
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
We have compiled a list of books recommended for every Christian to read for life change and spiritual formation. We hope you experience the amazing blessings and grace of Jesus as you grow deeper in him. Also, take a look at our Discipleship Signups to see that we love reading and implementing books into our Christian education and spiritual formation.
BOOKS IN COMMON

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Congregation
Famed Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together is a bold and daring look at Christian life, and what cross-centered living can look like for all believers. Renowned for his thoughts on Christianity’s role in the secular world, Bonhoeffer, also the author of bestselling The Cost of Discipleship, allows readers to deepen their faith and fellowship through actionable steps towards building lasting and meaningful communities. In Life Together, Bonhoeffer, famous for his involvement in a plot to overthrow Adolph Hitler, recounts his unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years in Germany. Through this one-of-a-kind lived experience, he compassionately yet challengingly defines what living in a community is all about, and the divine importance of it.

Lauren F. Winner
Sr. Staff
In Girl Meets God, this appealingly honest young woman takes us through a year in her search for a religious identity. Despite her conversion, she finds that her world is still shaped by her Jewish experiences. Even as she rejoices in the holy days of the Christian calendar, she mourns the Jewish rituals she still holds dear. Attempting to reconcile the two sides of her religious self, Winner applies the lessons of Judaism to the teachings of the New Testament, hosts a Christian seder, and struggles to fit her Orthodox friends into her new religious life.

Margaret Renkl
Congregation
Growing up in Alabama, Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents—her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father—and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver.

Philip Yancey
Congregation
Millions of lives have been changed by award-winning author Philip Yancey's startling exploration of grace at street level. Grace is the one thing the world can't duplicate, the healing force we need, and the key to transforming a broken world.
In this revised and updated edition of his personal and provocative book, Yancey offers true portraits of grace's life-changing power. These stories, set in the midst of life's stark realities, evoke such questions as:
If grace is God's love for the undeserving, how do I get it?
How well are we dispensing grace to a world that knows far more of strife and unforgiveness than it does of mercy?
Can grace make a difference in the midst of such atrocities as the Nazi holocaust, and how can it withstand the brutality of hate?

Steve Young / Jeff Benedict
Congregation
In the most candid and compelling sports memoir since Andre Agassi’s riveting bestseller Open, former San Francisco 49er, Super Bowl champion, NFL MVP, and Hall of Famer Steve Young gives readers an unprecedented and stunning inside look at what it takes to become a super-elite professional quarterback.
Steve Young produced some of the most memorable moments in NFL history. But his most impressive victories have been deeply personal ones that were won when no one was watching. His remarkably revealing memoir is the story of a Mormon boy with a 4.0 GPA, a photographic memory, and a severe case of separation anxiety.
As an eighth-string quarterback at Brigham Young University, it was doubtful that he would ever see any playing time. But Young became an All-American, finished second in the Heisman voting, and was the top draft choice out of college. Then, after signing the largest contract in sports history, anxiety nearly drove him to walk away from football completely.
PASTORAL RECOMMENDATIONS

HENRY HANSEN
SENIOR PASTOR

One of the most popular introductions to the Christian faith ever written, Mere Christianity brings together Lewis’ legendary broadcast talks during World War Two. Here, Lewis provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to hear a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith.
A collection of scintillating brilliance, Mere Christianity remains strikingly fresh for the modern reader and at the same time confirms CS Lewis’s reputation as one of the leading writers and thinkers of our age.
Amazon Description

RAY MEDINA
PASTOR OF
COLLEGE & EMERGING ADULTS

He was only twenty-eight when he died in a plane crash with two of his small children, but singer/songwriter Keith Green had already created a legacy of music and inspiration that would outlive him. A spiritual revolutionary, he found freedom through Jesus, not religion, and spent his last years convincing others to refuse to accept the status quo and instead bring compassion and honesty back to the church. He touched people through vibrant lyrics in songs like "Your Love Broke Through," "You Put This Love In My Heart," and "Asleep In The Light." Last Days Ministries, which he and his wife Melody founded, went on to challenge thousands of people to take to the mission fields of the world.
Amazon Description

GREG COOTSONA
PASTOR OF
DISCIPLESHIP & CARE

It has long been believed that science and faith cannot mingle. Faith rejects the rational, while science restricts us to a life with no meaning beyond the physical. It is an irreconcilable war between two polar-opposite ways of thinking and living. Written for believers, agnostics, and atheists alike, The Language of God provides a testament to the power of faith in the midst of suffering without faltering from its logical stride. Readers will be inspired by Collin’s personal story of struggling with doubt, as well as the many revelations of the wonder of God’s creation that will forever shape the way they view the world around them.
Amazon Description