It’s no surprise that Amy and Bernie love books! In this fun episode each brings three books they’ve recently read—a novel, a cross-cultural pick, and a surprise—to spark your imagination, help tend your soul, and strengthen long-haul life in ministry. What are you reading right now? Leave your answers in the comments! We’d love to know!
Theo of Golden – Alan Levi
A tender, character-driven novel about an 86-year-old who quietly blesses strangers, inviting readers to really see and honor the image of God in others. Kindness in action.
Have You Seen Luis Velez? – Catherine Ryan Hyde
A moving story of friendship between a vulnerable blind woman and a teenage boy, exploring dignity, cross-generational connection, and learning to really notice people. You’ll love it!
Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life (2nd ed.) – Makoto Fujimura
Argues that culture is a garden to be cultivated, not a war to be won, offering a hopeful vision for artists, leaders, and cross-cultural workers as “border-stalkers.” You’ll be inspired.
The Major and the Missionary: The Letters of Warren Hamilton Lewis and Blanche Biggs – ed. Diana Pavlac Glyer
A decades-long letter exchange between C.S. Lewis’s brother and a missionary doctor, giving rare, honest insight into cross-cultural life, friendship, and long obedience. Delightful read.
Liturgies of the Wild: The Myths That Make Us – Martin Shaw
A beautifully written, imaginative meditation on themes like death, envy, and prayer that helps restore a “myth-rich” inner world and tend the soul of those who never quite feel at home. Food for your soul!
Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great – Eric Ries
Explores how systems drift toward corruption and short-termism, and how to design structures with a “gravitational pull” toward long-term health—highly relevant for ministries and organizations. Must read (or listen to)!
