Buddy's #2 Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God by David Platt

Multnomah sent me this book because I ordered 150+ copies of Radical. I was a little bit cynical, so I didn't read it for a while thinking that it was perhaps just a rehash of Radical. It was definitely my loss.

Radical Together is a great read for anyone whether you have read Radical or not, though I highly recommend Radical. Whereas Radical focuses more on the individual Radical Together talks about how the church can be unleashed to live out the gospel around the world for the Glory of God. Often after a good movie I will have the feeling of wanting to live my life in a way that makes a difference for all of eternity and not get bogged down in the day to day activities of life that can keep us from the most important things in life. I felt the same as I finished this book.

David Platt keeps going back to the sufficiency of Scripture and the need for the church to effectively make disciples. I have often thought that I wanted to do Church on the Side. As I was reading this book I had the thought, "I have have always wanted to do church on the side. Not to make it a smaller part of my life but a bigger part." May Radical Together encourage you to make making disciples a larger part of your life God the sake of God's Glory and his purposes being fulfilled in the world.

The clip below will give you richer taste of what the book is about.

Buddy's #1 God in a Brothel

Wow! What a poor choice for the first book of the year. Not because the book is poor but because it is disturbing.

Daniel Walker is a Kiwi who spent 4 years of his life in undercover work to fight human trafficking with 3 different human rights organizations. He deals with some of the realities of fighting slavery in a blunt manner and does not sugar coat much. I do think there are some things that he left out and I wish that he had not had to change the names of locations but I am sure to most that won't affect the impact of the book.

There is much to learn for those that are interested in being involved in bringing the love of Christ to the least and the last. I think it is a good read for those that do not want to directly get involved so that they can more effectively pray for those who are involved. Though I do not go out on investigations myself I work with those who do and feel the heaviness as they learn the stories of young girls and ladies on a weekly basis. I guess even the reason writing this is so difficult is because the fight is difficult and there are many casualties including Daniel Walker himself, in some ways.

Lead Like Ike, Buddy's #3

Having just visited Bastogne with my wife a few months ago I was keen to read a book regarding one of the central figures of WWII.

I really enjoyed the book as it combines a number of my favorite subjects, Business, Biography, Military and History. The ten leadership lessons that Geoff loftus pulls out were: 1. Determine Your Mission 2. Plan for Success 3. Stay Focused 4. Prioritize 5. Plan to Implement 6. Communicate 7. Motivate your People 8. Manage Your People 9. Avoid Project Creep 10. Be Honest

Not earth shaking leadership theory but great reminders as one seeks to lead. There were times when I felt the comparisons to business were a bit of a stretch for a military leader. One subject that the author belabored was how awful General Montgomery was and what a pain in the butt he was to lead. Probably the low point of Ike's leadership was the he continued to put up with Monty long after Monty should have been sacked. I do agree with the author's perspective but he said it so frequently it became annoying.

Overall I enjoyed the book and was impressed with Ike's dedication to the military, his preparedness and his quick ascension to the highest rank in the army. He rose from Colonel to 5 star general in 3 1/2 years.

A bonus side note is that Camp David was so named after Ike's grandson.

Buddy's #8 Pirate Latitudes

I have definitely not been reading enough novels and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  I read this book on my first day of our vacation to Tokyo and Sapporo.  At one point I was actually lost in the book and forgot that I was on a crowded Tokyo Subway until my wife's calls from across the Train brought me back to reality.

Mark said it well.  A little gruesome and gory but a fun read, nonetheless.

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