Our Favorite Books & Podcasts from 2016

Here are some of our favorite books we read and podcasts we listened to in 2016:

KRISTEN'S BOOKS:

1. The Pastor's Wife by Gloria Furman

I picked up this book at a conference Corey and I went to early in the year. I'd never heard of Gloria Furman and didn't know what to expect as I sat down to read this book. What I found were many beautiful truths, reminders, and nuggets of wisdom, such as my job to be my husband's #1 supporter and my responsibility to be hospitable. But maybe the most impactful idea I gleaned from this book is that although I am a pastor's wife, neither I nor my family needs to be perfect. What a relief! We need only to depend upon God's grace and to minister to people with love and compassion. While it's clear from the title that The Pastor's Wife was written with pastor's wives in mind, the principles and truths in this book extend far beyond its intended audience, and all wives would greatly benefit from reading it.

2. Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms by Gloria Furman

With her conversational writing style and scripture saturating the pages of all her books, Gloria Furman quickly became one of my favorite authors, so I was thrilled when Corey bought me another one of her books for Mother's Day. Here's a little taste of Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full:

"When I view motherhood not as a gift from God to make me holy but rather as a role with tasks that get in my way, I am missing out on one of God's ordained means of spiritual growth in my life. Not only that, but I am missing out on enjoying God. No amount of mommy angst can compare to the misery that comes from a life devoid of the comforting, encouraging, guarding, providing, satisfying presence of our holy God."  ~Gloria Furman

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

I know, I know! I'm way late on this one. Corey encouraged me for years to read this book. I thought I wouldn't like it. I loved it. Enough said.

4. God Made All of Me by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb

This is an excellent book to help children understand their bodies and to be able to recognize sexual abuse.

5. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

Of all the books I read this year, this one is my favorite. Rosaria Butterfield, a former lesbian and tenured English professor at Syracuse University, now a born-again believer, pastor's wife, and homeschool mom, has one of the most beautiful and life-altering testimonies you'll ever read. She is authentic, and her words are convicting and eye-opening. This is a must-read!


COREY'S BOOKS:

1. The Church History ABCs by Stephen Nichols and Ned Bustard

This is an extremely fun book for children, highlighting 26 men and women from church history ranging from Augustine to Ulrich Zwingli. Kristen and I enjoy this book more than Callen does (at least for now).

2. How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler & Charles VanDoren

This might not sound like an interesting book, especially if you can already "read", but this book will expand your world by equipping you with the resources to truly interact with good books.  How to Read a Book is probably one of my favorite books that I read this year.

3. Discipling by Mark Dever

This is a short and easy read by Mark Dever that provides practical insight into the church’s responsibility to invest in the spiritual good of one another.

4. On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius

I've now read this book twice, and both times blessed me as Athanasius makes the case for God becoming man. This book is both devotional and theological, and it’s short. Be sure to get the copy with C.S. Lewis’s introduction - he makes an excellent case for reading old books.

5. New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp

I recommend reading anything by Paul Tripp, not because you will love it, but because you need it. This daily devotional gets straight to the heart, at least it gets to mine.

6. The Confessions by St. Augustine

Augustine is a master theologian and philosopher who showcases the undeserving grace of God in his life. (I highly recommend books 1-9 for everyone and books 10-13 for the more philosophical minds.)

KRISTEN'S PODCASTS:

1. The Briefing from Dr. Albert Mohler

A "daily worldview analysis about the leading news headlines and cultural conversations" (albertmohler.com).

2. Mortification of Spin from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, featuring Carl Trueman, Todd Pruitt, and Aimee Byrd

Good-natured sarcasm with practical and biblical insight regarding contemporary Christian topics.


COREY'S PODCASTS:

1. The World and Everything in It from WORLD Radio

I listen to this 30 minute podcast Monday through Friday to get my fill of world news.

2. Limetown

This is one of the best fictional podcasts I have listened to.  The story is told from the perspective of a journalist who investigates a small town where everyone disappeared over ten years ago. (For mature audiences.)

3. Serial

This podcast has some vulgar language and is for a mature audience, but if you like investigative journalism this is the podcast for you. The 2 seasons are different, but I found both captivating and intriguing.  I gained insight into the world around me, but my main reason for listening was sheer entertainment.

4. You Are Here

You Are Here is a sci-fi audio drama podcast that caught my attention because of its "choose your own adventure" model. If you read the Choose Your Own Adventure novels, then you will love this podcast. Plus, you will enjoy the 20^th and 21^st century pop culture references that the main character has programmed into her AI implant.

HONORABLE MENTION (Books):

Designed for Joy (Strachan & Parnell)

Christ or Chaos (DeWitt)

The Pastor as Public Theologian (Strachan & VanHoozer)

What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? (DeYoung)

The Big Picture Story Bible (Helm & Schoonmaker)

The Atlantis Gene (Riddle)

Seven Summits in Church History (Deusing)

Openness Unhindered (Butterfield)

Why Did God Become Man?

As we approach Christmas, we are offered a season to reflect on the breathtaking mystery of the virgin who conceived and bore a son who was to be called Immanuel – which means God with us (Matthew 1:23). How perplexing it is to consider the intricacies of God becoming flesh and dwelling among men (John 1:1-18)! So, as we contemplate the mystery of the incarnation, the question I want to address today is “Why?” Why did the Son of God leave Heaven to come down to earth and dwell among men?

Some think that God was lacking in knowledge, so He decided to become a man. Others think that He was simply bored in Heaven and needed to spice things up, so He decided to come down and dwell among us. And still others think that He desired to become man so He could experience that which the eternal God cannot experience: death.

While those explanations are lacking in substance and theological explanation, let me offer two reasons why Jesus really did become man (Note: My thoughts are inspired by St. Athanasius’s On the Incarnation).

1)    Jesus became man to turn that which is corrupted into incorruptibility.

All humans are born into the corruption of their parents. This has been the case since the first transgression against God in the Garden (See Genesis 3 & Romans 5). Indeed, everyone born of man is corrupted by nature. Therefore the Son of God took on human-form and was born of “a spotless and stainless virgin, ignorant of man, pure and unmixed from intercourse with men” (St. Athanasius). He delivered His body over to death, so that the corruption in man might be undone, thus turning corrupted human beings to incorruptibility.

The Son of God did not just come to experience death for Himself, as some would say. The Son of God came to die a sinner’s death on behalf of everyone so that we might be freed from the corruption of the body and death.

2)    Jesus became man to taste death that the mortal might pass to immortality.

Death reigned over man after the first transgression against God in the Garden, and as such, all taste death; therefore, Jesus became man so that He might die and ultimately show Himself superior to death by rising up from the grave three days later, giving hope to all mankind. "For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21-22). Jesus has shown Himself superior to death, and in Him that which is dead is made alive.

When Jesus Christ became man, He laid aside His glory, He voluntarily restrained His power, He accepted hardship, isolation, ill-treatment, malice, and misunderstanding. As J.I. Packer writes, “He accepted a death that involved such agony – spiritual even more than physical – that His mind nearly broke under the prospect of it.  It meant love to the uttermost for unlovely human beings, that we through His poverty might become rich.”

2 Corinthians 8:9 – “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.”

During this Christmas season, let us marvel at God’s great love for us and consider in humility that He became like us in order to restore our corruption to incorruptibility that we might pass from mortality to immortality all for His glory.

~Corey