Free books for the eating

My bookshelf is stuffed like a holiday bird – and everyone knows the only grateful way to steward excess wealth is to eat it, give it away, or burn it spectacularly in true Potlatch fashion.

Of course, the burning of books has fallen out of favor in recent years, so these volumes are yours for the taking. One, ten, twenty, or the whole lot. Just name your titles.

If you’re in Southern California, shoot me a message and you can come pick them up. I’ll even throw in a cuppa coffee and a friendly chat, if you’re so inclined. If you hail from out of town, send me your address and the shipping fee and I’ll hurry them off (sans latté).

Most of these are assorted nonfiction Christian titles (we’re donating the fiction to our local library). Several are course books from my MAGL program at Fuller Theological Seminary, if that sort of thing interests you.

UPDATE: Titles already claimed are listed in strikeout.

General Theology & References

Who Needs Theology? by Stanley Grenz & Roger Olson (John Chandler)

An Introduction To Ecclesiology by Veli-Matti Karkkainen (Josh Hopping)

Portraits of God by Allan Coppedge

Desiring God by John Piper

From Eternity To Here by Frank Viola

Unprotected Texts by Jennifer Wright Knust

Reading Scripture With The Church Fathers by Christopher Hall (Josh Hopping)

Manners and Customs Of The Bible by James Freeman (Josh Hopping)

The New Ungers Bible Handbook

The Gospel of Matthew, Sacra Pagina Volume 1 by Daniel Harrington (Thomas Lyons)

New International Commentary on James by Peter Davids (Thomas Lyons)

Thru The Bible With J Vernon McGee (4 hardcover volumes) (Julie Mnaion)

Missional/Emerging Church

Church Next by Eddie Gibbs

The Good News Of The Kingdom by Van Engen, et al (Aaron Henderson)

The Church Between Gospel And Culture by Hunsberger and Gelder (Geoff Hsu)

The Missionary Congregation, Leadership & Liminality by Alan Roxburgh (Brandon Becker)

The Missional Leader by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuka (Brandon Becker)

God’s Missionary People by Charles Van Engen (Aaron Henderson)

A Credible Witness by Brenda Salter McNeil (Josh Hopping)

Transforming Power by Robert Linthicum (Jason Evans)

The New Global Mission by Samuel Escobar (Brandon Becker)

The Local Church, Agent of Transformation by Tetsunao Yamammori (Josh Hopping)

Announcing the Kingdom by Arthur Glasser (Josh Hopping)

The Power of Place by Dolores Hayden (Geoff Hsu)

The Continuing Conversion of the Church by Darrell Guder (John Chandler)

The Shaping Of Things To Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch

The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

Exiles by Michael Frost

A Christianity Worth Believing by Doug Pagitt

The New Christians by Tony Jones

Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna

A Theology As Big As The City by Ray Bakke (Brandon Becker)

God So Loves The City by Van Engan, et al (Aaron Henderson)

Treasure in Clay Jars by Lois Barrett, et al (Jason Evans)

Permission Granted by Graham Cooke and Gary Goodell (Julie Mnaion)

Theology & Family

The Family Handbook by Anderson, Browning, et al

Theology and Families by Adrian Thatcher

Authentic Human Sexuality by Judith & Jack Balswick

Men at the Crossroads by Jack Balswick (Josh Kerkoff)

Beyond Sex Roles by Gilbert Bilezikian (Jason Evans)

Marriage and Modernization by Don Browning

Family Ministry by Diana Garland

On Justice

Justice, A Global Adventure by Walter Burghardt (Josh Hopping)

In Pursuit of Justice by James Skillen (Stephanie Struck)

With Justice For All by John Perkins (Josh Hopping)

Churches That Make A Difference by Ron Sider, et al (Thomas Lyons)

Leadership

Character Forged From Conflict by Gary Preston

Barnabas, Encouraging Exhorter by Bobby Clinton (Brandon Becker)

Connecting by Paul Stanley & Robert Clinton (Brandon Becker)

The Foolishness of Preaching by Robert Farrar Capon (Jeff Bassett)

Called to Holy Worldliness by Richard Mouw (Josh Kerkoff)

Lectures To My Students by Charles Spurgeon (Aaron Henderson)

Spiritual Formation

The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard (Thomas Lyons)

The Little Flowers of St Francis by Raphael Brown (Josh Hopping)

The Year of Living Like Jesus by Ed Dobson (John Chandler)

The Mystery and the Fullness by Jennifer Abel

Jesus Brand Spirituality by Ken Wilson (Aaron Henderson)

General

Reinventing American Protestantism by Donald Miller

Under The Overpass by Mike Yankowski

Heaven by Lisa Miller

Generation Me by Jean Twenge

People of the Lie by M. Scottt Peck

A View From The Back Pew by Tim O’Donnell

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker

Technorati Tags: Books, Christianity, gifts, Giveaways, Theology

Announcing the Winners of the Pastoralia Membership Giveaway!

Today we conducted the random drawing of members for our April membership drive giveaway! First and foremost, thank you to everyone who bacame a member of Pastoralia! Your contribution will help us continue our mission to bring the gospel to post-Christian people in North County San Diego in creative and non-traditional ways. We ended up bringing in the equivalent of 189 memberships. Not quite enough to give away an iPad (250), but enough to make a difference for our mission. Thank you!

Now, a quick word about how we conducted the giveaway:

Everyone who contributed as a member during the month of April was entered into this drawing. Those whose donations were over $25 were given multiple entries depending on the donation amount ($50 = 2 entries, $200 = 8 entries, etc.). Beginning with the iPod Touch, we drew one name randomly per prize until all prizes were assigned. In the case of multiple entries, we limited one prize per person (so people with multiple entries couldn’t win more than once, even if their name came up more than once). Each name was assigned a number and drawn blindly using the engine at Random.org. With the print book giveaways I drew 10 names at random, then tried to match titles with what I thought the winners would find most useful or interesting (it helps that I know all of you somewhat!).

Here are the results:

Grand Prize Giveaway

iPod Touch: Erin Thomsic

Audiobook library giveaways from christianaudio.com

Library of Classics: Sean Campbell

Postmodern Church Library: Dave (from saintsofvirtue.com)

Library of Contemporary Theology: Jacob Evans

Church and Culture Library: Jesse Schroeder

Renovaré Library: JR Rozko

Audiobook download coupon from christianaudio.com

christianaudio Download Code #1: Tracy Wilcoxen

christianaudio Download Code #2: Linda Orem

christianaudio Download Code #3: Krysten Case

christianaudio Download Code #4: Peter Kipley

christianaudio Download Code #5: Christie Harwood

christianaudio Download Code #6: Jason Clark

christianaudio Download Code #7: Carin Pollack

christianaudio Download Code #8: Aaron Boerboom

christianaudio Download Code #9: Jaeson Ma

christianaudio Download Code #10: John Hindes

Print Books Giveaways:

ViralHope copy #1: Jason Dougherty

ViralHope copy #2: Cynthia Taylor

Practice Resurrection by Eugene Petersen: Rick Dumas

Practicing Greatness by Reggie McNeal: Duke Lancaster

Urban Christianity and Global Order by Andrew Davey: Geoff Hsu

Experiencing the Trinity by Darrell W. Johnson: Denise Lawson

Christ Based Leadership by David Stark: Bryan Dormaier

Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos: Peter Coker

Soup, Soap, Hugs, and Hope by Harold Kutler: James Loesch

Formational Children’s Ministry by Ivy Beckwith: Joshua Hopping

Details, details…

If you won a hardgood item, such as the iPod Touch, audiobook libraries (which are on audio CD’s), or the print books, you should expect to receive delivery of these via USPS within 7-14 days (we need a little time to pack everything up). If your prize is a download coupon for an audiobook through christianaudio.com, expect to receive an email this week with your coupon code and instructions.

Condolences

Obviously not everyone won a prize. For those who didn’t win, my sincere condolences. Perhaps next year I’ll have enough prizes for everyone. At the very least, I hope you’re comforted by the fact that you received the coolest t-shirt on the planet : )

Technorati Tags: audiobooks, Books, christianaudio, Giveaways, Membership drive, Pastoralia

Only Two Days Left To Win An iPod Touch at Pastoralia.org!

That’s right, only two days left to win an iPod Touch and a couple dozen great books in our first ever Pastoralia membership drive! Your donation of $25 gets you the coolest t-shirt in Christendom, plus a chance to win great stuff from Apple, Inc and the largest online audiobook publisher in the world, christianaudio.com. You’ll also have a chance to win some great hard copy books from my personal library, not to mention a copy of the book I recently contributed to, ViralHope, published by Ecclesia Press.

Our members drawing for these great prizes will be conducted this Saturday, so get your membership now before it’s too late!

Technorati Tags: Giveaways, Membership, Pastoralia

iPod Touch Unlocked For April Membership Drive!

Today a friend donated a new iPod Touch for the April Pastoralia Membership Drive, meaning that particular prize is now unlocked! Someone from among the new members who join in April will now be guaranteed to win this new iPod Touch.

But because it also saved me the expense of purchasing an iPod Touch, I’ve decided to lower the unlock levels for the other major giveaways. We will now be giving away an iPad when we reach 250 members, and we will give away a new MacBook Pro once we reach 500 members.

So join today and invite your friends to join too so we can reach those goals give a way the rest of these great prizes!

Technorati Tags: Giveaways, iPad, iPod Touch, MacBook Pro, Membership, Membership drive

Announcing the First Ever Pastoralia Membership Drive

(For those who want to cut to the chase: We’re conducting a membership drive through April. Members get a cool t-shirt and chance to win some great prizes on May 1, including an iPad, an iPod Touch, and a MacBook Pro. Scroll down for a complete list of giveaways. Click here to become a member now for just $25, or keep reading for all the details.)

I love writing this blog. It’s a way to work out my thoughts and connect with other missional folks, and I hope the discussions here have been as thought-provoking and helpful for some of you as they have been for me. As I recently mentioned, I hope to expand on the articles and features here in the future.

Almost two years ago I left my full-time staff position at a big church in Columbus, OH and moved my family across the country to start a missional work here in North County San Diego. As it turned out, my daring move almost perfectly coincided with the advent of “The Great Recession” – a tough time to break into a second career, to say the least. But, we’ve made ends meet with a combination of part-time jobs, contract work, support from friends and family, and savings. There have been some scary months, but God has been good to us. In addition to cultivating a missional community, Jenell and I both work and I go to seminary nearly full-time.

But even though we live very simply, California is very expensive, and we’re not quite making it. We need to bring in more income to continue with our missional projects and give them the attention they deserve (not to mention pay the rent). So I’ve decided to use this blog to do so. I don’t want to plaster this space with ads. I hate that. Nor do I want to create “pay walls” for the content. I’m committed to offering Pastoralia as a kind of gift.

Instead I’m offering “memberships” at Pastoralia, a bit like public radio. Just like your local public radio station, the content here will remain free, but becoming a member is your chance to support not only the content here, but also our family, my continuing theological education, and the missional work we are engaged in.

Also like public radio, you’ll get a gift for your contribution and a chance to win some very cool giveaways.

Here’s how it works:

• The month of April is our membership drive. Membership is only $25 for one year (a little over $2 per month). You can click here to become a member now, or keep reading to find out about the prizes.
• For your contribution you’ll get a “thank you” Pastoralia t-shirt with original “Space Priest” artwork by Christine Jung (see picture above of my daughter Judah wearing one). Additional t-shirts can be purchased on the same order for $18 each.
• Everyone who becomes a member during the month of April, 2010 will be entered into a drawing to win one of the prizes listed below. Each membership/t-shirt purchase is good for a giveaway entry (if you buy 2 shirts, you get two entries into the drawing). The drawings will be conducted on May 1 and winners will be announced immediately.

Obviously at such a cheap price I need to move a lot of memberships. To be honest, I need your help. I figure there are a couple hundred readers lurking here – at best – so it’s not enough for you to buy a membership. Frankly, I need you to get 5 or 10 (or 100) of your friends to become members too. Now, I realize your friends probably couldn’t care less about me paying my rent, so in addition to the t-shirt I’ve decided to sweeten the deal with a few cool giveaways for the May 1 drawing (shameless, I know, but fun!).

Membership Prizes:

The Really Big Giveaways

1 Apple iPod Touch will be given away.

1 Apple iPad will be given away if membership/t-shirt sales reach 250 (yes, this is pretty ambitious).

1 MacBook Pro will be given away if membership/t-shirt sales reach 500 (okay, this might be a crazy goal).

Audiobooks From christianaudio.com

1 Library of Classics: The Confessions of St Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, and Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross.

1 Postmodern Church Library: So Beautiful by Leonard Sweet, Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller, The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren, and Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren.

1 Library of Contemporary Theology: Foolishness To The Greeks by Lesslie Newbigin, The Challenge of Jesus by NT Wright, and Evil and the Justice of God by NT Wright.

1 Church and Culture Library: Deep Church by Jim Belcher, and Culture Making by Andy Crouch.

1 Renovaré Library: Knowing Christ Today by Dallas Willard, and Longing For God by Richard Foster and Gayle Beebe.

10 download codes for an audiobook of your choice from christianaudio.com given to 10 people (1 each).

Print Books

2 Copies of Viral Hope: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs (and everything in between), edited by JR Woodward, given to 2 people (1 each).

1 Copy of Practice Resurrection by Eugene Peterson.

1 Copy of Practicing Greatness by Reggie McNeal.

1 Copy of Urban Christianity and Global Order by Andrew Davey.

1 Copy of Experiencing The Trinity by Darrell Johnson.

1 Copy of Christ Based Leadership by David Stark.

1 Copy of Transforming Power by Robert Linthicum.

1 Copy of Treasure in Clay Jars by Lois Barrett.

1 Copy of Formational Children’s Ministry by Ivy Beckwith.

That’s it! Pretty simple. Buy a membership, get a t-shirt, maybe win a prize, tell your friends. Go ahead. Click here to become a member now.

Technorati Tags: Books, Giveaways, Membership drive, Pastoralia

Announcing the facebook Giveaway Winners

Last week I announced our first facebook giveaway here at Pastoralia for those who became fans of Pastoralia before midnight last night. Our prize is the award-winning documentary As We Forgive, a chronicle of efforts to bring mercy and forgiveness to the communities in Rwanda that have been torn apart by genocide.

We had a total of 138 entries! Thank you to everyone who became of fan of Pastoralia. We deeply appreciate your support. Even though we fell short of our 500 mark for giving away 2 additional films, giving away cool stuff is fun, so I decided to go ahead and give away a second film (The Least of These) anyway. Both these films are screening copies from The Micah Film Festival.

As usual, we printed out the entrants on folded strips of paper, placed them in a large jar, and drew the names at random. And the winners are…

• As We Forgive: Jennifer Johnson
• The Least of These: Paul Clark

Congratulations to you both! Our thanks to Jen and Paul for becoming fans and helping to support Pastoralia. We’ll be contacting you shortly about getting you your films!

Technorati Tags: As We Forgive, facebook, Giveaways, The Least of These