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Info
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What: Central Community Group
When: Tuesday nights - Starts @ 7:30pm
Where: 6007b Shadow Valley Cove here in Austin, Texas - Call for directions: 817.271.7033
Leaders: J.R. & Amy Woods
 for more info
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Calendar
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 April 21th - 25th - REAP Bible Study - Updated each Monday
April 22th - CG | Potluck @ Lindsey's Apt. @ The Triangle - see email
April 26th - Disc Golf|Zilker @ 10 am
April 27th - Covenant Class @ 5:00
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Featured Books |
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 Spiritual Journeys: How Faith Has Influenced 12 Music Icons by Steve Beard
Purchase:
Amazon Books
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 The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee
Purchase:
Amazon Books
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 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Purchase:
Amazon Books
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The readers
Curious about other people in the group are reading? Click on the links below and enjoy. If you'd like, you can setup your own profile(s), just follow the links below. Once you get setup, let baylis know which site you signed up with and he'll throw you up here. |
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Books to read....
- 12 Steps for Recovering Pharisee (like me) - John Fischer
Who Are We to Judge? We have met the Pharisees, and they are...us. Thats because we are all slaves to self-righteousness and judgmentalism. Its built into human nature. We set the standardthe list of dos and dontsto which others must adhere. Then we associate this predetermined behavior with righteousness and declare, A Christian wouldn't do that...read more about the Recovering Pharisee.
- Abide in Christ - Andrew Murray
Classic work of Andrew Murray who understood the heart of God. If you desire to live a holy life, but don't understand how, this is the book for you. Christ said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." If that is not your experience, this book reveals the secret....read more about Abide in Christ.
- Absolute Surrender - Andrew Murray
This book-simple and powerful is the result of Murray's passionate exploration of the issue of surrender: why it's seemingly impossible and yet completely necessary...read more about Absolute Surrender.
- Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. . . . I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened.” In Donald Miller's early years, he was vaguely familiar with a distant God. But when he came to know Jesus Christ, he pursued the Christian life with great zeal. Within a few years he had a successful ministry that ultimately left him feeling empty, burned out, and, once again, far away from God. In this intimate, soul-searching account, Miller describes his remarkable journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely loving God...read more about Blue Like Jazz.
- Christ the Healer - F. F. Bosworth
This book has helped many receive their healing by acting on the truth found within its pages. One of the biggest truths that I took away was the fact that you cannot have faith for something if you do not know God's will on the matter. Without a knowledge of God's will concerning healing or any other matter, you cannot have confidence. Remember, faith is confidence and trust. These two things will never be found where you are ignorant of God's will!...read more about Christ the Healer.
- The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis, is one of the very few sets of books that should be read three times: in childhood, early adulthood, and late in life. In brief, four children travel repeatedly to a world in which they are far more than mere children and everything is far more than it seems. Richly told, populated with fascinating characters, perfectly realized in detail of world and pacing of plot, and profoundly allegorical, the story is infused throughout with the timeless issues of good and evil, faith and hope...read more about the Chronicles of Narnia.
- Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, but Nobody Wants to Die: Or the Eschatology of Bluegrass - David Crowder & Mike Hogan
The conflict between the here and now and the ever after is a familiar one. Death and life are forever intertwined, as a life lived to the fullest includes pain and grief. Even more, it requires dying to self, which frees one to experience a greater joy: community. Thus explains best- selling recording artist David Crowder as he explores the complex relationship between life, death, grief and community. Drawing from personal experience, Christian theology, the science of pain and the “high, lonesome sound” of bluegrass music, Crowder applies his often hilarious voice to an inspiring message—death is not the ultimate calamity ... it is just the beginning...read more about Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven.
- The Faces of Jesus - Frederick Buechner
“[Buechner is] one of our most original storytellers.” - USA Today read more about the Faces of Jesus.
- Fearless Faith - John Fischer
Christian radio, Christian television, Christian schools, and Christian activism have created a cushion that protects believers from a world that often ridicules Christian beliefs and values. Is this the life of faith Christ’s followers are called to? Christian leader and musician John Fischer challenges believers to break out of the safety zone and share Christ through acts of love, intelligent conversation, and genuine compassion. Readers will discover how they can...read more about Fearless Faith.
- The Four Loves - C.S. Lewis
The Four Loves summarizes four kinds of human love--affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God. Masterful without being magisterial, this book's wise, gentle, candid reflections on the virtues and dangers of love draw on sources from Jane Austen to St. Augustine. The chapter on charity (love of God) may be the best thing Lewis ever wrote about Christianity. Consider his reflection on Augustine's teaching that one must love only God, because only God is eternal, and all earthly love will someday pass away...read more about the Four Loves.
- Free at Last - Tony Evans
This reader says it best: 'Tony Evans explores the problem of Christians who continue to sin and who do not fully utilize the freedom they have received in Christ. He compares Satan to a plantation owner who knows that legally his slaves have been freed, but who tries to convince them that they'll never make it in this world without him. He says that sometimes we need to make it to rock bottom before we realize that 'Christ IS the Rock at the bottom.' This is a very inspiring and encouraging book, both for those who have not confessed Christ and for those who have been Christians for many years...read more about Free at Last.
- God's Smuggler - Brother Andrew
As a boy he dreamed of being a spy undercover behind enemy lines. As a man he found himself undercover for God. Brother Andrew was his name and for decades his life story, recounted in God's Smuggler, has awed and inspired millions. The bestseller tells of the young Dutch factory worker's incredible efforts to transport Bibles across closed borders-and the miraculous ways in which God provided for him every step of the way...read more about God's Smuggler.
- Humility - Andrew Murray
When Jesus "made himself nothing...taking the nature of a servant," He modeled for all believers true humility. Andrew Murray calls this "our true nobility" and "the distinguishing feature of discipleship." With insightful, penetrating clarity, Murray calls all Christians to turn from pride, empty themselves, and study the character of Christ to be filled with His grace...read more about Humility.
- Jesus, the One and Only - Beth Moore
In her previous books, Beth Moore has introduced her readers to David and Paul. In Jesus, the One and Only, Beth introduces them to an intimate Savior as they get a close-up and personal portrait of the life of Jesus the Messiah. But this is far more than just a work on the life of Christ. As He has done in the past, God uses Beth's words to woo the reader into a romance with the One and Only. The reader comes to know Christ personally, watching and listening as He breaks up a funeral by raising the dead, confronts conniving religious leaders of His day, teaches on a Galilean hillside, or walks on the waves and calms the storm...read more about Jesus, the One and Only.
- Morning & Evening - C. H. Spurgeon
For over one hundred years, Christians have gotten up and gone to bed with Charles Spurgeon’s devotional Morning and Evening as a companion. With a reading to begin and end each day throughout the year, you will come to appreciate Spurgeon’s emphasis on the importance of abiding in Christ and meditating on God’s Word. His wisdom and counsel provide a timeless guide through the trials and triumphs of the year. The richness of his biblical understanding offers readers a look into the heart of one of England’s foremost pastors and enduring Christian authors...read more about Morning & Evening.
- My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers
Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate, attests to this: “no book except the Bible has influenced my walk with Christ at such deep maturing levels.” This is Chambers's chief desire, directing the reader to “shut out every other consideration and keep yourself before God for this one thing only--My Utmost for His Highest... determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and for Him alone.” --Jill Heatherly...read more about My Utmost for His Highest.
- The Normal Christian Life - Watchman Nee
Have you ever heard of Watchman Nee? He was a Chinese national, and the penultimate Christian missionary. He was finally arrested by the Communists when they came to power in China, and he spent the last two decades of his life in a small, barren prison cell. Almost all of his books are transcriptions of his sermons. This one is a series which studies Paul's letter to the “Romans.”...read more about the Normal Christian Life.
- Save Me From Myself - Brian 'Head' Welch
Save Me From Myself is simply the result of a new believer being obedient in sharing his story. As you read Brian Welch's journey from achieving rock n' roll stardom to giving it all up to follow his God, you can't help but see the Redemptive Story we are all in and the power our testimony has in that.read more about Save Me From Myself.
- Searching for God Knows What - Donald Miller
Readers will learn to identify in themselves and within others the universal desire for redemption. They will discover that the gospel of Jesus is the only way to find meaning in life and true redemption. Mature believers as well as seekers and new Christians will find themselves identifying with the narrative journey unfolded in the book, which is simply the pursuit of redemption...read more about Searching for God Knows What.
- Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale - Frederick Buechner
“With profound intelligence, Buechner's [work] does what the finest, most appealing literature does: It displays and illumines the seemingly unrelated mysteries of human character and ultimate ideas.” - Annie Dillard, Boston Globe read more about Telling the Truth.
- Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith - Anne Lamott
For most writers, the greatest challenge of spiritual writing is to keep it grounded in concrete language. The temptation is to wander off into the clouds of ethereal epiphanies, only to lose readers with woo-woo thinking and sacred-laced clichés. Thankfully, Anne Lamott (Operating Instructions, Crooked Little Heart) knows better. In this collection of essays, Lamott offers her trademark wit and irreverence in describing her reluctant journey into faith. Every epiphany is framed in plainspoken (and, yes, occasionally crassly spoken) real-life, honest-to-God experiences...read more about Traveling Mercies.
- U2 by U2 - U2
In 1975, four teenagers from Mount Temple School in Dublin gathered in a crowded kitchen to discuss forming a band. The drum kit just about fit into the room, the lead guitarist was playing a homemade guitar, the bassist could barely play at all and nobody wanted to sing. Over thirty years later, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. are still together, bound by intense loyalty, passionate idealism and a relentless belief in the power of rock and roll to change the world...read more about U2.
- Walking on Water - Madeleine L'Engle
“[B]ecause I am a struggling Christian, it's inevitable that I superimpose my awareness of all that happened in the life of Jesus upon what I'm reading, upon Buber, upon Plato, upon the Book of Daniel. But I'm not sure that's a bad thing. To be truly Christian means to see Christ everywhere, to know him as all in all.” read more about Walking on Water.
- The Weight of Glory - C. S. Lewis
“Lewis combines a novelist's insights into motives with a profound religious understanding.” - The New York Times Book Review read more about the Weight of Glory.
- What's so Amazing about Grace? - Philip Yancey
The grace of which Philip Yancey writes is the freely given and unmerited favor and love of God. This grace seems a remote, almost sentimental concept, without a place in our lives or our society. It is a vague, slippery thing to us, probably because we seem to experience grace so rarely and have managed to leech the word of meaning. But Philip Yancey has set about to rescue grace in his book What's So Amazing About Grace? read more about What's so Amazing about Grace.
- Wild at Heart - John Eldredge
Helping men rediscover their masculine heart, this guide to understanding Christian manhood and Christian men offers a refreshing break from the chorus of voices urging men to be more responsible, reliable, dutiful… and dead. God designed men to be dangerous, says John Eldredge. Simply look at the dreams and desires written in the heart of every boy: To be a hero, to be a warrior, to live a life of adventure and risk. Sadly, most men abandon those dreams and desires-aided by a Christianity that feels like nothing more than pressure to be a “nice guy.” read more about Wild at Heart.
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Quotes
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“The noise in my head was deafening, and drinking was in my thoughts all the time. It shocked me to realize that here I was in a treatment center, a supposedly safe environment, and I was in serious danger. I was absolutely terrified, in complete despair. At that moment, almost of their own accord, my legs gave way and I fell to my knees. In the privacy of my room, I begged for help. I had no notion who I thought I was talking to, I just knew that I had come to the end of my tether, I had nothing left to fight with. Then I remembered what I had heard about surrender, something I thought I could never do, my pride just wouldn’t allow it, but I knew that on my own I wasn’t going to make it, so I asked for help, and, getting down on my knees, I surrendered. Within a few days I realized that something had happened for me. An atheist would probably say it was just a change of attitude, and to a certain extent that’s true, but there was much more to it than that. I had found a place to turn to, a place I’d always known was there but never really wanted, or needed, to believe in. From that day until this, I have never failed to pray in the morning, on my knees, asking for help, and at night, to express gratitude for my life and, most of all, for my sobriety. I choose to kneel because I feel I need to humble myself when I pray, and with my ego, this is the most I can do. If you are asking why I do all this, I will tell you…because it works, as simple as that. In all this time that I’ve been sober, I have never once seriously thought of taking a drink or a drug. I have no problem with religion, and I grew up with a strong curiosity about spiritual matters, but my searching took me away from church and community worship to the internal journey. Before my recovery began, I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walter. In some way, in some form, my God was always there, but now I have learned to talk to him.”
- Eric Clapton on his 20 year sobriety in Clapton: The Autobiography (Quote provided by Steve Beard of Thunderstruck)
more quotes
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Just to make it clear, we nor the Austin Stone endorse all of the ideas or quotes that are presented on this website, except, of course, the ones we've written ourselves. This is just point of clarification. This website exists to join a community of believers together and “to explore the collision between pop culture and the realms of faith, religion, and spirituality. Sometimes that is tidy, and orthodox. More often than not, however, it is not.” (Stolen from a better writer than myself.) Our intent is not to offend, but to merely inform.
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