It’s a precious thing to be offered a glimpse into another’s imagination and research. Dwight has written just enough to have a profound sense of gratitude for those courageous souls who are willing to let an idea interrogate them to the point that they must wrestle their experience onto the page… words offered as a gift to the world. To then take those ideas and research, think, pray, meditate, dream, question, write, revise, rewrite, edit, and edit, and still more editing – that is love. These “word gifts” participate in humanity’s ongoing quest for meaning and wisdom.
Below are many of the books for which Dwight has penned endorsements. Each of the following authors are people who have wrestled to further our collective human conversation… we salute you! Dwight recommends these people and their writings to you.
If you are looking for a book endorsement, a foreword/afterword, or some other support for your project, Dwight can be reached through this site, and text or phone.
Recommended Reading
Biblical Hermeneutics in the Metamodern Mood: Understanding Differences in Interpretation and Theological Integration in Practice
by Seán McGuire
“Biblical Hermeneutics in the Metamodern Mood is an invaluable resource for helping followers of Jesus see scriptural interpretation with fresh eyes. With wisdom and acumen, Seán McGuire enables readers to critically reflect on both their own hermeneutic while fostering a kind of thoughtful curiosity about interpretive lenses employed by others. In a time of increasing division, this book equips readers to engage with the sacred text in a way that is both faithful to their own context—body, time, place, communities, and traditions—and open to diverse perspectives.”
Abundant Lives: A Progressive Christian Ethic of Flourishing
“Abundant Lives is a gracious wooing to a transformational journey opening you and I to a way of love. Amanda Udis-Kessler dares us to discover afresh, that we are in this together, we actually need each other… that maybe, Jesus’ invitation to love God and love neighbor as we learn to love ourselves is a reliable pathway to flourishing lives and a flourishing planet. This is a must-read for anyone who senses that there might be more to life than partisan divisiveness, ideological separations, and cultural fragmentations. Amanda invites us to attend to our shared humanity as bodied and located human beings teaming with desire for meaning, beauty and love. This is no escapist manifesto, rather Abundant Lives courageously invites us to move toward our suffering and trauma with profound hope that in embracing reality we discover liberation. If you long for more, I commend Abundant Lives to you, and after reading it, please pass it to a friend.”
No Wastelands: How to Grow Seedbeds of Shalom in your Neighbourhood
by Ash Barker
“No Wastelands is a capacious invitation to discover afresh that you are somewhere! That where you are matters. And that God whispers to you through your place, wooing you to discover Shalom with your neighbors and neighborhood. Ash Barker has invested his life listening for God’s invitation through the places he’s called home becoming a trustworthy guide unto fullness of life by joining God’s mission in the Here and Now. If you are anything like me, as you read No Wastelands you will feel a profound YES deep within, expanding your imagination for “the good life” and arousing desire for community, goodness, and beauty. Ash is pointing us toward a spirituality that is far more than religion; it is loving neighbor and neighborhood as a faithful expression of loving God and self. I recommend you pick up three copies; giving a couple to neighbors, reading it together and wondering as a collective, what God might be whispering to you through your place and all its inhabitants?”
Grieving Room: Making Space for all the Hard Things After Death and Loss
“Grieving Room is a capacious homage about what is it like to love amidst loss. Writing deeply through her journey with grief, Leanne Friesen graciously makes space for us to welcome the many, often surprising, painful realities of living after death and loss. I read much of Grieving Room in tears discovering I am not as alone as I had feared. It may sound odd to say a book about grief is filled with hope, but this one is; yet its hope comes in the form of moving toward grief not away from it. There’s old hymn which says, “Sorrow and love flow mingled down,” this book holds both. If you know loss I commend Grieving Room to you, and after reading it, please hand it to a friend.”
Moving On: Grief in Ministry Transitions
“Moving On presents sage pathways for making room to grieve amidst ministry transitions. Seasoned with the wisdom of first-hand leadership experience, Silvia Purdie weaves perceptive insights, tender stories, spiritual practice, and thoughtful conversations into a real-world guide for attending to the particular rupture(s) emerging from transitioning ministries. I commend Moving On to anyone grieving or journeying alongside those mourning ministry changes, for through this helpful volume you will discover afresh that you are not alone and your grief matters.”
Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview: A Decolonized Approach to Christian Doctrine
“Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview is a wise pathway to decolonizing Western doctrine and practice; spaciously inviting readers to rediscover our place as creatures within Creator’s ecosystem. Woodley’s book demonstrates how a profoundly human, relational, and located theological method can open you to the wonder and presence of the Creator in the everyday stuff of life.”
Relentless Love: Living Out Integral Mission to Combat Poverty, Injustice and Conflict
edited by Graham Joseph Hill
“Relentless Love: Living Out Integral Mission to Combat Poverty, Injustice and Conflict may be the clearest indication to date that a revolution in Christian mission is already underway. Through a diverse collection of voices, this compelling volume reveals new ways of being church emerging from the majority world fueled by a Shalomic imagination for the common good. This book is a vital guide for operationalizing the love of God as the love of neighbor, while equipping us to appreciate that love of neighbor always invites loving their neighborhood.”
Decolonizing Evangelicalism: An 11:59 p.m. Conversation
by Randy S. Woodley & Bo C. Sanders
“Decolonizing Evangelicalism: An 11:59 p.m. Conversation, by Woodley and Sanders belongs in the hands of every follower in the Jesus Way who has experienced colonization or marginalization, or is beginning to see some of the ways they have participated in the oppression of others in the name of orthodox Christian theology. The book is as approachable and well researched, as it is invitational. I am personally grateful for this book and its authors, and am confident you will be too.”
Church Forsaken: Practicing Presence in Neglected Neighborhoods
by Jonathan Brooks
“Church Forsaken brilliantly demonstrates that we love God by loving our neighbor, and one of the primary ways we love our neighbor is by loving our neighborhood. This book is a bold dare to all followers of Jesus to (re)discover the scale of God’s Good News by becoming faithfully present within our parishes, not just as individuals, but as the body of Christ. Jonathan Brooks fosters a desire within me to be part of a real local church.”
The Embrace of Buildings: A Second Look at Walkable City Neighborhoods
by Lee Hardy
“The Embrace of Buildings is a vital, mind-expanding, and paradigm shifting read for anyone sensing that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Good News for everyone and everything. Setting his sights squarely on the built environment Lee Hardy not only helps us to see the places we inhabit afresh, but dares us to wonder how our personal and ecclesial practices might actively participate in realizing God’s Shalomic imagination within our neighborhoods. This book represents a new frontier in Christian mission.”
What Is the Trinity and Why Does It Matter?
by Steve Dancause
“If even just for a moment you’ve experienced love, belonging, or freedom… if you have ever known joy when cynicism seemed more fitting, or known hope when despair seemed natural… or known connection when division seemed instinctive, then this book is for you! It’s often been said that the work of theologians is to search for the least inadequate words to describe God or one’s experience of God. You’re in luck because Steven Dancause has invested his life searching for such words – Trinity Matters – I commend this book to you!”
The Gospel Next Door: Following Jesus Right Where You Are
by Marty Troyer
“Love God & love your neighbor” was Jesus’ grand Scripture summary. Marty Troyer paints a picture of what loving God as loving your neighbor can actually look like in the everyday stuff of life. Troyer’s important book is part of a large and growing movement of Christians rediscovering the practices of “local-church.” This book points toward collaboration more than competition, and discovering God’s Shalomic dream for your place and its people more than pursuing your own vision. Be careful, The Gospel Next Door may mess with your plans because it’ll invite you to listen deeply, to join humbly, and to learn to love your real neighbor and the neighborhood within which God has placed you.”
Live Like you Give a Damn! Join the Changemaking Revolution
by Tom Sine
“Live like you Give a Damn is Tom Sine at his finest . . . and it’s a must read. With the wisdom and clarity of a hopeful prophet Tom insightfully reads the signs of our times – some of which should sound alarms in us – yet all the while points to the new wine of the Spirit. This book a testament to Tom’s life of listening for the invitation of God through real stories of fresh expressions borne of radical disciples of Jesus. Teeming with examples of real people and real communities this book is essential for anyone seeking to follow Jesus into the everyday stuff of life and for those studying in Bible colleges and seminaries hoping that the church might have a Gen Next future.”
The Mystical Imagination: Seeing the Sacredness of All of Life
by Mark Votava
“The Mystical Imagination is an essential read for anyone sensing that following Christ just might be a whole-life adventure, transforming everyday moments into our chance to join the Spirit in community as the “body” reciprocally serves God by serving neighbor. Mark has put into words a deep longing for Shalom that woos me to invite the Holy Spirit to enliven my imagination for seeing that God is already present, at work, and graciously welcoming all to lives of rest, play, creativity, and beauty.”
A Good Way Through: My Journey with God from Disappointment into Hope
by Kristen Leigh Kludt
“Kristen Kludt is courageously offering her readers a glimpse into her experience of a reality of life too many of us seek to avoid. In this book she doesn’t demand you to embrace or even follow her path toward healing, rather she simply reveals her journey with pain, suffering, and disappointment honestly, which feels like a kind invitation to hold your own journey with wonder, curiosity, and hope.”
Structured for Mission: Renewing the Culture of the Church
by Alan J. Roxburgh
“All future iterations of church structure will pass through this must-read book by Alan Roxburgh. With intellectual breadth, wisdom and clarity Roxburgh explores deep formative questions exposing how our church institutions and structures organize our lives and can be renewed, even transformed. All structures are embedded with narratives and traditions; the future of church structures requires both theological imagination and discernment with the Spirit to realign those narratives and traditions with God’s dream for creation thus rendering more plausible material expression in everyday life. I commend Structured for Mission to you.”
Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Way of Jesus
by Richard Twiss
“Having sat at the feet of Richard Twiss, known the warmth of his friendship, and grieved his passing I was thrilled to learn of this volume we now hold. Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys is a significant book for all who seek to live in the Way of Jesus. Speaking honestly and respectfully in the face of oppression and violence perpetrated in the name of the Good News, Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys invites fresh and real ways of following in the Way of Jesus without preference to any one cultural frame; and therefore opens the way to be who you are, as a particular person, of particular culture(s), and to do so in the Shamolic Way of the Creator. Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys accomplishes a vital task that should be self-evident; a person can be fully Lakota and fully Christian… in fact there is no other way to be fully Christian. This book throws open the door for all indigenous churches to wrestle afresh with the fact that the gospel is at home in every culture and simultaneously alien to every culture.”
Trinity Matters: In Faith, Work, and Love…and Even Theology
by Steve Dancause
“What you think about when you think about God shapes your imagination for the good life and community. Trinity Matters teases this out profoundly! If your first thought of God is power, you will seek power; if it’s judge, you will become judgmental; if it’s an old white man with a big beard, then women and those on the margins better look out… however if you hold the mystery of God as Triune then the seed of Shalom is taking root in your life. Steve Dancause has been exploring this great Divine mystery for most of his years on this planet and now we get to join him in the wonder and joy of discovering abundant life in the Three and the One.”
Incarnate: The Body of Christ in an Age of Disengagement
by Michael Frost
“In a culture obsessed with practices, technologies, and forms of entertainment that distance us from what is most real and true human experience Michael Frost wisely takes us back to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. Incarnate teases out the real-world implications of the embodied earthy presence of God in Jesus Christ as the missional key for the Body of Christ. Incarnate is essential reading for faith communities seeking to follow Jesus into loving God by loving neighbors.”
God’s Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens
by Romal J. Tune
“In God’s Graffiti, Romal Tune doesn’t shy away from either the dark side of Scripture’s most notorious characters, nor the pressing challenges of urban life… and he does so putting skin on hope. Reading like a memoir told through often overlooked parts of Bible stories, Tune offers a fresh perspective for reading our graffiti marked lives with a kind of expectancy that the hand-writing on the wall may in fact be God’s invitation to fullness of life. I was tagged by grace in my reading God’s Graffiti.”
Reintroducing Revelation: The Apocalyptic Message for Today
by by Phil Vestal
“Arguably no book in the Bible has been more polarizing than Revelation: freaky obsession or complete avoidance. Yet under the wise guidance of Phil Vestal a third way emerges. In Reintroducing Revelation, not only do textual faithfulness and playfulness dance together, but the often mysterious apocalyptic vision opens up to reveal our own times afresh. I commend Reintroducing Revelation to you… John’s Revelation just might become your own.”
No Home Like Place: A Christian Theology of Place
by Leonard Hjalmarson
“In a world of long commutes, affordable travel, global internet connections, and a host of cultural practices tending to distance us from the truth of our locatedness, No Home Like Place invites us to take root again. It dares us to embrace the gift of a human-scaled life. Hjalmarson integrates fresh theological reflection with thoughtful practices for inhabiting place; a magnificent and liberating practical theology of place.”
Neighbors and Wise Men: Sacred Encounters in a Portland Pub and Other Unexpected Places
by Tony Kriz
“This book is a spritz of Windex™ on the murky lens of life. It invites us to see the presence of God in the glorious mundane. Tony’s unconventional journey finds voice in Neighbors & Wise Men, blending honest spirituality with extraordinary skill as a storyteller. I already want to re-read this book.”
Creating A Missional Culture: Equipping the Church for the Sake of the World
by JR Woodward
“Jesus once summed up the Law saying, “love God, love neighbor.” In Creating a Missional Culture JR Woodward blends practical wisdom with thoughtful scholarship as he guides leaders toward cultivating faith communities where love of God and love of neighbor become the new norm. I have been craving a book that would facilitate the re-imagination of church culture, and it is finally here. I commend, Creating a Missional Culture to you.”
Views from the Urban Loft: Developing a Theological Framework for Understanding the City
by Sean Benesh
“As I devoured Sean Benesh’s Views from the Urban Loft the image of Jesus longing for the city of Jerusalem was never far from my heart and mind. Sean’s hope for the city has a missional shape inviting people of faith to take a profoundly holistic second look at the place(s) where they live, work, play and worship. Views from the Urban Loft invites readers to dream and dares people to act for the common good of their place as Good News.”
Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood
by Alan J. Roxburgh
“Roxburgh daringly puts the church in its place . . . literally. Missional invites us to relocate the center of missional life from churches to our places and neighborhoods. Drawing on a lifetime of missional practice and study Roxburgh brings together missional theology with real world stories of missional practitioners. A must read for any community seeking to live even more missionally.”
The Bible as Improv: Seeing and Living the Script in New Ways
by Ron Martoia
“If you have ever witnessed a jazz ensemble breathe fresh life into a classic Miles Davis piece, then you have a sense of what Ron Martoia is inviting us to through The Bible as Improv. Faithfulness and playfulness dancing together toward fullness of life; immersion in the history of the art, keen awareness of prior interpretations, skilled with one’s instrument, thoughtful study of the charts, interpreters playing off one another in community and with the audience. The Bible as Improv is a beautiful exercise in practical biblical hermeneutics.”
God is Dead and I Don’t Feel So Good Myself: Theological Engagements with the New Atheism
by Andrew David, Christopher Keller & Jon Stanley
“Through insightful essays, penetrating conversations, and beautiful poetry, ‘God is Dead’ and I Don’t Feel So Good Myself brings thoughtful theologians, philosophers, and poets together to engage, learn from, and critique the cultural expression known as the New Atheism. I highly recommend this text as a conversational form of cultural engagement marked by a careful and generous listening punctuated by conviction and humility, curiosity and critical thinking.”
GloboChrist: The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn
by Carl Raschke
“I’d hoped to give GloboChrist a quick read, but after picking it up I simply couldn’t put it down; it is elegant, clear, and provocative. Raschke not only helps us see Christ and mission afresh in our hi-tech, pluralistic, postmodern, and global context but also equips us with engagement strategies.”
Metavista: Bible, Church and Mission in an Age of Imagination
by Colin Greene & Martin Robinson
“Metavista may well be the first ‘must read’ of the 21st century for any Christ-follower seeking to embody the gospel in our global context.”
The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time
by Tom Sine
“Among the very best of the growing body of literature exploring the very important question: Does the future have a church?”
Out of the Ooze: Unlikely Love Letters to the Church from Beyond the Pew
by Spencer Burke
“Out of TheOOZE is theology of the people, by the people and for the people. Having sifted through hundreds of thousands of web contributions to theOOZE.com Spencer Burke has selected a few choice offerings, inviting us to encounter the concerns, wonderings, and awakenings of real people seeking to live faithfully in the Way of Jesus in an era of growing church crisis. No doubt there will be points of dissonance, but Out of TheOOZE will compel you to focus and re-focus your vision of the living Gospel with the hope of a new Kingdom resonance.”
High-Voltage Spirituality
by William Tenny-Brittian
“All too often books on spiritually assume empty calendars and quiet spaces, but not High-Voltage Spirituality. Tenny-Brittian puts real-world spirituality within the grasp of busy people. He invites readers to a holistic and earthy vision of life with God which reclaims and redeems even the fullest schedule.”
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