Each year I publish a Top 10 Books of the Year list highlighting the ten best books I read that were published that year. And, each year, I mention the two books on that list that had the greatest impact on me personally. The list below brings together the top two books from each of the last five years to create a list of the best books of the 2020s (listed in alphabetical order by author's last name): If you'd like to learn more about some older books with similar impact, check Read More …
Bruce Reyes Chow
15th Annual Top 10 Books of the Year (#2181)
Welcome to the 15th annual So What Faith’s Top 10 Books of the Year. This year I read 84 books published in 2024. The top ten are listed below in alphabetical order by author’s last name: Top Two The two books on this year’s top ten that had the greatest impact on me are Prior Lists There are so many great books published in recent years. Past editions of So What Faith’s Top 10 Books of the Year are available below. Notably just one author on this Read More …
5 Star Books Published in 2024 (#2179)
Welcome to the sixth annual edition of So What Faith’s 5 Star Books of the Year! This list is comprised of books rated 5 or 5+ on a scale of 1 to 5. To be eligible the book must have been published in 2024 and I must have read and rated it this year. This year, just 15.4% of all books rated received a rating of 5 or 5+ to earn this honor (in prior years the percentage has ranged from 15% to 17%). Bruce Reyes Chow. Everything Good About God is True: Choosing Faith. Mark Elsdon, Read More …
Great New Books – April 2024 (#2115)
The best books I’ve read in the last month are Everything Good About God is True Everything Good About God is True: Choosing Faith is the first book to receive 5+ rating (only 3 books received this special rating in 2023) There is more than one way to be Christian. In opposition to the loud voices of Christian nationalism and any number of exclusive approaches, Bruce Reyes Chow offers a liberative, inclusive, life-giving. hope-filled, justice-oriented approach. This "better Read More …
Review of But I Don’t See You as Asian (#1148)
Meet the Author Bruce Reyes-Chow is an ordained Presbyterian pastor, and 3rd generation Chinese/Filipino. He is a consultant who previously served as founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church. His effective use of social media while serving as moderator of the General Assembly of the 2.3 million member PCUSA helped many mainline leaders appreciate the value of social media for ministry. Reyes-Chow has written two e-books: The Definitive-ish Guide Read More …
Recent Reading (#1050)
I have written over 200 book reviews on this blog since the summer of 2009. On this the first Monday (some of my regular readers are aware my new book reviews are more likely to appear on Monday than any other day of the week) following Easter, instead of my normal reviews I offer a list of five books I have read recently (listed by rating, on a scale of 5.0). (5.0) The Word Made Fresh: Communicating Church and Faith Today by Meredith Gould (2009) (4.5) The Definitive-ish Guide for Using Read More …
Effective Social Media Usage (#0905)
Bruce Reyes-Chow is a consultant who previously served as founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church. His effective use of social media while serving as moderator of the General Assembly of the 2.3 million member PCUSA helped many mainline leaders appreciate the value of social media for ministry. In an October 2012 presentation to the Miami Valley Presbytery (Dayton, OH) on social media and the church, Reyes-Chow offered five tips for effective Read More …
Reaching Young Adults (#0839)
Bruce Reyes-Chow is a consultant who previously served as founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church, and was the former moderator of the General Assembly of the 2.3 million member PCUSA. On the conservative Red Letter Christians blog he recently shared three common faulty assumptions church leaders make when seeking to begin or expand young adult ministries: We (older adults) can build ministry from them (younger adults) Young adults are all alike Read More …
Christianity is Bigger than That (#0647)
Bruce Reyes-Chow is a consultant who served as founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church, until May of this year, and was the former moderator of the General Assembly of the 2.3 million member PCUSA. On the conservative Red Letter Christians blog he recently shared "An Open Letter to Frustrated Christians in the United States," featuring these words: Like many of you from across the theological and political spectrum, I am disturbed by the Read More …
Spiritual or Religious or Both (#0488)
Bruce Reyes Chow is a consultant who served as founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church, until May of this year, and was the former moderator of the General Assembly of the 2.3 million member PCUSA. He recently blogged about the importance of being both spiritual and religious. In the post, he notes that the number of people who think of themselves as spiritual but not religious continues to grow as has been captured by research, including that done by Read More …