Monday, January 09, 2017

A Prayer

Heavenly King, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, present in all places and filling all things, Treasury of Goodness and Giver of life: come and abide in us. Cleanse us from every stain of sin and save our souls, O Gracious Lord.

Openly appearing ...

"Openly appearing to those who look for Him with all their heart, while hiding from those who run from Him with all their heart, God governs human knowledge of His presence. He gives signs that are visible to those who search for Him, and yet invisible to those who are indifferent to Him. To those who wish to see, God gives sufficient light; to those who do not wish to see, He gives sufficient darkness." 
-- Blaise Pascal (as quoted in Everyday Saints)

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Great Charities

Wycliffe Bible Translators
Faith Comes By Hearing

Prison Fellowship (U.S.)
Prison Fellowship International
The God's Story Project
Scriptures in Use
Medical Ambassadors International

Global CHE Network
ECHO
The Chalmers Center
Foundations for Farming

Farming God's Way
Disciple Nations Alliance

Medical Teams International
MAP International
Institute for Global Engagement
Access College Foundation
ForKids
Becket Law
VisionSynergy
Urban Discovery Ministries
Mid-Atlantic Teen Challenge
Recovery for Life (Virginia Beach)
Our Children's Trust
OrphaNetwork
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Environmental Progress
The Breakthrough Institute
Advanced Studies in Culture Foundation

The Landmark Story

The Landmark Story -- a video of a talk I gave at the University of Richmond

My Testimony on Nuclear Waste Recycling

Subcommittee on Energy Hearing - Nuclear Energy Innovation and the National Labs
(at 17:05)

Books on Climate Change and Related Topics

Whole Earth Discipline, Stewart Brand
Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, Mark Lynas
Power to Save the World, Gwyneth Cravens
Plentiful Energy: The Story of the Integral Fast Reactor, Charles Till and Yoon Chang
Prescription for the Planet, Tom Blees
The Coming Population Crash, Fred Pearce
Radical Abundance, Eric Drexler

Why Bible Translation?

No tool has more power to transform individuals and whole societies than the Bible when people read or hear it in their native language.

Many of the problems of the world – problems caused by individuals and problems caused by leaders of governments, organizations, and groups – are moral problems. Jesus' call for people to love God and their neighbor, to die to themselves, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit is the answer to these moral problems.

People without a written language need one. Literacy is a key to helping people to work their way out of poverty and to resist oppression by others. Children who first learn to read in their own language are more likely to become literate and to stay in school than those who first learn in a different language.

The Bible is a holy book for Christians of all stripes – Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant – and for Muslims. In our contentious world, a translated Bible provides common ground for discussion and a common guide to life for people from all backgrounds.

Books on History, Science, Technology and Culture

Salt Water and Printer's Ink, Lenoir Chambers and Joseph Shank
1493, Charles C. Mann
1491, Charles C. Mann
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
In a Dark Wood, Alston Chase
American Canopy, Eric Rutkow
Cod, Mark Kurlansky
The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester
Krakatoa, Simon Winchester
The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker
The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Wedge of Truth, Phillip E. Johnson
Signature in the Cell, Stephen Meyer
Gulp, Mary Roach
How Children Succeed, Paul Tough
The Smartest Kids in the World, Amanda Ripley
The Big Necessity, Rose George
Destiny of the Republic, Candice Millard
The River of Doubt, Candice Millard
A Higher Call, Adam Makos
How the West Won, Rodney Stark
The Next 100 Years, George Friedman
Flashpoints, George Friedman
The Far Corner, Stewart Holbrook
The Victorian Internet, Tom Standage
The Shepherd's Life, James Rebanks
Do No Harm, Henry Marsh
Lesser Beasts, Mark Essig
The Forest Unseen, David George Haskell
The Triumph of Seeds, Thor Hanson
War Against the Weak, Edwin Black
Preaching Eugenics, Christine Rosen
Illiberal Reformers, Thomas Leonard
Skunk Works, Ben Rich
747, Joe Sutter
One Doctor, Brendan Reilly
Bearing False Witness, Rodney Stark
The Winter Fortress, Neal Bascomb
The Nazi Hunters, Neal Bascomb
Where the Water Goes, David Owen
The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben
Church of Spies, Mark Riebling
Counting Backwards, Henry Jay Przybylo
Harpoon, Samuel M. Katz
A Natural History of North American Trees, Donald C. Peattie
How the Post Office Created America, Winifred Gallagher
Heart: A History, Sandeep Jauhar
Eager, Ben Goldfarb
Lost to the West, Lars Brownworth
Why We Sleep, Matthew Walker
Rogue Heroes, Ben Macintyre
Let There Be Water, Seth Siegel
Energy: A Human History, Richard Rhodes
The Big Ones, Lucy Jones
The Lost History of Christianity, Philip Jenkins
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World, Dan Koeppel
Potato: A History of the Propitious Esculent, John Reeder
Whirlwind, John Ferling
Scalia Speaks, Antonin Scalia
A Republic, If You Can Keep It, Neil Gorsuch
A Secular Age, Charles Taylor
Never Home Alone, Rob Dunn
This is your Brain on Parasites, Kathleen McAuliffe
Justice on Trial, M. Hemmingway and C. Severino
The Storm Before the Calm, George Friedman
The Most Powerful Idea in the World, William Rosen
The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman
The Zimmermann Telegram, Barbara Tuchman
Why Liberalism Failed, Patrick Deneen
The Politics of Gratitude, Mark T. Mitchell
The Limits of Liberalism, Mark T. Mitchell
Power and Purity, Mark T. Mitchell
Deadliest Enemy, Michael Osterholm
The Secret Life of Groceries, Benjamin Lord
Nothing Like It in the World, Stephen Ambrose
Building God's Kingdom, Julie Ingersoll
Christian Reconstruction, Michael McVicar
Before the Shooting Begins, James D. Hunter
The Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. Du Bois
The Age of Paradise, John Strickland
The Age of Division, John Strickland
The Age of Utopia, John Strickland
The Age of Nihilism, John Strickland
How Big Things Get Done, Bent Flyvbjerg
Blue Highways, William Least Heat-Moon

Books on Leadership

Frank Batten's speeches to Landmark meetings (privately published)
Fearless, Eric Blehm
Watership Down, Richard Adams
A Thousand Shall Fall, Susi Hasel Mundy
Vanya, Myrna Grant
The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership, Steven B. Sample
The Story of a Life, Guy Gaucher
Father Arseny 1893-1973, Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father
Father Arseny: A Cloud of Witnesses
The Deepest Well, Nadine Burke Harris
Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
Tattoos on the Heart, Gregory Boyle
Barking to the Choir, Gregory Boyle
The Whole Language, Gregory Boyle
Becoming Dallas Willard, Gary Moon
Hope in a Scattering Time, Eric Miller
A Silent Patriarch, Daniel Fanous
Whole Earth, John Markoff
St. Innocent: Apostle to America, Paul D. Garrett
Systems of Survival, Jane Jacobs

Christian books

The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan
The Calvary Road, Roy and Revel Hession
We Would See Jesus, Roy and Revel Hession
Old Paths, J.C. Ryle
Evidence Not Seen, Darlene Deibler Rose
For the Life of the World, Alexander Schmemann
Revival and Revivalism, Iain Murray
Evangelicalism Divided, Iain Murray
Wesley and Men Who Followed, Iain Murray
Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life, John Calvin
The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren
Common Ground, Jordan Bajis
Eastern Orthodoxy: A Way of Life, Anthony Coniaris
All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes, Kenneth Myers
The Shape of Sola Scriptura, Keith A. Mathison
Church Planting Movements, David Garrison
The Camel, Kevin Greeson
A Matter of Basic Principles, Don Veinot and others
Church is a Team Sport, Jim Putman
A Heart for Freedom, Chai Ling
Miraculous Movements, Jerry Trousdale
Under the Overpass, Mike Yankoski
Mission Drift, Peter Greer and Chris Horst
God's Double Agent, Bob Fu
The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard
Hearing God, Dallas Willard
Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard
The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard
Living in Christ's Presence, Dallas Willard and John Ortberg
Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster
The Meaning of Marriage, Timothy Keller
The Prodigal God, Timothy Keller
Counterfeit Gods, Timothy Keller
The Reason for God, Timothy Keller
Bruchko, Bruce Olsen
Voice in the Night, Surprise Sithole
Story of a Soul, St. Therese of Lisieux
Miracles, Eric Metaxas
Torches of Joy, John Dekker
When the Church Was Young, Marcellino D'Ambrosio
The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer
When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box, John Ortberg
The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day
Everywhere Present, Stephen Freeman
Becoming Orthodox, Peter Gilquist
Prison to Praise, Merlin Carothers
The Great Good Thing, Andrew Klavan
Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, Gregg Lewis
On the Incarnation, Athanasias
Christus Victor, Gustaf Aulen
The Experience of God, David Bentley Hart
Surprised by Christ, James Bernstein
The Ancestral Sin, John Romanides
Who is the Holy Spirit?, Sinclair Ferguson
Giving It All Away, David Green
You Are What You Love, James K.A. Smith
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos, Hieromonk Isaac
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, Vladimir Lossky
Welcome to the Orthodox Church, Frederica Matthewes-Green
Time and Despondency, Nicole Roccas
Life in the Trinity, Donald Fairbairn
Free to Believe, Luke Goodrich
Laurus, Eugene Vodolazkin
Everyday Saints and Other Stories, Archimandrite Tikhon
The 21, Martin Mosebach
Big in Heaven, Stephen Siniari
Secret Turning, Stephen Siniari
Thinking Orthodox, Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou
Peace Child, Don Richardson
A Spiritual Psalter, St. Ephraim the Syrian
The Crucifixion of the King of Glory, Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou
The Sweetness of Grace, Constantina R. Palmer
The Scent of Holiness, Constantina R. Palmer
The Orthodox Way, Kallistos Ware
A Daily Calendar of Saints, Lawrence Farley
Rediscovering the Goodness of Creation, Robin Phillips
Paul's "Works of the Law" in the Perspective of Second-Century Perception, Matthew Thomas
Theosis: Patristic Remedy for Evangelical Yearning at the Close of the Modern Age, M.P. Gama




Business Books

The Weather Channel, Frank Batten
Frank Batten's speeches to Landmark meetings (privately published)
Built to Last, Jim Collins
Good to Great, Jim Collins
Made in America, Sam Walton
The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton Christensen
The Innovator's Solution, Clayton Christensen
The Innovator's DNA, J. Dyer, H. Gregersen and C. Christensen
Strategy and Structure, Alfred Chandler
The Essays of Warren Buffett, Lawrence Cunningham, editor
The Making of an American Capitalist, Roger Lowenstein
Manias, Panics, and Crashes, Charles Kindleberger
The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership, Steven Sample
Poor Charlie's Almanack, Peter D. Kaufman, editor
The Black Swan, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Catalyst, Jeanne Liedtka and others (This book describes Conrad Hall's outstanding work of creating organic growth at Landmark, Trader and Dominion.)
Execution, Larry Bossidy
The Snowball, Alice Schroeder
Gates, Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews
How to Lie With Statistics, Darrell Huff (This book teaches you how not to be taken in by those who lie with statistics.)
Pleased But Not Satisfied, David Sokol
The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor
Sway, Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
Yes, N. Goldstein, S. Martin and R. Cialdini
The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
The Willpower Instinct, Kelly McGonigal
Love Works, Joel Manby
The Outsiders, William Thorndike
Where are the Customers' Yachts, Fred Schwed
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Edwin Lefevre
Breaking Rockefeller, Peter B. Doran
The Go-Go Years, John Brooks
Once in Golconda, John Brooks
The Phoenix Project, Gene Kim and Kevin Bahr
Shoe Dog, Phil Knight
One Buck at a Time, Macon Brock and Earl Swift
Berkshire Beyond Buffett, Lawrence Cunningham
Glory Lost and Found, Seth Kaplan and Jay Shabat
The Panic of 1907, Robert Bruner and Sean Carr
Harriman vs. Hill, Larry Haeg
Devil Take the Hindmost, Edward Chancellor
Riding the Rails, Robert D. Krebs

Books on development

When Helping Hurts, Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett
And the Word Came With Power, Joanne Shetler and Patricia Purvis
Discipling Nations, Darrow Miller
Hidden People, Lynette Oates
Christianity Rediscovered, Vincent Donovan
At the Foot of the Snows, David E. Watters
Wide as the Waters, Benson Bobrick
Spirit of the Rainforest, Mark Andrew Ritchie
Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright
The Man Who Moved A Mountain, Richard Davids
Walking With The Poor, Bryant Myers
In the Land of Blue Burqas, Kate McCord
When Charity Destroys Dignity, Glenn Schwartz
Bruchko, Bruce Olson
Fierce Compassion, K. and K. Wong
Health for All: The Vanga Story, Daniel E. Fountain
The Deepest Well, Nadine Burke Harris
Becoming Whole, Brian Fikkert and Kelly Kapic
A Field Guide to Becoming Whole, Brian Fikkert and Kelly Kapic


Also:
The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark
How Christianity Changed the World, Alvid Schmidt
Lifework, Darrow Miller
African Friends and Money Matters, David E. Maranz
If Jesus Were Mayor, Bob Moffitt
The Forest in the Seed, Scott Allen and Darrow Miller
The Invisible Cure, Helen Epstein
Triumph of the City, Edward Glaeser
Stories of Transformation, Ravi Jayakaran
A Path Appears, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
The Moment of Lift, Melinda French Gates

Books on Work

Every Good Endeavor, Timothy Keller
Passion and Purpose, Marlys Hanson
Range, David Epstein

Parenting and Marriage Books

Age of Opportunity, Paul David Tripp
Children of Paradise, Lee Hausner
Yes, Your Teen is Crazy, Michael Bradley
Season of Life, Jeffrey Marx
His Needs, Her Needs, Willard Harley
Love Busters, Willard Harley
The Meaning of Marriage, Tim Keller

My Favorite Preachers

Jack Howell

Nigel Anderson

Kevin Tremper

Fr. John Cox

Bishop T. D. Jakes

Sinclair B. Ferguson

Fr. Stephen Freeman has an excellent blog: Glory to God for All Things

Fr. Thomas Hopko, audio available from SVS Press. "The Word of the Cross" is especially good.

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware


The Safest Bank

He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD,
and he will reward him for what he has done. (Proverbs 19:17)

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Luke 12:33-34)

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." (Luke 21:1-4)
This passage is a convicting reminder that, in God's eyes, the biggest donors are not those who give the most money but those who spend the least on themselves. That makes me a small donor.

My favorite Bible passages

I aspire to live by these truths, but I fall far short in doing so.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Luke 18:9-14
I Corinthians 15:1-4
Romans 3:20-26
Psalm 23
John 3:1-21
Ephesians 2:1-10
Philippians 3:7-14
Philippians 4:4-8
Romans 8:28-39
John 6:35-40
John 14:1-6
Matthew 11:28-30
Luke 10:25-37
Philippians 2:1-16
Hebrews 12:1-29
Romans 12:1-2
Matthew 7:24-27
Luke 15:1-32
Matthew 12:34-37
Matthew 7:13-14
I Corinthians 1:17-2:16
Isaiah 6
Revelation chapters 4, 5, 21 and 22

Sunday, May 10, 2015

A Prayer for Grace

My most merciful and all-merciful God, O Lord Jesus Christ! In Thy great love, Thou didst come down and become flesh in order to save all. Again, I pray Thee, save me by Grace! If Thou shouldst save me because of my deeds, it would not be a gift, but merely a duty. Truly, Thou aboundest in graciousness and art inexpressibly merciful! Thou hast said, O my Christ: “He who believes in me shall live and never see death.” If faith in Thee saves the desperate, behold: I believe! Save me, for Thou art my God and my Maker. May my faith replace my deeds, O my God, for Thou wilt find no deeds to justify me. May my faith be sufficient for all. May it answer for me; may it justify me; may it make me a partaker of Thine eternal glory; and may Satan not seize me, O Word, and boast that He has torn me from Thy hand and fold. O Christ my Savior: save me whether I want it or not! Come quickly, hurry, for I perish! Thou art my God from my mother’s womb. Grant, O Lord, that I may now love Thee as once I loved sin, and that I may labor for Thee without laziness as once I labored for Satan the deceiver. Even more, I will labor for Thee, my Lord and God Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.