I had a major book weekend.

On my journey of Rediscovering the Church, I have discovered some VERY talented writers – and many of them are hidden, almost unnoticed by the Church. You may even have one or two of them sitting just a few seats away from you on a Sunday morning without ever knowing it.

It is my honor and privilege to be in a position where I am being sent some great Christian books to review, almost all by authors I have never heard of before. This weekend, I sat down and read three such books: Yesterday’s Embers, Scenarios 1: Truth Or Dare and Scenarios 2: All That Glitters. I’m going to be reviewing them all later this week.

Today though, I’d like to highlight two books that I have reviewed in the past which think are essential reading:

If God Were Real: A Journey into a Faith That Matters is an excellent book which explores in depth the idea that, if God really, truly is real then surely we should live like it.

John Avant doesn’t hold back in his discussions of how we, as the Church, are failing to make a case for Christ with our lives and what we need to do to fix it.

Absolutely essential reading for everyone, in my opinion.

The Firstborn is Conlan Brown’s first published novel and it is AWESOME.

I’ve never read a work of fiction which is so gripping and readable while being incredibly educational at the same time.

Without giving away the storyline, it is fast paced, exciting and thought provoking and is a great read for anyone.

I highly recommend it for what it teaches about unity among believers and as a great piece of fiction!

Come back later in the week for reviews of the books I read this weekend!