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geoffreybaines

geoffreybaines

  • member since December 6 2007

Reviews

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Displaying 11-20 of 61 reviews
  • Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy
    • Rated 4 stars

    This is the story of the Amish children who were shot at their school in Nickel Mines in October of 2006, and how the Amish community responded to this tragedy. It is a highly inspiring and challenging story, and one that needs to be read in order to understand where the forgiveness and grace of the Amish comes from.

    It isn't told in story-form, and perhaps some of the questions the reader might otherwise ask, are addressed.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Monday, March 30 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Dreams from My Father
    • Rated 4 stars

    I guess, like so many others, I felt the hope surrounding the election of Barack Obama to the White House and had to read more.

    I didn't know much about this book when I chose it over 'The Audacity of Hope,' so I found myself slowly getting into it, and once warmed up, I was thoroughly engaged with the story of Barack Obama growing through the different stages of life, wondering where he might end up (it can beggar belief to find know where he did end up). I expected something different in terms of the relationship with his father, but the truth and reality fo that makes for a far more poignant story.

    I will certainly be reading more from Obama.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Friday, March 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • In His Steps
    • Rated 4 stars

    When I heard about this book I wanted to read it. Although written in 1896, I found it very readable and also very challenging for the 21st century. Written as a novel, the question "What would Jesus do?" begs many interesting questions of the different characters in it, not to mention the shape of the church in the face of human needs.

    You'll probably smile at the style and some of ideas, but it's a classic that needs to be read.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Sunday, March 15 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Hopeful Imagination: Prophetic Voices in Exile
    • Rated 4 stars

    I happened to be reading through the early chapters of Jeremiah, as I read Walter Brueggemann's insights into the experiences and messages of three prophets: Ezekiel and Isaiah, as well as Jeremiah.

    It's a heavier read but thoroughly rewarding. I think i was able to carry on my reading of an Old Testament prophet in a much more understanding way.

    The reason for opening up these things, Brueggemann claims, is because the pivotal year of 587 BC(E) for Israel is a metaphor for us today - a time of relinquishing and receiving. From this premise he opens up the elements of the messages of the three prophets.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Tuesday, March 10 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Your Personality and the Spiritual Life
    • Rated 3 stars

    If you know me, you know I am fascinated by what makes people who they are. I got hold of this book as it married what we call the spiritual life with the personality types offered by the Myers-Briggs assessment, which I wanted to get a better feel for alongside Strengths. As such, this book offers itself as a good, standard, if not off the paved road, read.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Tuesday, March 10 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World
    • Rated 4 stars

    This book was a complete surprise for me. Someone suggested that I read this so I had no idea what it would be about. What I found was a thoroughly inspiring read about the lives of the Jesuits as they lived out their values of self awareness, ingenuity, love, and heroism. These concepts stir me daily as I seek to explore making the world human again - something we can not be about, I would dare to venture - without such values being lived out in our own lives.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Tuesday, March 10 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Appeal
    • Rated 4 stars

    A great read, even though it was not the ending I wanted.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Wednesday, January 7 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs
    • Rated 4 stars

    I owe a huge amount to Bill Hybels.

    Almost eleven years ago now, he was a significant part of a church that made space for a worn-out Methodist minister to begin again.

    Although I wouldn't want to be part of a mega-church myself, I have huge respect for this man's leadership which has held high the value of mission. In 'Axiom' you catch a glimpse of how this has been possible.

    As I read through the book it occurred to me how you don't get to build up such a long list of leadership proverbs by missing the mission point, rather it is exactly because of how this has been pursued with great intention.

    I appreciated reading through these again, and feel sharper for it.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Friday, January 2 2009. ( reply | permalink )
  • Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts
    • Rated 3 stars

    This is another book passed to me by someone to read this year. It's a good little book on the arts, with some very helpful thinking about how to be a Christ-follower whether you are in the arts or not.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Saturday, December 27 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • Wide Awake: Start Dreaming with Your Eyes Open
    • Rated 4 stars

    I love anything from Erwin McManus. Just recently, when asked for my favourite book, it was one of Erwin's I could pull from a list of candidates ('The Barbarian Way'. Probably the fact that I'd read it once a year over the four years had something to do with it.

    This book is a further development of what Erwin has to share about the creativity of human beings. Whilst not as tightly written as other books by him, there are many good ideas and thoughts to explore as a fellow traveller of one who wants to dream wide awake.

    As always with his writing, there is a sense of a quest beneath the surface, which builds up the meaning of what we shall find when we awaken the hero, as: artist, explorer, alchemist, believer, seer, activist, hedonist, romantic, human. There may be some words amongst these that don't seem to belong for a follower of Christ, but read on and you won't be disappointed.

    geoffreybaines wrote this review Tuesday, December 23 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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