Book & Podcast
Recommendations

Here is a list of books and podcasts that Joe recommends as excellent resources, in no particular order.

They are not all specifically about counseling; some just contribute to our view of being fully human as we follow in the way of Jesus.

Recommendations

Books on Counselor Training

  • Friendship Counseling, Kevin Huggins
  • Emotionally Healthy Spiritually, Peter Scazzero
  • The Wisdom of Your Body, Hilary McBride
  • Anatomy of the Soul, Curt Thompson
  • The Soul of Desire, Curt Thompson
  • The Gift of Being Yourself, David Benner
  • Hope When You’re Hurting, Larry Crabb and Dan Allender
  • From Bondage to Bonding, Nancy Groom

 

Books on Spiritual Transformation

  • Living in Christ’s Presence, Dallas Willard
  • Return of the Prodigal, Henri Nouwen
  • The Gift of Imperfection, Brene Brown
  • Holy Longing, Ronald Rolheiser

 

Books on Deconstructing/Reconstructing Faith

  • Faith After Doubt, Brian McLaren
  • When Everything’s on Fire, Brian Zahnd

Books Worth Reading

  • Simply Good News, N.T. Wright
  • Beauty Will Save the World, Brian Zahnd
  • Gilead, Marilyn Robinson

 

Podcast Recommendations

  • Being Known, Curt Thompson
  • Other People’s Problems, Hilary McBride
  • The Eternal Current, Aaron Niequist
  • The Bible for Normal People, Pete Enns

“I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.” - Brene Brown

“We must learn that the world is a place of abundance, not scarcity. The mantra of “not enough” becomes a kind of default setting for our thinking about everything, from the cash in our pocket to the people we love or the value of our own lives. It becomes the reason we can’t have what we want or be who we want to be. But it’s not true!” - Lynn Twist

“Redemption does not mean that God meets our needs and then our souls stop longing. No, redemption does not eradicate desperation. Instead, redemption allows us to surrender. And God doesn't want something from us. He wants us.” - Sharon Hersh

“We should not ask to do great things for God, but to do small things with great love.” - Mother Theresa
“Do you know what it’s like to be rested? Truly rested? This is what I’m finding, every day, every hour: there is a way of living that is so sweet, so full, so whole and beautiful you’ll never want to go back once you’ve tasted it.” - Shauna Niequist
“Want to be happy? Stop trying to be perfect.” - Brene Brown
“Connection is why we’re here; it is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.” - Brene Brown
“We run from grief because loss scares us, yet our hearts reach toward grief because the broken parts want to mend.” - Brene Brown
"We cannot selectively numb emotions. When we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions." - Brene Brown
“Our world desperately needs wise, skillful practitioners of the cure of souls.” - Dallas Willard
“A shepherd counselor is not a doctor whose primary task is to take away pain…the main task of the shepherd counselor is to prevent people from suffering for the wrong reasons.” - Henri Nouwen
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.” - Philo
“The deepest convictions of our heart are formed by stories and reside there in the images and emotions of story…..Life is not a list of propositions, it is a series of dramatic scenes.” - Brent Curtis
“Here is something very simple about relationships….Nobody will listen to you unless they sense that you like them.” - Donald Miller
“Jesus came to announce to us that an identity based on success, popularity, and power is a false identity—an illusion! Loudly and clearly he says: ‘You are not what the world makes you; but you are children of God.’ “ - Henri Nouwen
“When we accept our complete belovedness, we stop judging ourselves and other people; as a result, other people begin to feel safe with us.” - Henri Nouwen
“Human beings who give themselves to relational greatness—who have friends they laugh with, cry with, learn with, fight with, dance with, live and love and grow old and die with—these are the human beings who lead magnificent lives.” - John Ortberg
“The litmus test of spirituality is not the absence of conflict; conflict will not disappear until we die. The litmus test is how we handle it. Conflict is inevitable; resentment is not.” - John Ortberg
“There are few joys in life like being wanted, chosen, embraced. There are few pains like being excluded, rejected, left out. At the core of of Christian community is the choice between exclusion and embrace.” - Miroslav Wolf

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