Things We're Reading
VLC’s Featured Reading Plan on YouVersion
At Valley Life Church, we seek to experience the Lord in community. Reading the scriptures together online is a way to accomplish this. Follow Valley Life Church on YouVersion, a free Bible app helping millions seek God daily.
At Valley Life Church we encourage a daily devotional practice. We are using the Lectio 365 app to engage in a Sacred Reading practice. Join us through the Lectio 365 app from 24-7prayer.com.
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life In Christ by Peter Scazzero
Peter Scazzero learned the hard way: you can’t be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. Even though Pete was pastor of a rapidly growing church, he did what most people do:
• avoid conflict in the name of Christianity
• ignore his anger, sadness, and fear
• use God to run from God
• live without boundaries
Eventually God awakened him to a biblical integration of emotional health, a profound relationship with Jesus, and the historical practices of contemplative spirituality. It created nothing short of a spiritual revolution, utterly transforming him and his church.
Neighbors and Wise Men: Sacred Encounters in a Portland Pub and Other Unexpected Places by Tony Kriz
Hearing from God is extraordinary. But the circumstances He uses to reveal Himself may be more ordinary than we think. Neighbors and Wise Men introduces captivating dialogues and unexpected moments with God that go beyond the confines of a conventional religious system and offer the chance for powerful life transformation. Get to know Tony Kriz (known by many as "Tony the Beat Poet" in Donald Miller's best-selling book Blue Like Jazz) through his real-life conversations and experiences that prove that God can and will use anyone and anything— from Muslim lands to antireligious academics to post-Christian cultures—to make Himself known.
In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen was a spiritual thinker with an unusual capacity to write about the life of Jesus and the love of God in ways that have inspired countless people to trust life more fully. Most widely read among the over 40 books Father Nouwen wrote is In the Name of Jesus. For a society that measures successful leadership in terms of the effectiveness of the individual, Father Nouwen offers a counter definition that is witnessed by a "communal and mutual experience." For Nouwen, leadership cannot function apart from the community. His wisdom is grounded in the foundation that we are a people "called." This beautiful guide to Christian Leadership is the rich fruit of Henri Nouwen's own journey as one of the most influential spirtiual leaders of the 20th century.