌 I tried to think of some snazzy name, but decided to stick with this for now. Whether you’re an avid reader or a reluctant one, or somewhere in between, chances are you’d like to read more.

One of the obstacles people have cited for not reading more is not knowing where to start. So each month I’ll be unveiling the “book of the month” in four different genres or categories. You can choose to read one or all!

As I read along with everyone, I’ll be posting some thoughts and questions here on the blog, and over on Convo. The dream, the vision, is that there’ll be some IRL conversations as well as convo-sations throughout our church about some good books and some big ideas. This will help us to remember more of what we read, and we’ll likely grow in our enjoyment of reading as well, which will start a virtuous cycle of even more reading and more thinking!

Our November book-of-the-month selections are…[insert drum roll]

Christian book category: Fan the Flame: Let Jesus Renew Your Calling and Revive Your Church by Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle Church. (Sept. 2022)
Good Fiction category (aka English Class but *even* better!): Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Oct. 1953)
Social/Cultural commentary category (aka Good Non-fiction about Big Ideas): The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World by Andy Crouch (Apr. 2022)
Bibliopolis Wild Card category: The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton, who you might remember from Just Mercy. (June 2018)