Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination

John Corvino, Ryan T. Anderson, and Sherif Girgis (Oxford University Press)
All Americans support religious freedom and oppose discrimination — except for when they don’t. “But the devil is in the details,” write John Corvino, Ryan T. Anderson, and Sherif Girgis, “and these topics are rich with controversial details.” Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination presents a point-counterpoint debate between Corvino, who argues that contemporary religious-freedom claims constitute “a license to discriminate,” and Anderson and Girgis, who argue that laws prohibiting LGBT discrimination needlessly violate religious freedom. Many Americans despair of contemporary political discourse, but this book shows that debate on a hot-button social issue can be conducted with both substance and civility.

As Kingfishers Catch Fire

Eugene H. Peterson (WaterBrook)
Near the beginning of his pastorate, Eugene H. Peterson found himself tossed about by “the winds of the times.” The 1960s were a tumultuous decade, and many voices clamored for his attention. On top of that, he felt “increasingly at odds” with his denominational advisors, whose ideas of leadership came “almost entirely from business and consumer models.” So he turned to God’s Word to see what it said about doing God’s will God’s way. As Kingfishers Catch Fire is a collection of 49 sermons which consider that theme. It is a master class in what Scripture says about the pastoral care of souls.

Multipliers, Revised and Updated

Liz Wiseman (Harper Business)
Leading a church is hard because of what David Allen calls “new demands, insufficient resources.” Or, as Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:37). Too many pastors respond to new demands on their own. They fail to see God’s resources in the spiritual gifts distributed throughout their congregations. In consequence, pastors burn out and followers feel underutilized. Wiseman wrote Multipliers to figure out how leaders can grow the intelligence and capability of their organizations. It contains insights about leading others that are relevant in ministry.

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2017 edition of Influence magazine.