Here are resources to assist you as you begin your new journey with Jesus Christ.

The Purpose Driven Life

by Rick Warren

You are not an accident.  Even before the universe was created, God had you in mind, and he planned you for his purposes.  These purposes will extend far beyond the few years you will spend on earth. You were made to last forever!

Self-help books often suggest that you try to discover the meaning and purpose of your life by looking within yourself, but Rick Warren says that is the wrong place to start. You must begin with God, your Creator, and his reasons for creating you.   You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.

This book will help you understand why you are alive and God's amazing plan for you both here and now, and for eternity.   Rick Warren will guide you through a personal 40-day spiritual journey that will transform your answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I here for?  Knowing God's purpose for creating you will reduce your stress, focus your energy, simplify your decisions, give meaning to your life, and, most importantly, prepare you for eternity.

The Purpose-Driven Life is a blueprint for Christian living in the 21st century based on God's eternal purposes, not cultural values.  Using over 1,200 scriptural quotes and references, it challenges the conventional definitions of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism.  In the tradition of Oswald Chambers, Rick Warren offers distilled wisdom on the essence of what life is all about.

This is a book of hope and challenge that you will read and re-read, and it will be a classic treasured by generations to come.

ISBN: 9780310205715
2002 Zondervan
336 pages

Mere Christianity

by C.S. Lewis

Arguably the 20th century's most influential Christian writer, C.S. Lewis sought to explain and defend the beliefs that nearly all Christians at all times hold in common.  His simple yet deeply profound classic, originally delivered as a series of radio broadcasts, is a book to be thoroughly digested by believers and generously shared with skeptics.

ISBN: 9780060652920
2001 Zondervan/harpersanfransico
240 pages

The Ragamuffin Gospel

by Brennan Manning

Most of us believe in God's grace—in theory.  But somehow we can't seem to apply it in our daily lives.  We continue to see Him as a small-minded bookkeeper, tallying our failures and successes on a score sheet. Yet God gives us His grace, willingly, no matter what we've done. We come to Him as ragamuffins—dirty, bedraggled, and beat-up.  And when we sit at His feet, He smiles upon us, the chosen objects of His "furious love."  Brennan Manning's now-classic meditation on grace and what it takes to access it—simple honesty—has changed thousands of lives.  It will change yours, too.

ISBN: 9781590525029
2005 WaterBrook Press
272 pages

The Case For Christ

 by Lee Strobel

A seasoned journalist chases down the biggest story in history.  Is there credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God?  Retracing his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith, Lee Strobel, former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates from schools like Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis who are recognized authorities in their own fields.  Strobel challenges them with questions like; How reliable is the New Testament?  Does evidence for Jesus exist outside the Bible?  Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event?

Strobel's tough, point-blank questions make this Gold Medallion-winning book read like a captivating, fast-paced novel.  But it's not fiction.  It's a riveting quest for the truth about history's most compelling figure.  What will your verdict be in The Case for Christ?  Lee Strobel probes with bulldog-like tenacity the evidence for the truth of biblical Christianity.  Lee Strobel asks the questions a tough-minded skeptic would ask.  Every inquirer should have it.

ISBN: 0310209307
1998 Zondervan
304 pages

The Pursuit of God

by A.W. Tozer

In the muddle of day-to-day life, have you somehow forgotten that Christianity is a living, vibrant relationship with a personal God?  In this classic bestseller and recipient of both the ECPA Gold and Platinum Book Awards, The Pursuit of God reminds and challenges you to renew your relationship with your loving God.

In each of the 10 chapters, Tozer explains one aspect of hungering for God and ends with a prayer.  This classic was written during a train trip from Chicago to McAllen, Texas, in the late 1940s.  Tozer wrote all night, the words coming to him as fast as he could put them down.

ISBN: 9781600660153
2006 Wingspread Publishers
121 pages

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