Category: Books / Videos

The full title of this book by Alan Kreider is “The Patient Ferment of the Early Church”. This work, at a little over 300 pages, is extensively researched. Alan provides insight from documented sources on how a small group of Christ followers were able to impact the world. This book is not for the faint […]

Written in 2006, this small 80 page book by Buff Scott, Jr. is easy to read and highly recommended. If you’ve visited my Resources page, you can see all the books I’ve read over the last couple of years. This book has a passion that most of the others lack. There are only a few […]

It was one of those “series of events” that our Lord loves to orchestrate. I was introduced to some articles by Buff Scott, Jr. by my good friend Jon Zens, and like I always do, immediately looked up the author to find out more about him. There wasn’t a lot about Buff on social media […]

I recently read and enjoyed Howard A Snyder’s first book The Problem of Wineskins. This followup book is equally engaging even though it is a bit scholarly. Published in 1977, it is segmented into three parts: Perceiving the Kingdom, Understanding the Kingdom Community and Embodying the Kingdom Community. The excerpt below is from the second […]

This book by Howard A. Snyder was written in 1975 and contains many valuable insights. The excerpt below explains sacrifice, priesthood and the tabernacle before and after the church was born. Highly recommended for those considering stepping away from institutional church. Sacrifice, priesthood, tabernacle-all instituted through Moses in the Old Testament. Theologically, all passed away […]

In this book, Henri Nouwen compiles his thoughts into three sections: reaching out to our innermost self, reaching out to our fellow human beings and reaching out to God. In these three sections, he writes about moving from loneliness to solitude, from hostility to hospitality and from illusion to prayer. Although this book is not […]

I have included some excerpts below from Paul L. Wachtel’s book written in 1989, The Poverty of Affluence. These excerpts were compiled by my good friend Jon Zens who introduces his thoughts on the subject in the first chapter below. The post is lengthier than usual, but I hope you take the time to read […]

Many of us have felt discomfort in our spirits while attending institutional church. We’re not quite sure what’s wrong so we suggest tweaks to help things run smoother hoping that will fix the problem. It never does. This recent (2024) book by C J Penn reads like his personal journal as he begins to remove […]

This hard-hitting book was published in 1966 by Clyde Reid. The full title is The God-Evaders: How Churches & Their Members Frustrate the Genuine Experience of Christ. Many books talk about the dysfunction of the church structure but this book focuses on the mutual evasion by the clergy and the laity in experiencing the genuine […]

My wife and I had the pleasure of meeting Jon and Dotty Zens a couple of weeks ago. It was an honor spending time with them and hearing stories of their travels around the world. They have been encouraging relational fellowships since 1977 so their knowledge is not only based on the Word but founded […]