Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel by Russell Moore (B&H Publishing Group)
After selecting this book mainly because of my interest in our changing culture as evidenced in current worship content and practice, I was somewhat disappointed to find the subject discussed in only one chapter. However, it didn’t take the author long to convince me he had a broader context in mind. In each chapter, he emphasized how the gospel of Christ could change anyone’s and everyone’s belief concerning contemporary culture, wherever they live.
Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, strongly and positively states his belief in leading the denomination to proclaim the good news of Christ’s message to the world. He insists the gospel’s proclamation will lead us onward in a world where many believe Christianity may be leading us backward. He stresses the importance of expanding the kingdom of God, not merely a temporary movement among various Christian groups. The book contains numerous scriptural references to support his conclusions as suggestions for the future of Christianity.
This book makes a definite, positive contribution toward theological thought, Christian apologetics and especially biblical interpretation. Pastors, scholars and theologians certainly will profit from a careful reading of Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel.
Edward Spann, retired dean
College of Fine Arts
Dallas Baptist University
Crash the Chatterbox: Hearing God’s Voice Above All Others by Steven Furtick (Multnomah)
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
Steven Furtick builds Crash the Chatterbox on four confessions—God says I am; God says he will; God says he has; and God says I can. A chapter is dedicated to each confession.
Furtick immediately engages readers with a catchy beginning. He wishes he had a devil on one shoulder that could be flicked off easily and an angel on the other shoulder from whom he could draw power. However, since that isn’t the case, Furtick does a wonderful job guiding readers to hear affirmations from God and silence the negative chatter.
“Every Christian has a calling, and the chatterbox is assigned to interrupt that calling,” Furtick writes. He reminds readers it is a minute-by-minute decision whose voice to hear. The author points readers to Scripture for strength to overpower the shouts of the enemy and crash the chatterbox.
Furtick fills Crash the Chatterbox with reflective questions, brief unfiltered personal stories and Bible verses. Page after page, Furtick reminds readers the chatterbox attacks everyone, takes no breaks and takes no prisoners.
Furtick credits other authors to strengthen the importance of stopping the destructive chatter. He quotes a friend: “The chatterbox takes what is glorious and ruins it. But God takes what is ruined and turns it into something glorious.”
Crash the Chatterbox is a book worth having to arm yourself against the constant flow of negative chatter.
Bobby Bomar-Brown
Estes Park, Colo.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.