Recommendations, Christian Living, Culture, Church, Nature
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Sex, virtue, technology: Marc Sims with an important article on the impact of technology on sexuality, “Imagine a world of thorns and thistles and serpents and porn and affairs and divorce. (Shouldn’t be too hard for you). It is a world that has attempted to peel sex out of the context of covenant and commitment—even out of relationship itself—and pursue the physical pleasure as an end of itself.”

  2. Stay put and make disciples: David Mathis begins, “This is a plea for aging Christians not to follow millions of your peers in making a tragic mistake: leaving the place, and especially the local church, where you have built up years, if not decades, of relational capital.”

This Week's Recommendations
Evangelism, Mission
John Beeson
The Front Lines

In JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, two of Frodo’s hobbit companions, Merry and Pippin, get kidnapped by the orcs and eventually are rescued by the Ent, Treebeard. Meanwhile, the rest of the Fellowship prepare to confront Saruman and his forces at Isengard, attempting to weaken him so that Frodo and Sam can complete their mission to destroy the ring. In Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation, Merry and Pippin beg the council of Ents (called Entmoot) to make haste so that they can join their friends on the verge of war.

The Front Lines
Book Reviews, Reading, Recommendations
John Beeson
My Favorite Books I Read in 2025

In the age of social media, it’s easy to fill our days with words. But how many of them are lasting? How many will challenge and sharpen us? An intelligent author has the ability to make us not just cleverer, but wiser.

 

I am on track to read around 115 books this year (I’ve read 105 as I pen this). Here are some of my favorite books of 2025. I hope you try some of them out in 2026! What were your favorite books you read this year?

My Favorite Books I Read in 2025
Recommendations, Education, Church, Identity
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Three ways attending church could extend your life: Rebecca McLaughlin says, “What you almost certainly won’t hear is that weekly church attendance is one of the very best things you can do for both your body and your mind. But that’s what researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found. In fact, they have discovered that going to church can add multiple years to your life.”

  2. K-12 workers have highest burnout rate in US: Stephanie Marken and Sangeeta Agrawal report, “More than four in 10 K-12 workers in the U.S. (44%) say they "always" or "very often" feel burned out…

This Week's Recommendations
Identity, Recommendations, Sexuality
John Beeson
Resources for a Sexually Confused Time

How does a Christian make sense of a world where our understanding of sexuality and gender has turned into quicksand underneath our feet?

Here are four books I commend to you to help you engage some of the hardest questions relating to sexuality and gender.

Resources for a Sexually Confused Time
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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Sex, virtue, technology: Marc Sims with an important article on the impact of technology on sexuality, “Imagine a world of thorns and thistles and serpents and porn and affairs and divorce. (Shouldn’t be too hard for you). It is a world that has attempted to peel sex out of the context of covenant and commitment—even out of relationship itself—and pursue the physical pleasure as an end of itself.”

  2. Stay put and make disciples: David Mathis begins, “This is a plea for aging Christians not to follow millions of your peers in making a tragic mistake: leaving the place, and especially the local church, where you have built up years, if not decades, of relational capital.”

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The Front Lines

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The Front Lines

In JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, two of Frodo’s hobbit companions, Merry and Pippin, get kidnapped by the orcs and eventually are rescued by the Ent, Treebeard. Meanwhile, the rest of the Fellowship prepare to confront Saruman and his forces at Isengard, attempting to weaken him so that Frodo and Sam can complete their mission to destroy the ring. In Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation, Merry and Pippin beg the council of Ents (called Entmoot) to make haste so that they can join their friends on the verge of war.

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My Favorite Books I Read in 2025

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My Favorite Books I Read in 2025

In the age of social media, it’s easy to fill our days with words. But how many of them are lasting? How many will challenge and sharpen us? An intelligent author has the ability to make us not just cleverer, but wiser.

 

I am on track to read around 115 books this year (I’ve read 105 as I pen this). Here are some of my favorite books of 2025. I hope you try some of them out in 2026! What were your favorite books you read this year?

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Three ways attending church could extend your life: Rebecca McLaughlin says, “What you almost certainly won’t hear is that weekly church attendance is one of the very best things you can do for both your body and your mind. But that’s what researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found. In fact, they have discovered that going to church can add multiple years to your life.”

  2. K-12 workers have highest burnout rate in US: Stephanie Marken and Sangeeta Agrawal report, “More than four in 10 K-12 workers in the U.S. (44%) say they "always" or "very often" feel burned out…

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Resources for a Sexually Confused Time

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Resources for a Sexually Confused Time

How does a Christian make sense of a world where our understanding of sexuality and gender has turned into quicksand underneath our feet?

Here are four books I commend to you to help you engage some of the hardest questions relating to sexuality and gender.

Injustice: The Gratitude Snatcher

Injustice: The Gratitude Snatcher

I pray you had a blessed Thanksgiving. I hope your heart entered into this past week with a spirit of gratitude and that your time with friends, family, and God only heightened that gratitude.

No one wants to walk in ingratitude, and yet gratitude can be so quickly snatched from us.

What destroys thanksgiving? There are many threats: envy, pride, and selfishness. But one sneaky snatcher of gratitude is injustice. When the earth quakes with injustice, its tremors rattle our hearts and our trust.

 When we experience injustice, questions swirl: Why would God allow that wrong to happen? How could He let this grievance happen to me? Won’t the wrongdoer be punished? Won’t the victim receive restitution?

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. How to practice gratitude (even when you don’t feel it): O. Alan Noble says, “We like to think of gratitude as an overflowing feeling directed at others—an outpouring of love and warmth. But sometimes warmth doesn’t come. Even still, another’s kindness deserves our gratitude. What are we to do when we don’t feel grateful but know we ought to be?”

  2. Fight burnout with thanksgiving: Ajith Fernando writes this to pastors, but it’s applicable to everyone. “I have come to notice that the most joyful people in my life and ministry are also the most thankful, and joyous people experience freshness as they go about their service. God’s grace is a means of freshness over the long haul.”

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Becoming What You Hate

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Becoming What You Hate

In the fall of 1997, I arrived at Gordon College. Nestled 45 minutes northeast of Boston, Gordon’s beautiful campus sits in the heart of New England. This southwest kid was about to get the full New England experience. And you can’t have a New England experience without experiencing her fans.

Just three years later, the newly minted coach of the Patriots, Bill Belichick, would draft Tom Brady with the 199th draft pick of the 2000 NFL draft. At that point, the Patriots had logged a sad 68-92 record in the 1990s.

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What’s Your Leadership Superpower? (And What’s Your Leadership Kryptonite?)

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What’s Your Leadership Superpower? (And What’s Your Leadership Kryptonite?)

My grandma Betty’s house smelled of lilacs and bacon. Her favorite dusting powder and her favorite breakfast food blended to form a smell all her own that permeated her one-bedroom apartment. I’m sure she didn’t realize the unique olfactory experience she greeted her visitors with.

We become nose blind to the smells we are often around. We recently rented a vehicle that smelled of dirty diapers. By the third day, we weren’t sure if the nasty smell had dissipated or we had just grown accustomed to it.

Similarly, we are often blind to how others experience our leadership. Have you ever met someone who thinks they have a gifting they clearly don’t have?

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. If you want to be miserable, then spend your money like this: Morgan Housel begins, “Tell yourself that you’ll be satisfied once you make just a little more money, have a little bit nicer home, and can spend just a little bit more than you do now. Ignore the fact that the group you’re in now used to be a dream that you thought would bring you contentment and happiness.”

  2. If you ask AI for marriage advice, it’ll probably tell you to get divorced: Samuel James with an important post. “I’m convinced that part of the emerging polarization between men and women has to do with the increasingly niche information streams that men and women are immersed in. Men see the excesses and abuses of feminism daily. Women see the excesses and abuses of masculinity daily.”

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