We asked College Church staff and elected leaders to share their summer reading lists. You can see their lists below. Check back because we will update the list as we get more responses.

Josué Alvarado, pastoral resident

I struggled to focus during my prayer time, and it was of great help to read a small book by Donald S. Whitney titled Praying the Bible. That is how I discovered the richness and usefulness of the Book of Psalms during my prayer time. I learned to use God’s Word to speak back to him and avoid the many distractions of repetition and selfishness.

Additionally, I came to pray and meditate with The Valley of the Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers, edited by Arthur Bennet. This has helped me to improve my meditation and prayer. A great encouragement for those who are seeking to be efficient with their time of prayer to worship the Lord.

I would recommend Defending Your Faith by R.C. Sproul. He defines apologetics and provides a solid defense of the reason for God from a philosophical perspective and provides arguments to trust the Bible as the trustworthy Word of God. Our faith is not illogical, and it has a firm foundation. We ought to be ready to present a defense of the hope that is in us.

Cheryce Berg, director of children’s ministries

Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full by Gloria Furman

Family Shepherds: Calling and Equipping Men to Lead Their Homes by Voddie Baucham Jr.

The Connected Parent: Real-Life Strategies for Building Trust and Attachment by Karyn Purvis and Lisa Qualis

Who Am I and Why Do I Matter? by Chris Morphen

Mark Berg, elder

No Little People by Francis Schaeffer

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

Lisa Burlingame, hospitality committee

Everyday Holiness by Josh Moody

Revelation, A Shorter Commentary by G. K. Beale

More Than Conquerors by William Hendriksen 

Deeper by Dane Ortlund

Jay Cunningham, nominating committee

Everyday Holiness by Josh Moody

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman

Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (for anyone who enjoys well written fantasy)

The Road to Character by David Brooks

Prayer by Tim Keller

What it Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics by Carter O. Snead

It’s time to re-read C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy.

The Brothers Karamazov is one of those books it seems like any American should have to read, so I’m finally going to plunge in.

David Gieser, elder

Peace Child by Don Richardson

Mission Drift by Chris Horst and Peter Greer

Tim Hollinger, technology director

I’d like to either re-read the Chronicles of Narnia series or read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time.

David Kelley, evangelism and culture impact committee

Pro Rege by Abraham Kuyper

Amy Kruis, deaconess

Deeper by Dane Ortlund

Technopoly by Neil Postman

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

Elanor by David Michaelis

Ann Lawrenz, deaconess

Life Together by Dietrich Boenhoeffer

Ten Words to Live By by Jen Wilkin

Strange New World by Carl Trueman

Jack by Marilynne Robinson

Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

George Herbert Collected Poems

Sarah Lindquist, evangelism and culture Impact committee

A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing by Laura Barringer and Scot McKnight

To the Heart of the Matter: The 40-Day Companion to Live a Culture of Life by Shawn D. Carney
short devotions on how to live out a pro-life ethic

Curt Miller, missions pastor

Confronting Injustice without Compromising the Truth by Thaddeus J. Williams

Ben Panner, college pastor

Side by Side by Ed Welch

Jeremy Taylor, elder

Polycentric Missiology by Allan Yeh

Soul Survivor by Philip Yancey

Amazon Unbound by Brad Stone

Footprints in the African Sand by Michael Cassidy

Motus Dei by Warrick Farrah et al.

Come, My Beloved by Pearl S. Buck

Wendy Robinson, board of missions

Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church by Paul David Tripp

Wil Triggs, director of communications

The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson

Gospel People by Michael Reeves

The Glory of Christ by John Owen

Red Stilts by Ted Kooser

Where the Light Fell by Philip Yancey

Tim Wang, board of missions

The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission by Christopher Wright

The Beasts, the Graves, and the Ghosts (Christian preaching during Chinese Festivals) by Hann Tan

Brian Wildman, elder
Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church by Paul David Tripp

The Righteous Mind: Why People Are Divided By Politics And Religion by Jonathan Haidt

Everyday Holiness: Becoming Who You Were Made to Be by Josh Moody

The next book in the Cork O'Connor mystery series by William Kent Krueger. 