Category: Uncategorized

Stranger than Fiction! (Mold Part 2)

Updates:

  • Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction! If you’ve been following our journey, you know that in my last update we left our rental house due to mold. In this update, I’m surprised to report that just two days after moving into our new apartment, we discovered mold again! Yes—this is round two.
  • We checked in advance with the apartment complex and were assured in writing that there was no mold and that the unit would be thoroughly cleaned due to my unfortunate situation as a stem cell transplant patient. After we discovered the mold, however, the landlords denied its existence and treated us very harshly.
  • After much debate and documentation, the landlords finally agreed to release us from our lease if we choose to leave. We’ve been vigorously searching and have narrowed down our options for a new rental. It’s been challenging—between needing to stay within a specific radius of MD Anderson and finding a space that accommodates our whole family. We’re hopeful to be settled in next week.

Prayer Requests and Praises:

⁃ When I was in ICU, I experienced heart failure. I’ve been seeing a cardiologist at MD Anderson and recently had a follow-up echocardiogram. By God’s grace, my heart has returned to normal and has fully recovered from the sepsis complications. This is a tremendous blessing!
⁃ Please pray that we can secure a final place to stay during our remaining weeks in Houston.
⁃ I’m continuing my chemotherapy treatments and, so far, I haven’t experienced any major side effects. I’m very grateful—please pray this continues!

What I Am Learning:

  • I’ve been meditating on Psalm 34, and it has brought comfort during this stressful week. It speaks of how God delivers His people from trouble. What struck me afresh is how God delivers the righteous from the wicked. He hears the cries of His people who have been mistreated by unbelievers. Whether it’s sickness, mold, or heartless landlords—God hears our prayers and promises deliverance.
  • Jesus is the ultimate example of God’s protection and deliverance. He was mistreated more than anyone ever has been or will be. He was mocked, framed, and shown no sympathy by the Pharisees or the Romans. Yet God “kept all His bones” and raised Him from the dead so that we might be forgiven.

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. (Psalm 34:6)


The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. (Psalm 34:15–17)


Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. (Psalm 34:19–21)

What Has Been Encouraging:

  • Physically, I’m gaining strength each day. My physical therapists are pleased with the progress, and I hope to be walking without a walker by the time we leave Houston. Thank you for praying!
  • Our plan is to return to Jacksonville in mid-July. I’m so looking forward to preaching at First Baptist on July 20th. Even though I won’t be able to hug you, I hope to see you there!

God’s Sustaining Grace

Encouragement:

  • Sean continues to turn to God’s Word and is finding encouragement in the Psalms. He’s asked for Psalm 46, Psalm 23, and Psalm 73 to be read during hard moments.
  • Andrew Peter’s song The Dark Before the Dawn and the Knowing God album by Sovereign grace – has been very encouraging to listen to in the hospital room.
  • Hearing about all the people praying regularly and specifically for Sean and Jenny has been a great blessing to them.

Medical Update:

  • Here’s what happened last week with Sean’s sepsis: His procalcitonin level was over 300—something that some of the ICU team said was the highest they’ve seen. His body went into shock, and doctors are still working to pinpoint the source. But he’s now on powerful antibiotics, and the infection is starting to clear. But pray that this continues as it has been over the last week.
  • Sean’s also facing GI side effects from chemo and antibiotics, causing potassium loss. His care team caught this early and is working hard to stabilize him. He receives infusions of potassium throughout the day to help with this, and they are beginning to see positive effects.

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for Sean’s vital signs to stabilize fully. His fever, blood pressure, and heart rate are still fluctuating.

  • Pray for the strong IV antibiotics to eliminate all remaining infection.

  • Pray for potassium levels to remain stable and for ongoing GI issues to resolve.

  • Pray for the swelling in his body to decrease.

  • The Perrons believe God placed them with their current ICU nurse—now with them for three days—at just the right time. Pray that gospel seeds planted in conversation will take root and lead him to follow Christ passionately.

  • Most of all, pray that God would glorify His name through Sean’s healing, and that those witnessing this journey would see and savor the God of Elijah, Moses, Daniel, and David.

Praises:

  • Hemoglobin levels are strong, and Sean hasn’t needed more blood transfusions beyond the initial three in ICU!

  • Sean’s white blood cell count has jumped significantly in the last 48 hours – and this means the engraftment is happening. This is a big deal for his immune system being boosted and getting stronger.

  • Cardiology confirmed that Sean’s heart function has returned to normal—a massive win and an answered prayer.

Please keep praying. We’re asking God to heal Sean completely and use his story to point many to Christ. Continue to follow Sean’s facebook page for daily updates.

I am Proud of John Powell

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By Sean Perron

Over 10 years ago, I was confused and tormented in my soul about how to understand God’s will for my life.

All the Christian cliques had failed me. Was I supposed to “Let go, and let God”? Was I supposed to find “the center of his will”, and how would I know when I found it? What if I was five degrees off the invisible bullseye? What if I didn’t have the “peace”, and what if I never got it? Should I put out a fleece or wait for a sign? I didn’t know up from down or even how to know the difference.

Throw into the mix my clunky, turbulent, and hopefully romantic pursue of Jenny. I was in need of discipleship and for someone to point me in the right direction.

Enter John Powell.

I was attending the same church as John, and he invited me and some other guys over to his house for a time of food, fellowship, and Bible study. I decided to go and drove out to their small, old house that he was fixing up. At the time, I didn’t realize that the next few months would change my life.

While Katherine made desserts, John walked me through Scripture and spent hours talking with me. He answered my questions and patiently waited for me to catch up to where he was directing me. He cleared the fog away from all those Christian cliques and taught me how to properly understand God’s will for my life. He taught me to delight myself in God and then actually do something. Those meetings in his creaky house with delicious treats charted a course to where I am today.

I loved the study we did so much that I sent a copy of it to Jenny. I said she had to read through it. Not too long after that, she flew into town, and I had her meet John and Katherine. And not too long after that, John was at our wedding in Tennessee smiling with joy.

John Powell was a gentle leader who took action under the authority of God. He didn’t wait around for others to act. He didn’t wait around to love. He didn’t wait around to wrestle problems to the ground. He believed God’s word, humbly submitted to it, and took initiative – like a man is supposed to do.

John was a man who invested in what matters. He taught me much more than just how to know God’s will for my life. He showed me (Philippians 4:9). Those times at his house showed me his deep love for his wife. I saw how he loved his children and led them with tenderness and purpose. I saw him work with his hands, think with his mind, and care from his heart. He wasn’t afraid to have hard conversations, but also wasn’t afraid to weep with those who weep.

Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church, I just happened to be thinking about John. I was recalling a meaningful note that he wrote me years ago. I was wondering what he thought about Spencer’s and my new book on the First Years of Marriage. I was thankful for him and the sweet providence of God using him in my life. And while serving at church, I got the news that he had been suddenly killed while helping someone else in danger.

“Shock and sorrow” are fitting words for that news. Shock that John is in heaven and no longer with us. Deep sorrow for his precious family.

But as shocking as the news is… it isn’t shocking that John would help others in need. It isn’t shocking that John would take action when no one else would or could. It isn’t shocking that John would love until the sudden end of his life.

The sorrow that comes with such news is fitting and deep. But a deeper sorrow would be if we didn’t learn from John’s life. John lived his life humbly taking action under the authority of God. He believed that only the blood of Jesus could save him from his sin and make him a new man. He believed that God calls everyone to trust in that gospel and that changed his life. He was a doer of the word and not just a hearer only (James 2:14-26).

After hearing the news, I came across this fitting prayer:

“O Lord, in whose hands are life and death, by whose power I am sustained, and by whose mercy I am spared, look down upon me with pity, Forgive me that I have until now so much neglected the duty which you have assigned to me, and suffered the days and hours of which I must give account to pass away without any endeavor to accomplish your will. Make me to remember, O God, that every day is your gift, and ought to be used according to your command. Grant me, therefore, so to repent of my negligence, that I may obtain mercy from you, and pass the time which you shall yet allow me in diligent performance of your commands, through Jesus Christ.” – Samuel Johnson (ESV Prayer Bible; Deuteronomy 8:11-20)

I am proud to know John Powell and even prouder that his life impacted mine. And it isn’t too late for his life to impact yours.

For information about the funeral and how to donate to his family, click here.

 

 

 

Top Books on Making Lifelong Disciples of Jesus

 

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Here are five book recommendations on the topic of discipleship:

  1. The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman

I love this book because it is short, sweet, and centered on Jesus. The whole point of the book is to examine the principles Jesus used to make disciples and then implement them. It is provocative and powerful.

 

  1. Discipling by Mark Dever

This book covers the who, what, where, and how questions of discipleship. It is broad enough to benefit every Christian, but not too broad to be unhelpful. It is simultaneously encouraging and convicting. It is also a short read.

 

  1. Growing Up by Robby Gallaty

Growing Up is the one-stop-shop kind of book. It also has a built-in blue print for the future. You can take this book and turn the world upside down if you follow it. It lays out a succinct and systematic plan for how to make disciples. If you can only read one book on the topic, this is probably the one you should pick.

 

  1. The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne

It will change your whole view of church. It identifies problems that are hard to see until someone points them out. Once they are pointed out, it is like “Wow! How did I miss that?!” It gently identifies faults with typical practices, and offers better biblical ways of making disciples. I wish I had read it years ago. If you are a church leader, this is the book you should choose.

 

  1. The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

The Pilgrim’s Progress is the best-selling English book in the world other than the Bible. Jenny and I are reading a small paragraph every night before bed. It is a discipleship book. I can’t think of an aspect of the Christian faith that it leaves out. It takes you through mountains, valleys, arrows, and treasures. The allegory is memorable and timeless. If you are a baby Christian, this book will bless you. If you are a seasoned Christian, you can visit it over and over again for insights. My main suggestion is that you get a modern English version. If you love the book already, then you will love these new commentaries that go along with it.

New Book | Letters to a Romantic: The First Years

 

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We set out to write the Letters to a Romantic books because we saw an opportunity and need.

The opportunity struck us as we began to write regularly on dating, engagement, and romance. Dating and engagement is a unique season to be salt and light in the world.  Also, there were very few books we knew of that wrote briefly and practically using the perspective of a peer on these particular topics. 

The need we saw was for a resource on this season of life that was both committed to the sufficiency of Scripture and a radical alternative to the world’s emphasis in romantic relationships. We also saw a need for a resource that would not lay burdens on our brothers and sisters by advocating for a strict dating “method”. We sought to start a conversation, not have the whole conversation for couples.

With this same opportunity and need in mind, we’re thrilled to announce the beginning of a new project, the final installment in the Letters trilogy –  Letters to a Romantic: The First Years.

In this book, we plan to use our same brief and practical approach to address the topics that arise in the early years of marriage.

One difference with this book is we won’t be writing as those who have just come out of a season. Instead, we’ll be in it with our readers. This isn’t a book by experienced tour guides at the end of the journey; these are letters from the trail by fellow pilgrims. We believe that this can be uniquely helpful for those in the first years with us as we again seek to “start a conversation” that is committed to the sufficiency of God’s Word to navigate every twist and turn.

This book is slated to release in late 2019 with P&R publishing. With this in mind, we’re asking you to commit to praying for us in the following ways:

  1.    Pray for clarity of mind and an accurate handling of God’s Word. We know that unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain (Psalm 127:1-2). We are desperate for God’s Spirit to illuminate his Word to us, and to enable us to write in a helpful, clear, biblically faithful way.
  2.    Pray for productive times of writing. We are both in seasons of life that are much more full than when we wrote our last two books. We’re both fathers, working in ministry, and committed to caring for our families. Pray that the times we set aside to write will be productive and efficient.
  3.    Pray for fruit. Begin praying now that God would use these books as resources for young marriages, local churches, and wherever else they are used. We long, not first for our writing to have a wide reach, but a deep one – an influence that produces real fruit in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thank you for supporting our writing and this new season. If you have any questions you would like us to address or topic suggestions for us to consider as we are working on the project, please send us a note. We would love to hear from you.

Until then,

Spencer and Sean

 

The Top Books We Read This Year

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By now you have probably scanned half a dozen “best of” lists. Writers, critics, and commentators typically release these lists to summarize what books, films, or stories made the biggest impact. We’d like to share with you just five books that impacted us this year. We share these books because we think they’re important and were personally helped by them in some way.

Happy reading!

Sean:

A Small Book about a Big Problem by Ed Welch

If you are like me, you probably don’t think you have anger problems. But you’re wrong. This book may look like a small fist, but it will knock the breath out of you.

If you are like me, you probably don’t think you have time to read another book. But you’re wrong. It is a 50-day devotional. The chapters are no more than 1 normal book page. You could read a chapter while brushing your teeth or while waiting for the microwave to warm your left over dinner. The only downside to this book is that it is a bit pricey. But no more expensive than the nice dinner that gave you left overs. Nothing to get angry about anyway.

I guarantee you that this book will help you walk more wisely. I have found it to be crippling and healing. It will bring peace to you and those around you. Above all, it will help you become more like our great God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The New Living Translation “The One Year Bible”

For 2017 I decided to read through the NLT using the One Year Bible plan. I have never actually read through the entire Bible systematically in one year. Still haven’t! I made it 75% of the way in 2017 but stopped the Old Testament reading due to my Ph.D. work. Jenny read through the same plan in the ESV. We loved reading it together. We loved how it stretched us and kept us on track. Reading two different translations was enjoyable and allowed us to compare and contrast at times.

After becoming a Christian, I received a NKJV Study Bible and devoured it. After that, I consumed the original NIV. Today, the two translations I use the most are the ESV and the NASB. The NLT Translation has its pros and cons. I found it helpful during Old Testament narratives and the Proverbs. There were numerous times that I saw the Scripture better because of it. It does have its shortcomings in the Epistles and other places, but not enough to stop reading it. I’m going to stick with the ESV for personal devotions in the future, but I will keep the NLT handy for when I need a fresh translation to jumpstart my mind or heart.

Spencer:

Deep Work – Cal Newport

It’s been 18 months now since I became a bi-vocational pastor. I have learned that one of the main challenges of this type of ministry is not necessarily finding time for everything on my calendar, but being fully present for everything on my calendar. Deep Work by Cal Newport offers a vision for work and life the emphasizes depth in the areas most important to you to create real value in your area of influence.

I don’t know if Cal Newport is a Christian. But the thought that kept striking me was: if a non-Christian has this much zeal to use his time strategically to make a lasting impact in the world, how much more zeal should mark Christians?

I’m still working to implement some of his strategies (he recommends you quit social media!), but I think about this book almost every day after reading it. If you are in a job or ministry in which you are required to do most of your work through thinking and creating, you should read this book.

Delighting in the Trinity – Michael Reeves

There are very few books that I would give to non-Christians, new Christians, growing Christians, and mature Christians. This book is one of them. What makes Reeves’ book captivating (it’s rare to have a theology book that you consider a page turner!) is that the truths he writes about are truths that he obviously believes are beautiful and good. That’s why I would give this book to a non-Christian – I want them to be introduced to Jesus by someone who actually enjoys Jesus.

I needed this book this year. It reminded me of the beauty of the Triune God, and why his love for himself is good news for me and everyone else. If that statement intrigues you (God loves himself? That sounds strange…), and you wonder how that could be good news – and perhaps even news that changes your life – then pick up this book.

Less Impressed, More Influenced: Honoring My Mentor

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I’m not original. Neither are you. Whether we like it or not, who we are is largely shaped by who we admire. We reverberate the voices we value most, a collage of influences that have shaped us over time.

This isn’t new. The Bible recognizes the power of others: wear the wisdom of parents like a necklace, says Solomon (Proverbs 1:8-9), and the surest way to victory is to surround yourself with counselors (Proverbs 15:22).

These truths bloomed for me in college and coalesced with the arrival of a person who shapes the way I live in almost every facet of my life today.

The “new guy in Student Life” attended a welcome back dinner for my college. I was 19, a sophomore, and in a small leadership position.  I don’t remember much about that first interaction, or about his first year at my school for that matter, except for two things of unequal importance: (1) things began to change at my school, and (2) he had a very redundant name – “Who names their kid Gunner Gundersen?!”

My knowledge of the new guy matured as our lives overlapped at the school.  He preached more, led more, and attended more events. Each time I sat under his influence, even at a distance, it shaped me. This regular impact from a distance led me to amble into his office one day and ask, “Can we spend regular time together?” That was almost seven years ago.

I can’t tell you how he invested in me. There was no organized program. We engaged in a intentional and providential immersion into each others lives. Eating, counseling, working, camping, teaching, worshipping, traveling, writing, walking, correcting.

The only pattern I’ve identified in Gunner’s investment was that it matured as I matured, and grew as I grew. It changed with me. There were three movements in his investment:

The Leader and Teacher

Gunner spent most of his time leading and teaching me at the beginning. He was either cleaning up my messes, or correcting my work. Then he would teach me how he took out my trash, let me ask questions, give me another shot, and made more corrections.  

During an opportunity to preach to a group of fellow students, Gunner looked at my preaching notes before my sermon and sent me detailed (painfully detailed!) feedback on my sermon manuscript. Then after the sermon he sent me a long email with encouragements and areas of growth.  

There are probably 100 other stories I could tell you about my mistakes, his corrections, and my consequent growth. His investment during this season was marked by quantity time, energy, and conversations.

The Mentor and Counselor

Don’t get the wrong picture. Gunner was not a pontificating sage while I silently took notes. To know Gunner is to be listened to – which gave this second movement of investment so much power.  

I remember very little of the millions of words Gunner spoke into my life. But one thing I remember very clearly: he always asked me questions.  As our relationship matured, I found the dynamic changing. Most of his investment started with one solitary question: “How do you think that went?”  

That question was a portal into worlds of wisdom. I took that girl (who is now my wife) to coffee – ”how did that go?” I went home for a weekend to see family – ”how did that go?” I was studying a topic for class – ”how is that going?” It wasn’t overly formal, and the conversations were often ad hoc things, happening in small crevices in our daily lives. Yet Gunner himself was always intentional, always listening, postured toward pursuit.

The Brother and Friend

One night I found Gunner sitting alone on campus. I joined him, and soon Gunner began describing how he was tired and discouraged. It wasn’t a “teachable moment” of strategized vulnerability. It wasn’t a testimony. It was confession. He shared a burden with me – from one friend to another. This was the last, and current, state of Gunner’s investment in me.

Conversations weren’t marked by him instructing me. He simply partnered with me in whatever thing we were doing. We talked about our families, our marriages, theology, parenting, and goals for the future. We shared burdens and received help. We shared ideas and sharpened each other. We laughed a lot and enjoyed our time.

Less Impressed, More Influenced

Over a year ago my Dad died suddenly. Gunner was the first person I called. And that call initiated a wave of care that could only be given by a brother. He mowed my grass, called and listened, and even drove 130 miles to sit with me for 20 minutes. He preached at my church while I was gone. It was an incredible moment of care.

About a year later Gunner – my teacher, mentor, and friend – moved to Texas to pastor a church. A few months before he left, we had lunch and reflected on our friendship. Gunner said to me, “You know, I would say that after all these years you are probably far less impressed by me than you once were, but also far more influenced.”  

He’s right. Actually, I’m far more influenced because I am less impressed by him. Gunner is a real person with real weaknesses and sin, and he invited me in to watch him in his gifts and deficiencies; joys and sorrows; victories and defeats; maturities and quirks. 

I’m not writing this to give you a list of practical ways you can invest like Gunner. This isn’t that type of article. It’s a public monument to one of the most impactful relationships I have. This is a monument to a leader, teacher, and brother who loved through intentional pursuit.  

Gunner once told me: “Most people won’t remember what you invested, but that you invested” This article is a tribute to that principle. Very few have shaped me like Gunner. But the curriculum of his investment wasn’t books and lectures. It was a persistent pressing into my life over time that left an indelible imprint.

That imprint, though embossed through Gunner, doesn’t look like him. It looks like Christ. That’s because his investment was translucent, allowing me to be less impressed with him so I could see through him to that truer Teacher, Mentor, and Friend – Jesus Christ.

For the sake of Christ, let us be less impressive and more influential.  


Spencer Harmon is the Senior Pastor at Vine Street Baptist Church and the co-author of Letters to a Romantic: On Dating and Letters to a Romantic: On Engagement(P&R, 2017).

Marriage: A Beautiful Shadow of a More Excellent and Certain Reality

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by Kaity Glick
I wait with eager expectation for my wedding day. The day when my friends and family gather to celebrate with me God’s faithfulness and love through the good gift of marriage.  The day when my future husband and I will enter into a covenant before God that by his grace we will be committed to one another for the rest of our lives. The day that we will begin our marriage and our relationship will become a picture of Christ and his bride the church.  The day for which we have been planning and hoping for months and even years. It will indeed be a joyous day that is worthy of celebrating.

But the joy of my earthly wedding day will pale in comparison to the day Christ returns: the wedding day of Christ and his bride the church. This joy will pale in comparison not because earthly weddings are not rightly to be celebrated as a good gift from the Lord, but because of the surpassing greatness of Christ’s union with his bride. Because on this heavenly wedding day, the church will finally experience what earthly marriage has been pointing to for all this time. Instead of having the picture or shadow of what is to come, we will experience the real thing. We will experience intimacy and union with Christ that is beyond what we could ever hope or imagine. This heavenly wedding day is recorded in Revelation 21:1-7. According to this passage there are two future realities that Christ’s bride has to look forward to: perfect union with God and God doing away with sadness and sin.

We will finally experience perfect union with God. Revelation 21:3 says, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.” In the Old Testament, the tabernacle served as a picture of the presence of God (Ex. 40:34). But while the presence of God rested upon the tabernacle that was in the camp of his people, he did not fully dwell among his people. They interacted with God in the way he prescribed through sacrifices mediated by the priests and through Moses, but the people themselves could not enter into God’s presence. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, in the New Testament era, Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them and are able to enter into the presence of God (Matt. 27:51).  But we still do not have God dwelling among us in a physical sense. In Revelation, the presence of God actually dwells among his people in both a physical and a spiritual sense. God’s people will no longer need to approach God through the mediation of a priest, but will instead dwell with Him. We will have perfect union with God both physically and spiritually.

Along with dwelling among his people, God will also “wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 21:4a). We will no longer experience the pain and heartache that comes from living in a world that is broken by sin. There will be no more physical pain of injury or disease. No more emotional pain of broken relationships and difficult circumstances. The reason that God will be able to do away with sadness is because he will completely do away with sin. Revelation 21:4b says, “there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” No longer will we fight against a sinful nature. No longer will sin bring about death and pain. No longer will our relationship with God and our relationships with others be torn because of our sin or because of the sins of others. We will live in perfect peace with God and with his people. We will no longer have the ability to do, say, think or feel anything that is displeasing to God. Because there is no sin, we will be able to fully experience union with our creator.

So as I long for my earthly wedding day, I seek to allow this yet unfulfilled longing to point my mind to a higher and more certain reality. Not just the fulfillment that may come if God allows me to marry, but the certain fulfillment that will come when Christ returns and is united fully and perfectly to his bride the church. Beyond the unfulfilled longing of earthly marriage, I should fight for this mindset in the face of any unfulfilled longing on this earth. My ultimate satisfaction will come when Christ returns and I dwell fully with the Lord and experience the end of sin and sadness. This reality is greater and more precious than any good gift God may choose to give on this earth.

Kaity Glick is a graduate of Boyce College and is getting married July 29th.

For more information on relationships and romance, be sure to find Sean Perron and Spencer Harmon’s new books Letters to a Romantic: On Dating and Letters to a Romantic: On Engagement, (P&R, 2017).

 

The Cloud of Summer Reading

There are a thousand wonderful ways to spend summer. Parks, pools, parties, picnics, and people we love. The days just seem better in June and July.

This truth felt even more palpable when I was younger and in school. The only cloud that could possibly loom over my head was my summer reading. I was convinced my teachers cackled wildly when assigning me books over the break.

I’ve since learned that the cloud of summer reading is actually a rainbow that leads to a pot of gold. I’m now able to look back at books I’ve read and see how they charted my course. The summer winds of reading have often set my sails in the right direction and taken me places I would never have gone.

The summers I have spent well are the summers I’ve read. Reading doesn’t suck the fun out of things. It enhances everything. You can dive into a book in between dips at the pool. You can bring your kindle on a trip with the people you love. You can have the best of both worlds without skimping on either one.

In honor of summer, Spencer and I are going to blog about some of the books that have impacted us at different stages of life. This list isn’t comprehensive of what I would recommend and is more biographical of what has shaped me in life. Perhaps you will find one or two on this list that you want to explore these next couple of months. Here is my list:

Middle School: 

A Call to Die is a 40 day crash course on how to read the Bible. I’m not even sure if it is in print anymore, but it changed my life. My youth pastor recommended this book to me and I’m confident it is still bearing fruit in my life.

This was the first theological book I remember reading. I still remember staying up in bed reading and underlining sentences from the chapter on baptism. This book gave me a starting place to begin thinking about key doctrines of the Christian faith.

The book has been billed as “The Best-Selling International Adventure of All Time” and it captivated me. I loved the conviction and boldness of the young preacher. He was willing to share the gospel with gangs and risk everything. Even as a middle schooler I thought the speaking in tongues and the second blessing of the Spirit was wrong (and still do), but the story of courage shaped me.

High School: 

I needed this book. It was refreshment to my bones and a balm for my soul. I was drowning in temptation. I wanted something different that what I was seeing all around me. This book gave me conviction and clarity about how to live in “the world” in a way that honored Christ. I can’t recommend it enough.

I read this book in High School with a group of students and sections of it have stuck with me to this day. It isn’t a gripping novel to be consumed in a night, but it is a steady diet of meat and potatoes that strengthens essential skills.

When I read this book, it was actually 5 Who Changed the World and it was published by Southeastern Seminary. I’m thrilled it was picked up by B&H and expanded. The stories in here are truly compelling and life changing.

College: 

This is my favorite book outside of the Bible. It changed how I think about God and how I think about life. My only complaint is that this new edition removed the incredibly helpful appendix “Are There Two Wills in God?” Thankfully, you can now buy that appendix separately in a new book.

A wiser mentor gave me this book and it set me free. The short little book isn’t perfect, but it is liberating. If you struggle with knowing God’s will for your life, this book is for you.

This was required reading for my first class in college. I wish I had read it sooner or at least someone had taught me the content beforehand. It put my hermeneutical feet in concrete.

Current Summer Reading: 

I’m half way through and love it. The chapters are short and easy to summarize. We truly need God’s help to understand the Bible.

This book has helped me think deeply about the flawlessness of the Bible. If you have ever wondered about the accuracy of certain passages in Scripture, you will find this book thought provoking and helpful. The chapters are no more than four pages. I’ve been nibbling on it for a while now.

I’ve always been interested in politics and this scratches that itch. I’m reading this book on my kindle and it has actually been a problem because I can’t put it down at night. I’m enjoying evaluating the different White House Chiefs of Staff and whether or not they are good leaders. The author seems to have a liberal political perspective and there is some language in the book as he recounts history.

Sean Perron is the Chief of Staff at the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors and is the co-author of On Dating and On Engagement. 

A Young Pastor’s Prayer

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by Spencer Harmon

Lord,

I’m no war-torn pastor.  There are many trenches to come, trials to endure, taunts from the enemy. Every faithful shepherd I know walks with a limp from years of wrestling with Sunday’s text, Monday’s discouragements, Tuesday’s fatigue.  Despite this, your triumphant grace soaks their stories as they tell of your sustaining staff through the darkest valley.  They tell me that in every cross they carried, resurrection life bloomed.

Lord, these stories are grave and glad.  Trembling and hope gather in my soul like Joshua crossing Jordan on the brink of the Promised Land.  And so, Lord, I pray to you.

Although I need your endurance for the suffering to come.  Although I need insight to explain your word.  Although I need wisdom to give your people vision.  Although I need compassion for the needs I will see.  Although I need love for my enemies.  Although I need zeal to lead your people.  Although I need these things from you, I do not pray for those now.

My prayer is this:

Lord, give me grace when I stumble.

I have been in your fields for only 8 months now and the stories reverberate in my soul: shepherds leaving their gates open to wolves with false teaching; shepherds leading their sheep over the cliffs of their own selfish ambitions; shepherds so busy tending to the sheep of the field they forget the flock at home.

So, Lord, give me grace when I stumble.

All of these shepherds started just like me:  watchful, sensitive, vigilant.  I don’t presume to know the path that took them from here to there.  I only note it’s existence and plead with you to keep me far from it.  I do not ask that you would keep me from stumbling.  I know I still fight my flesh and that you tend to teach through my weakness.  But I pray that as Satan roars at me during your discipline, your fatherly voice would lead me to repentance.  Lord, give me grace when I stumble.

Lord, give me grace when frost forms around my marriage.  Prevent me from growing content in giving my wife the leftovers of my time, presuming our love would be unblighted.  I have already seen once thriving marriages rotting like old fruit from a famine of time and affection.  Give me grace to answer my wife’s honesty with humility, her needs with nourishment, her cares with concern.  Lord, take my ministry if I ever begin to lose my marriage, for the former is void without the latter.  Lord, give me grace when I stumble.

Lord, give me grace when my chest swells with pride.  Guard me from the perils of “success.” If full pews mean a vain heart, bloated with self-sufficiency, deflate me with my weakness and confront me with my limits.  If I begin depending on my tools and abilities to reap a harvest, drain me of my fruitfulness until I am desperate again for the rain of your Spirit.  Give me grace to receive the wounds of friends with humility when I’m blinded by arrogance.  Lord, give me grace when I stumble.

Lord, give me grace to keep the windows of my soul open through regular confession.  Provide brothers who don’t fear me, mentors who see through me, partners who listen to me.  I’m finding that hypocrisy disguises itself as “privacy”, and I fear everyone will assume I’m always fine.  Keep me from valuing my reputation more than my soul.  When I begin to live heedlessly, assuming confession needs no place in my life, show me the danger of isolation without giving me over to its full effects.  Let your Spirit prevail in my life through the normal means of grace you have given me.  Lord, give me grace when I stumble.

Lord, give me grace to not neglect a loving and warm relationship with you.  When I begin to see your Word as a commodity of my profession rather than bread to my soul, a set of facts rather than a feast – draw me back into warm fellowship with you.  Wield the sword of your Word to cut through my excuses and make me tender to your shepherding voice.  Graciously bless me with a soul stirring vision of your Son in your Word when I grow dull and numb.  Lord, give me grace when I stumble.

Father, lift these these hands when they droop in weakness, strengthen these knees when they buckle under burdens, loosen my tongue with stammers with sin, open my eyes afresh to the glory of your character.  I tremble when I consider my own strengths, abilities, and gifts.  But I find comfort in your grace, your earnestness, your mercy, and your zeal for your own name.  I take confidence in you, and shepherd your people as you shepherd me.

And as I carry this staff, still green and not well worn, I pray this prayer acknowledging your power and my great weakness: Lord, give me grace when I stumble.

Spencer Harmon is the Senior Pastor at Vine Street Baptist Church and the co-author of Letters to a Romantic: On Dating and Letters to a Romantic: On Engagement (P&R, 2017).