Spiritual Formation
- Good to Great in God’s Eyes: 10 Practices Great Christians Have in Commonby Chip Ingram
- Renovation of the Heart Video Curriculum by Dallas Willard, being used by our East Asia teams.
- A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul Miller. Recommended by Jerry Benge.
- Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. Also available as a free download as of March 15, 2012. Recommended by Derek Baker (phenomenal in reminding us of the importance of prayer in missions)
- Mentored Sonship – 8-month mentoring program by World Harvest Mission for those in full-time ministry.
- Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing by C. J. Mahaney. “A small book, quick read, that reminds me of some very central Gospel truths…a book that I actually re-read once a year. Really has helped me to preach the Gospel to myself and refreshes me in the completed work of Christ and how that applies to my life as well as my ministry to others.”
- The Idol Factory, a series of 3 sermons by C. J. Mahaney, Free for download.
- Future Grace by John Piper. Free sample of first 3 chapters available for PDF download from Desiring God website.
- Godly Servants: Discipleship and Spiritual Formation for Missionaries by David Teague.
- Faith Comes by Hearing – David Benzel writes, “You can download Bibles in various languages and translations to listen to, which I do constantly. You have to sign up to download something (but I’ve never gotten any mail from them) and they limit how many versions you can download at one time. There is probably about 20 various English options to download (dramatized, etc.). They used to have the NIV but don’t any more. But they do have the ESV.”
Personal Change
- You Can Change: God’s Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions by Tim Chester. Recommended by Jacob Ginter. “discipleship that gets to the heart of the matter… not formulaic”
- Heart of the Problem: When You’re Tired of ‘Just Coping’ with Your Struggles and Want to Find a Cure, You’re Ready to Face the… by Henry Brandt and Kerry Skinner. Recommended by John Paetkau.
- Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love by Jerry Bridges. “Great book to help us understand the enabling power of grace and the transforming work of grace. Much of this book exposed my own legalistic tendencies and pointed me to the finished work of Christ (like most of Bridges’ books).”
- Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. Recommended by Andy Spradley. “A unique and very insightful look at the Sermon on the Mount. Seeks to inspire the reader to live a “God-saturated life”. Richard Foster (author of Celebration of Discipline) called it “the book I have been waiting for all my life”. A rich book for personal spiritual growth and reflection. I’m being inspired even more as I read it through for the 2nd time.”
- Hazards of Being a Man: Overcoming 12 Challenges All Men Face by Jeffery E. Miller. Audio series also available as well as discussion guides. Recommended by Ron Redell. “Each entry in the series focuses on a different challenges that men face through eyes of Old Testament lives. All of the examples that Pastor Miller uses are negative examples so that we can learn from their failures.”
- Counselling Resources at Christian Counselling and Educational Foundation, particularly articles by David Powlison, recommended by Jim Gabriels.
Personal Evaluation
- Cure for the Common Life: Living in your sweet spot by Max Lucado
Lifelong Learning in Mission
- Refocusing Leadership Retreats – put on by CRM.
Applied Theology
- Foundations of the Christian Faith (Master Reference Collection) by James Montgomery Boice. Recommended by Anne Marie Smoker. “A systematic theology book for the lay. The first half of the book is solid theology, may not interest some folks. But the second half of the book I’ve used over and over again in ministry as I relate to people and try to bring Christ into our conversations.”
This page was last checked for dead links on August 3, 2026.